Barbara Bompani, Karen Lauterbach, and Adriaan Van Klinken

Visited the IAS in February 2025

Two participants of the workshop “Religion as Politics? –  Re-ordering relations from Africa” held at the University of Bayreuth, February 14-15, 2025 were invited by the IAS: Barbara Bompani, Professor of African Studies at the Department of Humanities, Social Sciences and Cultural Enterprises, University of Parma, Italy and Karen Lauterbach, Associate Professor at the Centre of African Studies, University of Copenhagen. Other participants were Adriaan van Klinken, Professor of Religion and African Studies at the School of Philosophy, Religion and History of Science, University of Leeds and Benjamin Kirby and Eva Spies, both from the Dept. for the Study of Religion at UBT.

The participants of this workshop began their collaboration on the above-mentioned topic in summer 2024, with the intention of building a network and considering possible funding schemes for doctoral students. Our shared interest lies in the relationality of the social fields of religion and politics and the changing definitions of these fields, as well as their co-constitution. Our special focus is on the role of religious activities and agencies in shaping political communities in African contexts. With the research conducted through an envisaged doctoral network we want to shed new light on the “political” aspects of religiously coded social practices, and the “religious” dimensions of dynamics of political community formation.

The workshop was a central step in our cooperation as it allowed us to discuss our different approaches and develop the core thematic threads of the planned doctoral network. We also drafted a panel proposal for the conference of the African Association for the Study of Religions (AASR) to be held in Botswana in June 2026. The discussions and contacts at this conference will help us to further develop the theme and deepen international cooperation with research institutions on the African continent. The early inclusion of colleagues on the African continent in the elaboration of an application will clarify the thematic focus and strengthen the intended cooperation.