Religion in the Study of Culture
The Emerging Topic Working Group aims to:
- a) encourage interdisciplinary and international exchange to gain a vista on intersections of religion and culture; to explore aspects of religion as an instance of cultural meaning and constellation.
- b) engage with the role of sacred sites, ritual practices, personal and collective convictions as well as the importance of powerful imagery in myths, sacred texts, material and visual culture as well as cultural memory.
- c) engage with historical processes of medialization, de-institutionalization and the democratization of religious beliefs, symbols, and practices; to shed light on the contemporary role of religion and on the diverse and sometimes contradictory valuations of religion within cultural studies.
- d) understand the various (symbolic) interpenetrations between the religious sphere and other societal realms, such as pop-culture, politics, and economy.
Projects
Members of the Emerging Topic Research Group- Religion & Culture are engaged in national and international collaborations. Projects are undertaken in close cooperation with the GCSC RAs and GGK AGs (most recently with RAs 6 and 7). In cooperation with the AG “Identities of Eastern Europe” the group has organized a workshop in January 2014 on religion and public sphere in post-Soviet Russia. In May 2018, the research group organized an international symposium on the concept of "Sacred Space" held at the GCSC. Most recently, we have been working on the topic of religion, violence, and nationalism.
Publication Project 'Sacred Spaces: Cultural Dynamics, Interdisciplinary Perspectives', Special Issue Saeculum: Jahrbuch für Universalgeschichte 71/2 (2021)
This symposium promoted the concept of “sacred space(s)” as a point of entry for bringing together recent theoretical work on space and place with the study of culture and the study/anthropology of religion. Furthermore, the symposium explored the changing, and at times conflicting, imaginations of the “sacred” and their role in the making and unmaking of specific spatial configurations and features in past and present contexts. The goal of the symposium was twofold: first, it aimed at fostering an interdisciplinary dialogue in the study of spatial(izing) formations of the “sacred” and its cultural dynamics. Second, by focusing on the multiple layers, inner frictions and dynamics of “sacred space(s)”, it attempted to challenge an analytical vocabulary that is based on conventional dichotomies such as religious/secular, traditional/modern or sacred/profane. For further information, list of participants, and booklet see the conference webpage.
During the past semesters, the Research Group (co-)organized and participated in a number of research events
- Master Class by Prof. Ebrahim Moosa on "Critical Islam" (16.12.2019)
- International Symposium "Conceptualizing Sacred Spaces" (23.-25. Mai 2018, GCSC)
- Keynote Lecture by Prof. Daniel Weidner: "Culture and the Afterlife of Religion: Concepts of Secularization Today" (21.01.2016)
- Reading Retreat on "Sacred/Secular Space" (21.01.2016)
- Research Workshop with Prof. Chriss Hann: "Religion, Collective Identity and the Public Sphere After Socialism" (21.01.2015)
- Research Workshop with Dr. Kerstin Hofmann on "Sakrale Räume: Mediale Praktiken und Markierungen" (18.12.2014)
Participating Scholars
Former Participating Scholars
Josephine Karg, MA
Eva-Maria Müller, MA
Galina Novikova, MA
Dr. Johanna Scherb
Prof. Dr. Matthias Schmidt
Mareike Zapp, MA
Contact
If you are interested in the work of our research group, if you would like to join us, have ideas for an event, a cooperation, or any questions, please contact us. We are looking forward to the exchange with you: