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Dear friends and colleagues,

With this Wednesday Weekly, we would like to give you an update on the DVRW Annual Conference 2023. Also a little reminder about the workshop “Nourishing Values, Feeding Differences: (Religious) Foodways Compared”, which will take place from 2 to 4 March at the KFG offices. Moreover, we have a new publication by a KFG member for you and a note on another conference.

But we would like to start this Wednesday Weekly with our thoughts and compassion for those suffering from the devastating earthquakes in the border region Turkey/Syria and a direct appeal for donations.

It has been more than two weeks since major earthquakes struck the area on the border between Turkey and Syria. They were the deadliest in years. Several tens of thousands of people lost their lives, thousands are still missing under the rubble, entire villages were destroyed - in total, millions of people have been affected by the disaster. Unimaginable suffering for the people there. Two weeks later, there were again strong earth quakes in the region with devastation and deaths.

Appeal for donations for earthquake victims in Samandağ-Hatay

Our Student Assistant Aslı Özdemir, together with her siblings, is organizing a fundraising for her home region Samandağ/ Antakya which was hit hard and is right at the epicentre of the earthquakes on 20 February. Her hometown no longer exists – the peaceful ancient Antioch of minorities.

Since the earthquake has torn families apart and taken away the livelihood of so many people and help arrives far too little and far too late, this fundraising is urgently needed to make it possible for their families, friends and acquaintances to receive a good supply and to support them in their further life.

Ülker Sözen on “State and Society in Turkey after the Earthquakes: Initial Reflections”

Every day we receive new pictures of the situation in the regions struck by the earthquakes, politicians visiting, rescue teams and aid organisations in action. How are the Turkish state and civil society reacting in this unprecedented disaster situation? Our Associate Member Ülker Sözen, who is also a postdoctoral researcher in the DFG research project “Piety and Secularity Contested: Family and Youth Politics in post-Kemalist ‘New Turkey’” at Leipzig University, is currently writing a two-part essay tackling the state and civil society responses.

The first part of her essay has now been published on the website of the International Research Group on Authoritarianism and counter-strategies at Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung.

REMINDER: XXXV. DVRW Annual Conference 2023 “Under construction – Religion as Practice and Process”: Markus Dreßler with Key Note on “Religion-Making and Religionisation”, 25–28 September

In October 2022, we informed you about the list of open panels for the XXXV. DVRW Annual Conference 2023 “Under construction – Religion as Practice and Process” in Bayreuth. Until 15 March, you are still invited to submit papers for the open as well as closed panels, roundtables and panel discussions.

On of the key notes will be held by our Associate Member Markus Dreßler on the topic of “Religion-Making and Religionisation”.

Papers can be assigned to an open panel or submitted individually. For the submission of papers from closed panels, please submit the respective panel with the associated papers.

Binding registration for the conference is possible from 1 April.

Everything about the conference is available on the conference website. If you have any questions, you can also contact the conference’s organizers via e-mail.  

Timeline

Submission closed panels, roundtables/discussion panels: 15 March

Confirmation closed panels, roundtables/discussion panels: 31 March

Start of registration: 1 April

Conference Dates: 25–28 September

New Publication: Housamedden Darwish on “The Pioneering Formulation of the Concepts of Secularity and Secularism in the Arab-Islamicate World(s): Butrus al-Bustani’s The Clarion of Syria”

We would like to draw your attention to the latest publication by our Associate Senior Researcher Housamedden Darwish. In his article on “The Pioneering Formulation of the Concepts of Secularity and Secularism in the Arab-Islamicate World(s): Butrus al-Bustani’s The Clarion of Syria”, he critically discusses the pioneering formulation of secularity and secularism in the Arab-Islamicate world(s) found in Butrus al-Bustani’s The Clarion of Syria (1860–1861). This paper provides a conceptual analysis of secularity, secularism, and secularization, highlighting the differences between them, as well as the epistemological and methodological requirements for drawing a distinction between them in modern and contemporary Arab thought. It also reflects on the linguistic and historical context, looking at the concepts of secularity and secularism in Arab thought prior to al-Bustani’s The Clarion of Syria.

REMINDER: Workshop “Nourishing Values, Feeding Differences: (Religious) Foodways Compared”, 2–4 March at Leipzig University

We would like to remind you of the workshop on “Nourishing Values, Feeding Differences: (Religious) Foodways Compared”, organized by the Institute for the Study of Religion at Leipzig University. The workshop, which will take place from 2–4 March, seeks to explore how religion is related to human nutrition in a transregional and cross-cultural historical perspective. Conveners of the workshop are our Associate Members Jörg Albrecht, Bernadett Bigalke and Thomas Krutak as well as our colleague Nikolas Broy.

If you would like to attend, please contact Jörg Albrecht. The public evening lecture can be attended without prior registration.

Workshop Dates: 2–4 March

Leipzig University | KFG “Multiple Secularities”, Strohsackpassage, room 4.55, Nikolaistraße 8-10, 04109 Leipzig

Conference on “Structuring Diversity: Structuring Religion”, 30 March–1 April

Last September, we announced the Call for Papers for the international conference on “Structuring Diversity - Structuring Religion: Religious Diversity and Human Heterogeneity in Society”, taking place from 30 March to 1 April at the University of Lucerne and online. The conference aims to investigate “diversity” as a term in the study of religions, and thus develop the field’s “critical diversity literacy” (Steyn and Dankwa 2021).

Religion can be addressed as one of the many diversity categories, that organise groups, power and knowledge within a society. At the same time, bodily and social differences interact with religious contexts that are themselves diverse. By linking those topics, the conference contributes to a better understanding of social differences and inequalities caused or addressed by religions in a globalized world.

You are welcome to join the conference and discussions as a listener.

Registration is open until 10 March.  

Conference Dates: 30 March–1 April

Hybrid format | University of Lucerne and Online

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.