Is Medieval Studies Secular? Thinking with Post-Secular Critique (A Roundtable)

Sponsoring Organization(s)

BABEL Working Group

Organizer Name

Julie Orlemanski

Organizer Affiliation

Univ. of Chicago

Presider Name

Suzanne Conklin Akbari

Presider Affiliation

Univ. of Toronto

Paper Title 1

Why Ask This Question?

Presenter 1 Name

Julie Orlemanski

Paper Title 2

Flowers for Mary and a Kiss for Christ: Notes on Devout Museum Visitors

Presenter 2 Name

Shirin A. Fozi

Presenter 2 Affiliation

Univ. of Pittsburgh

Paper Title 3

Litigating the "Islamic" in Anti-Terrorism Prosecutions: Medievalisms and the Problem of "Prejudice"

Presenter 3 Name

Anver M. Emon

Presenter 3 Affiliation

Univ. of Toronto

Paper Title 4

We Are Not Secular and Could Not Be, Much as We Must Try to Be!

Presenter 4 Name

James Simpson

Presenter 4 Affiliation

Harvard Univ.

Paper Title 5

Scholasticism as Secular Critique

Presenter 5 Name

Matthew Vanderpoel

Presenter 5 Affiliation

Univ. of Chicago

Paper Title 6

Secularizing Islam: Medieval History and the Production of Islam as an Ethnoreligious Identity

Presenter 6 Name

Ahmed Ragab

Presenter 6 Affiliation

Harvard Univ.

Start Date

11-5-2019 1:30 PM

Session Location

Fetzer 1005

Description

This roundtable reflects on the history and workings of medieval studies in light of “post-secular critique,” a field of social theory and analysis that, for the last fifteen years, has been critically reexamining narratives of secularization and disenchantment. Viewed through the lens of post-secular critique, the configuration of religion, rationality, and modernity turns out to be much less self-evident than it once seemed. By asking “Is medieval studies secular?” we invite reflections of what secularity is, how it can be tracked historically and institutionally, and how secularism affects various religions and religious practices differently. Julie Orlemanski