Timothy Stacey

Populist reactions against liberalism are consuming the globe. Philosophers and theologians have long recognized the gap between liberal ambitions for social justice and people's emotional attachments to religion, nation and family. Politicians, and arguably social scientists, are just catching up.

I draw on philosophy, theology, sociology, anthropology and my own ethnography to explore how to reconcile liberal ambitions with lived realities. I undertake participant observation with liberally-minded community organizers to understand the "illiberal" sources of their liberal aspirations: myths, rituals, traditions.

I teach on courses that reflect these areas of interest such as Ritual, Politics and Sociology of Religion.