Centrum voor Interculturele Communicatie en Interactie

This symposium focuses on the impact of global urbanisation on those cultural, religious and other ways which generally give human beings meaning and direction in their lives. We refer to these as 'sense-making' processes. It is a fact that now over half of the world population lives in urban contexts, varying from historical cities (of the European and Asian type) with heritage character to the new continuously changing urbanised areas with multimillion concentrations of people in the so-called Third World. By 2030 estimates are that over 70% of the world's population will live in an urban context (Castells, 2002).

Contemporary social and cultural frames of reference of most of humanity have derived from those of village and rural life. However, meaning and sense-making processes are likely to be inadequate, when held on to in the semi-structured context of urban and suburban life. Life in a city, and certainly in a metropolis, seems to involve other ways of building relationships, of community building and of sense-giving than that in a village. Religions and other types of ‘Weltanschauung' have become more privatised, and are confronted with competitors of all kinds (e.g. the attraction of Buddhisms, New Age, NRM's, etc. in formerly Christian areas). At the same time relationships between people are becoming increasingly complex, while diversity of all sorts (e.g. gender, religious and ethnic identities, leisure groups, life style, etc.) is turning into the rule rather than the exception. Both globalisation and urbanisation has considerable impacts on cultural phenomena, including the shifts in ‘Weltanschauung', we claim. Although the relationship between globalisation, nationalism, transnationalism and urbanisation has been dealt with in important work (and is the core business of e.g. the Society for Urban, National and Transnational Anthropology, SUNTA of the AAA), so far the link with sense-making processes is only marginally addressed.For this symposium we invite speakers on the following topics:

theory formation on urban contexts: is the urban context by necessity the only format for modernity, and what does this imply for the urbanised citizen in terms of world view (religious or otherwise)? In what ways can we describe and theorize the shift from a tribal-village-community perspective towards a network-urbanised-individual perspective on life and sense making?
religion and ‘Weltanschauung': from foundations to private resources; the emergence of extreme right movements and fundamentalisms as urban experiments? The Enlightenment idea of privatization of religions may be up for reconsideration in the light of McJihad, Opus Dei and other religious formats, or is it?
inclusion and individualisation, a contradiction? Does the urban context induce inclusive rather than exclusive ideologies, or the other way around? Linked to this question: what will be the meaning of individual rights, sovereignty and the like?

On these topics we invite theoretical reflections as well as case studies and comparative analyses from various disciplinary (including non-academic) perspectives around the world.

The aim of the symposium is to stimulate a deeper dialogue on urban sense-making processes. To this end we have invited participants coming from different perspectives, research and background. As a metaphor for the theme of the symposium we will be holding the discussions in the city theater, not at the university. Several artists will be invited to perform and to present their work during the discussion slots. The city theater will prepare a dramaturgical scenery to enhance the dialogue during the symposium.

The structure of the symposium will revolve around the seven papers of the keynotes and the art interventions, which will be communicated to all the invited participants by the end of September. This communication will allow for a thoughtful preparation of the discussions during the symposium. We do not ask of the discussants and the young scholars necessarily to present their own research, rather to discuss in depth the themes introduced by the papers of the keynotes and the art interventions that will be presented throughout the symposium.

The paper 'What to Make of Life When You Are an Urbanite. Religion or Secularisation: the Meaning of Life as a Modern Predicament' by Rik Pinxten and Lisa Dikomitis kan be downloaded (Pdf) here or viewed online.