Faculty of Social Sciences, Radboud Social Cultural Research
Saskia Glas is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology. Her research centers on the inclusion of minorities. She represents the Faculty of Social Sciences on the RUNOMI steering group.
Tell us about your work and how it relates to the focus of RUNOMI?
My work deals with the inclusion and exclusion of different marginalized groups, including European Muslims and people who migrated from the Global South. Most of my research is located at the intersection of migration studies and gender studies and deals with topics like Muslim feminism and support for gay and trans rights among migrants. But I also study other experiences among migrants, like belonging, discrimination, political inclusion, and solidarity with other minorities. Beyond research, my teaching also touches on RUNOMI-related topics – including radicalization and the relations between majorities and migrants – and I’m part of the RUNOMI steering committee.
What are some of the important issues in your field that you would like the world to know about?
One of the issues I’ve been continuously thinking about as a sociologist, gender scholar, and migration scholar is diversity and inclusion in our own research and teaching. In sociology, virtually all those considered to be The Classics are white men with beards. How do we teach our students the basics about anomie, social capital, and cultural reproduction without implying sociology is only by, about, and for old white guys? In my courses, I therefore include some other voices to try to balance out the picture somewhat and encourage students to critically engage with the materials. Last year, together with colleagues, I reached out to all Dutch sociologists to try and do the same, by providing a canon of sociology must-reads by non-white guy authors as a special issue.
Selected Outputs
Glas, S. (2024). Multiplex and messy, not essentialist and patriarchal: How Muslims connect religiosity differently to transgender people’s rights than women’s or homosexual people’s rights. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2024.2366314
Glas, S. (2022). Exclusionary contexts frustrate cultural integration: migrant acculturation into support for gender equality in the labor market in Western Europe. International Migration Review, 56(3), 941-975. https://doi.org/10.1177/01979183211059171
Glas, S., Spierings, N., & Scheepers, P. (2018). Re-understanding religion and support for gender equality in Arab countries. Gender & Society, 32(5), 686-712. https://doi.org/10.1177/0891243218783670