Post-Secular Tourism : A Study of Pilgrimages to Santiago de Compostela

This thesis takes its starting-point in the post-secular changes in society and how these interplay with tourism. In spite of the intensive academic debate on and theorisation of the post-secular and post-secularism, the role of tourism in this change, called the return of religion, has not been studied. Conversely, neither has the role of post-secularism in tourism been addressed. The overall aim of this thesis is to describe and understand the relation between post-secularism and tourism. Specifically, the aim is to clarify and understand the relation between religious faith, place and tourism in our time on the basis of a case study of pilgrimage in the area of Santiago de Compostela. In other words, the thesis highlights the role of tourism in the emergence of what is now called the post-secular condition. Santiago de Compostela is a Catholic Church instituted holy city, which has increase in number of visitors. The growing number of pilgrimages and their significance lend vitality to the return of religion phenomenon. The empirical material derives primarily from individual interviews as narratives are considered to be a vital dimension to constitute and construct human realities and modes of being. This thesis shows that contemporary pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela is a post-secular performative and place-creating phenomenon. Post-secular tourist places are subjective and spiritually meaningful destinations. Unlike traditional pilgrimage destinations a key attribute is that neither traditional religious faith nor loyalty to institutionalised faith are (pre)ordained. Rather, place is constructed by the narratives and experiences of post-secular tourists.

Faith's knowledge : papers exploring the theory and application of theological epistemology

This thesis locates the origins of modern secular knowledge in late medieval theology. Problems with modern and postmodern knowledge which arise from these theological origins are then tackled theologically, and the manner in which secular ways of understanding knowledge are embedded in specific university, political and hospital contexts are then described and evaluated from a post-secular theological standpoint. The theoretical component of this thesis looks at knowledge itself and finds that without faith there can be no knowledge. The applied component of this thesis does two things. Firstly it explores how our conception of knowledge shapes the assumptions, operational norms, belief frames and tacit values of some characteristically modern and secular institutions. Secondly the applied component evaluates those contexts from the theologically premised conception of knowledge which was argued for in the theoretical component of this thesis.

Etnogeografia do underground cristão brasileiro: concentração e dispersão das Tribos em nome do Senhor

A presente pesquisa visa investigar as identidades e formas espaciais cambiantes produzidas pelo movimento emergente underground cristão. Situados dentro de um campo mais vasto ao qual estão ligados os evangélicos e jovens de outras redes de afinidade estética , o movimento agrega diferentes grupamentos e manifestações religiosas, identitário-culturais que, a despeito de suas distinções visuais, musicais, rituais e bíblico-doutrinárias, estão unidos por uma causa, na verdade um Ideal: levar Cristo a todas as culturas juvenis urbanas que, historicamente, são alvos de preconceito e negligência por parte das igrejas tradicionais católicas ou protestantes. Assim, configuram heterotopias do sagrado que revelam as novas tendências de identificação, filiação e ritualização religiosas, assim como as novas práticas de compromisso assumidas por estes jovens subversivos que, pela ideia de militância comunitária, lutam simbolicamente contra o institucionalismo, o marketing selvagem e a impessoalidade que dominam o cenário cristão atual, bem como buscam respostas, pela via da cultura, para as inquietações, radicalismos e outros distúrbios de uma Nova Era pós-secular, onde a geografia do sagrado faz-se imanente nos indivíduos, e onde a territorialidade não se restringe mais aos templos e ao controle de autoridades eclesiásticas. Um panorama desse tipo permite compreender como os cristãos emergentes configuram lugares religiosos e itinerários simbólicos para, simultaneamente, reabastecer a fé e alcançar os cativos do Mundo.

O conceito moderno de tolerância e seu papel na formação deliberativa da vontade

Tendo em vista o pluralismo religioso e a importância política que as tradições religiosas e as comunidades de fé assumiram nos últimos anos, essa dissertação se dedica ao estudo do conceito moderno de tolerância a partir da interpretação pós-secular de Jürgen Habermas, a qual toma como base a concepção enunciada por Rainer Forst. Tal conceito tem papel de destaque na formação deliberativa da vontade de cidadãos que desejam reconhecer-se como iguais em sociedades marcadas por uma profunda diversidade cultural. O desafio foi, diante do multiculturalismo das sociedades modernas pluralizadas e secularizadas, identificar um procedimento capaz de atender à exigência que se impõe com o fato do pluralismo - um conceito de justiça eticamente neutro - sem, contudo, que isto se desse à custa do desrespeito às minorias religiosas e culturais. A reflexão acerca da tolerância e das dificuldades de sua realização nas sociedades contemporâneas tomou, em grande parte do estudo, o ponto de vista da diversidade religiosa e do crescente papel que a religião desempenha na esfera pública.

Habermas e o debate em torno do secularismo: implicações para o lugar da religião na esfera pública

A presente dissertação tem como objetivo principal investigar o conceito de pós-secularismo na filosofia de Jürgen Habermas. Para tanto, buscamos compreender como a religião aparece ao longo da construção do pensamento habermasiano, pontuando as diversas revisões feitas pelo filósofo e suas escolhas metodológicas, que resultaram numa mudança de perspectiva sobre o papel da religião na esfera pública das sociedades contemporâneas. A discussão de Jürgen Habermas se insere num debate mais amplo sobre o reexame do conceito de secularismo, envolvendo não apenas a filosofia, mas a ampla gama das ciências humanas e sociais. Assim, procuramos apresentar o contexto geral desse debate e os principais interlocutores com quem ou contra quem Habermas constrói sua argumentação. Por fim, tentamos mostrar de que maneira as revisões feitas por Habermas nos seus últimos escritos a respeito da religião, bem como a apropriação do conceito de sociedades pós-seculares, se enquadram na moldura geral da teoria habermasiana, principalmente dentro da estrutura do agir comunicativo e da política deliberativa.

"Republic of Instability":Artifice, Death and the Afterlife in Mark Doty's "Murano"

An article on a single poem by Mark Doty, published as part of the "Hospitable Forms: Post-Secular Thought in New-Century Poetics" feature.

Deus abençoe a América: religião, política e relações internacionais dos Estados Unidos

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Muslim Women Managing Women's Shelters : Somaya, the Muslimwoman and Religion as Resource

This article focuses on Sisters’ Shelter Somaya in Sweden, an organization unique in its claim to be a women’s shelter by and for Muslim women, and in its combining of Islamic and secular feminisms. Examining the organization’s self-presentations, the author argues that there is, however, an ongoing shift from an emphasis on its Muslim profile to a dissolution of the very same. Looking into potential loss in the process (for clients, activists, allies, and feminism at large), the analysis draws on current research on anti-Muslim intolerance and normative secularism. The concept of the “Muslim woman” is employed to illustrate the stereotyping that continuously associates Muslim women with “victims” inhabiting shelters rather than capable “managers”. Intersectionality is pointed at as an emic strategy adopted by Somaya to overcome division, but also critically analysed as a consensus-creating signifier that hinders diversity. Thus,the article raises the increasingly important issue of the relationship between religion, gender, and feminism in the post-secular turn, and the author calls for critical self-reflection and creative affirmation in the interaction with heterogeneous others.

Third post-Newtonian angular momentum flux and the secular evolution of orbital elements for inspiralling compact binaries in quasi-elliptical orbits

The angular-momentum flux from an inspiralling binary system of compact objects moving in quasi-elliptical orbits is computed at the third post-Newtonian (3PN) order using the multipolar post-Minkowskian wave generation formalism. The 3PN angular-momentum flux involves the instantaneous, tail, and tail-of-tails contributions as for the 3PN energy flux, and in addition a contribution due to nonlinear memory. We average the angular-momentum flux over the binary's orbit using the 3PN quasi-Keplerian representation of elliptical orbits. The averaged angular-momentum flux provides the final input needed for gravitational-wave phasing of binaries moving in quasi-elliptical orbits. We obtain the evolution of orbital elements under 3PN gravitational radiation reaction in the quasi-elliptic case. For small eccentricities, we give simpler limiting expressions relevant for phasing up to order e(2). This work is important for the construction of templates for quasi-eccentric binaries, and for the comparison of post-Newtonian results with the numerical relativity simulations of the plunge and merger of eccentric binaries.

Party agency and the religious-secular cleavage in post-Communist countries: The case of Romania

Research focusing on several post-communist countries has found evidence of social cleavage effects on political behaviour similar to those found in Western Europe. In some post-communist countries, however, social cleavage effects appear far weaker (if at all). To understand why this is the case, I perform a case study of Romania, focusing on the religious–secular cleavage. Drawing upon research that emphasises the role of parties in forming cleavages, I argue that the reason for the absence of social cleavage effects is due to party competition for the same group of voters by parties from opposing ends of the ideological spectrum. By shifting their positions, some parties have prevented the appearance of cleavages by shaping individuals' perceptions of the parties and, in doing so, have even altered individuals' own left–right self-placements.