Political philosophy and religion. Congratulations and a warm welcome to Samuel O'Connor Perks who has been awarded a 36-month Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (£114,000) for a project entitled "Radical Conversions: Catholicism, Welfare and Labour in the 20th Century". This project examines the role of religion in 20th century political theory and praxis through the theoretical lens of
conversion. By analysing the intellectual frameworks of four activist-thinkers, it pursues two overlapping aims.
First, to test the notion that conversion narratives can produce a hermeneutic framework for analysing the nature
of 20th century radical politics. Second, to investigate to what extent the act of conversion subverts the boundary
between politics and religion, and can therefore throw new light on 20th century welfare and labour politics. In
doing so, it offers a wider historiographical contribution by questioning prevailing narratives of secularisation. Samuel will be joining the Department in Sept 2022.
