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Dear friends and colleagues,

The month of September is coming to an end and with it, we are saying goodbye to two of our Fellows. Next week we will continue with our colloquium – this time with our Senior Research Fellow Dietrich Jung. Furthermore, we would like to draw your attention to new publications by KFG Fellows and to an international conference with KFG participation.

We have announcements regarding the DVRW Annual Conference 2023 and a note about the German Unity Day on 3 October.

Enjoy and have a good week!

Anja & Lucy

Monday, 3 October 2022: German Unity Day and National Holiday

We would like to remind you that next Monday, 3 October, is German Unity Day and National Day. This means, among other things, that stores will be closed on this day and we will not be in the office either (which of course does not mean that you will not have access to the office if you need or want to). However, we will start the work week on Tuesday.

Next week’s colloquium: Dietrich Jung on “Boundary Negotiations between Islam and Economics: Islamic Finance, Halal Products, and the Muslim Entrepreneur”, 5 October

Next Wednesday, our Senior Research Fellow Dietrich Jung will give a presentation on “Boundary Negotiations between Islam and Economics: Islamic Finance, Halal Products, and the Muslim Entrepreneur”. The topic is part of his forthcoming book on “Islamic Modernities in World Society: The Rise, Spread, and Fragmentation of a Hegemonic Idea”.

The colloquium will take place in a hybrid format (on-site and online). If you would like to join in person, please register for the colloquium via e-mail. In the Member Area you will find the relevant readings as well as information on the zoom connection data.

5 October | 9.15–11.45 a.m. (CET)

Strohsack, Room 4.55 and online via Zoom

Farewell to Fellows

At the end of this month, we have to say goodbye to two of our Senior Research Fellows.

Sita Steckel, Associate Professor for the History of the High and Late Middle Ages as well as Principal Investigator at the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” at the University of Münster, joined us in April and worked on her project “A critical assessment of the role of the European Middle Ages for the emergence of specific concepts of secularity”.

Christel Gärtner, Professor at the Cluster of Excellence “Religion and Politics” at the University of Münster and Principal Investigator for the Graduate School RePliR (“Regulating Religious Plurality in the Region”), also joined our KFG in April and contributed with her research project on “Secularity as a point of reference in how people position themselves biographically”.

Dear Sita and Christel, we thank you for your contributions. It was a pleasure working with you and we are looking forward to further opportunities to collaborate.

International Conference on “Secularism/Laicity and Secularization: American Origins of a Distinction”, Mexico City, 28–29 September

We would like to draw your attention to an international conference entitled “Secularism/Laicity and Secularization: American Origins of a Distinction”, coordinated by our Senior Research Fellow Roberto Blancarte, taking place today and tomorrow. The seminar is part of the VII International Week of Secular Culture on “Secularism and contemporary sociopolitical challenges: A discussion agenda” from 26–29 September at the Centro de Estudios Sociológicos, El Colegio de México. The conference can also be viewed as YouTube livestream.

Our Director Monika Wohlrab-Sahr, our Research Coordinator Johannes Duschka, our Research Coordination Counsellor Judith Zimmermann and our Associate Member Florian Zemmin will contribute on-site with a panel on the topic of “Theoretical and methodological advances in the ‘Multiple Secularities’ project” today at 4.30 p.m. (CET). 

This international seminar is proposed as a continuation of the reflections initiated by our KFG. Thus, it is intended to establish a dialogue from America (specially emphasizing Latin America) and the KFG, with a double purpose: (a) contribute with non–central academic perspectives (until now, most of secularization “theories” come from the North Atlantic); and (b) locate clues (by texts, images, symbols, and any other representation) which allow to suggest the possible American origins of distinction and differentiation between the religious and the non–religious.

28 September

4.00–4.30 p.m. (CET): Inaugural session

4.30–6.30 p.m. (CET): Panel “Theoretical and methodological advances in the ‘Multiple Secularities’ project”

7.00–9.00 p.m. (CET): Panel “Pre–Hispanic societies: Did they know social differentiation?”

Sala Alfonso Reyes, El Colegio de México AND Online via YouTube  

29 September

4.30–6.30 p.m. (CET): Panel “Colonial and Viceroyal societies: secularization in the encounter of cultures”

7.00–9.00 p.m. (CET): Panel “The 19th century: Secular/Lay State and secular society?”

Sala Alfonso Reyes, El Colegio de México AND Online via YouTube

Call for Open Panels: XXXV. DVRW Annual Conference 2023 “Under construction – Religion as Practice and Process”, until 30 September

From 25–28 September 2023, the XXXV. Annual Conference of the German Association for the Study of Religion (DVRW) will take place and already today, we would like to point to this Call for Open Panels. The conference’s organizers invite to propose thematically appropriate open panels under the title “Under Construction –Religion as Practice and Process” by 30 September. The central focus is not on the constructs themselves, but rather on the (work) processes and actors involved, on the agencies, materialities and forces that continually manufacture – or seek to manufacture – what is or should be considered religion in specific social contexts.

Panels can be submitted in three formats: open panels, for which contributions can be made from 15 October; closed panels, for which the contributions and participants are already determined and submitted in advance, and round-tables/discussion panels as a format with several contributors instead of standalone contributions. Time slots for all formats are 90 minutes long. For any question regarding the DVRW Conference, please send an e-mail.  

Submission of Open Panels by 30 September

Confirmation by 15 October   

Submission of Closed Panels and Round-tables/discussion panels by 15 March 2023

Confirmation by 31 March 2023

Conference Dates: 25–28 September 2023

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.