Out of step or leading light?
This project sets out to explore how techniques of governance of religion travel across a set of differentlegal, cultural and political contexts, and the ramifications of such travels. Taking the paradigmatic tool of governance of religion par excellence, French secularism – laїcité, as its starting point, the project will examine how, why and to what effects French regulatory measures targeting religious organizations, communities and individuals have acted as templates for similar regulations across the Nordic region.
In effect, laїcité is also closely linked other tools of governance of religion, which includes demands of ordre publique, securitisation, margin of appreciation and a nonchalant dependence on litigation by those, who see their rights infringed. The project pays particular attention to the encounters and negotiations between French secularism and the long-standing Nordic tradition of religious engagement, especially as this has unfolded in the 21st Century. The project will bring together French and Nordic scholars of law and religious studies in two thematic workshops and one closing conference.
Project coordination
- Helge Årsheim, associate professor at the University of Oslo.
Network members
France
- Anne-Laure Zwilling, researcher at UMR 7354 (joint research unit of CNRS and University of Strasbourg).
Denmark
- Niels Valdemar Vinding, associate professor at the University of Copenhagen.
