Iselin Frydenlund

Professor of Religion, MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society

Regional Focus: Myanmar, Sri Lanka
Date of Presentation: Session 3, February 11, 2021

Biography:

Dr. Frydenlund holds a PhD in religious studies from University of Oslo (2011) on Buddhism and violence during the Sri Lankan civil war, and her research interests include the role of religion in war and peace, suicide terrorism, inter-religious dialogue, and freedom of religion or belief.

Her research area is Theravada Buddhism in Sri Lanka and Myanmar, specializing in questions concerning the relationship between Buddhism, nationalism, politics and violence. Currently, Dr. Frydenlund is working on Buddhist political and legal activism in Myanmar and Sri Lanka and Buddhist-Muslim relations in South and Southeast Asia. She takes a particular interest in fieldwork methodology in the study of religion in its social context.

For a number of years, Dr. Frydenlund has been affiliated to the Peace Research Institute Oslo, PRIO, and Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Oslo, and she has cooperated with the Buddhist Federation of Norway and monastic organizations in Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Bangladesh, on religious minority rights in Buddhist majority states. She is also deeply engaged in an academic exchange program with Myanmar Institute of Theology.

(This biography is taken from MF Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society )