Academic workshop on
Belief in Solidarity
11 – 13 December 2023
University of Antwerp, Belgium
On 11-13 December 2023, UCSIA, the Urban Studies Institute (University of Antwerp) and Centre Pieter Gillis (University of Antwerp) organize an academic workshop at the University of Antwerp on interdisciplinary perspectives on the role of religiously inspired solidarity in modernizing and post-secular contexts.
In this workshop, we aim to discuss the role of faith and religious inspiration in organizing solidarity in contemporary superdiverse and post-secular urbanized societies as well as in secularizing societies from the nineteenth century on. We proceed from the observation that religiously inspired or faith-based organizations have played and continue to play a significant role in offering social support and protection to vulnerable groups. However, these organizations do not sit easily in their intellectual and political-ideological context. While religiously inspired solidarity is driven by inner motives and personal faith, in the historical development of European welfare states, solidarity has become institutionalized as a set of impersonal redistributive mechanisms such as paying taxes and social contributions.
Relatedly, solidarity practices based on faith and religion can come into conflict with the political-philosophical standards and values of modern welfare regimes. Within the territorial context of nation states and against the backdrop of nation states conceived as ‘imagined communities’, access to social services is based on the idea of social rights, justice and equality and conditional on neutral criteria related to citizenship. While faith-based forms of solidarity can potentially lead to less calculated, more disinterested and less reciprocal forms of solidarity, they are often perceived as being at odds with what we call ‘modernity’.
The aim of our workshop is to unpack this tension in an interdisciplinary way. Both in the past and today the practices and views of religiously inspired people were both challenged by and related to the development of such ‘modern’ concepts and standards as equality, neutrality, human rights and democracy. This urges us to confront empirical insights from history and sociology with the normative views of political philosophy. We expect the presentations to concentrate on the historical and present-day interaction between, on one hand, religiously inspired and faith-based practices of solidarity and, on the other, the secular and modernizing context and the development of (European) welfare regimes.
Our workshop hopes to contribute to ‘de-naturalizing’ the dominant conceptions of solidarity and to transcending the taken-for-granted binary of secular versus religious. Thematically, we will contribute to discussions about the ‘post-secular’ condition, the strengths and weaknesses of the (European) welfare state, and the role of civil society and grassroots organizations in it. We also welcome comparative contributions from non-European contexts and/or on religious institutionalization.
Some of the questions central to the workshop are:
-
Were/are faith-based acts of solidarity driven by a spiritual (and borderless) ‘love of neighbour’ or not, and what does this imply for the relations between giver and receiver? How was/is the relevant community conceived, how did that differ from and/or interact with the territorial and rights-based logic of the welfare state? In which practices of inclusion and exclusion does/did it result?
-
How do/did faith-based forms of solidarity interact with the ‘modernizing’ context? Were/are the former more based on paternalistic relationships, as is often argued from an historical point of view? Did/do the organizations have proselytizing goals, and did/do they perhaps exclude non-believers? If so, how did/does this square with such notions as emancipation and empowerment or ideas such as fairness and justice?
Confirmed Keynote Speakers
Anne Birgitta Pessi
Professor of Church and Social Studies, University of Helsinki
Anne Birgitta Pessi is a member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters since 2012 and has been working in various international research projects, such as the EU-funded project “Welfare and Values in Europe” (2006-2009). She directed a vast multidisciplinary project CoPassion (The Revolutionary Power of Compassion, www.copassion.fi), from 2015 to 2017. She has directed Academy of Finland funded research projects RiTS (Religion in Transforming Solidarity, in 2008-2011), CoCare (Cooperation in Care – meaning systems, chances, and conflicts, in 2014-2018) and also worked as a Senior Research Member on the project “Church in Today´s European Society” (2011-2015). Pessi’s research interests cover particularly volunteering, altruism, civil society, togetherness, church social work and experiences of good life, as well as individualized religiosity.
Sigrun Kahl
Assistant Professor of Political Science and Sociology, Yale University
Sigrun Kahl studies how long-term comparative historical factors such as religion shape current policies and institutions for addressing, among other things, poverty, unemployment, education, and abortion. She is co-director of the MacMillan Center Initiative on Religion, Politics, and Society and co-runs the Yale Political Science Department’s Comparative Politics Workshop. She is currently completing two book manuscripts: Just Deserts: The Moral Economy of Welfare in Europe and the United States, which develops a theory of the welfare state as a system of reciprocity in which each benefit institutionalizes particular individual rights and responsibilities and Poverty and Eternity: How Religion Shapes Assistance to the Poor, from Early Church to Modern Welfare State, which investigates where these striking cross-national variations in deservingness come from.
Stijn Oosterlynck
Associate Professor in Urban Sociology, University of Antwerp
Stijn Oosterlynck is Associate Professor in Urban Sociology at the University of Antwerp, Sociology department. He is the chair of the Centre for Research on Environmental and Social Change (CRESC, formerly OASeS) and the Antwerp Urban Studies Institute. He teaches courses on urban studies, poverty and social inequality. His research is concerned with local social innovation and welfare state restructuring, the political sociology of urban development, urban renewal and community building, new forms of solidarity in diversity and urban diversity policies.
Preliminary Programme
Monday
11 December 2023
8.00 – 9.30 pm UTC+1
Public lecture
City Campus, University of Antwerp
Hof van Liere, de Tassis room
Prinsstraat 13
Antwerp
Tuesday
12 December 2023
9.00 am UTC+1
City Campus, University of Antwerp
Hof van Liere, Elsschot room
Welcome
by Urban Studies Institute, Centre Pieter Gilles (University of Antwerp) & UCSIA
9.10 am UTC+1
1. Conceptions and Discourses on Solidarity in Challenging Contexts
Introduction by chair Bert De Munck (University of Antwerp)
9.15 am UTC+1
Introductory lecture
10.00 am UTC+1
Q & A
10.30 am UTC+1
Coffee Break
11.00 am UTC+1
Paper Presentations Panel I
1.00 pm UTC+1
Lunch
2.00 pm UTC+1
2. Dealing with Geographic Mobility in Territorial Welfare Regimes
Introduction by chair Michiel Van Dam (University of Antwerp)
2.15 pm UTC+1
Introductory lecture
3.00 pm UTC+1
Q & A
3.30 pm UTC+1
Coffee Break
4.00 pm UTC+1
Paper Presentations Panel II
6.00 pm UTC+1
End of Day Programme
7.00 pm UTC+1
Conference Dinner
Wednesday
13 December 2023
9.00 am UTC+1
City Campus, University of Antwerp
Hof van Liere, Elsschot room
3. The Politics of Faith-Based and Religiously Inspired Solidarity
Introduction by chair Stijn Oosterlynck (University of Antwerp)
9.15 am UTC+1
Introductory lecture
10.00 am UTC+1
Q & A
10.30 am UTC+1
Coffee Break
11.00 am UTC+1
Paper Presentations Panel III
1.00 pm UTC+1
Lunch
2.00 pm UTC+1
4. Building Religious and Post-Secular Bridges in the Urban Spatial Landscape
Introduction by chair Patrick Loobuyck (University of Antwerp)
2.15 pm UTC+1
Introductory lecture
3.00 pm UTC+1
Q & A
3.30 pm UTC+1
Coffee Break
4.00 pm UTC+1
Paper Presentations Panel IV
6.00 pm UTC+1
End of Day Programme
Organisers
Bert De Munck, Urban Studies Institute, University of Antwerp
Erik De Bom, Deputy Director, UCSIA
Patrick Loobuyck, Centre Pieter Gillis, University of Antwerp
Stijn Oosterlynck, Centre for Research on Environmental and Social Change & Urban Studies Institute, University of Antwerp
Barbara Segaert, Project Coordinator Europe & Solidarity, UCSIA
Michiel Van Dam, Centre for Research on Environmental and Social Change, University of Antwerp
Kaat Wils, Research Group Cultural History Since 1750, KU Leuven
Contact
Gilke Gunst, Project Coordinator Religion, Culture & Society, UCSIA
E | gilke.gunst@ucsia.be
T | +32 (0) 3 265 95 67
UCSIA vzw
University Centre Saint-Ignatius Antwerp
Practical details
Date & Time
Academic workshop: 11-13 December 2023
Public lecture: 11 December 2023, 8.00 – 9.30 pm UTC+1
Venue
University of Antwerp
City Campus – Hof van Liere
Prinsstraat 13 & 13 B, 2000 Antwerp
BELGIUM
Travelling to Antwerp from Abroad
International trains
Antwerp Central Station offers direct railway connections to Amsterdam Centraal, London St Pancreas International, Paris Nord and Köln Hauptbahnhof.
This makes the train a comfortable and green way to travel to Antwerp from many larger cities in the Netherlands, Great-Britain, France and Germany.
We recommend you to order your train tickets as soon as possible, because prices increase in time. The earlier you book, the cheaper your trip. Ticket sales open three to six months in advance, depending on the trainline operator.
When you arrive in Antwerp Central Station, take a minute to look around you. Many travel guides have rated it as one of the most beautiful stations in the world.
Brussels National Airport
Brussels National Airport in Zaventem is the most travelled airport in Belgium. If you are coming by plane, you will most likely arrive here.
The Airport Express is a direct coach service that runs every hour (3 a.m.-12 p.m.) between Brussels Airport and Antwerp Central Station. The ride takes about 45 minutes. You can find the bus stop at park P15, close to the terminal. The covered walkway leads you automatically to and from the terminal.
There is also a direct train connection (twice an hour) between Brussels Airport and Antwerp Central Station. The approximate travel time is 32 minutes. The airport train station is located below the terminal (basement level -1). Keep your train ticket at hand upon arrival at Brussels Airport. You will need to scan it at the automated access gates.
More information:
www.brusselsairport.be/
Antwerp City Airport
Antwerp Airport is a small airport located in Deurne at a mere seven kilometers from the city centre of Antwerp. It covers a selection of mostly European destinations such as London Southend, Florence, Innsbruck, Malaga, Split, Toulon, …
The easiest way to travel to the city centre is by taxi (15 min, € 15).
You can also take public transport, but there is no direct service. Take bus 51, 52 or 53 directly in front of the airport building to Antwerp-Berchem railway station in 10 minutes, where you can take bus 21 and 32 or tram 9 and 11 to Rooseveltplaats (Roosevelt Square), near Antwerp Central Station.
More information:
www.antwerpairport.aero
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
Another option is the international airport in our neighbour’s capital: Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Especially for long distance flights, it is an alternative worth looking into. Your journey could turn out significantly cheaper and/or shorter.
There is a direct train connection between Schiphol Airport and Antwerp Central Station every hour. The estimated travel time is under an hour.
We recommend you to order your train tickets as soon as possible, because prices increase in time. The earlier you book, the cheaper your trip. Ticket sales open four months in advance.
You can also buy international train tickets at the NS Hispeed desks, located near the Meeting Point at Schiphol Plaza.
The NS train station is located directly below the terminal building. Take the escalator or lift downstairs and board the train.
More information:
www.brusselsairport.be/en/
Brussels South Charleroi Airport
This is an airport with mostly short distance destinations (with the exception of Hong Kong). The majority of the flights are operated by low cost airlines.
Mind: although your flight might be cheaper, travel time to and from Antwerp will be longer and your transport options for early and late flights are limited.
Also take into account that, although the airport is called Brussels South, it is located in Charleroi, which is in no way near to Brussels National Airport. When booking your train tickets make sure to select the right railway station.
You can buy a single or return ticket (same day return) to “any Belgian station” from the ticket machines outside the terminal near Door 2. This ticket includes the TEC bus journey (from the airport to Charleroi-South station) and the train journey (from Charleroi-South station to another Belgian station of your choice).
More information:
www.brussels-charleroi-airport.com
