Doctoral Dissertation Research: Energy Transitions, Governance, and the Sociocultural Dimensions of Economic Diversification

Post-oil economies are increasingly demanded in the name of planetary sustainability and of economic diversification. Envisioning and constructing a future beyond oil has thus become a central preoccupation for policymakers, environmentalists, and researchers around the world. This dissertation project investigates the processes through which a post-oil economy is tangibly constructed and traces the varied effects of that endeavor on social and religious life.

In addition to aiding a graduate student’s training in scientific research methods and analysis, findings from this project will be disseminated through environmental change conferences, think tanks, and popular journalistic outlets.

Through eighteen months of ethnographic and archival research, the project engages state functionaries and independent entrepreneurs to examine the role of new tourism markets in the pursuit of a post-oil economic future. Specifically, the researcher investigates the institutional reforms and policy innovations through which religious tourism is transformed into a substantial sector of the economy.

Already valued at $12 billion annually, the sector provides an opportunity to study a critical economic growth sector. The research simultaneously traces the effects of these reforms on the governance of religious tourism and on doctrinal conceptions of normative ritual practice. Methods include interviews, participant observation within these organizations, and a thematic analysis of archival materials and ministerial documents.

In so doing, this doctoral dissertation project contributes to scholarly investigations of state economic transitions, state governance, and the confluence of religion and the economy.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.