Cultural and Religious Diversity under State Law across Europe (CUREDI)

Jana Araji is a part of the Cultural and Religious Diversity under State Law across Europe (CUREDI) research group. Her individual project also fits within the context of research on law and religion and how religious groups and cultural diversity can be accommodated in law. More specifically, Araji specializes in private international law and looks at cross-border family relationships that are valid in one jurisdiction but not granted recognition in another, particularly those that were denied recognition in France and England due to differences rooted in religious and/or cultural practices. More specifically, she focuses on the effects of interactions between different legal cultures that usually arise in cases of, for example, marriage, divorce, kafala (a form of protection of children) and other practices influenced by religious doctrines. Through legal analysis and by considering anthropological perspectives, she investigates the intersection of private international law and other fields of law, as well as the legal and social barriers faced by individuals or families that live in European societies but remain attached to their religious and/or cultural identities through their (non-recognised) personal status and family relationships.