The Sacred as Secular: State Control and Mosques Neutrality in Post-Revolutionary Tunisia
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Authors
Publication Date
2019-09Journal Title
Politics and Religion
ISSN
1755-0483
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Type
Article
Metadata
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Donker, T. H. (2019). The Sacred as Secular: State Control and Mosques Neutrality in Post-Revolutionary Tunisia. Politics and Religion https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755048318000597
Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:p>How are the characteristics of state–religion relations defined? The following paper provides a critical response to the competition perspective in studies on secularization, secularism, and mobilized religion. It argues that actors differ in how religion and state should relate to public life, not the extent that they should be integral or separate from each other. This paper substantiates its argument by exploring how in Tunisia––in a context of revolutionary, social and political instability––a variety of positions were articulated regarding the preferred position of Islam in relation to, first, national identity and, second, state authority. This is done in direct reference to one particular contentious issue: State control over mosques in name of ensuring the partisan neutrality of religious spaces in the country. This paper builds on multiple fieldwork visits to Tunisia and specifically Sfax, during which 32 individuals were interviewed. In addition, this paper builds on hundreds of primary and secondary sources.</jats:p>
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Identifiers
External DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1755048318000597
This record's URL: https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/284442
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