News & Events

Dr Tiba Bonyad and Dr Maria Kokkinou presented their BILQIS research at the European Association of Social Anthropologists Conference in July 2026, as part of the panel “Affective Governance: Analysing Atmospheres in Political and Legal Anthropology”, convened under the Anthropology of Law, Rights and Governance network.

Dr Tiba Bonyad presented a paper titled “Atmospheres of solidarity: Perspectives of Swedish and Norwegian social practitioners on supporting Muslim women’s access to justice.” Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork in Sweden and Norway in 2025, the paper examined how wider atmospheres of hostility towards minority communities shape Muslim women’s access to justice, and how atmospheres of solidarity emerge between women and the social practitioners, legal advisors and activists who support them.

Dr Maria Kokkinou presented “Living between laws: An ethnographic inquiry into Muslim women’s divorce cases in Greece.” Based on ethnographic research in Western Thrace, the paper explored Muslim women’s divorce experiences in a context shaped by political hostility, legal pluralism, religion and gender. It considered how women navigate and strategically use religious and state legal frameworks in order to pursue divorce and reshape life after marriage.

Together, the papers contributed to wider BILQIS discussions on legal pluralism, gender justice, affective governance, minority communities and the lived negotiation of law and authority.