The PhD student will focus on the governmentality of genetic counselling with a primary focus on Germany. The German case is examined within a broader European context characterised by increasing state intervention in marriage regulation, reflected in recent legislative developments and public debates across Europe.

Over a period of four years, the PhD student will combine discourse analysis with qualitative fieldwork to examine how political discourses shape healthcare and reproductive policymaking, clinical practice and community responses, particularly among minority communities with migrant backgrounds.

The postdoctoral researcher will focus on kinship, resilience and identity among Ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities. The research investigates how lineage-based narratives emerge in response to minority status and experiences of persecution and marginalisation and how consanguineous and endogamous marriage practices function as strategies of communal resistance.

A particular focus is placed on transnational strategies, including cross-border matchmaking, reproductive travel and religious healing practices. Fieldwork will primarily take place in Jerusalem, London and New York.

Over three years, the postdoctoral researcher will examine how healthcare policies shape and regulate family formations and reproductive practices among minority communities in the Nordic countries. The project focuses on Sweden, Norway and Denmark, engaging with religious and indigenous minority communities, such as (but not limited to) Muslims, Christians, Mandeans, Jewish, Sami and Roma groups, whose family and reproductive practices are often in conflict with national healthcare policies and legal frameworks.

The postdoctoral researcher will be hosted by the Centre for Theology and Religious Studies (CTR), in collaboration with the Birgit Rausing Centre for Medical Humanities (BRCMH) and the Lund Social Science Method Centre at Lund University.