
Dr Ruth Sheldon
Senior Lecturer in Religion and Social Science
Biography
I joined King’s as Lecturer in Religion and Social Science in September 2019.
After studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics as an undergraduate and Continental Philosophy for my MA, I worked as a social researcher in various policy and community settings. I returned to academic study in 2010, in order to undertake a PhD in Sociology at the University of Kent, and this research formed the basis of a book, published in 2016, Tragic Encounters and Ordinary Ethics: Palestine-Israel in British University (Manchester University Press).
Prior to joining King’s, I was an Associate Lecturer at the University of Kent and then a Research Fellow at Birkbeck, London, where I conducted an ethnographic study of the everyday ethics of neighbouring as part of a programme of work on ‘Psychosocial Components of Ethical Monotheism’.
Research interests and PhD supervision
- Sociology of religion
- Morality, ethics and political conflict
- Religious / secular encounters in everyday and institutional settings
- Religion and the ‘secular’ university
- Sociology and anthropology of ethno-religious (particularly Jewish) minorities
My research is broadly concerned with exploring encounters across difference within public life, examining the meanings, histories and investments at stake when religious and secular actors come into contact within the racialised, postcolonial and globalised landscapes of Western modernity. In order to investigate this, I initiate conversations across a range of disciplines, including the sociology of religion, cultural sociology, the anthropology of ethics and critical theory. In recent years, I have approached the question of cultural encounter through two long-term ethnographic projects, the first exploring the campus politics of Palestine-Israel within British universities and, more recently, a study of everyday relationships between neighbours within a ‘super-diverse’ urban neighbourhood in London. In addition to this substantive focus, my research is shaped by an abiding interest in ethnography as a practice implicated with the ethical question of what it means to ‘know’ the religious other within secular modern contexts.
I welcome enquiries from prospective PhD students in any of these or related areas.
Teaching
I teach modules on the Sociology of Religion, Lived Religion, and Religion and International Relations.
Expertise and public engagement
I have engaged in collaborations with activists, policymakers and inter-faith practitioners in order to address issues of religious inclusion, marginalisation, conflict and dialogue. This includes a recent collaboration with the Faith and Belief Forum (formally the Three Faith’s Forum) generating a series of policy roundtables and reports addressing themes of faith and inclusion in London.
Redeeming marriage? Bittersweet intimacy and the dialectics of liberation among Haredi Jews in London
Sheldon, R., Frosh, S. & Vyrgioti, M., 16 Jan 2024, (Accepted/In press) In: Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI). 34 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
The avoidance of love? Rubbing shoulders in the secular city
Sheldon, R., 9 Jul 2022, Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion: Special Issue: Jews and Muslims in Europe: Between Discourse and Experience. Gidley, B. & Everett, S. S. (eds.). Brill, Vol. 13. p. 211 230 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
A new normal? The inordinate ordinary of Covid-times
Sheldon, R., 3 Jun 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: Journal of Psychosocial Studies.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Secularism, free speech and the public university: student engagement with Israel-Palestine in a British campus
Sheldon, R., 8 Dec 2016, Religion and Higher Education in Europe and North America. . Aune, K. & Stevenson, J. (eds.). RoutledgeResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Sacralised Conflict and Ordinary Ethics: Palestine-Israel in British Universities
Sheldon, R., 18 Dec 2017, Foundations and Futures in the Sociology of Religion : Theology and Religion in Interdisciplinary Perspective . Doggett, L. & Arrat, A. (eds.). London: RoutledgeResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Locating an Elusive Ethics: Surface and Depth in a Jewish Ethnography
Sheldon, R., Jul 2022, Where is the Good in the World? Ethical Life between Philosophy and Social Theory. Henig, D., Strhan, A. & Robbins, J. (eds.). Berghahn, (WYSE Series in Social Anthropology).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Formative Sociology and Ethico-Political Imaginaries: Opening up Transnational Responses to Palestine—Israel
Sheldon, R., Nov 2016, In: The Sociological Review. 64, 4, p. 837-854 17 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Tragic encounters and ordinary ethics: Palestine-Israel in British Universities
Sheldon, R., Oct 2016, Manchester : Manchester University Press, Manchester. (New Ethnographies )Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
Witnessing loss in the everyday: Community buildings in austerity Britain
Robinson, K. & Sheldon, R., 1 Jan 2019, In: SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW. 67, 1, p. 111-125Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
TRANSMISSION, RELATIONALITY, ETHNOGRAPHY
Frosh, S. & Sheldon, R., 18 Jun 2019, In: Angelaki - Journal of the Theoretical Humanities. 24, 3, p. 117-134 18 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
On Learning from the Margins: Jewish Nonreligious Grammars within a Secular-Protestant Landscape
Sheldon, R., 2019, In: Secularism and Non-Religion. 8, 8, p. 1-6Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research

Jewish Studies at King's
Jewish Studies at King’s is an interdisciplinary network of students and scholars associated with King’s College London. Our research draws on anthropology, history, linguistics, literary studies, religious studies, sociology and related fields to explore Jewish life from antiquity to the present moment.
News
Leverhulme Fellowship awarded to Dr Ruth Sheldon
Dr Sheldon has received the fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust for her research on marginalised Jewish women.

Redeeming marriage? Bittersweet intimacy and the dialectics of liberation among Haredi Jews in London
Sheldon, R., Frosh, S. & Vyrgioti, M., 16 Jan 2024, (Accepted/In press) In: Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (JRAI). 34 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
The avoidance of love? Rubbing shoulders in the secular city
Sheldon, R., 9 Jul 2022, Annual Review of the Sociology of Religion: Special Issue: Jews and Muslims in Europe: Between Discourse and Experience. Gidley, B. & Everett, S. S. (eds.). Brill, Vol. 13. p. 211 230 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
A new normal? The inordinate ordinary of Covid-times
Sheldon, R., 3 Jun 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: Journal of Psychosocial Studies.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Secularism, free speech and the public university: student engagement with Israel-Palestine in a British campus
Sheldon, R., 8 Dec 2016, Religion and Higher Education in Europe and North America. . Aune, K. & Stevenson, J. (eds.). RoutledgeResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Sacralised Conflict and Ordinary Ethics: Palestine-Israel in British Universities
Sheldon, R., 18 Dec 2017, Foundations and Futures in the Sociology of Religion : Theology and Religion in Interdisciplinary Perspective . Doggett, L. & Arrat, A. (eds.). London: RoutledgeResearch output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Locating an Elusive Ethics: Surface and Depth in a Jewish Ethnography
Sheldon, R., Jul 2022, Where is the Good in the World? Ethical Life between Philosophy and Social Theory. Henig, D., Strhan, A. & Robbins, J. (eds.). Berghahn, (WYSE Series in Social Anthropology).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Formative Sociology and Ethico-Political Imaginaries: Opening up Transnational Responses to Palestine—Israel
Sheldon, R., Nov 2016, In: The Sociological Review. 64, 4, p. 837-854 17 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Tragic encounters and ordinary ethics: Palestine-Israel in British Universities
Sheldon, R., Oct 2016, Manchester : Manchester University Press, Manchester. (New Ethnographies )Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review
Witnessing loss in the everyday: Community buildings in austerity Britain
Robinson, K. & Sheldon, R., 1 Jan 2019, In: SOCIOLOGICAL REVIEW. 67, 1, p. 111-125Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
TRANSMISSION, RELATIONALITY, ETHNOGRAPHY
Frosh, S. & Sheldon, R., 18 Jun 2019, In: Angelaki - Journal of the Theoretical Humanities. 24, 3, p. 117-134 18 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
On Learning from the Margins: Jewish Nonreligious Grammars within a Secular-Protestant Landscape
Sheldon, R., 2019, In: Secularism and Non-Religion. 8, 8, p. 1-6Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research

Jewish Studies at King's
Jewish Studies at King’s is an interdisciplinary network of students and scholars associated with King’s College London. Our research draws on anthropology, history, linguistics, literary studies, religious studies, sociology and related fields to explore Jewish life from antiquity to the present moment.
News
Leverhulme Fellowship awarded to Dr Ruth Sheldon
Dr Sheldon has received the fellowship from the Leverhulme Trust for her research on marginalised Jewish women.
