Course description

Since the end of the Cold War, and particularly after 9/11, religion has been linked to global discourses on ‘security’ and ‘insecurity’.  But what is the relationship between religion and security? When is religion perceived as presenting a threat, and when does it offer individual, as well as collective, security? This course offers the students critical reflections on the cultural foundations of ‘security/insecurity’, and of protection. Rather than analyzing normative positions regarding the ethics of war, this course analyzes the role of religion in situations of extreme insecurity, most notably in war and conflict situations, and a core theme of the course is religious practices in times of war. When and how are religions perceived to offer protection in war? To explore the relationship between religion and security, we will read works with different approaches to ‘security’ and several ethnographic studies on religion in war and conflicts in the 20th century. The course draws most of its empirical examples from South Asia and Africa, but will draw upon case studies from other regions as well.