Short Abstract

This panel looks at the contribution of Anthropology to our understanding of secularism, atheism and non-religion in diverse contexts. It invites especially papers based on long-term ethnographic research on lived forms of secularity that aim to move beyond established paradigms and perspectives.

Long Abstract

While Anthropology focused traditionally on the study of the 'religious', be it in form of ritual, mysticism, or organised forms of piety, there have recently been a number of interesting advances in the study of non-religion, secularism, atheism, humanism, and secularity.

This panel assumes that ethnographic approaches can contribute fresh perspectives and hitherto neglected aspects to debates on secularism, secularity, and non-religiosity that have been long dominated by sociologists, historians, and other social sciences, being often characterised by Eurocentric perspectives and categories. This panel engages with secular activism, 'lived forms of secularity', and the complex social dynamics around 'atheism' ethnographically 'in and beyond Europe' - while critically reflecting on the 'The West and the Rest' paradigm that still underlies many of the hegemonic debates in this field.

What does being 'secular' mean in different contexts and to which extent is the secular-religious terminology with its colonial and Euro-Christian legacy useful? Why are people in various contexts so strongly committed to what is perceived as 'secularism' and how does concomitant activism and claims-making intersect with various kinds of other forms of politics and political structures? What are the people we call non-religious are rejecting and constructing as their 'Other'?

By investigating these empirical questions ethnographically in different socio-political, vernacular, and geographic contexts, this panel attempts to contribute also to more general discussions, such as the relationship between 'the political' and '(non-)religion', the discipline's (post)colonial legacies, and the possible role(s) of Anthropology in highly charged and politicised debates.