Possessed Bodies
Secular Body Politics and the German Circumcision Debate. Lecture
In her talk, Dr. Schirin Amir-Moazami (Free University Berlin) approaches the question of why, in a specific historical moment, certain religious practices fall into the blinding light of publicity and inspire a variety of voices to speak, and on which understanding of religion and secularity this incentive to discourse is based. The circumcision debate is analyzed as part of secular body politics that sees the body as an expression of the self-determined subject.
The discussant, who will speak following the talk, will be Professor Christina von Braun (Humboldt University, Berlin).
Professor Schirin Amir-Moazami
Professor Schirin Amir-Moazami, sociologist and political scientist, has been chair of "Islam in Europe" at the Institute for Islamic Studies, Free University Berlin since 2009. Islamic movements in Europe, secularism, political theory, and gender issues are her primary research interests. Her comparative study on the headscarf debate in Germany and France was published in 2007 under the title "Politisierte Religion: Der Kopftuchstreit in Deutschland und Frankreich" (Politicized religion: The headscarf conflict in Germany and France).
Professor Christina von Braun
Professor Christina von Braun, cultural scholar, author and filmmaker, is co-director of the Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Jewish Studies. She was director of Gender Studies at the Humboldt University Berlin until 2002 and spokeswoman for the Research Training Group "Gender as a Category of Knowledge" from 2005 to 2013. Her research interests include gender questions, the history of religion, the relationship between Christianity and Judaism, and the history of media and mentality.
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26 February 2015, 7 pm
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