From time to time, The Conversation features interesting work our editors are involved in. Kalpana Jain, senior religion/ethics editor and director of the Global Religion Journalism Initiative at The Conversation, spent part of 2026 as a visiting researcher at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia – Malaysia’s national university. The piece below is excerpted from Jain’s Substack about one of her first stops after returning home, a Faith Angle gathering in Park City, Utah.
Alongside experiencing the uniqueness and piety of Islam in Malaysia during the year, I had visited sacred spaces associated with a wide range of traditions – Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, Sikh and Christian – across the region. As I returned to my home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, parts of me seemed to remain behind. Like many immigrants who live between worlds, I found myself asking: Where do I belong?
