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

Preliminary Programme

7.00 – 9.00 pm UTC+1

Public lecture

City Campus, University of Antwerp
Hof van Liere, de Tassis room
Prinsstraat 13
Antwerp

Call for Papers

The workshop ‘Belief in Solidarity’ consists of a two-day international meeting (preceded by a public opening lecture) with specialized lectures, presentations and debates by invited senior and junior scholars. The aim is to offer a platform to scholars to present their research on the topic and exchange their ideas on research findings. Such a meeting may open up new multidisciplinary horizons to think about the topic.

Besides empirical research, also conceptual or methodological contributions are welcomed for submission from various disciplines. Some of the questions central to the workshop are:

• Were/are faith-based acts of solidarity driven by a spiritual (and borderless) ‘love of neighbor’ 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 organisations 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?

We invite theoretical and empirical papers on the following themes:

1. Definitions of solidarity and community

Faith-based and religiously inspired practices of solidarity are rooted in different conceptions of solidarity. Our workshop therefor explores changing notions of solidarity, including in intellectual and scientific discourses. In addition to the modern political and institutional standards, the development of modern welfare regimes was driven by secular sociological conceptions, in which solidarity is conceived as rooted in such structural features of society as the division of labour or class divisions. Historically this view emerged in an a deep and intricate intellectual dialogue with faith-based and religiously inspired conceptions of solidarity. How is this historical development to be understood? Participants in this session are invited to link epistemological developments to the (historical), social, cultural and political context.

2. Definitions of suffering and deservedness

Historically, religious actors have often been critical of overly ‘materialistic’ conceptions of social aid and solidarity, because in their view suffering in the form of poverty and illness could not be separated from spiritual, moral and psychological suffering. This session concentrates on discourses and attitudes about suffering and how they are related to social support and social services provided by faith-based and religiously inspired actors and organizations. How is suffering and need conceived in different contexts and how is it subsequently addressed in practice? Can similarities or differences be revealed between religions, between the past and the present and between regions? Is it true that religious inspired social support is closer to a holistic approach missing in secular/humanist forms of solidarity or the welfare state in general?

3. Solidarity beyond territories

The return of faith and religion in practices of solidarity is very much related to geographic mobility and globalization. Solidarity practices often emerge in networks of migrants, or they address the needs of people on the move in urban contexts of arrival. Moreover, solidarity is increasingly operating at a supra-national or global scale, by organizations addressing the needs of people in other countries and targeting global challenges. These organizations too are often faith-based or religiously inspired. This session therefor tackles the question whether faith-related practices of solidarity helped and help to transcend the territorial logic of national welfare regimes and can be useful in conceiving new forms of solidarity in a globalized society.

4. (Inter)Religious plurality and community

Today’s religious landscape is growing more diverse and pluralistic. Believers are increasingly less concerned with institutional frameworks and the strict boundaries of denominations. At the same time, the globalizing context seems to reveal more and more similarities between different religious backgrounds, if only because they all position themselves against the secular ‘other’. This session explores how this development translates into attitudes and practices related to solidarity. Are there commonalities and perhaps forms of interfaith cooperation around solidarity? How do different conceptions of solidarity interact and transform each other? Is solidarity emerging between religiously inspired actors and how do their interactions relate to the broader context of secularization, post-secularization, and the developments related to the welfare state?

Contact

Gilke Gunst, Project Coordinator Religion, Culture & Society, UCSIA
E | gilke.gunst@ucsia.be
T | +32 (0) 3 265 95 67

Practical details

Travelling to Antwerp from Abroad