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Category: Concepts & Theory

Exploring Urban Religion in Poland: The Urban Religion Archive and the Religion Urbanity Mapping Project

This post introduces the Religion Urbanity Mapping (RUM) project. It started in 2021 with a dual focus. First, to rethink the concept of urban religion; and second, to apply this reframed concept in exploring the relatedness of religion and urbanity in the post-socialist CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) context. To date, the latter focus has been overlooked by urban studies and in the study of religion…

Conference Report: Necrogeographies of the Marginal Dead

Dealing with the dead and death is a topic that attracts scholars of every period. The universal question of transitioning from one state-of-being into the other represents a basic process applicable to every human being. As we all die one day and become part of the dead, their whereabouts and treatment will eventually affect every one of us. That is why this conference’s topic Necrogeographies of the Marginal Dead has a natural attraction to it because all of us will die one day and join the ranks of the dead…

2025 Entries in “Religion & Urbanity Online”

In 2025, there were 16 new entries in the database “Religion and Urbanity Online” so far. They cover the time span from antiquity to modernity, cities as different as Aleppo, Singapore and Sens, and approach religion and urbanity from a range of disciplines, including history, anthropology, literature studies and the history of religions. Enjoy reading!

Where the Void Touches the City: Subtraction and the Sacred at the Edge of Istanbul

There is a moment, just before arrival, when Sancaklar Mosque is entirely invisible. The sunflower fields thin out. The hum of construction trucks grows louder. Then, a sharp-edged minaret (and nothing more) breaks the horizon. Everything else sinks. Following the slope; downwards instead of upwards. The city has vanished, but something else begins…

How to write the history of religion in the making?

Traditional religious historiography attempts to grasp ‘religions’ in their becoming, possibly their founding, their slow or radical changes – similar to how urban historiography undertook. This brought transformations into view that, in the extreme case, could take on their own form in the splitting and splitting off of religious groups…

Comparing World Religions?

Today, the academic study of religion in the discipline widely called Religious Studies or Religionswissenschaft has developed into a large array of thematical fields and foci, of general approaches and source-specific methods. As such it is ranging from historical and anthropological disciplines through social sciences and economics to philosophies and theologies, either conceived as a proper discipline overlapping with these other disciplines or seen as a subdiscipline to the one or other of them. What I am advocating today is the use of a term defining the traditional object of Religious Studies, namely “religion” and its use for comparison on a global scale…

Historische Vorstellungen zwischen Fiktion und Geschichtserzählung

Die eigene Arbeit am Manuskript einer globalen Religionsgeschichte unter dem Fokus von „Religion und Urbanität“ wirft nicht nur Fragen nach den Möglichkeiten und Grenzen des Vergleichs, dem Umgang mit objektsprachlichen und metasprachlichen Terminologien und der ganz praktischen Frage der Stoffauswahl auf. Sie macht auch die Frage nach dem Übergangsfeld von historischem Erzählen und Fiktion auf…

The Seasons of Maritime Life

Port towns host unique forms of urban life, and they are often seen as particularly vibrant and dynamic cities. Maritime metropolises on all continents, such as Shanghai, New York, Bombay, Hamburg or Marseille, have gained a reputation of being exceptionally busy, diverse and connected places. This is also true of maritime cities of the past, and archaeology and history tell us that historical port towns were already busy, diverse and connected places…

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…

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)।