ABSTRACT
This book puts forward a new epistemological framework for a theory of religion and gender’s role in the public sphere. It provides a sophisticated understanding of gender and its relation to religion as a primarily performative category of knowledge production, rooting that understanding in case studies from around the world.
Gender and religion are examined alongside biopolitics and the influence of capitalism, neoliberalism and empire. The book analyses the interdependence of religion, gender and new nationalisms in the Palestinian territories, South Africa and the USA, scrutinising the biopolitical interferences of nation states and dominant political and religious institutions. It then moves on to uncover counter-discourses and spaces of activism and agency in contexts such as East Germany and the Occupy Wall Street movement. Using gender, queer and trans theory in tandem with postcolonial and post-secular perspectives, readers are shown a more nuanced understanding of critical contemporary questions related to religion, gender and sexuality.
This is a bold new take on religion, gender and public life. As such, it will be of keen interest to scholars of Religious Studies and Gender Studies, as well as those working on religion’s interaction with Politics, Sociology and Social Activism.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part I|69 pages
Theory of religion as theory of knowledge
chapter 3|31 pages
Gender and religion as categories of knowledge
chapter 4|19 pages
The political-performative power of language, appropriation, cultures of translation and travelling theory
part II|41 pages
Religion, secularity and gender after the post-secular turn
chapter 5|21 pages
Fundamentalisms and secularisms
chapter 6|18 pages
The new role of religion in the public sphere
part III|58 pages
Religion, gender, neo-nationalisms and biopolitics
chapter 7|16 pages
Religious legitimation of national gender construction
chapter 8|15 pages
Biopolitical interferences of nation states and dominant religious institutions
chapter 9|25 pages
Human rights, gender and religion
part IV|87 pages
Religion, gender, activism and the multiplicity of agency
chapter 10|20 pages
Religion, gender and the Peaceful Revolution of 1989
chapter 11|20 pages
Imagining futures through the multitude
chapter 12|22 pages
Decolonising public space
chapter 13|23 pages
Connecting activism with postcolonial, post-secular and queer epistemology
part V|49 pages
Religion, gender, visual culture and performativity