The workshop aims to discuss the question of religion and secularity/secularism in (postcolonial) Occidentalist discourses and their critiques in the MENA region. The question of religion plays a pivotal role in both the Orientalist view of the “Orient” and the Occidentalist view of the “Occident”. While the Orientalist view is indebted to a binary perspective on religion and the secular, with stereotypical essentializations of the religious dimensions of the “Orient”, the Occidentalist view oscillates between two apparently contradictory reductions, which present the “Occident” alternatively as Christian or as secular. Furthermore, dominant Occidentalist discourses in the MENA region self-identify with Islam in a way that overlaps with Orientalist imaginaries of an essentially Islamic Orient.

Organisers:
Housamedden Darwish, Centre for Advanced Studies “Multiple Secularities”, Leipzig University • Markus Dreßler, Institute for the Study of Religions/Modern Turkish Studies, Leipzig University

This workshop will take place on 3-4 November 2022 at Leipzig University. More information on the workshop and application process can be found here and on the website. Deadline for applications is 30 March 2022.