Workshop Programme“(Im)Materiality of the Secular City: Trials and Tribulations”
Leipzig University, 23–24 June 2022

(Im)Materiality of the Secular City: Trials and Tribulations
International Workshop at the Centre for Advanced Studies“Multiple Secularities – Beyond the West, Beyond Modernities”, Leipzig University
23–24 June 2022
Hybrid event format, on-site event at Leipzig University and online via Zoom.
Convenors: Margaux Fitoussi (Columbia University), Mariam Goshadze (University of Bayreuth),Thomas Schmidt-Lux (Leipzig University)

Approach

The goal of this workshop is to discuss the materiality of the secular and of processes ofsecularisation in urban spaces. Much ink has been spilled on the ideological dimensions of themodern secular nation state, especially the legal and discursive techniques and realities ofmanaging religious institutions. However, the physical reworking of urban spaces has received
less attention even though it is well-acknowledged that grand projects of state-formation go handin hand with on-the-ground alterations. Whether forced or voluntary, these transformations shape
the urban terrain in conformation with visions of a “secular” and/or “modern city.” Inspired by theBritish Israeli architect Eyal Wiezman’s contention that the materiality of the built world has a lifeof its own, the goal of this workshop is to probe into the distinctive force of secular architecture
and the processes of destruction and construction involved in its production.
We were led to this topic when thinking about how religious heritage is “erased,” made todisappear, as part of secularisation projects across national boundaries. However, the materialityof the secular and secularity (conceptualised as the process of boundary making between
religious and secular domains) is a much broader theme with multiple dimensions that transcend
the question of “erasures.” Other material forms of symbolic demarcation of the secular are
equally relevant. This is the case, for example, with the foundation of new republics in India orTurkey, where attempts were made to establish explicitly “secular architectures.”

The workshop will take place as a hybrid event. The corresponding connection data will be madeavailable to all registered participants shortly beforehand.

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Workshop Programme“(Im)Materiality of the Secular City: Trials and Tribulations”
Leipzig University, 23–24 June 2022ScheduleThursday, 23 June 2022
13:30–14:00

Registration

14:00–14:30

Welcoming
Christoph Kleine (Leipzig University) and Monika Wohlrab-Sahr (Leipzig University)
Opening Remarks
Margaux Fitoussi (Columbia University), Mariam Goshadze (University of Bayreuth),Thomas Schmidt-Lux (Leipzig University)

14:30–16:00

Panel 1: Erasing Religious Pasts
Marian Burchardt (Leipzig University)“Iconoclastic Fever, Fire, and Exuberant Festivity: The Making of Secular Cityscapes as

Collective Spectacle”
Margaux Fitoussi (Columbia University)“The Free Thinkers Cemetery in Tunis”
Thahir Jamal Kiliyamannil (Georg-August University of Göttingen/ University of Hyderabad)“Mosque as a Secular Property: A View from Babri Masjid“
16:00–16:30

Coffee Break

17:30–18:00

Panel 2: Heritagizing the SecularEsra Çifci (Marmara University)“Deculturation of Religion and Its Impact on Contemporary Mosque Architecture in China”
Sana Chavoshian (Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient)“Waterwheel of Secularization: Archaic, Secular and Spiritual Divide in the Delta Cities ofSouth-West Iran”
Fawaz Abdul Salam (McGill University)“Between the Secular Erasures and Religious Revival: The Transformation of the Ottoman
Built Environment and the Everyday Life in Fatih district, Istanbul “

18:30

Joint Dinner

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Workshop Programme“(Im)Materiality of the Secular City: Trials and Tribulations”
Leipzig University, 23–24 June 2022

Friday, 24 June 2022
09:00–10:30

Panel 3: Theoretical Paradigms: Negotiating Materiality of the SecularAnna Maćkowiak, Łukasz Stypuła, Natalia Zawiejska (all Jagiellonian University)“The Ghetto Heroes Square in Kraków: Between Construction and Erasure of Religious
Heritage”
Pooja Kalita“’Modern’ Architecture of Selective Secularism: The Jeopardy of Beef Consumption in an‘Assamese’ Urban Space”
Thomas Schmidt-Lux (Leipzig University)“Architecture as a Medium of Secularity: Four Modes of Intervention”

10:30–10:45

Coffee Break

10:45–12:00

Panel 4: Assembling Secular Futures
Zohar Elmakias (Columbia University)“Urban Messianism and Holy Tourism: Two Cases in Jerusalem”
Mariam Goshadze (University of Bayreuth)“Of Secular Rituals and Atheist Temples: Tbilisi Palace of Rituals in the Soviet Urbanscape”

12:00–12:15

Coffee Break

12:15–13:45

Summary and Future Directions

14:00

Lunch

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