Adam Possamai

Adam Possamai is a Belgian-Australian sociologist and novelist based in Sydney, Australia. He is the Deputy Dean of the School of Social Sciences at Western Sydney University, the International Secretary for the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, and a Professor of Sociology. As of 2025, Possamai has authored 16 academic books and over 100 journal articles and book chapters in the field of sociology, along with 6 fiction novels. He is renowned internationally for his work on religion, popular culture, social theory, Australian Aboriginal Peoples, and Muslim laws.

Possamai is a Past President of the Australian Association for the Study of Religion (2003-2005). He was the 2002-2007 co-editor of the Journal for the Academic Study of Religion (then known as the Australian Religion Studies Review) and is the former President of the sociology of religion section (RC22) of the International Sociological Association (2010-2014).

Career Possamai began his teaching career as a tutor at La Trobe University in 1995 before receiving an appointment as lecturer in sociology at Western Sydney University (then known as the University of Western Sydney) in 1999.

Since joining Western Sydney University, Possamai has worked as co-director of the Centre for the Contemporary Study of Muslim Societies (2009-2012), director of the WSU Religion and Society Research Centre (2012-2015), as well as Associate Dean of Research and Higher Degree Research (2015-2018). Appointed to full professor in 2014, Possamai assumed his current role as Deputy Dean of the School of Social Sciences at Western Sydney University in 2019.

He has taught across varied sociological fields including the sociology of religion, sociology of migration, sociological theory, sociology of power and deviance, as well as the philosophy of social sciences. He has supervised more than 20 PhD students, and has chaired the Australian Sociological Association's Jean Martin Award Panel for the best sociology thesis in Australia in 2011, 2013, and 2017.

Possamai has been internationally recognised for his contributions to sociology throughout his career. He was a visiting Professor at the Graduate Centre of the City University of New York, United States (2011), the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, France (both in 2013 and 2018), and the Summer Institute of Hokkaido University in Sapporo, Japan (2021). The project also highlighted how Shari’a compliant investment is viewed positively in the finance sector.

The second ARC Discovery grant project involves a collaboration between four Australian universities – Western Sydney University, Curtin University, University of Queensland, and Melbourne University. The project entitled Being a Transnational Muslim in Australia in an Era of Hyper-Security (2022-ongoing) seeks to understand the sense of identity and belonging maintained among Australian Muslims as they negotiate surveillance and hostility in public.

Perles Noires, his first work of fiction, was listed as one of the favourite books by the public libraries in Paris in 2006. His most recent novel, L’énigme, inspired by the painting ‘The Enigma’ by French artist Gustave Doré, was published in 2025.

Publications

Non-Fiction Books Possamai, Adam (2005) In Search of New Age Spiritualities. Ashgate. Possamai, Adam (2005) Religion and Popular Culture: A Hyper-Real Testament. Peter Lang. Possamai, Adam (2009) Sociology of Religion for Generations X and Y. London: Equinox. Henslin, James M.; Possamai, Adam; Possamai-Inesedy, Alphia (2010) Sociology: A Down-To-Earth Approach. Sydney: Pearsons. Barbalet, Jack; Possamai, Adam; Turner, Brian S. (eds.) (2011) Religion and the State: A Comparative Sociology. Anthem Press. Possamai, Adam (ed.) (2012) Handbook of Hyper-Real Religions. Leiden: Brill. Onnudottir, Helena; Possamai, Adam; Turner, Brian S. (2013) Religious Change and Indigenous Peoples: The Making of Religious Identities. Aldershot: Ashgate. Possamai, Adam; Richardson, James T.; Turner, Brian S. (eds.) (2014) Legal Pluralism and Shari'a Law. Oxford: Routledge. Possamai, Adam; Richardson, James T.; Turner, Brian S. (eds.) (2015) The Sociology of Shari’a: Case Studies from Around the World. Leiden: Springer. Cox, James L. & Possamai, Adam (eds.) (2016) Religion and Non-Religion among Australian Aboriginal Peoples. Oxon: Routledge. Michel, Patrick; Possamai, Adam; Turner, Brian S. (eds.) (2017) Religions, Nations and Transnationalism in Multiple Modernities. Basingstoke: Palgrave McMillan. Possamai, Adam (2018) The i-zation of Society, Religion, and Neoliberal Post-Secularism. Basingstoke: Palgrave McMillan. Giordan, Giuseppe & Possamai, Adam (2018) Sociology of Exorcism in Late Modernity. Basingstoke: Palgrave McMillan. Giordan, Giuseppe & Possamai, Adam (eds.) (2020) The Social Scientific Study of Exorcism in Christianity. Leiden: Springer. Possamai, Adam & Blasi, Anthony J. (eds.) (2020) The Sage Encyclopaedia of the Sociology of Religion. London: Sage. Possamai, Adam & Tittensor, D (2022) Religion and Change in Australia. London: Routledge.

Select Articles As of 2025, Possamai has authored over 63 journal articles in the field of sociology. Le XXIème Siècle de Dickerson et Ferra (2012). (First edition with Asgard éditions; third edition as Amarama with Rivière Blanche Publisher [fr]) Le crépuscule de Torquemada (Tome 1 de la duologie, Les possédés de la Renaissance) (2015). (Riviere Blanche Publisher [fr]) L’histoire extraordinaire de Baudelaire (2017). (Rivière Blanche Publisher [fr]) La réflexion de Borgia (Tome 2 de la série, Les possédés de la Renaissance) (2018). (Rivière Blanche Publisher[fr]) L’énigme (2025). (Riviere Blanche Publisher [fr])

Contributions to Academia

A large portion of Possamai's published work is premised on a neo-Weberian approach to the sociology of religion and popular culture. His contributions to the study of religion and popular culture are acclaimed as significant works. In exploring the manner in which the internet has become a source of religious inspiration (as well as a forum for religious expression), Possamai has discussed the emergence of what he dubs ‘hyper-real religions’. Inspired by the work of Jean Baudrillard, hyper-real religion is an entirely new theoretical framework for conceptualising hybridity and consumerism in religion in the context of globalization. It emphasises the replacement of authoritative external forms of conventional religious authority (such as authority vested in imams, priests, rabbis, or in communally interpreted sacred texts) along with the role of the individual to create new religious messages. Thus hyper-real religions constitute new forms of spirituality where traditional and modern religious ideas are consumed and projected into completely reconstructed forms. His work also considers the complex interplay between fundamentalist Christian groups that resist the synergy between popular culture and religion (as in the phenomenon of Harry Potter, fantasy-role playing games), and yet reappropriate aspects of pop culture to promote fundamentalism. This has subsequently obliged religion to become more standardised in line with neoliberal ideology.