REL-SUP

The research project analyzes the role of religious organizations in the support of refugees, migrants and vulnerable individuals at the regional and local level.

Furthermore, the project examines networks and relationships between various religious organizations, political actors, public institutions, and other non-governmental actors involved in the support of vulnerability resulting from flight, migration and intersecting or Covid-19. Last, but not least, the project evaluates the impact of religious agency on governance policies in the field of integration.

Initiatives of religious organizations, and generally      all civil society engagement, hold potential to bridge institutionalized division, to foster civic participation and to prevent the formation of parallel societies that encapsulate their own norms, customs, and values. Against this background, this project aims to shed light on the role of religious groups and organizations regarding the support of refugees, migrants, and vulnerable individuals. Based on an interdisciplinary qualitative research design, which focusses on the regional level in Italy and Austria, this project thus complements existing research on minority issues by pointing to the integrative potential of religion. The case studies on selected regions in Italy and Austria provide insights into a relatively less researched area of minority studies, namely into the nexus between religion as a potential key to participation and the integration of new minority groups in local, regional, and transnational contexts (Wlasak, P.; Wonisch, K. (2021), available at: https://austriaca.at/8706-6inhalt?frames=yes).