Rate My Professor Adriaan van Klinken

Professor Adriaan van Klinken is Professor of Religion and African Studies and Deputy Head of School for Theology and Religious Studies in the School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science at the University of Leeds. He joined the University of Leeds in 2013, continuing its tradition of teaching and researching religions in Africa, and was promoted to full Professor in 2020. Prior to his appointment at Leeds, he served as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at SOAS University of London from 2011 to 2012. Van Klinken holds a PhD in Religious Studies (cum laude) from Utrecht University (2011), an MA in Religious Studies from Utrecht University (2006), and a BA in Religion and Social Work from Ede University of Applied Sciences (2003). His academic interests lie at the intersections of Religious Studies and African Studies, with a focus on religion as it intersects with social, cultural, and political issues including gender, sexuality, ecology, and human rights. Employing a scavenger approach methodologically, he draws from disciplines across the arts, humanities, and social sciences. His research has a geographical emphasis on Zambia and Kenya, incorporating creative and arts-based methodologies and collaboration with local communities and actors as agents of social change. Key themes encompass Christianity and the politics of masculinity in Zambia, religion and the politicisation of homosexuality in Africa, Christianity and LGBT/queer activism in African contexts, and the representation of religion in contemporary African literary writing.

Van Klinken has published extensively on these topics. Notable authored books include Kenyan, Christian, Queer: Religion, LGBT Activism, and Arts of Resistance in Africa (Penn State University Press, 2019), Reimagining Christianity and Sexual Diversity in Africa, co-authored with Ezra Chitando (Oxford University Press, 2021), Sacred Queer Stories: Ugandan LGBTQ+ Lives and the Bible, co-authored with Johanna Stiebert, Sebyala Brian, and Hudson Fredrick (James Currey, 2021), Transforming Masculinities in African Christianity: Gender Controversies in Times of AIDS (Routledge, 2013), and forthcoming Decolonizing Christianities in Contemporary Nigerian Literature (Penn State University Press, 2025). He has co-edited volumes such as Public Religion and the Politics of Homosexuality in Africa (Routledge, 2016), Christianity and Controversies over Homosexuality in Contemporary Africa (Routledge, 2016), and Christianity, Sexuality and Citizenship in Africa (Routledge, 2018). He serves on the editorial boards of Religion, Journal of Africana Religions, and African Journal of Gender and Religion, and is co-editor of the book series Routledge Critical Studies in Religion, Gender and Sexuality. Van Klinken is an executive committee member of the African Studies Association UK and the African Association for the Study of Religions, and leads projects including the Tales of Sexuality and Faith: The Ugandan LGBT Refugee Life Story Project as principal investigator.