Prof Elina Hankela

Overview

Prof Elina Hankela is an Associate Professor specialising in the study of Christianity, and more specifically, ethnographic theologies, liberation theologies, and questions related to social justice. She uses qualitative methods to make sense of the faith world of Christian individuals and communities in urban South Africa, with much of her previous work having focused on xenophobia and migration. As a supervisor, Hankela welcomes proposals especially from prospective postgraduate students who want to work on ethnographic and/or liberative theologies through an empirical, qualitative approach. Hankela earned her ThD from the Faculty of Theology at the University of Helsinki, Finland, in 2013 and later received the title of Docent (Social Ethics) from the same university. She is currently a co-leader of an NRF-funded research project (2023–2025) titled The Continuing Sociopolitical Influence of Liberation Theologies in South Africa . Hankela serves as the Postgraduate Coordinator in the department and can be contacted by prospective Master's or Doctoral candidates who are interested in studying in the department. Qualifications: Postgraduate Diploma in Education (in the Field of Higher Education), Wits, South Africa, 2019 Doctor of Theology / ThD, University of Helsinki, Finland, 2013 Master of Theology / MTh, University of Helsinki, Finland, 2007 Selected publications: Hankela, Elina, and Clementine Nishimwe. 2024. A conversation between the researcher and the research assistant on ethnographic praxis. In Ethnography as Christian Theology and Ethics (A fully revised 2nd edition), eds. Aana Maria Vigen and Christian Scharen, London: T&T Clark Bloomsbury, 81-94. Hankela, Elina, Ignatius Swart and Clementine Nishimwe. 2022. African Pentecostal churches and racialized xenophobia: International migrants as agents of transformational development? Transformation: An International Journal of Holistic Mission Studies . 39(3): 133-149. Hankela, Elina, and Reggie Nel. 2022 . ‘Keep yourself busy’: Young people, FBOs and social cohesion in Riverlea. In Stuck in the Margins? Young People and Faith-based Organizations in South African and Nordic Localities , eds. Ignatius Swart, Auli Vähäkangas, Marlize Rabe, Annette Leis-Peters, Göttingen: VandenHoeck & Ruprecht, 143-165. Swart, Ignatius, Elina Hankela and Henrietta Nyamjoh. 2021. Language practices as religious innovation: The case of Pentecostal Charismatic churches in xenophobic contexts. International Bulletin of Mission Research 45(2): 167-176. Hankela, Elina. 2020. Pentecostal theology, identity politics, and racialized xenophobia: Claiming a new social order. Journal of Religion in Africa 50: 299-327. Hankela, Elina. 2020. Liberating the classroom: Ethnographic Elements in Liberation Theologies Curricula. Teaching Theology and Religion 23: 84-95. Hankela, Elina. 2020. Liberationist conversion and ethnography in the decolonial moment: A Finnish theologian/ethicist reflects in South Africa. In Faith in African Lived Christianity: Bridging Anthropological and Theological Perspectives , eds. Karen Lauterbach and Mika Vähäkangas, Boston/Leiden: Brill, 52-79. Hankela, Elina. 2020. Segmented urban space and the ethics of belonging in migrants’ Johannesburg. Ethnic and Racial Studies 43(6): 931-949. Hankela, Elina. 2014. Ubuntu, migration and ministry: Being human in a Johannesburg church . Studies in Systematic Theology. Leiden/Boston: Brill. For more publications, please visit : https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=EuOazZIAAAAJ&hl=en