Jenni Mölkänen

In my current research project, Faith-based development efforts at times of emerging multipolar world order in Madagascar (FAITHDEV), I examine what faith-based development actors do in situations where official development aid from states been reduced or stopped altogether. In discussions concerning faith-based development actors, a need for further information has been identified, particularly regarding the activities of local religious actors. The research focuses on Madagascar, which is located in sub-Saharan Africa, in the western Indian Ocean. Religious groups, especially traditional Christian communities, are key societal actors in Madagascar. In addition, newer religious groups are emerging, each leading their own development projects across the country. The research investigates how these religious development actors operate amidst the climate crisis, shifting multipolar world order and geopolitical changes. The study draws on insights from anthropology, religious studies, development studies, and theology. The main methods used in the study are ethnographic fieldwork and interviews.

Previously, I have worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Eastern Finland in the project Climate Crisis and Religious Change in Sub-Saharan Africa, funded by the Kone Foundation, as well as in the Trees for Development project in Global Development studies at the University of Helsinki. In my doctoral dissertation in social and cultural anthropology (University of Helsinki), I examined, from the perspectives of environmental anthropology and political ecology, large-scale environmental conservation projects in rural northeastern Madagascar. In addition to environmental conservation, the themes of my dissertation included, among others, ecotourism, agriculture, human-nature relations, ritual and debt.

I am affiliated with interdisciplinary Indian Ocean World Center at McGill University in Montreal, Canada and I belong to an interdisciplinary research group Religion, Ecology and Diversity.