Marloes Janson

Marloes Janson is a Professor of West African Anthropology at SOAS University of London. She previously worked at Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient in Berlin and held leadership roles at SOAS, including Associate Director of Research (2018–2021) and Interim Head of the Department of Anthropology and Sociology (2022–2023).

• PhD in Cultural Anthropology, Leiden University

Her research explores religious reform, Muslim-Christian relations, and faith-based development in West Africa, particularly The Gambia and Nigeria. She employs urban ethnography and creative methods, exemplified by collaborations like the photo exhibition The Spiritual Highway with Akintunde Akinleye.

Her recent publications address religious pluralism in African megacities and interdisciplinary approaches to Islamic movements. Awards include the Royal Anthropological Institute’s prize for best African Anthropology and a BBC 4 Thinking Allowed Ethnography Award nomination. She has supervised theses on topics ranging from Nigerian urban dynamics to Ghanaian education.

• Lagos-Ibadan Expressway as 'Spiritual Highway'
• Exploration of NASFAT's 'Pentecostal Islam'
• Analysis of religious infrastructure in African cities