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Dear friends and colleagues,

first of all we want to inform you about a current tightening of health protection measures in Leipzig to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Then we would like to announce the latest publication by our director Monika Wohlrab-Sahr. We also have an interesting call for articles for you, a blog post by one of our fellows about the US presidential election and a great event recommendation, for which you don't even have to get up from your couch.

Enjoy, stay safe and have a great week!

New health protection measures regarding COVID-19 in Leipzig

After a drastic increase in corona infections within a few days, the city of Leipzig is tightening its measures to protect the health of the population. The number of infections has risen significantly in the last few days, bringing the incidence (new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the past seven days) to 35.1, so that the next level of safety measures will now be in place.

From tomorrow on, Leipzig will implement further health protection measures in the city area as stipulated by the Saxon State Government. These include, among others:

• An obligation to wear masks on defined public places: The wearing of a mouth nose cover is ordered also under free sky within the entire range of the city center ring, daily from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. and at stops of the public transportation system as well as on weekly markets
• Closing hour for bars, restaurants and the like between 11 p.m. and 5 a.m. the following day
• Contact tracking of guests in pubs and restaurants
• Limitation of private parties to a maximum of 25 guests
• Limitation of public open-air events to a maximum of 250 visitors
• Limitation of public in-door events to a maximum of 150 persons is 150

The latest updates of the city of Leipzig can be found at www.leipzig.de/coronavirus (in German - they are trying to keep the translations for this page as up-to-date as possible).

At Leipzig University, the Corona warning traffic light is now changed to orange. For our work at the KFG, this has the following consequences: Eranos Dinner and coffee breaks will be further suspended, colloquia will be limited to a maximum of 6 physically present participants. In addition, the reading rooms of the university library will be closed, but the libraries will remain open for borrowing.

As the situation is obviously becoming more serious, we urgently appeal to you to comply with those measures in order to contain the spread of the corona virus.

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or are unclear regarding this. Let us all do what we can and take care of each other. Many thanks!

Publication

We are very happy to announce the latest publication by our director Monika Wohlrab-Sahr. Together with our dear colleague Uta Karstein (Leipzig University) she has contributed an article on "Culture" to a special issue of Soziologische Revue. In their article they discuss the major currents in the analysis of culture in German-language sociology. Religion as culture is also briefly outlined here.

Karstein, Uta, and Monika Wohlrab-Sahr. “Culture.” In “Soziologie: Sociology in the German-speaking world.” Edited by Bettina Hollstein et al. Special issue, Soziologische Revue (2020): 9–26.

Call for Articles: Special Issue of “Religio: Revue pro religionistiku”

Our Permanent Senior Research Fellow Hubert Seiwert pointed us to an interesting CfA: Religio: Revue pro religonistiku is looking for contributors to its special issue devoted to a discussion on “The Faces and Transformations of Unbelieving: The Phenomenon of ‘Non-religion’ in the Context of Contemporary Debates”.

Deadline: 15 March 2021

The US presidential election in the context of religion and social groups

Next week, on 3 November, the presidential election of the United States of America will take place. Our Senior Research Fellow Gert Pickel and his colleague Alexander Yendell looked at the US presidential election in the context of religion and social groups and analyzed the voting behavior of U.S. Americans. They asked themselves how likely Donald Trump's deselection is and why the two candidates appeal primarily to voters who are already inclined towards them. Their text "The US election in the context of religion and social groups" was published as a blog post in the ReCentGlobe-Blog.

Gert Pickel was also recently interviewed by Leipzig University on US voting behavior and outlines here why the role of ultraconservative evangelicals is so important. We have linked the interview "Why ultraconservative Christians vote for Trump" here for you.

Event recommendation: DOK Leipzig

Once again, the time has come: Every year the famous DOK Festival – the International Leipzig Festival for Documentary and Animated Film – takes place in Leipzig. It is already in full swing and runs until 1 November. For over 60 years DOK Leipzig has been showing documentary and animated films from around the world. 

This year the festival takes place in hybrid format: In addition to the screenings in selected Leipzig cinemas, there is a Video on Demand (VoD) option, where the films are available online a little beyond the festival week. A wonderful option, we think, especially now. Tickets for the online film screenings cost 5€ (single ticket; rent for 2 days) or 50€ (season ticket). You can also pay the higher amount voluntarily for a season ticket, which will benefit the filmmakers. You can buy the tickets directly via the link in the program. 

We have taken a look at the extensive and diverse program and want to draw your attention to three films:

If you have any content that you think suits the purpose of the weekly, please feel free to send it to us at multiple-secularities@uni-leipzig.de.