Religion, politics and the postsecular city

[i]Conference [/i] 12-15 November 2008 Groningen, The Netherlands With support from the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) Chairs: Justin Beaumont, Spatial Sciences, University of Groningen, The Netherlands Arie L. Molendijk, Theology and Religious Studies, University of Groningen, The Netherlands Confirmed speakers include: James A. Beckford, Professor Emeritus of Sociology, University of Warwick, UK Paul Cloke, Geography, University of Exeter, UK Harvey G. Cox, Harvard Divinity School, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, US Kim Knott, Theology and Religious Studies, University of Leeds, UK David Martin, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, UK Birgit Meyer, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Free University Amsterdam, The Netherlands Edward W. Soja, Urban Planning, University of California at Los Angeles, US Theme: Claims are increasingly made these days about the possibilities of religions in general and faith-based organizations (FBOs) in particular, for tackling social and political issues such as poverty, injustice, discrimination, and racism. The Economist recently devoted a special report to religion and public life across the globe. Combined with recent governments in the US and the UK revalorizing FBOs and “faith communities” in matters of social policy, urban regeneration and social cohesion in state-regulated urban policies, the European public sphere is dense with unresolved questions about the ways religions are imbricated in the social and political concerns of the day. Despite these developments contemporary relations between religion, politics and urban societies remain poorly understood. The conference brings together scholars from a variety of disciplines to theorize the changing and mutually constitutive relations between religion, politics and urban societies in ways that transcend the urban as merely built environment and physical form. The primary focus is relations between the ascendancy of public religions, deprivatization of religions and theorizations of modernity and modernities to gain sense of the postsecular city, with the closely related and more empirically relevant role of FBOs in tackling social and political issues in across various cities today. International publications are envisaged from the event. A number of seats are available for non-speaking participants and the closing date for registration is: 27 October 2008. Registration fee which includes coffee/tea and conference materials: regular rate (€100), (PhD) student rate (€25) For further information please contact Ms. M. Wubbolts ([url=mailto:m.r.b.wubbolts@rug.nl]m.r.b.wubbolts@rug.nl[/url])