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Religion and Urbanity: Reciprocal Formations Blog

Workshop: Necrogeographies of the Marginal Dead (15-16 May 2025)

Critical studies of death (thanatology) have illuminated how human societies organize spaces of burial according to gender, race, class, sexual preference, and religion. Informed by these works “Necrogeographies of the Marginal Dead” introduces how studies of death, especially of persons within groups excluded from systems of power in the living world, illuminate how the structures of power exceed life extending into the afterlives of the dead…

Urban life in a Roman military camp? Two examples from Switzerland: Vindonissa and Augusta Raurica

A Roman military camp, also known as a castellum or castrum, was a fortified place where soldiers lived and trained. The camps were located wherever the Roman Empire expanded and reached or created borders. They formed the starting point for military actions or were themselves the site of battles. Through their presence, the soldiers influenced the economy and the settlement area in the conquered territories. Many towns were founded by the Romans and still exist today.

एक बाजार का वर्णन कैसे किया जा सकता है? एक पहला प्रयास: कालीकट के “बिग बाजार” में भ्रमण

अप्रैल 2019 में, जब मैंने हमारे साझेदार विश्वविद्यालय, कन्नूर  में एक भाषण देने के निमंत्रण को स्वीकार किया, तो मैंने अपने प्रवास को हमारे शोध परियोजना “धर्म और शहरीकरण: परस्पर संरचनाएं” पर प्रारंभिक ऑन-साइट अनुसंधान के साथ जोड़ा। मुझे पूर्वकालिक आभास था कि मैं पश्चिम भारतीय तटीय शहरों में क्या जांच करना चाहती हूं। किसी भी ऐतिहासिक अनुसंधान प्रश्न की तरह, मैं पहले यह जांचना चाहती थी कि क्या आवश्यक स्रोत मेरे प्रश्नों का उत्तर देने के लिए उपलब्ध हैं – खासकर जब यह एक पूरी तरह से नया क्षेत्र है जिसकी मैं वर्तमान में खोज कर रही हूँ। इसलिए मैंने अपने प्रवास का उपयोग केरल में संग्रहालयों, पुस्तकालयों और अभिलेखागारों का दौरा करने और मौजूदा वस्तुओं और ग्रंथों का अवलोकन प्राप्त करने के लिए किया। मेरे दौरों में से एक, मुझे कन्नूर से कालीकट (या, जैसा कि इसे राष्ट्रीय भाषा में कहा जाता है: कोड़िकोड) ले गए। चूंकि मैं तीन घंटे की बस यात्रा (क़ीमत लगभग 90 सेंट) के रोमांच को दोहराना नहीं चाहती थी, इसलिए मैंने 12 अप्रैल 2019 के लिए वातानुकूलित ट्रेन के डिब्बे में टिकट खरीदा (लगभग 7 यूरो में और केवल दो घंटे की सवारी)।

Summer School: Performing Religion in the City – Urban Spaces, Interactions and Media

The concept of “Performing Religion in the City – Urban Spaces, Interactions and Media” refers to the manner in which religious practices and expressions occur and are experienced in urban environments. Erfurt will serve as a starting point for this exploration. This approach examines the interaction between religion and urbanity and the role that urban spaces play in shaping religious identities and communities through the material and digital spaces…

शौचालय करते हैं शहरीकरण ?!

बड़े सार्वजनिक चौकों में सुंदर फव्वारे, शानदार स्नानगृह और बड़ी बावड़ियाँ ही शहरी जीवन की निशानी नहीं हैं। शौचालय भी शहरी और सुसंस्कृत जीवन का हिस्सा हो सकते हैं, आज हम यही देखने वाले हैं तीन अलग-अलग समय और स्थानों के प्रसिद्ध शहरों के उदाहरण से – प्राचीन रोम का शहर आखन, मध्यकालीन  स्पेन का मदीना अल-ज़हरा, और अंत में हड़प्पा सभ्यता के शहर। (शहरी दक्षिण एशिया में ऐतिहासिक जल स्थानों पर मेरे काम पर, यहां दी गई ग्रंथसूची सूची देखें और मैक्स वेबर सेंटर के साथ मेरी प्रोफ़ाइल देखें)।

Walking through the streets of Calicut (IV)

For a long time now, I’ve wanted to walk the streets of Calicut again. During my last visits (in March 2023 and January 2024), I didn’t really get around to it because I was in Feroke (on the southern bank of the Chaliyar river) for most of the time. Only once did I allow myself to drive into the city for a few hours to stock up on spices. I usually take an auto rickshaw (or tuk tuk), an incredulous choice for my fellow Indians. Couldn’t I, the European, afford a proper taxi?…

An early modern representation of the square augmented city in M. Eruvin 5:1 from the Surenhuys Latin tAn early modern representation of the square augmented city in M. Eruvin 5:1 from the Surenhuys Latin translation of the Mishnahranslation of the Mishnah

Podcast: Making New Faith In/Visible

On 6 and 7 June 2024, the “Religion and Urbanity” research group held an international workshop in Erfurt entitled “Making New Faith In/Visible.” Bringing together scholars from a range of disciplines, the workshop delved into the critical, yet often underexplored question of how religious movements negotiate their visibility—or invisibility—within urban settings…

13th City Walk on Urban and Religious Spaces of Knowledge

On 16th October 2024 we delved into hidden treasures and fascinating Spaces of Knowledge in a city walk excellently prepared by Aileen Becker and Constanze Schaller. As always, the event presented a joyful opportunity to learn more about Erfurt’s history and topography and get to know other members of the KFG better. During the tour, the question of accessibility to Spaces of Knowledge emerged as a common thread.

“Borders” at the Körber Foundation

„Borders“ (Grenzen) is the topic of this year history competition of the state president of Germany by the Körber Foundation (Netzwerktagung zum Geschichtswettbewerb des Bundespräsidenten 2024/2025). To kick start the event, Sara Keller and Sebastian Dorsch have been invited to give an impulse talk at the preparatory workshop of the Körber Foundation…

Emiliano Rubens Urciuoli publishes habilitation thesis: Citifying Jesus

Religion and urban life are the most successful strategies of handling, enhancing, and capitalizing on human sociability. By integrating religious studies, archaeology, and spatial theory, Emiliano Rubens Urciuoli aims to re-describe the formation of Christ religion as urban religion. Spanning almost four centuries of Christian literature from Paul to Augustine, the author shows that several characteristics commonly attributed to Christ religion are, in fact, outcomes of the distinct ways in which religious agents enact urbanity and interact with the urban space.

Apocalyptic Amritsar: Destruction, Creation and Trans-Urbanity

When visiting Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) in the Panjabi city of Amritsar in India, it is virtually impossible to not notice bullet marks and other signs of destruction preserved in the gateways, walls and columns around the central sanctum sanctorum in the middle of the holy pool, sarovar.