Affective Secularity

What is it about?

This article is about the affectivity and emotionality of the secular not only as a political and historical entity, but also as a tool of analysis. I argue that what is understood as religion or culture and how the boundaries of these concepts are determined by the way secularity is imagined according to historical period and geographical location. They are closely related to emotional attachments, desires and longings, but also to senses, non-human bodies and things. Using two material objects, pork and the headscarf, the text attempts to unfold the affective foundations of French secularism in relation to the legal regulations on the presence and bodily practices of Muslim communities. On the one hand, it shows that Christianity and (formerly) Christian practices undergo a form of culturalization that is considered exclusively as culture. On the other hand, the religious and cultural life of Muslims is actively undergoing a religionization, which means that it is understood exclusively as religious. This inscribed religiosity is also seen as a constant threat to secularism and has material effects on bodies that are perceived as Muslim.

Featured Image