Paula Arana Barbier
University of Heidelberg, Faculty
Dr Arana Barbier is a postdoctoral fellow at the Heidelberg Center for Ibero-American Studies at the University of Heidelberg, under the mentorship of Prof. Dr Motta. Previously, she was a postdoctoral researcher at the Max Weber Institute for Sociology, also at the University of Heidelberg, as part of the Volkswagen Foundation's Freigeist Project, Invisible Architects: Jews and Muslims and the Construction of Europe. She is a political scientist with a bachelor's degree from the University of Freiburg (B.A. in Liberal Arts and Sciences, Major in Governance) and a master’s and PhD from the University of Salamanca (M.A. in Political Science and PhD in Rule of Law and Global Governance, specialised in Comparative Politics).
Her research explores the relationship between minority religions and states, including the regulation of religious practices in the public sphere through what she calls “governmental religious accommodation.” She primarily focuses on Jews and Muslims in Europe and Latin America, with a particular interest in how these communities articulate their presence and identity in digital spaces. She also examines the historical presence of Muslims and Jews in Spain and possible precedents of religious accommodation that have been forgotten throughout the years.
Her latest project focuses on the study of minority exclusion after death, particularly the spatial politics of cemeteries. In it, she argues that the ability to bury a deceased following minority funeral practices can serve as a lens to examine the inclusion or exclusion of a particular group from the national imaginary.
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