Chris Chaplin

Dr Chris Chaplin is a Visiting Fellow at the Department of Anthropology and Assistant Professorial Research Fellow at the Religion and Global Society Research Unit, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). His work focuses on the intersection of global Islamic doctrines and local practices in Southeast Asia, particularly Indonesia. He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and has extensive field experience in Indonesia, speaking fluent Indonesian. His research explores Salafi activism, citizenship, and religious pluralism, with a recent book examining Salafism's appeal among Indonesian youth.

Key expertise includes maritime Southeast Asia, Islamic social movements, political identities, and religious solidarity. Current projects investigate plural religious spaces in Indonesia and the UK, emphasizing affective geographies and spatial dynamics of religious encounters. He has held fellowships at LSE’s Department of Methodology and worked at the Royal Netherlands Institute for Southeast Asian and Caribbean Studies (KITLV).

Publications span topics like Salafism’s socio-political dynamics, Indonesian nationalism, and transnational religious networks. His interdisciplinary approach combines ethnography with analysis of religious and political doctrines, contributing to debates on modernity, identity, and activism in Muslim-majority societies.