New Associate Professor at the Centre of African Studies

Karen Lauterbach is now employed as Associate Professor at the Centre of African Studies since 1 August 2015.

She was attached to the Centre as an Assistant Professor from 2011 to 2014 and has since then been employed as a researcher at the Centre of Theology and Religious Studies, Lund University. Her academic profile lies within the study of religion in Africa. Karen’s work has focused in particular on how contemporary forms of charismatic Christianity are expressed in African contexts and how this resonates with and draws on other ideas and practices around, for instance, wealth and power.

Her PhD thesis was a study of how religious leaders gain authority that is not only recognised within a religious setting, but is also more widely accepted in society. Her more recent work includes research on the role of religious institutions and ideas in displacement contexts. Currently, Karen’s recent research interests centre on the influence of grand families on elite making in Africa and the role of religion in this process.

Karen has an MA in international development studies and geography from Roskilde University. She has taken part of her studies at Manchester Metropolitan University and Université Paris Sorbonne-Paris IV. Her Ph.D. is from the Graduate School of International Development Studies, Roskilde University.