American Telugu associations, built as a cultural platform to unite spatially dispersed Telugu diaspora have become key political intermediaries linking the US with Andhra and Telangana’s political landscape. Although the term Telugu point to their larger linguistic basis of membership, the caste character of these associations is reflected in the way particular communities exercise control of these associations and the alignments of these associations with caste affiliated political parties in India. In this paper I argue that these diasporic Telugu organisations are performing the role of caste associations, albeit in a refashioned way: as in colonial times, they work to make caste relevant, but now in a globalising milieu. Caste associations, a product of colonial modernity and increasing urbanisation have worked for the dynamically defined ‘interests’ of the community, which changes over time. While in colonial times, caste associations worked to unite sub-jatis, achieve upward mobility in the caste hierarchy, and wrest concessions from the British government, in post-independence era, their tryst with democratic politics have been lauded by scholars. With transnational migration and a sense of disintegration of community and cultural values among migrants in the USA, I argue that it is organizations like TANA and ATA that take up the project of building caste based community cohesiveness transnationally even as they attempt to become political mediators in local politics in India. In doing so, associational politics create a transnational social field where carefully crafted and performed caste differentiation between the two major caste groups – Kammas and Reddys pan out. Whereas Reddys and Kammas often see each other as opponents or rivals, they also regard themselves as the only two legitimate caste groups who can represent Telugus both in America and in Andhra. Therefore, the associational politics in the diaspora also point to how Reddy-Kamma rivalry has subsumed the political possibilities of other caste groups within a trans-regionally connected social field.
Autor: al-tahers
A workshop will take place at the Max Weber Kolleg: ‚Meister Eckhart und die Liebe‘
Armin Unfricht presents a working paper on ‚The Athenian Tyrannicides – A case study‘
In this paper, I apply the previously developed theoretical framework of my thesis – the sociological concept of the “Sacred”, as well as certain aspects of the “collective-” or “cultural memory”-theory derived from the historical and cultural sciences – to a first case-study, namely the Athenian “Tyrannicides”, Harmodios and Aristogeiton. Focal points of my research were the socio-political implications and forms of representation (narrative, material, ritualistic-performative) of the hero-cult in question.
Daniele Miano presents a working paper on ‚Liber, Fufluns, and the others: rethinking Dionysus in Italy between the fifth and the third centuries BCE‘
In response to a dossier of different theonyms and iconographic profiles for a set of gods in central Italy from the 5th–3rd centuries that correspond to
Dionysus, this chapter considers the relationship between Fufluns, Liber, Hiaco (and other by-forms) with reference to two main concepts.(a) Translation: based on the work of Jan Assman, Homi Bhabha and others, we may investigate to what extent these divine forms were ‘translations’ or ‘interpretations’ of a Greek archetype. (b) Multiplicity: following the work of Versnel, Henrichs and others, we may consider the cluster of gods under the rubric of religious polymorphism: was Dionysus one god or many? The chapter argues for the fragmentation of Dionysus in Italy in the 5th–3rd centuries, and for the significance of local myths and forms of worship of the god as against a generalized ‘Roman’ standard. The discussion focusses on two case studies, Vulci in Etruria and Praeneste in Latium, with particular reference to local colour. The Etruscan evidence surveyed comprises epigraphic and iconographic attestations of Fufluns Paχie on fifth-century ceramics and a fourth-century mirror respectively. Praenestine evidence analysed includes bronze mirrors and cistae which depict Fufluns, L(e)iber and Hiaco. In conclusion it addresses the significance of the fragmentation of Dionysus in Italy for the interpretation
of the Bacchanalian affair of 186 BCE.
Dietmar Mieth gives a working paper on ‚Not at one´s disposition – Inaccessibility‘
The thesis of this contribution – resulting from an oral presentation in the City of Bochum where I have lived since 2017 – , focuses on the connection between the dramatic loss of members in the Christian Churches in Europe on the one hand and the preoccupation with the relevance of “religious” feelings in the society on the other side, detected and elaborated by sociologists like Latour, Joas, Rosa. This approach seems – for me – to be very near to the project of “Weltbeziehung” which promotes some approaches in the Max Weber Institute. My intention is to identify and discuss some of the roots of this contemporary “religious” sensitivity in the medieval tradition of mysticism and especially in the literary reception of Meister Eckhart in the first half of the 20th century.
Gabriel Malli is going to present a working paper on ‚Media – Subjectivities – Religion. Theoretical reflections on subjectivity discourses in religious media‘
The present paper proposes a basic conceptual framework for my thesis and can be considered a first draft for a theory part. In the first section, I review sociological approaches to media – mainly from the field of Cultural Studies –, focusing on the level of media text. In the second part, I deal with theoretical conceptions of subjectivities und subjectivation in (post-structuralist) cultural sociology and try to link them to the approaches reviewed in the first part. Drawing from praxeological concepts of religion, I deal with the construction of “subject models” – understood as templates for desirable and legitimate subjectivities – in religious (media) discourse in the final part.
Congratulations to Markus Vinzent on winning the „Chaire Gutenberg“
The science award „Chaire Gutenberg“ is awarded by the Cercle Gutenberg of the University Strasbourg and the region Alsace-Lorraine.
For more information:
Bettina Hollstein presents a working paper on ‚The Role of Corporations in the Great Transformation in a Pragmatist Perspective‘
In order to achieve the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)
we need a new great transformation as conceptualized by Polanyi,
reintegrating and re-embedding different spheres like the economy,
society, politics and science. This great transformation is merely a
moral project including technological, economical, institutional and
cultural processes. Different actors are part of this project, such as,
civil society, science and corporations. In this paper, I want to focus on
the role of corporations as change agents within the Great
Transformation.
The SDG are, in this respect, the moral compass (Schneidewind
2018) for the Transformation, but the true question is what makes
corporations start to go in the direction the compass shows. To answer
this question, I want to use a pragmatist framework relating on Hans
Joas’ work on action theory in an interdisciplinary manner. I want to
investigate when and how change agents have an impact on societal
change by taking a close look at the interdependencies of individual
and collective action, rational and emotional aspects, intended and
non-intended results etc.
Asuman Lätzer-Lasar is going to present a working paper on ‚Religious Ancient Placemaking – first draft of a conceptual framework‘
The choice of location of a sanctuary was mainly dependent on its sacred
geomancy, for instance recognized through an augurium during the
Roman period. However, in dense and crowded places such as a city, there
were also other needs and requirements that had to be respected, such as
urban topography, infrastructure and accessibility, as well as policy,
economy, local legislation, or even traditions. Establishing a place for
religious communication, be it a sanctuary, a grave or the erection of a
dedication for a deity therefore had to be some kind of a negotiation
between the religious communicator and the physical and non-physical
pre-existing environment.
However, even in antiquity the establishment of places of religious
communication in dense and diversely crowded cities cannot have been
taken place as mere top-down processes decided only by elite, ruling
actors without taking any significant and urban-related factors into
account. I argue that the decision-making process, when creating a place
for religious communication, is an interplay of spaces, objects, actors,
practices and imagination (which is aspirations and semantics) that lead
involuntarily to reciprocal formations.
This paper is a first attempt to describe the term “placemaking”, which
derives from the disciplines of urban planning and geography, in order to
elucidate its advantages and disadvantages for the research of ancient
cities and religions. I would like to apply the term and specify it as the
concept of Religious Ancient Placemaking. In this paper I will introduce
a first sketch of my understanding of the theoretical framework of the
concept, which shall be part of my habilitation project.
My plan for the second book is firstly to develop the concept and make it
suitable for the discipline of archaeology, then secondly enrich it with
examples from the ancient city of Rome – because it is an exceptional city
that provides a plethora of material and written sources and therefore
guarantees a qualitative broad variety of phenomena – and then thirdly try
to apply the conceptual framework on a specific case study, which will be
the Provincia Hispania.
Elisabeth Begemann gives a working paper on ‚Determinism, Fate, and Freedom‘
The present paper discusses two texts of the tripartite discussion of
theology in Cicero’s writings. The texts belong to the second period
of philosophical production and mirror Cicero’s desire to apply Greek
philosophy to the Roman context, thus establishing Roman
philosophy. The topic under discussion is one that is central to Roman
politics, addressing the practice of divination, the practice of divining
whether the gods consented to human decisions or actions or not.
The centrality of the practice in political terms makes it hard for
Cicero to reject the practice, though he is openly skeptical, earning
him the reproof of being a cynic, dishonest and opportunist in things
political and philosophical. However, what he addresses are rather
everyday practices (and beliefs) that should have no bearing on the
administration of the (ideal) res publica and which he sees as
expression of exceeding religiosity, of superstitio, that politics must
do without.