Liberas (Ghent, Belgium), in conjunction with the School of History, Religion and Philosophy at Oxford Brookes University (Oxford, United Kingdom) and the Leibniz Institute of European History (Mainz, Germany), organises an international colloquium devoted to the interdependency between blasphemy and violence in modern history. Both young and established scholars will focus on specific incidents of blasphemy and sacrilege in Europe and the Arab world.The eve preceding the conference (4 March), internationally renowned expert Alain Cabantous will give a keynote lecture in French on blasphemy and sacrilege during the French Revolution.

4-5 March 2020 - Ghent (Belgium)

Presentation

On the 5^th of March 2020, Liberas (Ghent, Belgium), in conjunction with the School of History, Religion and Philosophy at Oxford Brookes University (Oxford, United Kingdom) and the Leibniz Institute of European History (Mainz, Germany), organises an international colloquium devoted to the interdependency between blasphemy and violence in modern history. This international colloquium offers a much-needed analysis of a subject that historians have largely neglected, yet holds great relevance for contemporary society. Both young and established scholars will focus on specific incidents of blasphemy and sacrilege in Europe and the Arab world – a landmark case or a series of little-known micro studies –, examine its relationship with violence and discuss the legal background and context surrounding each incident. Drawing on a variety of chronological and geographical contexts, the colloquium will probe the phenomenon of blasphemy and its link to violence from different angles. All presentations will be given in English. The eve preceding the conference (4 March), internationally renowned expert Alain Cabantous will give a keynote lecture in French on blasphemy and sacrilege during the French Revolution.

Practical

There is no registration fee. If you wish to attend, please register via mail: inschrijven@liberas.eu. Please indicate in your mail whether you will attend the keynote lecture (in French) on Wednesday evening and/or the conference on Thursday.

Convenors: David Nash, Eveline Bouwers

Organisation: Christoph De Spiegeleer

Venue: Liberas, Kramersplein 23, 9000 Ghent

Programme

Wednesday 4 March 2020

18:00-19:30: Key note Alain Cabantous (Paris, FR): Violence et Sacré ou le Blasphème en Révolution  

Thursday 5 March 2020

9:00-9:30: Welcome and Opening

9:00-9:10: Peter Laroy / Christoph De Spiegeleer (Ghent, BE): Welcome to Liberas

9:10-9:30: Eveline Bouwers (Mainz, DE) & David Nash (Oxford, GB): Introduction

9:30-11:00: Section 1: Blasphemy as a Companion to Political Transition

9:30-9:50: Laura Thompson (Boston, US / Tunis, TN): Protecting Muslims’ Feelings, Protecting Public Order: Tunisian Blasphemy Cases from the 19th Century through the Arab Spring

9:50-10:10: Nadezhda Beliakova (Moscow, RU): On Blasphemy and Violence during the Revolution and the Construction of Socialism in the Soviet Union

10:10-10:30: Julio de la Cueva (Toledo, ES): Blasphemy, War and Revolution: Spain, 1936

10:30-11:00: Comments and Discussion

11:00-11:30: Coffee Break

11:30-13:00: Section 2: Blasphemy as a Tool for Emancipation

11:30-11:50: Emilia Musumeci (Teramo, IT): David Lazzaretti: Martyr, Rebel, or Heretic? A Puzzling Case in Post-Unification Italy

11:50-12:10: Matthew Kerry (Stirling, GB): Blasphemy in Early Twentieth-Century Spain: Vulgarity, Violence and the Crowd

12:10-12:30 Marcin Skladanowski (Lublin, PL): Pokémon in the Church: The Case of Ruslan Sokolovskiy and the Limits of Religious Performance in Contemporary Russia

12:30-13:00: Comments and Discussion

13:00-14:00: Lunch Break

14:00-15:30: Section 3: Blasphemy as an Instrument to Confront the Secular

14:00-14:20: Marco Omes (Pisa, IT): Blasphemy, Religious Adherence and Political Loyalty in the Roman States during the French Occupations (1789-1799 and 1808-1814)

14:20-14:40: Dirk Johannsen (Oslo, NO): Blasphemy as a Cultural Strategy. The Case of the Nordic Modern Breakthrough, 1871-1890

14:40-15:00: Hussien Soliman (Alexandria, EG): Blasphemy as a Justification for Violence against Freethinkers in Modern Egypt

15:00-15:30: Comments and Discussion

15:30-16:00: Coffee Break

16:00-17:00: Section 4: Blasphemy as a Strategy for Suppressing the Religious Other

16:00-16:20: Christoffer Leber (Munich, DE): The New Martyr. The Jatho Affair in Imperial Germany between Blasphemy, Freethought, and Religious Reform (c. 1910-1915)

16:20-16:40: Yvonne Sherwood (Kent, GB): Blasphemy, Violence, and the Production of Minorities

16:40-17:00 Comments and Discussion

17:00-18:00: Concluding remarks