‘Multiple secularities’: Postcolonial variations and guiding ideas in India and South Africa

Abstract

This article draws on the concept of ‘multiple secularities’ as culturally embedded forms of distinction between religious and non-religious spheres and practices. The authors argue that those distinctions gain importance if they are supported by ‘guiding ideas’ that serve to orient institutionalizations of the religious–secular divide with reference to fundamental societal problems. Focusing on the cases of India and South Africa, the authors explore how different ‘guiding ideas’ emerge from particular histories of colonial and postcolonial entanglements and national emancipation. They demonstrate how and why tolerance and non-discrimination have become paramount values and key concerns in national debates in both countries. Whereas in India secularity (framed as secularism) has become central to struggles and discourses over collective identities, in South Africa its social, cultural and political importance have remained limited.