Suchergebnisse

This paper explores the contrastive, or even contradictory, relations established between 'religions' and 'ethnicities' and what is by convention called the secular world in the conception of contemporary multicultural and post-secular democracies. When and why are 'religions' and 'ethnicities' perceived as a challenge to the political system? We draw on the literature that addresses the challenges posed by the growing presence of Muslim populations in Europe in order to analyze the confrontation in Brazil between Neo-Pentecostal and Afro-Brazilian groups. Our purpose is to understand why, differently from the European conflict, in which Muslim minorities are perceived as a simultaneously ethnic and religious challenge, conflict in Brazil occurs in a doubly inverted relation. Afro-Brazilian religions have built a positive relation to Brazilian nationality and have been acknowledged as religions by the State. In contrast, Neo-Pentecostal religions, although legally recognized, are weakly connected to Brazilian nationality.

This thesis explores Frantz Fanon's engagement with religion, and its impact on his theories of race and racism. As a cultural theorist and political activist with strong Marxian-humanist sympathies, Fanon asserted that, as an irrational force, religion anaesthetised the oppressed and inhibited the recovery of the black self. In this study I draw on critical and analytical work in the fields of religion, African studies, and postcolonial theory to interrogate the significance of the black body in the production of his aesthetic of transformation. To understand Fanon's engagements with religion I examine the social and political contexts of his native Martinique and his adopted Algeria, both countries which are defined by strict social and religious hierarchies. Through this focus on his engagement with Christianity, Islam and indigenous traditions in both Martinique and Algeria I argue that, while Fanon was ambivalent about the usefulness of religion in the anti-colonial struggle and the recovery of the black self, he nonetheless came to recognise the role of religion in producing narratives of the sacred that would cohere and motivate the colonized in their struggle against racist oppression. Finally, I argue that Fanon circumvents his ambivalence towards religion by elevating the significance of the enslaved and colonized body, as a sacred instrument of revolt and recovery. This thesis concludes that it is only through the production of such narratives of the sacred that Fanon is able to expel religion from the recovery of the black self and the inauguration of the new nation, while retaining traces of the sacred in his aesthetic of transformation.

Dunkelgrüne Religion sei weltweit auf dem Vormarsch. Das behauptet Bron Taylor, ein US-amerikanischer Autor, dessen Bestseller-Buch "Dunkelgrüne Religion: Naturspiritualität und die Zukunft des Menschen" vor kurzem in deutscher Übersetzung im Wilhelm Fink Verlag erschienen ist. Eine "dunkelgrüne Religion" - gibt so etwas überhaupt? Dass monotheistische Religionen wie Judentum, Christentum, Islam grüner werden könnten und sollten, ist nicht das Augenmerk des Autors; Abraham, Jesus Christus, Mohammed sind keine Bezugspersonen, auch nicht Erneuerer wie Martin Luther oder Papst Franziskus mit der Enzyklika "Laudato si'". Es geht um etwas ganz Anderes.