معرفی
Jon Mitchell is Professor of Social Anthropology at the School of Global Studies, University of Sussex, where he has been employed since 1997. Previously, he held one-year lectureships at the University of Edinburgh (Social Anthropology) and UCL (History and Social Anthropology). He was promoted to Reader in 2002 and to Professor in 2016. Mitchell served as President of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) from 2000-2002 and as its Honorary Treasurer from 2002-2007.
Mitchell's educational background includes training at the University of Sussex and the University of Edinburgh, where he completed his PhD in 1996. His academic career demonstrates steady progression within the UK anthropology community, with significant leadership roles in professional organizations.
As an Anthropologist of Religion, Mitchell specializes in the intersections of religion with politics, economics, and material culture. His current research focuses on Catholic pilgrimage to Lourdes and Santiago de Compostela, examining the relationship between pilgrimage and health/wellbeing travel, as well as the materiality of pilgrimage. He serves as Co-Investigator on the Leverhulme Trust-funded 'Pilgrimonics' project, which analyzes global pilgrimage and circuits of exchange, particularly studying pilgrims from Birmingham representing multiple faith traditions.
Mitchell's extensive publication record shows consistent thematic development over 25+ years, with early work focused on Maltese society during periods of rapid social transformation, examining Europeanization, corruption, clientelism, memory, community, politics, national identity, ritual, masculinity, belief, and the body. His more recent work expands into sexuality studies, crisis theory, and the relationship between religion and material culture, particularly through landscape studies and sensory anthropology.
Mitchell has secured significant research funding including the current Leverhulme Trust project 'Pilgrimonics' (2022-2025), EU funding for 'The Cultural Politics of Dirt in Africa' (2013-2015), Wenner-Gren Foundation support for 'Cognition, Performance and the Senses' (2010-2013), and British Academy grants for Maltese religious studies (2010-2012) and historical research (2000-2001).
His teaching interests include Politics and Power, and Cults, Conspiracies and Political Religion. Office hours are scheduled for Spring 2025 on Mondays 1200-1300 and Fridays 1300-1400.
