Fear Research Network (FeRN)

This network aims to develop critical innovations in the study of fear through an international and interdisciplinary research group that brings together doctoral candidates, early-career researchers, and mid-career and senior scholars interested in the politics, feelings, and practices that converge around fear from historical and contemporary perspectives.

Together, they cover a broad range of historical and geographical contexts, focusing especially on Asia and Latin America.

Some of the questions that the researchers involved in the network will address include the following.

  • What kinds of new identification and belonging can fear and uncertainty produce in communities, including displaced or moving communities? Can fear and uncertainty strengthen emotional bonds, in addition to causing internal tensions, aggression, and community erosion and demise?
  • How do cultures of fear and precarity intersect with conceptions of time (pasts, presents, and futures) to shape everyday life, including ritual and religious practice?
  • How can we gather and communicate qualitative data about fear and other “negative” emotions in a way that gives expression to the experiences of community members across linguistic and cultural barriers?

Network partners

Network leads

  • Erica Baffelli (Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, The University of Manchester)
  • Chika Watanabe (Department of Social Anthropology, The University of Manchester)

Network members and expertise

  • Sébastien Bachelet (Department of Social Anthropology, The University of Manchester)
  • Maria Elena Bedoya Hidalgo (Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, The University of Manchester)
  • Trine Brox (Centre for Contemporary Buddhist Studies, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen)
  • Angelo Cangelosi (Department of Computer Science, The University of Manchester)
  • Jane Caple (Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, The University of Manchester)
  • Florence Durney (Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo)
  • Aurora Fredriksen (Department of Geography, The University of Manchester)
  • Tim Graf (Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, The University of Manchester)
  • Robert Hume (Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, The University of Manchester)
  • Paulina Kolata (Centre for Contemporary Buddhist Studies, Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen)
  • Andrew Lawrence (Department of Social Anthropology, The University of Manchester)
  • Jess Linz (Department of Geography, The University of Manchester)
  • Raamy Majeed (Department of Philosophy, The University of Manchester)
  • Levi McLaughlin (Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, North Carolina State University)
  • Ed Pulford (Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, The University of Manchester)
  • Aike Rots (Department of Culture Studies and Oriental Languages, University of Oslo)
  • Jessica Starling (Department of Religious Studies, Lewis & Clark College)
  • Frederik Schröer (Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin)
  • Emi Tozawa (Department of History, The University of Manchester)
  • Zhaokun Xin (Department of Modern Languages and Cultures, The University of Manchester)