Global Currents Archives | Contending Modernities

Turkey’s Hagia Sophia Decision: The Collapse of Multiculturalism and Secularism or Something More?

Ahmet Erdi Öztürk
August 3, 2020August 3, 2020

The decision manufactures the “appearance of a clash of civilizations and the marriage of populism-nationalism with the instrumentalization of religion in service of the political desires of repressive political actors.”

The Hagia Sophia Debate: A Muslim-Christian Liberation Theology Approach

Farid Esack
July 28, 2020July 30, 2020

Thus, we constantly have to return to asking ourselves: Are we following Jesus, or Emperor Constantine? Are we following Muhammad, or the murderers of his family and prophetic tradition?

Between Minneapolis and East Jerusalem

Ruth Carmi
July 10, 2020July 10, 2020

Understanding that racism, sexism, imperialism, globalization, capitalism, and militarism are interlinked means we cannot myopically call to eradicate one while upholding the other.

In Search of a Game Changer

Moshe Behar
June 16, 2020June 16, 2020

While anti-apartheid mobilization vis-à-vis Lilliputian Israel/Palestine is obviously needed, a considerably broader anti-war movement, whose scope is explicitly regional, seems equally critical, if not more so.

Remaking Indian Secularism: The Fearless Grannies (Dadis) of Shaheen Bagh

Series: India's Winter of Protest

Julia Kowalski
May 19, 2020May 21, 2020

In reframing the links between gender, kinship, and citizenship, Shaheen Bagh’s protesters are remaking the definition of secularism in India.

Distancing Religion Online: Lessons from the Pandemic Prompted Religious Move Online

Series: Religion and Modernity during COVID-19

Heidi Campbell
May 4, 2020May 5, 2020

What becomes of religion if its traditional practices and regular forms of gathering are not allowed?

India’s Winter of Protests: A Potential Constitutional Crisis in the Making

Series: India's Winter of Protest

Susan Ostermann
May 4, 2020May 4, 2020

The question that activist lawyers would like to get before the Indian Supreme Court is, in some ways, a simple one. Is the government allowed to discriminate on the basis of religion?

Painted into a Corner by the Blood of the Lord

Series: Religion and Modernity during COVID-19

Robert Orsi
April 29, 2020April 29, 2020

I accept the ontology of facts as given: she continues to shop at Walmart in a pandemic because she is protected by the blood of the Lord in which she has been washed.

The Sound of Solidarity? The Adhan and the Possibility of a New Civic Body in Europe

Series: Religion and Modernity during COVID-19

Elisabeth Becker
April 17, 2020April 17, 2020

Today, from Duisburg-Marxloh to Amsterdam, mosques are singing a prayer across Europe.

Who Are We the People? Unpopular Sovereignties in the United States and India

Series: India's Winter of Protest

Richard Amesbury
March 31, 2020May 4, 2020

Who are “we the people”? What makes this question puzzling is that it cannot, without circularity, be answered democratically, by appealing to the will of the people.

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