If the newsletter does not display properly, please click here.

alt_text

Wednesday Weekly 29 June 2022

 

Dear friends and colleagues,

While our colloquium is taking a short break, we are happy to announce the next event in our lecture series on “Material Secularities” this Thursday.

We also have two new publications by KFG members for you, as well as a recommendation for a discussion with KFG participation and a Call for Papers.

Enjoy and have a good week!

Anja

 
alt_text

Public Lecture: Yee Lak Elliot Lee on “Mosque Properties and Muslim Graveyards in the Pearl River Delta: Appropriated Physical Space”, 30 June

As part of the seminar and lecture series “Material Secularities: Interdisciplinary Perspectives”, Yee Lak Elliot Lee will give a talk on “Mosque Properties and Muslim Graveyards in the Pearl River Delta: Appropriated Physical Space” on 30 June. In this lecture, he approaches the question of religion and space from the meso-level of the tangible recreation of social space. By looking into the historical upkeeping of mosque properties and Muslim cemeteries in the city of Guangzhou, Elliot invites the audience to consider the different strategies of spatial appropriation employed by Hui (Sinophone) Muslims in the urban social landscape.


The lecture series is organised by our Senior Researchers Magnus Echtler and Nur Yasemin Ural together with our Senior Research Fellow Katharina Wilkens. It is open to all interested parties.


30 June | 5–7 p.m. (CET)

Leipzig University | Seminar building, Room S 403 and online via zoom



    Full Programme Lecture Series    
 
alt_text

New Publication I: Vanya Vaidehi Bhargav on “Hindu Politics in Service of Secularism”

We are happy to announce the next publication in our Working Paper series: In her paper on “Hindu Politics in Service of Secularism”, our Senior Research Fellow Vanya Vaidehi Bhargav explores the political thought during the 1920s of Lala Lajpat Rai (1865–1928), a prominent anti-colonial nationalist. It outlines the historical context under which a secular politics became vital for Rai, and elaborates the intricate internal texture of his complex, often fluid vision of secularism. The paper also explores the theoretical implications of Rai’s dynamic position, illustrating how Lajpat Rai simultaneously articulated both a Hindu communal politics and a vision of secularism. By so doing, it challenges the long-drawn strict dichotomy between Hindu politics or Hindu ‘communalism’ and Indian secularism. Yet, the paper also pushes back against revisionist scholarship which, in challenging assumptions of strict mutual exclusivity between Indian secularism and Hindu communalism, has tended to overlook and undermine meaningful distinctions that still exist between these categories.


Bhargav, Vanya Vaidehi. “Hindu Politics in Service of Secularism.” Working Paper Series of the CASHSS “Multiple Secularities – Beyond the West, Beyond Modernities” 25. Leipzig University, 2022.


    Full Paper    
 
alt_text

New Publication II: Rajeev Bhargava on “Politics, Ethics and the Self: Re-Reading Gandhi's Hind Swaraj”

We would also like to draw your attention to the latest publication by our Senior Research Fellow Rajeev Bhargava, entitled “Politics, Ethics and the Self: Re-Reading Gandhi's Hind Swaraj”. The book critically engages with Hind Swaraj and explores the fascinating and subtle dialogue set up by Gandhi between the characters of the reader and the editor. The volume looks at themes such as Gandhi on epistemic servitude, decolonization and intercultural translation; his complex critique of modern civilization; his views on the empire, democracy, citizenship and violence; the normative structure of Ghandian thought; Gandhi and the political praxis of educational reconstruction and how to read this text. 


Bhargava, Rajeev. Politics, Ethics and the Self: Re-Reading Gandhi's Hind Swaraj. London: Routledge India, 2022.



    More KFG Publications    
 
alt_text

Discussion with Hubert Seiwert on his article “Theory of Religion and Historical Research. A Critical Realist Perspective on the Study of Religion as an Empirical Discipline”, 6 July

In November 2020, our Permanent Senior Research Fellow Hubert Seiwert published an article on “Theory of Religion and Historical Research. A Critical Realist Perspective on the Study of Religion as an Empirical Discipline”. His article evoked various reactions, both affirmative and critical. In a later issue, five responses addressed some important aspects of that engagement with the article, and Hubert added a concluding response to his critics.

Now the article will again be the occasion for a discussion with the author, this time at the Institute for the Study of Religions at Leipzig University. The session is part of the master seminar “Materialist and Constructivist Approaches in the Study of Religion”, co-taught by Elliot Lee and our Associate Member Markus Dreßler.

 

6 July | 5.15–6.45 p.m. (CET)

Leipzig University | Institute for the Study of Religions, Schillerstraße 6, Room M 102

 
alt_text

Call for Papers: International Conference on “Nature Religions, Science and Technology”, University of Groningen, 22–23 September

We would like to point to this Call for Papers for a conference on “Nature Religions, Science and Technology”, co-organised by the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Groningen and The Institute for Philosophical Studies, Science and Research Centre of Koper/Slovenia, taking place 22–23 September.

This conference seeks to strengthen neglected areas in the interdisciplinary field of religion, science, and technology by introducing original research on the approaches to science and technology in, or related to, pantheism, animism and paganism—especially (but not exclusively) in their ‘Western’ forms. Papers focusing on philosophical, theological and religious studies perspectives (sociology of religion, anthropology of religion, history of ideas, and others) are also welcome.

The deadline to apply to present at the conference with paper titles and abstracts (max. 300 words) is 5 August. Abstracts and questions can be addressed to the members of the organising committee, Gorazd Andrejč and Victoria Dos Santos.

 

Deadline for abstract submission: 5 August

Notification of acceptance: 12 August

Conference dates: 22–23 September

 

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

If you would like to unsubscribe from this newsletter, please click here.