Public Space and Religion

In recent years, there has been a significant transformation of the religious landscape. On the one hand, a process of religious diversification that has led to the growth of religious minorities such as Islam, Protestantism or Sikhism. Communities that, for the most part, are the result of the increase in global migrations. On the other hand, a significant increase in new forms of religiosity that, halfway between the magical, the spiritual and the therapeutic, have gained a presence in contemporary society. Finally, we also observe that the Catholic Church has repositioned itself in this new scenario, adopting new models of intervention in the public sphere, while groups, organizations and campaigns have emerged that demand a greater secularization of the public space.

These transformations have generated an increase in public expressions of religiosity in the streets, squares and public spaces of the cities of Madrid and Barcelona. Catholic processions, Sikh festivals such as Vaisakhi, Buddhist meditations in squares, evangelical baptisms on the beach or celebrations of the end of Ramadan in parks, are some of the religious expressions that are gaining presence in the cities.

This research project takes as its object of study these religious expressions on public streets as privileged spaces through which to identify, understand and explain the transformations of religion in contemporary times, and the challenges derived from the diversification and visibility of religious plurality.

The project has 3 main objectives: to analyze the visibility strategies and mobilization repertoires of religious communities; to study the processes of tension, negotiation and fit between local administration, religious actors and civil society; and, finally, to understand the dynamics of problematization and/or social recognition of these religious expressions in public space.

Publications

• Salguero, O. (2018). "A Diachronic View of the Spaces of Islam in Melilla" in: Planet Contreras, AI (ed.). Observing Islam in Spain. Contemporary Politics and Social Dynamics. Leiden: Brill.

• Ares, A., Eguren, J. (2017). Migratory movements in the Ibero-American borders. Kamar SA

• Astor, A., Burchardt, M., Griera, M . (2017). "The Politics of Religious Heritage: Making Claims to Religion as Culture". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 56(1), pp.126-142.

• Burchardt, M. (2017). "Diversity as neoliberal governmentality: Towards a new sociological genealogy of religion." Social Compass. 64(2): 180–193.

• Cadge, W., Griera, M., Lucken, K., Michalowski, I. (2017). "Afterword: On the Study of Religion in Public Institutions". Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 56(2): 255-258.

• Cornejo, M., Pichardo, JI (2017). "From the pulpit to the streets. Religious activism against gender issues in Spain". In: Paternotte, D., Kuhar, R. (eds.) Anti-Gender Campaigns in Europe. Mobilizing against Equality. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Pub.

• Griera, M. (in press). "Counting and mapping religious diversity: methodological challenges, unintended consequences and political implications". In Khüle, L (ed.) A Critical Analysis of Religious Diversity. Springer.

• Griera, M., Astor, A. (2016). "The management of religious diversity in contemporary Spain". CIDOB Immigration Yearbook 2015-2016, pp. 248-270.

• Carbonelli, M., Griera, M. (2016). "Public policies and religion: arrangements, continuities and tensions". Society and Religion Magazine, 26(46), pp. 155-162.

• Cornejo, M. (2016). "Governance and Culture. But what culture? Implications of the concept of culture in the implementation of governance". In: García Magariño. S (ed.) Governance and its approaches. Madrid: Delta Publications.

• Eguren, J. (2016). "An approach to the religious and ethnic experiences of second-generation youth in Spain". Journal of the Ministry of Employment and Social Security, International Migrations. 120, pp. 49 – 70.

• Griera, M. (2016). "The governance of religious diversity in stateless nations: the case of Catalonia". Religion, State & Society, 44(1): 13-31.

• Montañés, A. (2016). "Ethnicity and Gypsy identity in the Pentecostal cults of the city of Madrid. The case of the "Evangelical Church of Filadelfia" and the "Centro Cristiano Vino Nuevo el Rey Jesús" Papers of the CEIC, vol. 2016/2, paper 158, CEIC (Center for Studies on Collective Identity), University of the Basque Country.

• Rodríguez Medela, J., Salguero Montaño, Ó., Sánchez Cota, A. (2016). Cartography of the Capitalist City. Urban transformation and social conflict in the Spanish state, Madrid: Traficantes de sueños.

Project Details

The current project “Religious Expressions in Public Space in Madrid and Barcelona” has Dr. Maria del Mar Griera as its main researcher .

It has a team of 28 researchers (see the project website). It lasts 3 years (2016-2019) and is carried out in collaboration with the Aresima group of the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM) .

The funding comes from the Ministry of Economy within the framework of R&D projects.