Anja Zalta
Born in 1973 in Slovenia, Anja Zalta is an associate professor of the sociology of religion in the Sociology Department of the Faculty of Arts at the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia), where she heads the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies. A graduate in sociology, ethnology and cultural anthropology from the University of Ljubljana, she holds a master’s degree from the Nan Tien Institute (Wollongong, Australia) and a doctorate from the University of Ljubljana.
She is the author of numerous articles on religious traditions and identities, Islam in Slovenia and the Balkans, interreligious and intercultural dialogue, and the role of the monotheistic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam) in European cultural and religious history.
Between 2004 and 2006 she stayed periodically in Konya, Turkey, where she conducted research on secularism in Turkish society. In 2013 she received a Turkish research grant and worked on (Christian) religious minorities in Istanbul and the Tur Abdin region of south-eastern Turkey. Between 2014 and 2015 she was a visiting researcher at the Nan Tien Institute in Wollongong (Australia), working on interreligious dialogue and conflict transformation.
Her current research focuses on the question of (religious) minorities and human rights, as well as the rights of women in the monotheistic religions.
Resources of this researcher
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article
Online Salafism: the Tension to (Co)Exist in Religious and Ideological Plurality
- Anja Zalta
An article by Anja Zalta published in the journal Poligrafi (vol. 30, no. 119/120, 2025, open access). The author examines how digital platforms and social-media literacy, especially among Generati...
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article
Expulsion of the ‘Turk’: Contextualising Islamophobia in the Balkans, the Case of Bosnia and Herzegovina
- Anja Zalta
An article by Anja Zalta published in Intellectual Discourse (vol. 33, special issue, 2025). The author analyses the rise of Islamophobia in the Balkans, particularly in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She...
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article
Muslim Communities and Religious Freedom in Slovenia
- Anja Zalta
A chapter by Marinko Banjac and Anja Zalta in The Enduring Legacy of the Habsburg Islam Policy: Muslim Communities in Central and Southeast Europe (S. Adak and T. Schmidinger, eds., Edinburgh Unive...
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publication
Understanding Ethnic, Religious and Cultural Minorities in Turkey
- Anja Zalta
Volume 26 of the journak Poligrafi, edited by Anja Zalta, Tahir Abbas, and Umut Azak Abstract : The study of ethnic minorities is of vital concern in the context of nations consisting of different...
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publication
Islam and democracy
- Anja Zalta
Number 85-86 of the scientific journal “POLIGRAFI” about “Islam and Democracy” It is co-edited by Anja ZALTA, who gave a speech titled ““House of agreement” – Th...
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videos
“House of agreement”: the islamic tradition of Bosniaks and its european-ness
- Anja Zalta
Conference of Anja ZALTA during the Second International Congress of PLURIEL in ROME. The syntagma “house of agreement” was coined by former Bosnian reisu-l-ulema Mustafa Ceric in his &...
Resources related to
Sociology
publication
Understanding Salafism
- Mohamed-Ali Adraoui
Published in 2022 by Palgrave Macmillan (Springer) in the series The Sciences Po Series in International Relations and Political Economy, this book by Mohamed-Ali Adraoui, professor at Sorbonne Par...
article
Experiencing a Mosque Through Photography: Islam As an Ordinary Religion
- Guillaume Chatagny
Abstract Published in 2021 in Visual Ethnography (vol. 10, no. 2) under the title "Experiencing a Mosque Through Photography: Islam As an Ordinary Religion", this article by Guillaume Chatagny, ...
article
Islam Seen through the Work of Aziz al-Azmeh
- Wasim Salman
Abstract Published in Arabic in issue 50 (2024) of Islamochristiana (PISAI, released in April 2025), this essay by Wasim Salman, president of PISAI and director of the journal, examines the rela...
article
European Islam and the Italian Case: Tendencies and Specificities
- Stefano Allievi
Abstract Published under the original title "European Islam and the Italian case. Tendencies and specificities" in Contemporary Islam (Springer, November 2025, open access), this article by Stef...
article
Ḥaydar Ibrāhīm ʿAlī, a Thinker on Multiple Fronts
- Guy-Raymond Sarkis
Abstract Ḥaydar Ibrāhīm ʿAlī, a Sudanese sociologist of religion, is a committed intellectual whose writings both arise from and respond to the challenges of his society. He calls for a liberati...
article
Two Seas, One Course: The 2026 Jesuit Migrant Service Report on Spain’s Southern Border
- Josep Buades
The annual report of the Jesuit Migrant Service (SJM), the social apostolate body of the Society of Jesus in Spain, written by Josep (Pep) Buades Fuster, examines the migratory dynamics of Spain’s ...
publication
Photographing Ordinary Islam
- Guillaume Chatagny
What does Islam concretely look like within a Muslim association? This is the question addressed by sociologist Guillaume Chatagny in this book, based on fieldwork conducted between 2017 and 2021 w...
publication
Islam and Muslims. Doctrines, Schools of Thought, and Current Trends
- Michel Younès
Publication date: April 16, 2026. Islam, as a historical, religious, and civilizational reality, is difficult to define. It can be perceived as a form of political governance, an expression of fait...