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Wednesday Weekly 8 March 2023

Dear friends and colleagues,

Tomorrow our KFG-workshop “Who is ‘Us’: Our Culture, our Values, our Heritage and the Reconfiguration of Religion”, convened by Lori Beaman, Monika Wohlrab-Sahr and Christoph Kleine, will start and we invite you to participate. Today’s Wednesday Weekly also has several publications by KFG members for you, a video recording and a Call for Papers.

Take care and have a good week!

Anja & Lucy

REMINDER: KFG-Workshop “Who is ‘Us’: Our Culture, our Values, our Heritage and the Reconfiguration of Religion”, 9–10 March

Tomorrow, our two-day workshop on “Who is ‘Us’: Our Culture, our Values, our Heritage and the Reconfiguration of Religion” starts. Building on previous discussions of culturalization by the Multiple Secularities research group, this workshop focuses on the transubstantiation of religion to culture in countries characterized by an historical Christian majority (in some cases a consequence of colonialism) and a contemporary decline in religious affiliation.

The Workshop will take place as a hybrid event and you are welcome to attend. Please send a short inquiry including specification if you want to participate on-site or online. We will then send you the zoom link.

Workshop Dates: 9–10 March

Venue: Leipzig University | KFG “Multiple Secularities” and online via zoom

More Information and Workshop Programme

Ahmet T. Kuru’s presentation on “Secularism and Islam: A Complex Relationship from History to the Present” now on YouTube

On 22 February, we were happy to welcome Ahmet T. Kuru from San Diego State University to our colloquium. He gave a presentation on “Secularism and Islam: A Complex Relationship from History to the Present“ introducing his book on “Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment: A Global and Historical Comparison“. You can now watch the recording of his talk on Ahmet Kuru’s YouTube channel.

Watch Video

New Publication I: Ülker Sözen on “Echoes of Jin, Jiyan, Azadi in Iran and Elsewhere”

Recently, our Associate Member Ülker Sözen has given an interview to the International Research Group on Authoritarianism and Counter-Strategies, together with Nafis Fathollahzadeh, a queer feminist artist and researcher from Iranian Azerbaijan based in Berlin. They talk about the recent intersectional feminist revolution in Iran, the wave of protests that started with the murder of Jina Mahsa Amini by the morality police in September 2022, and trace important parallels between Iran and Turkey in terms of the dynamics of state violence and the power of women’s and LGBTQIA+ struggle to inspire an emancipatory social mobilization.

Read Interview

New Publication II: Horst Junginger, Katharina Neef, Wanda Alberts, and Christina Wöstemeyer on “Handbuch Religionskunde in Deutschland” (“Handbook of Religious Studies in Germany”)

Our Associate Member Horst Junginger has co-edited a “Handbook of Religious Studies in Germany”. This book analyzes non-denominational religion-related instruction in schools from the view of religious studies. The secular perspective on religious studies, which is essential for this kind of teaching, is described in an introductory section with its consequences for content and structure and is distinguished from religious and interreligious perspectives. Based on this, the situation of religious studies in Germany is analyzed in systematic-comparative, historical and state-specific chapters with a view to the changing contexts and dynamics of the state’s claim to neutrality, religious freedom, legislation and social developments.

In this context, our colleague Katharina Neef from the Institute for the Study of Religion at Leipzig University has given an interview (in German) where she reports on the main findings of the study in the book.

Alberts, Wanda, Junginger, Horst, Neef, Katharina and Wöstemeyer, Christina. Handbuch Religionskunde in Deutschland. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2023.

New Publication III: Vanya Vaidehi Bhargav and Rinku Lamba on “Negotiating Religion in South Asian-European Entanglements”

We would also like to draw your attention to the latest issue of the Interdisziplinäre Zeitschrift für Südasienforschung (Interdisciplinary Journal of South Asian Studies). A chapter focusing on "Negotiating Religion in South Asian-European Entanglements" features articles by our Senior Research Fellows Vanya Vaidehi Bhargav and Rinku Lamba.

Vanya’s article discusses “From Theology to Culture: Secularization in Lajpat Rai's ‘'Hindu Nationalism’, 1880s-1915” whereas Rinku focuses on “Engaging Bhakti as/in Translation: An Outline of a Methodological Approach to Analyzing Ranade's Views about the ‘Saints and Prophets of Maharashtra’”.

Bhargav, Vanya. “From Theology to Culture: Secularisation in Lajpat Rai’s ‘Hindu Nationalism’, 1880s–1915”. Interdisziplinäre Zeitschrift für Südasienforschung 7, no. 1 (2022): 91–127.

Lamba, Rinku: “Engaging Bhakti as/in Translation: An Outline of a Methodological Approach to Analyse Ranade’s Views about the ‘Saints and Prophets of Maharashtra’”. Interdisziplinäre Zeitschrift für Südasienforschung 7, no. 1 (2022): 128-60.

More KFG Publications

Call for Papers: Religion und Raum: Soziologische Perspektiven. Jahrestagung der Sektion Religionssoziologie der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Soziologie, 30–31 October in Bremen

The 2023 Annual Meeting of the Sociology of Religion Section of the German Sociological Association (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Soziologie) is organized by our Senior Research Fellow Marian Burchardt and Insa Pruisken from the University of Bamberg. Now the Call for Papers is open.

The conference focuses on the relationship between spatial structurations and religion: How do spatial configurations and conditions constitute religious experiences, practices, rituals, and orientations? Which spatial arrangements have a productive or obstructive effect on religious mobilization processes? How does religion shape public spaces? It also looks at methodological issues: How can religious spatial orders be compared using qualitative methods? To what extent does the exploitation of geodata or digital behavioral data enable the construction of spatial variables that could be used in quantitative research on religion?

Submission of abstracts: 30 March

Notification of acceptance: 30 April

Conference Dates: 30–31 October

Call for Papers

Panel Discussion on International Women's Day: Women and Religion

Today, 8 March, is International Women's Day (IWD). IWD is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity. This year’s campaign theme is #EmbraceEquity. Equity isn't just a nice-to-have, it's a must-have. People start from different places, so true inclusion and belonging require equitable action.

A panel discussion of the Office for Gender Equality and the Cluster of Excellence ”Religion and Politics”, of which our Senior Research Fellows Christel Gärtner and Sita Steckel are members, is taking place today at the University of Münster on the occasion of the IWD. The panel discussion will critically examine challenges to women's equality in religions.

8 March | 4.15–5.45 p.m.

More Information

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.

Kolleg-Forschungsgruppe "Multiple Secularities - Beyond the West, Beyond Modernities"
Nikolaistraße 8-10, 04109 Leipzig
Mail: multiple-secularities@uni-leipzig.de

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