Stadtgespräch. Metropolitan Perspectives #17

Wednesday, November 11, 2015, 7 pm
Urban Panic: Post-secular Conflicts
with Vassilis Tsianos (Professor of sociology, FH Kiel)

The concept of the post-secular refers to Jürgen Habermas’ considerations on the post-secular age. He uses the term to refer to the neglected relevance of the religious as a contemporary form of late capitalism. Stuart Hall also understood the rise of post-secular forms of organization as new cultural systems of identification that could express the ideas of new communities in a society defined by migration. “Post-secular politics” refers here to a politics of difference and belonging that recognizes lived spirituality and uses the linked opportunities of multiple transnational belonging related to this for urban migrant society. The fine distinctions of this post-secular politics are rarely perceived as a surplus of democracy, but are rather seen as a disturbance.

Dr. Vassilis Tsianos is a researcher into migration and border regime, founding member of the network Kritische Migrations- und Grenzregimeforschung (kritnet), co-founder of kanak attak and speaker of the Council for Migration at Hamburg University. Teaching at Hamburg University, Ludwig Maximilan Universität München, Munich, Luxemburg University and Kiel University of Applied Sciences.