Funded by the Leverhulme Trust, Fear and Belonging in Minority Buddhist Communities is a four-year research project at The University of Manchester investigating the productive role of fear in contemporary religious belonging and ongoing community formation. Through studies of two minority Buddhist communities in the UK and Japan, researchers are exploring how emotions shape people’s negotiation, performance, and experience of religious belonging, and the implications of this for the maintenance and renewal of religious communities.
As part of the Fear and Belonging project, award-winning international artist Sian Fan will work together with researchers for two years to produce an interactive open-access online artwork.