Office: Campus Boekentoren, Blandijn, 4th floor, room 015.
Ghent University, Blandijnberg 2, B-9000 Ghent, Belgium
Tel.: +32 (0)9 264 38 18
chia.longman@ugent.be
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Research profile
I am a Professor of Gender Studies at Ghent University (Belgium), where I founded the Centre for Research on Culture and Gender (CRCG). In 2014, I co-founded and served as the inaugural director of the inter-university Master's programme in Gender and Diversity Studies in Flanders.
My primary research interest lies in qualitative studies of culture, religion, and spirituality. My earlier PhD and postdoctoral work focused on the agentic potential of traditionalist religion, with particular attention to women's agency in minority communities in Western Europe. This included research on Haredi and Orthodox Jewish women, as well as pro-hijab activism among Muslim women.
Subsequently, I conducted fieldwork on spiritual well-being and self-care practices in women’s circles and festivals, exploring these grassroots spaces as post-secular sites of healing and feminist affect.
I am currently developing research on healing and resilience in the context of post-separation abuse, and I am also interested in the experiences of solo mothering within academia.
In my teaching, which includes courses in feminist anthropology, I am exploring contemplative and creative pedagogical approaches—such as autoethnography—grounded in feminist and decolonial pedagogy.
I have supervised several research projects (at doctoral and postdoctoral level) in the realm of culture and gender globally.
Biography
MA Comparative Science of Culture 1996;
PhD Comparative Science of Culture 2002, Ghent University, Belgium;
Coordinator ella Expertise Centre Gender & Ethnicity, Brussels, 2012-2013
Visiting scholar:
Women's Studies in Religion Programme, Harvard University (2002); Gender & Religions Research Centre, School for Oriental & African Studies, University of London (2006); Institute for Jewish Studies, University of Antwerp (2009)
Visiting professor:
University of Hull (2015); Zentrum für Transdisziplinäre Geschlechterstudien, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (2016-2017); Institut für Diversitätsforschung, Georg-August-Universität Göttingen (2017)
PhD supervision:
Neslihan Dogan (2025-2028)
Dr. Eline Huygens (thesis defended 20/06/2023)
Dr. Golnesa Rezanezhad Pishkani (thesis defended 13/02/2023)
Dr. Lieke Schrijvers (thesis defended 20/09/2022)
Dr. Amal Miri (thesis defended 09/11/2021)
Dr. Ellen Decoo (thesis defended 07/05/2021)
Dr. Susan Dierickx (thesis defended 07/02/2020)
Dr. Ladan Rahbari (thesis defended 28/05/2019)
Dr. Maria Judite Chipenembe (thesis defended in 2018)
Dr. An van Raemdonck (thesis defended in 2016)
Dr. Lydia Namatende (thesis defended in 2016)
Dr. Elif Simsek (thesis defended in 2016)
Dr. Nella Van Den Brandt (thesis defended in 2014)
Dr. Tine Brouckaert (thesis defended in 2013)
Dr. Katrien De Graeve (thesis defended in 2012)
