In its initial research project description, the Centre for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences (CASHSS) took a position on the longstanding academic and public debates on secularism, secularisation, and secularity. In doing so, it referred to the concept of Multiple Secularities, which had been developed in a previous research project,1 and which Kleine had applied to pre-modern Japan.2 Against this backdrop, an idea arose for a multidisciplinary project combining sociology, history of religion and study of religions. ‘Secularity’ is an analytical concept, which seeks to avoid the ideological connotations of the term secularism. The term, which is conceived as an ideal-type, describes how conceptual distinctions and institutional differentiations are made between religious and non-religious spheres and practices. In this context, ‘differentiation’ is not a complete separation, but entails some form of relation between two conceptually distinguished spheres.:1 Introduction and Background ................................................................................. 3 1.1 History of the Research Project.......................................................................... 3 1.2 The Academic Debate.......................................................................................... 5 1.3 Current State of Research in Selected Research Areas..................................10 2 Research Findings from the First Funding Period (2016-2020)........................13 2.1 Further Developing and Refining the Concept..............................................13 2.2 Assumptions and Hypotheses..........................................................................15 2.2.1 Internal Social Differentiation − Social Structures.....................................15 2.2.2 Taxonomies, Classifications, Knowledge Systems: Epistemic Structures.. 18 2.2.3 Differentiation of Spheres of Activity.........................................................24 2.2.4 Reference Problems and Guiding Ideas.......................................................26 2.2.5 Cultural Interaction and Acquisition, Transfer, and Integration Processes...........................................................................................................29 3 The Centre for Advanced Studies’ Aims in the Second Funding Period (2020−2024)..............................................................................................................30 3.1 Regional Expansion and Intercultural Encounter.........................................30 3.2 Systematic Perspectives.....................................................................................37 3.2.1 Critical Junctures and Path Probabilities.....................................................37 3.2.2 Culturalisation of Religion, Materiality of the Secular...............................38 3.2.3 Art, Culture, and Architecture as Spheres of Activity................................42 4 Bibliography..............................................................................................................45

Gegenstand dieser Arbeit sind die (Selbst-)Darstellungen von Gründer_innen von Nichtregierungsorganisationen (NGOs) im Bereich Kinder- und Frauenrechte in Tamil Nadu, Südindien. Um diese (Selbst-)Darstellungen angemessen analysieren zu können, wird zuerst eine analytische Herangehensweise entworfen, die davon ausgeht, dass bestehende soziologische Konzepte, die in erster Linie in Auseinandersetzung mit einem spezifischen (west-europäischen) Kontext entstanden sind, nicht unhinterfragt auf andere Kontexte übertragen werden können. Das erschwert die Verwendung von Begrifflichkeiten wie „Zivilgesellschaft“, „Entwicklung“ oder auch der scheinbar klaren Dichotomie von Moderne und Tradition. Eisenstadt machte diese Problematik in der von ihm begonnenen Debatte um „Multiple Modernities“ deutlich. In der vorliegenden Arbeit wird an diese Diskussion mit handlungstheoretischen Argumenten angeknüpft, um auch Akteursperspektiven angemessen analysieren zu können. Nachdem der theoretische Rahmen und die methodische Grundlage der Arbeit erläutert wurden, wird Kontextwissen erarbeitet, um die Analyse der Interviews einzubetten. Es werden Diskurse um Kaste und den Status von Frauen sowie Aspekte der aktuellen politischen Situation Tamil Nadus betrachtet. Die (Selbst-)Darstellungen lassen sich dann anhand der im Titel angedeuteten Dreiteilung aufschlüsseln: Die Gründer_innen setzen sich zum ersten mit der eigenen Rolle auseinander. Sie beschreiben sich als „social worker“ und greifen in den Selbstbeschreibungen zum Teil auf populistische Elemente des politischen Umfeldes zurück. Zum zweiten beschreiben sie die eigene Position gegenüber ihren „Zielgruppen“. Dabei wird deutlich, dass die Beziehungen zwischen NGO und „community“ zwischen Partizipation und Paternalismus schwanken. Zum dritten formulieren sie Zielsetzungen in Abgrenzung zu anderen (lokalen) politischen Akteuren: Sie grenzen sich zum Beispiel von einem ihrem Verständnis nach „westlichen“ Begriff von Entwicklung ab und formulieren demgegenüber „eigene“ Ziele. Sie reflektieren über lokale Kooperationen, z.B. mit politischen Persönlichkeiten, Kastenassoziationen, aber auch über Abgrenzungen oder Zusammenstöße, die sich dabei ergeben. Insgesamt wird deutlich, dass die (Selbst-)Darstellungen der Gründer_innen sich spannungsgeladen und ambivalent auf unterschiedliche Diskurse, Ideen und soziale Praktiken beziehen. Sie lassen sich insbesondere nicht in eine Perspektive von „Entwicklung“ einordnen, welche auf der Dichotomie von Moderne und Tradition aufbaut. / The subject of this thesis are the (self-)descriptions of founders of children's and women's rights NGOs in Tamil Nadu, South India. To allow an appropriate analysis of these (self-)descriptions, an analytical framework is constructed which is based upon the assumption that sociological concepts which are products of involvement with western-European contexts cannot be transferred to different contexts unquestioned. This complicates the use of existing concepts, as "development", "civil society" or the seemingly simple and evident dichotomy of modernity and tradition. Shmuel N. Eisenstadt started the discussion about the difficulties connected to this dichotomy through the debate about "multiple modernities". The thesis takes its point of departure from this debate and develops action-theoretical arguments to draw a framework for the analysis of the perspectives of actors in the field of NGOs in Tamil Nadu. A discussion of the analytical and methodological framework of this study is followed by a description of selected contextual aspects of the interviewee’s lives. Particularly interesting in the study of Tamil Nadu are discourses about the status of women, the relevance of caste, and facets of the (current) political situation. The analysis of the (self-)descriptions is structured by the tripartion visible in the title of the thesis: Firstly, the founders have to deal with their own position. They describe themselves as "social workers" and are to some extent drawing on elements of the (current) populist political environment in Tamil Nadu to define this role. Secondly, they describe their position towards their "target groups". It becomes clear that the relationship between founders and "communities" fluctuates between participation and paternalism. Thirdly, they formulate their goals in relationship to other (local) political actors: They dissociate themselves from "western" views of development and frame their "own projects" in opposition. They reflect on the possibilities as well as the restrictions of local cooperation, for example with political figures, caste associations, and so on. It becomes clear that the (self-)descriptions of the founders suspensefully and ambivalently draw from different social practices, discourses, and ideas. They especially cannot be classified from the perspective of a (linear) "development" based upon the dichotomy of tradition and modernity.

Recent global and structural transformations, a West-centric development agenda and the triumph of neoliberal politics have led to destructive consequences for many local communities and individual life chances. The global dominance of the West-centric development agenda, with its roots in the colonial past, has created uneven developments and an unjust world in which Western countries continue to gain advantages and increase their prosperity. Although a minority elite in many non-Western countries share the same interests as Western countries and their global organs, the majority of people in these countries are suffering from increasing socioeconomic inequalities. As a result of the dogmatic belief in a singular and West-centric modernity and its practices, many problems are considered to be the result of non-Western countries’ inabilities to complete the project of modernity in accordance with Western blueprints. This has also influenced social work as a global and modern profession. Social problems are often individualised and the reasons behind many inequalities are increasingly related to non-Western people’s individual shortcomings and traditional cultural backgrounds. In Western and non-Western countries equally are the neoliberal structural and institutional transformations ignored and social problems of individuals and families defined as a matter of wrong and deviant actions and choices. The main objective of the dissertation, which is constituted of four articles and an overall introduction and summary, is to examine the consequences of recent neoliberal globalisation based on the belief in a single and West-centric modernity and development agenda and their consequences for social work facing increasing global inequalities. The following research questions have guided the work: ‘How can social work play an effective role in combating social problems and otherisation, marginalisation and increasing inequalities in a globalised world?’, ‘How does the global development agenda function within the local arenas of social work?’, ‘Are development projects improving people’s life chances in local communities in non-Western countries?’, ‘How informed and responsive are social workers towards the global context of local problems?’ The work is based on a qualitative design using qualitative content analysis for analysing data collected through interviews, participant observations and official documents. The results show that irrespective of where and in which context social problems are appearing, since local problems often have global roots, a global perspective to local problems should be included in every practices of social work in order to develop new methods of practices in an increasingly globalised field of work. Destruction of local communities, forced migration from non-Western countries, and marginalisation of people with immigrant background in Western countries should not be considered only as local problems, but also as problems with their roots in global structural inequalities which reproduces global social problems with local consequences. It is argued that social work should consider the dilemmas and problems connected to the taken for granted West-centric theories, understandings and practices of social work in order to develop new methods of practices for combating social problems, marginalisation and increasing inequalities in a globalised world. Such a position includes practicing multilevel social work, social work in global alliances beyond the division of East and West, and mobilisation against neoliberalism and the retreat of the welfare state. This requires critical standpoints against the relationship between the global context of the neoliberal ideology and practices in a Western-dominated and postcolonial world and the daily practices of social work. / Localised Globalities and Social Work: Contemporary Challenges

Le département de la Meuse est essentiellement rural et agricole. Les communautés rurales de 1880 à 1914 ne sont pas figées. Elles se transforment par la synthèse d'éléments issus de la tradition et de facteurs liés au contexte général. Elles ne sont ni réfractaires au progrès ni passéistes. Le département devient une terre de guerre. Les paysages et les patrimoines sont bouleversés et métamorphosés. Les rapports sociaux sont modifiés. À l'armistice, la situation rend le système d'avant-guerre obsolète. La loi de réparation des dommages de guerre offre un espoir de relèvement. Les bilans des destructions sont conséquents. La reconstruction est une période charnière. L'argent apparaît être le nerf de la reconstruction. Elle devient un moyen de moderniser et de rationaliser les communes rurales. Le territoire se mémorialise et de nouveaux éléments d'identification et de reconnaissance modifient la tradition / The department of the Meuse is mainly rural and agricultural. The rural communities from 1880 to 1914 are not fixed. They are transformed by the synthesis of elements from tradition and factors related to the general context. They are neither refractory to progress nor past. The department became a land of war. Landscapes and heritages are overturned and transformed. Social relations are modified. At the armistice, the situation made the pre-war system obsolete. The war damage compensation law offers hope of recovery. The results of the destruction are substantial. Reconstruction is a pivotal period. Money appears to be the nerve of reconstruction. It becomes a means of modernizing and rationalizing rural communes. The territory is memorized and new elements of identification and recognition change the tradition

Insofar as the postcolonial project is one of the elaboration of “the plurality of modernity, and the agency multiplying its forms”, my project is a contribution to this larger one in the form of a postcolonial theory of multiculturalism (Ashcroft, 2009, p. 85). Drawing from minority standpoints, arguments, and narratives, I focus on the lives and perspectives of a few broad groups in particular: indigenous peoples in Canada, Muslim women, and East Asian “immigrant” minorities. I take up a critical theory approach to framing multicultural theory and the questions it asks from the standpoints of minorities themselves, foregrounding the challenges and perspectives of racialized groups for whom their ethno-culture is morally salient and central to their own understanding of their identities and aims. This framework draws on the insights of feminist theorists of deliberative democracy but also departs from them in the crucial respect of affirming a conception of culture and identity that accepts some basic “communitarian” ideas of morality and culture, while conceiving these within a postcolonial project of cultural reclamation rather than a republican framework of the public sphere. My project is organized into two parts: The first section systematically critiques the dominant liberal multiculturalist model based on Canadian multicultural policy and theorized by Kymlicka, which is oriented by the liberal state’s perspective in its aims of integrating minorities. In the first chapter, I reject his universalist principle of liberal neutrality as the standard for justice in favour of a pluralist democratic standard that accommodates “thin” theories of the good. In the second and third chapters, I reformulate Kymlicka’s categories of “national minorities” and “polyethnic minorities” respectively in order to take account of postcolonial indigenous sovereignty and the transnational scope of ethnic identity. The second section develops a pluralist account of agency in its descriptive (Chapter 4), normative (Chapter 5), and prescriptive (Chapter 6) aspects (Deveaux 2006 p. 179). This is developed as a constructive critique of liberal standards of autonomy, particularly feminist proposals for a standard of procedural autonomy, as unable to adequately describe and assess heteronomous agency.

Cette thèse s'intéresse au rôle des pratiques médiatiques dans la construction des adolescences lycéennes à La Réunion. Les adolescences lycéennes sont ici envisagées comme des périodes de multiples changements durant lesquelles les individus apprennent à acquérir le statut de lycéen. Cette mutation passe par trois stades qui constituent des « finalités intermédiaires » : les différenciations, les négociations, les adhésions. Les différenciations se construisent par rapport aux autres (enfants, adultes, parents, le sexe opposé). Les négociations résultent de la volonté des adolescents de bricoler avec les éléments qui leur sont imposés et qui font partie de leur identité. Enfin, les adhésions marquent le désir des individus d'adopter des codes et des activités participant à la reconnaissance de leur identité. L'analyse d'entretiens réalisés avec des lycéens en classe de seconde montre que ces adolescents mobilisent leurs pratiques médiatiques pour définir des « stratégies identitaires » facilitant la construction de soi. La thèse interroge au final le lien rites de passage et pratiques médiatiques par ailleurs largement travaillées par les dynamiques culturelles à l'œuvre dans cette île de l'océan Indien. / This dissertation is about the role played by media practices in the identity construction of adolescent secondary school (lycée) students in La Réunion. Secondary school adolescence is considered here as a period of multiple changes during which young individuals learn to be part of this moment of life. The transformation for students from college to lycée goes via the realization of “intermediary finalities”: differentiation, negotiation and identification. Differentiation means taking a distance from other individuals (children, adults, parents, opposite sex). Negociation results from the adolescents ‘ willingness to compose with different elements which are forced upon then and which are parts of their identity. Finally, indentification marks the individuals ‘ desires to adopt codes and activities playing a part in the recognition of their identity. The analysis of interviews conducted with students from the fifth of secondary school (seconde) shows that these teenagers are inspired by their media practices to define “strategies of identity” which help them in the construction of their personal selves. This research observes that media practices are not the only agents for the definition of adolescence: cultural dynamics operating in the island are equally important factors. The thesis also questions the links which can be made between media practices and rites of passage.

Die vorliegende Dissertation deduziert eine bisher unbeachtete ‚alternate‘ Praxis modernen Schreibens aus der Analyse dreier experimenteller Stadtromane, die weder bei zeitgenössischen Kommentatoren, noch im bisherigen Forschungsdiskurs zum 'amerikanischen Modernismus' Beachtung gefunden hat. Diese Praxis wird exemplarisch in Waldo Franks City Block (1922), Nathan Aschs The Office (1925) und Mary Bordens Flamingo or the American Tower (1927) herausgearbeitet. Die Arbeit argumentiert, dass diese diachrone Missachtung/Nichtbeachtung darin begründet liegt, dass die Romane von ihren AutorInnen unabhängig voneinander, doch nahezu zeitgleich als Prosatexte konzipiert wurden, die eine Gegenläufigkeit zu dem normativen Akzelerationsdiskurs erkennen lassen, welcher sich in verschiedensten Domänen amerikanischen Lebens und Handelns während der ersten Beschleunigungswelle (ca. 1880-1929) herausgebildet hatte. In diesen Romanen finden sich einzigartige, doch vergleichbare stilistische Mechanismen sowie thematische/ideologische Ausrichtungen, die eine generative Agenda (‚generative agenda‘) erkennen lassen: ‚Schnelle‘ textuelle Stile werden appropriiert und/oder mit ‚langsamen‘ Stilen kombiniert (‚aesthetic of in-betweenness‘), um Lesern für die negativen Folgen von Beschleunigung zu sensibilisieren; das Phänomen an sich wird in nuancierter, handlungsorientierter Form neu verhandelt und mögliche Bewältigungsstrategien entwickelt; stilistische, formale und inhaltliche Mechanismen werden angewendet, um eine entsprechende Aktivierung des Lesers herbeizuführen.

Dans cette thèse je démontre comment les imaginaires de la nation serbe, de l’Occident et des valeurs universelles (démocratie, droits de l’homme et tolérance) véhiculées au sein de la revue ‘Orthodoxie’ (publiée par l’Eglise Orthodoxe Serbe) ont pour but final la préservation de la position sociale de l’Eglise et de ses intérêts en tant qu’une institution religieuse au sein de la société serbe. Cette ‘résistance’ aux changements construit des imaginaires sociaux qui nous appréhendons comme des représentations sociales et ont tendance à (re)devenir la vision dominante de la société serbe. J’étudie le discours de la revue ‘Orthodoxie’ et des acteurs qui y contribuent afin de montrer le processus des créations des imaginaires sociaux et leurs tentatives de se présenter au public et dans la sphère publique comme les courants de pensée dominants concernant la nation serbe, l’Occident et les valeurs ‘universelles’. J’ai répondu aux questions suivantes : - comment la tradition nationale « se traditionalise », la culture nationale s’idéalise et l’identité nationale se sacralise ? - comment l’imaginaire de l’Europe et de la culture européenne/occidentale (‘EUX’) se construisent en opposition à l’imaginaire de la nation serbe (‘NOUS’) ? - comment les valeurs de la démocratie, des droits de l’homme et de la tolérance sont imaginées à travers une telle construction opposée (‘EUX’ versus ‘NOUS’) ? / In this thesis I demonstrate how do the imaginaries of Serbian nation, of Occident and of ‘universal’ Values (democracy, human rights, tolerance), constructed in the journal published by the SOC serve as factors of conservation and protection of the social position of the Church, its social and political interests in the sense of national religious institution in the Serbian society. The ‘resistance’ to change allows the construction of social imaginaries that we comprehend as social representations with a tendency to become (again) or to impose them as a dominant vision of the Serbian society. I studied the discourse in the ‘Orthodoxy’ journal and the social actors that published their articles in order to demonstrate the process of the creation of social imaginaries and the tentative to present them publicly/in the public sphere as dominant currents of social thoughts on Serbian nation, Occident and ‘universal’ values. I answered to the following questions:- The way national tradition is “traditionalized”, national culture is idealized and national identity is sacralized.- How the imaginary of Europe and European/western culture (‘THEM) are constructed in an opposition to the imaginary of a Serbian nation (‘US’)?- How the values of democracy, human rights and tolerance are imagined through this opposed imaginary construction (‘US’ vs ‘THEM’)?

This thesis deals with the concept of modernity called "nadcivilizace" ("supercivilization") that was developed in the nineteen-fifties by Czech philosopher Jan Patočka (1907-1977) in his originally unpublished study Nadcivilizace a její vnitřní konflikt. The main goal of the thesis is to introduce this concept in the framework of the author's life and work, as well as in the context of current research in the field of historical sociology. This goal is fulfilled through three main steps, which are preceded by preliminary remarks about the issues of nowadays civilizational analysis. The first part is focused on the introduction of the author's concept of modernity as it was presented in the aforementioned study. Patočka's original term "nadcivilizace" is introduced and put into the context of civilizational analysis. At the same time, the circumstances of the genesis of the text, and the spiritual framework of the epoch in which Czech philosopher lived, are presented. Second part attempts to put the original concept into the author's lecture of philosophy of history, and to demonstrate the changes that occurred in Patočka's understanding of modernity in his work Kacířské eseje o filosofii dějin (Heretical Essays in the Philosophy of History, 1975). Finally, the last part is dedicated to the problem...

This dissertation explores the reconfiguration of religion in modern global society with a focus on Koreans’ use of the category of religion. Using textual and structural analysis, this study examines how the notion of religion is structurally and semantically contextualized in the public sphere of modern Korea. I scrutinize the operation of the differentiated communication systems that produces a variety of discourses and imaginaries on religion and religions in modern Korea. Rather than narrowly define religion in terms of the consequence of religious or scientific projects, this dissertation shows the process in which the evolving societal systems such as politics, law, education, and mass media determine and re-determine what counts as religion in the emergence of a globalized Korea. I argue that, ever since the Western notion of religion was introduced to East Asia in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, religion was, unlike in China and Japan, constructed as a positive social component in Korea, because it was considered to be instrumental in maintaining Korean identity and modernizing the Korean nation in the new global context. In twentieth century Korea, the conception of religion was manifest in the representation of the so-called world religions such as Buddhism and Christianity, which were largely re-imagined as resisting colonialism and communism as well as contributing to the integration and democratization of the nation-state. The phenomenal clout and growth of Korea’s mainstream religions can be traced to an established twofold understanding that religion is distinctive, normal, and versatile, while indigenous traditions and new religious groups are abnormal, regressive, and even harmful. I have found that, since the late 1980s, a negative re-formation of religion has been widespread in the public sphere of South Korea, with a growing concern that religion may harbor a parochial attitude against the nation’s new strategies of development. Religion has been increasingly signified as antisocial, conflictual, and sectarian in newly globalized South Korea, because structuralized religious power, in particular that of Protestantism, gets in the way of autonomous evolvement of the secular societal institutions. As such, I conclude by suggesting that the definition of religion was multiply appropriated by the differences in local particularization in contemporary global society. Insofar as religion is regarded as incompatible with the changed location of the national society in the new global society, the semantics assigned to what is called religion continues to be degraded in contemporary South Korea.