Spaces of Tolerance?
The Politics and Geopolitics of Religious Freedom in Europe
International Conference of the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence,
ACCESS EUROPE, in collaboration with the Center for Ethics and Global
Politics (CEGP) LUISS, Amsterdam, December 16th, 2016
Conveners:
Luiza Bialasiewicz, ACCESS EUROPE (UvA, Amsterdam)
Valentina Gentile, CEGP (LUISS, Rome)
The EU’s current ‘existential crisis’ has brought the question of the role of religion and religious
ideologies to the centre of debates, both regarding the future of the Union itself as a political
community, but also pertinent to the conditions and potential limits to liberal democracy in its
Member States. Although the debate on the appropriate place for religious ideologies and practices
has taken on different tones and different gravity in various EU countries, key questions
regarding the state’s role in deciding the place of religion and religious freedom in the
public and private spheres and, especially, the limits of liberal toleration and appropriate
responses to religious fundamentalism have been common themes across the continent.
Moreover, what have thus far been in many ways ‘internal’ discussions pertaining to the
negotiation of religious accommodation and the place of religion in the public realm, have now
taken on not only a ‘European’ dimension in their breadth. Indeed, religion and religious ideologies
are being increasingly perceived as both an ‘internal’ and ‘external’ security threat. This growing
securitization of religion in many EU states is raising new questions about the relationship
between religion and liberal democracy, as the relationship of state actors to religious practice and
ideas is increasingly one of the delimitation of borders. We adopt the notion of ‘spaces of tolerance’
in both its figurative meaning – as realms of possibility within the liberal democratic order for
religious practice and belief – but also in its material sense, that is, as the real, physical spaces
where these negotiations take place.
The conference aims to contribute to these debates by providing an inter-disciplinary and crossnational perspective on the challenges of negotiating the boundaries of political tolerance
within the European Union today, focusing in particular on how spaces of tolerance are
negotiated. The conference will frame its discussions within three broad themes:
1) the changing (legal and political) contexts of tolerance in the EU
2) the geopolitics of religious difference (examining the links between religion and securitization,
both internal as well as external) and
3) the everyday negotiation of religious difference and tolerance in urban spaces
Conference Programme
Location:
De Burcht Conference Centre, de Bondsraadzaal, Henri Polaklaan 9, Amsterdam.
9:00
Opening and introduction
Jonathan Zeitlin (Department of Political Science, University of Amsterdam, on behalf of ACCESS
EUROPE)
Luiza Bialasiewicz (Department of European Studies, University of Amsterdam) and Valentina
Gentile (Department of Political Science, LUISS, Rome)
9:30-11:00
Session I: Changing contexts of tolerance in the EU
Chair:
Valentina Gentile (Department of Political Science, LUISS, Rome)
Speakers:
Peter Jones (School of Geography, Politics and Sociology, Newcastle University) “The Space for
Toleration in a Liberal Democratic Society”
Lorenzo Zucca (School of Law, King’s College, London) “In the Ghetto: Spaces of Justice in the
Merchant of Venice”
Jonathan Seglow (Department of Politics and International Relations, Royal Holloway, University of
London) “Defending Religious Accommodation”
Discussant:
John Horton (Faculty of Politics, Philosophy, International Relations and Environment, Keele
University)
11:00-11:30
Coffee Break
11:30-13:00 Session II: Geopolitics of religious difference
Chair:
Domenico Melidoro (Department of Political Science, LUISS, Rome)
Speakers:
Yolande Jansen (Department of Philosophy, University of Amsterdam) “Burqas in Balbec: some
elements for a genealogy of the intertwinement of securitization and racialization of religion in the
tradition of tolerance”
Lynn Staeheli (Department of Geography, Durham University) “Faith, cosmopolitanism and
democratic tolerance”
Sune Laegaard (Department of Communication and Arts, Roskilde University) “Religious toleration
at home and abroad: Justifications, uses and ramifications of religious freedom in national and
transnational perspectives”
Discussant:
Thijl Sunier (Department of Social and Cultural Anthropology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam)
13:00-14:30
Lunch
14:30-16:00 Session III: Everyday spaces of tolerance
Chair:
Silvia Mocchi (Department of Political Science, LUISS, Rome)
Speakers:
Avi Astor (Department of Sociology, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona) “Cordoba’s MosqueCathedral and the politics of patrimony”
Dan Swanton (School of Geosciences, University of Edinburgh) “Infrastructures for living with
difference”
Aga Pasieka (The Institute for Human Sciences, University of Vienna) “Religious pluralism in a
homogeneous society”
Discussant:
Luiza Bialasiewicz (Department of European Studies, University of Amsterdam)
16:00-16:30 Coffee break
16:30-17:30 Closing discussion
Chair:
Valentina Gentile (Department of Political Sciences, LUISS, Rome)
Speakers:
John Horton (Faculty of Politics, Philosophy, International Relations and Environment, Keele
University); Sebastiano Maffettone (Department of Political Science, LUISS, Rome); Annelies
Moors (Department of Sociology, University of Amsterdam)
For further queries regarding the academic programme, please contact [email protected]
To register, please contact: [email protected]