Multiple Modernities Research Articles

Exploring the Sacredness of Urban Spaces through Material Traces

From ancient times, some spaces have been understood to be more sacred than others. Even though many of these spaces have no specific religious meaning, there have been new religious movements which can easily be seen in daily life. In order to understand the current dynamics of religion, a focus on the material presence of religion (religious buildings, sites and artefacts in urban spaces) is a fruitful starting point. Thus, the objective of this study is to explore the potential meanings of the sacred in urban spaces, and the effects of these meanings or characterizations of the sacred have on places. Moreover, the focus is on analysing new manifestations of the religious and the sacred in urban space, as well as the ways in which material traces mediate diverse practices, discourses and effects in the various domains of the sacred. By investigating the alignments of these two fields, the city and the sacred, this study sheds new light on the metropolis of London, which manifests both religious diversity and multiple modernities via traces of the sacred in urban spaces. The results show that sacred traces in urban places have a prominent image that many residents and visitors fail to appreciate in their daily lives. The study concludes with a discussion of findings and implications.

Popular Religions and Multiple Modernities: A Framework for Understanding Current Religious Transformations

Popular, ethnic, and folk religions endure in all regions of the planet, but specially in underdeveloped or developing non-Western countries. The main objective of this paper was to propose a framework for understanding this popular religious trend. Although religion in general has previously been linked to multiple modernities, the revitalization of popular religions has not. While Eisenstadt’s original theory of multiple modernities has been criticized on several aspects, his interpretative approach is valid provided that the contradictory dynamics of modernizing processes are recognized. The epistemological shift suggested by this article involves recognizing the biases that Western sociology has brought to its analysis of religions. Once we treat modernities as multiple, the specificity of each modernity opens up the spectrum of religious alternatives that flourish in every geo-cultural area. The growing diversity of popular religious expressions in the Global South stems from the fact that they are supported by thousands of believers. Their lived religions spills beyond religious institutions. These popular religiosities are the main sources of religious diversities and religious resistance in the context of multiple modernities. Lived religion and symbolic action allow us a better understanding of the magical-religious expressions of peoples of the world.

Modernization and Social Change in Azerbaijan: Assessing the Transformation of Azerbaijan through the Theories of Modernity

The socialist development model of the Soviet Union has attracted much scholarly attention over the years, but the modernization experiences of singular post-Soviet countries (e.g. Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Turkmenistan) are rarely discussed. This may be because these countries have only recently gained their independence in the early 1990s and that perhaps most observers are still unsure about their trajectories. This study aims to contribute to the literature by examining the case of Azerbaijan in light of various influential theories of modernity (i.e. the classical modernization theory, neo-modernization theory and multiple modernities paradigm). Azerbaijan’s modernization process has been characterized by fluctuations, reversals and various external influences over the years. The country first emerged as an independent political entity in 1918 and attempted to follow a systematic cultural Westernization and secularization program. Yet it was occupied by the Bolshevik Red Army in 1920 and annexed into the newly formed Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) – being forced to conform to the top-down socialist development model directed by Moscow for many decades. Since gaining its independence once again after the disintegration of the USSR in 1991, Azerbaijan has operated as a secularist country, faltering to democratize and trying to integrate to the global economic system as an energy-producing (i.e. oil and natural gas) rentier economy. While Azerbaijan has sought to become part of the so-called “Western civilization” via building close ties with Turkey, US, Israel, NATO and the EU, the ruling elites in Baku have resisted any calls for democratic reform – not unlike the rentier economies of the Middle East such as Iran and Saudi Arabia. This article will argue that the complex development track of Azerbaijan provides an appropriate case to challenge the hypotheses of the classical modernization and neo-modernization theories, while supporting those of the multiple modernities paradigm.

The analytical incoherence of the multiple modernities thesis

The multiple modernities thesis has been the focus of scholarly debates in the last decade and has become widely accepted in the study of non-Western societies. Yet the thesis suffers from a major incoherence which lies in its principal assumptions about the process by which social change occurs. The article offers a critique of the multiple modernities thesis which challenges Eisenstadt’s understanding of diverse cultural contexts and their localized institutional constellations on account of its dualistic division into two levels: the intangible (ontological visions or culture) and the tangible (structure or system) by which it seeks to account for the plurality of modern societies.

Gender and modernity revisited: Dialogues with Joel Kahn

This article revisits theorising about the relationships between concepts of gender and modernity, drawing on long-term anthropological research on Southeast Asia. From the 1990s on, now well-known feminist critiques pointed to the profound androcentrism of much theorising about modernity, the many lacunae in such work, and the ways in which masculinity has operated as a core constitutive category of the social. Most theorising about modernity, feminists argued, was gendered both by the exclusion of women and a neglect of gender in explorations of the modern. In their turn, feminists have argued strongly for the centrality of genders and sexualities in the making of modern social and cultural forms and pointed to the crucial place of gendered imaginaries within modern social orders, with women being frequently identified and deployed as bearers of nation, ‘tradition’, and ‘civilisation’. Unpacking and challenging the received categories and paradigms – not least ‘woman’ – has proved demanding, however. Problems have been intensified by prevailing Eurocentrisms, and conceptual divisions of the world into essentialised binaries like ‘modern' and ‘traditional', ‘West' and the 'Rest', and latterly Islam and the West. With increased contests around the concept of modernity – feminist and non-feminist – some writers have argued for a pluralisation of modernity, with such concepts as multiple modernities or alternative modernities, or through conceiving of a global modernity. Engaging critically with such ideas, and grounding the discussion in empirical work on Malaysia carried out in dialogue with Joel Kahn, this article looks to possible further developments in framing debates about gender and the modern, exploring the contributions that locally based, anthropological scholarship can make to theorisations of modernity and its relationship(s) with gender.

Modern Muslim Subjectivities: Religion and Multiple Modernities within Islam

AbstractThis article presents the overarching theoretical framework and some tentative findings of the Modern Muslim Subjectivities Project (MMSP). It discusses some of its conceptual tools and presents strategies for studying the role of religion in modern Muslim subjectivity formation. The core rationale of this research program is to explore the role of religious traditions in the construction of modern forms of Muslim subjectivity and social order. It investigates the ways in which Muslims have imagined specifically Islamic modernities in combination with non-religious and globally relevant cultural scripts. In criticizing the alleged Western origin and secular nature of modernity, the MMSP aims at making original contributions both to conceptual discussions of modernity in the study of religions and to our knowledge of modern Muslim societies.

ENTRE O SABER E A FÉ

O presente artigo discute as implicações da coexistência de práticas religiosas populares, nomeadamente, as festas à Santa Isabel e os ritos ao Espírito Santo, em concomitância com as manifestações seculares na esfera pública do Estado Português. Em particular, questiona-se como o princípio da laicidade em Portugal contribui para a coexistência de dinâmicas religiosas e seculares, as quais podem gerar processos de aprendizagem complementar entre os dois saberes. Para tanto, a sociologia da religião e da moral de Durkheim é atualizada e colocada em dialogo com as ideias de pós-secularização de Habermas. O estudo segue uma metodologia qualitativa de base interpretativa. Por meio da análise dos materiais construídos visualizam-se algumas configurações pós-seculares no país lusitano. Compreende-se que a condição pós-secular e o pluralismo religioso e de valores são desafios das modernidades múltiplas.

Multiple Modernities: Carmen de Burgos, Author and Activist ed. by Anja Louis and Michelle M. Sharp

Multiple Modernities: Carmen de Burgos, Author and Activist ed. by Anja Louis and Michelle M. Sharp

S.Eisenstadt’s civilizational analysis in the contexts of sociological theorising

The article represents an overview of S. Eisenstadt's theoretical heritage, focusing on its theoretical and methodological core, that is, civilizational analysis. Theoretical sources, synthesis and links of civilizational analysis, its conceptual coordinates on the map of sociological theoretical knowledge are examined. It is argued that the formation of this theoretical direction meant the restoration of classic sociological tradition, in particular approaches indicated by E. Durkheim, M. Mauss and M. Weber to the problematic of historical civilizations. This theme has acquired its new meanings and actualizations in reflections on peculiarities and challenges of modernization from the end 1970-s in Eisenstadt’s and some other researchers’ works. Conceptual interpretation of modernity as a distinctive civilizational pattern and Eisenstadt’s concept of multiple modernities are also important aspects of this theoretical direction. The main idea of Eisenstadt’s concept of multiple modernities is a recognition of many possible patterns of modernization as a not purely Western civilization phenomenon. Some methodological implications of Eisenstadt’s civilizational analysis for the prospects of sociological research, particularly with focus on peculiarities of social transformation and modernization in Ukraine are suggested. It is argued that socio-cultural and political dynamics of Ukraine’s transformation could be analyzed as the combination of various civilizational programs. This is explained by the fact that modernization in Ukraine does not follow the classical scheme - from traditional to modern society, but rather occurs as a parallel transformation from one type of modernization (former Soviet) to another (market and democratic). In addition this transformation is undergoing in the context of the conflict between two geopolitical modernization projects – Western, European and Eurasian (“Russian world”).

The Soviet Version of Modernity: Weberian and Post-Weberian Perspectives

The article discusses several approaches to the study of Soviet society drawing on Max Weber’s theoretical models or following a broadly-understood Weberian tradition in historical sociology. Weberian perspectives have been used for the analysis of the Russian Revolution of 1917 and its aftermath. The early Bolshevik Party has been characterized as a community of “ideological virtuosi” while its further development has been described either as “incomplete rationalization” or as a re-traditionalization. In the article, it is argued that employing the post-Weberian multiple modernities approach allows us to overcome some of the difficulties that have emerged in this case. In particular, the article focuses on Johann Arnason’s analysis of the Soviet model of modernity. For Arnason, the Soviet model incorporated both the legacy of imperial transformation from above and the revolutionary vision of a new society. He claims that communism represented a distinctive version of modernity rather than a deviation from the modernizing mainstream. In recent historical studies of the Soviet period, two approaches have been formed stressing the modernity of the Soviet regime or its neo-traditionalist aspects. The distinction between these approaches has been discussed by Michael David-Fox. The article considers the parallels between the new historical studies of Soviet society, on the one hand, and both Weberian and post-Weberian sociological perspectives, on the other.

Luis Roniger on the Politics of Human Rights, Language and Multiple Modernities: An Interview

This interview with Dr. Luis Roniger, Reynolds Professor of Latin American Studies at Wake Forest University and a professor emeritus of Sociology and Latin American Studies at Hebrew University of Jerusalem, reflects on his research agenda including issues of human rights, exile, language, and multiple modernities in Latin America.

Anthropology and sociology of shame: reflections on books by N. Elias, H.-P. Duerr and R.E. Gergilov

The article analyzes the conclusions and provisions in a monograph written by the St Petersburg philosopher and sociologist R.E. Gergilov in 2016 and devoted to the problem of transformation of shame in the process of civilization. The paper reveals the continuity of Gergilov's concept in relation to the works of N. Elias and his opponent H.-P. Duerr which constitute the dichotomy of the traditional shame cultures and the duty-based moral practices in modernity. The author shows that historical anthropology and sociology represent different theories of multiple forms of modernity (multiple modernities), and this implies a different perusal of the heritage of the listed authors and different interpretations of the correlation between “shame societies” and a “civilized society”. The author concludes that the work of R.E. Gergilov is a productive response to the problems that arose from the controversy between Duerr and Elias and will be useful to sociologists who are engaged in assessing the level of bashfulness in modern society.

Changing worldwide attitudes toward homosexuality: The influence of global and region-specific cultures, 1981–2012

While the acceptance of homosexuality has risen across many Western countries, we know little about whether or why attitudes have changed in the rest of the world. Here I investigate these questions while also testing the relative utility of three theories of what drives worldwide attitudinal change: (1) the postmaterialist thesis, which casts existential security as a main determinant; (2) world society theory, which emphasizes the influence of a diffusing global culture; and (3) multiple modernities theory, which points to the effect of region-specific cultural programs. Drawing on data from the integrated World Values Survey/European Values Survey (1981-2012), I use a longitudinal multilevel design to model worldwide change in the societal acceptance of homosexuality. In line with world society theory, the results show a broad worldwide upswing in the acceptance of homosexuality, driven largely by the diffusion of favorable global cultural messages. The results provide strong evidence that global culture has shaped collective attitudes globally, although the impact here is found to be less in more religious societies. At the same time, the analysis finds a widening attitudinal gap between countries, and, consistent with multiple modernities theory, suggests this is due in part to the role of region-specific cultural programs. Contrary to the postmaterialist thesis, existential security is not found to have influenced attitudes.

Islamic Modernities in Southeast Asia: Exploring Indonesian Popular and Visual Culture, by Leonie Schmidt

In Islamic Modernities in Southeast Asia, Leonie Schmidt provides a thorough analysis of contemporary Islamic-themed popular and visual cultures, mainly in Indonesia. This book is an essential read for those who wish to understand multiple modernities unfolding in post-1998 Indonesia (the Reformasi era). By using the term Islamic, she refers to any ‘cultural practices that are considered bernafaskan Islam (“to breath Islam”), which means that these cultural forms are inspired by Islam or that they connote Islam thematically’ (p. 5). This book focuses on the intersection between modernity, Islam, identity, and popular and visual cultures in contemporary Indonesia.

S.N. Eisenstadt and African modernities: Dialogue, extension, retrieval

This article elucidates some connections and divergences between S.N. Eisenstadt’s work on multiple modernities and critical reflections on ‘African modernity’ presented by Africanist scholars. It argues that there is more cross-over between these discussions than is commonly thought when both are seen as parallel responses to the shortcomings of post-war modernization theory. Eisenstadt’s work can inform debates in African Studies concerning the effective power of tradition in postcolonial African societies, and on African interpretations of the ‘cultural programme’ of modernity. The article also discusses some weaknesses in Eisenstadt’s theorizing which arise from an extension of the multiple modernities framework to African societies, namely, an underappreciation of the various modalities of colonial imperialism and racialization, as well as the institutional constraints placed on postcolonial societal elites. It claims that these can be offset via a dialogue with the work of scholars in African Studies. Moreover, it is argued that the paradigm of multiple modernities can more satisfactorily shed light on African trajectories of modernity via the retrieval of tenets of Eisenstadt’s ‘heterodox’ modernization theory and work on post-traditionality, outlined in the 1960s and the 1970s, which include specific reflections on African societies.

동북아시아 전통악극의 다중적 근대 - 창극, 경극, 가부키를 중심으로

동북아시아 전통악극의 다중적 근대 - 창극, 경극, 가부키를 중심으로

Journalism and Multiple Modernities: The Folha de S. Paulo Reform in Brazil

ABSTRACTThe reform of the Brazilian newspaper Folha de S. Paulo in the 1980s has been often presented by scholars and the reformers themselves as an example of a process of journalism modernization inspired by the US Fourth Estate model. However, a close examination of documents publicized by Folha and members of the management team ahead of the reform suggests that other elements – associated to a Neoliberal and a Leninist view of journalism – performed a role as important as the Fourth Estate as sources of the newspaper’s model of journalism. Contrary to the conventional knowledge, this article suggests that the core reason behind of reform was the perception, shared by Folha’s managers that they have lost control over the newsroom, and their consequent effort in restoring their authority, rather than merely emulating a foreign model. It is argued that a better understanding of journalism modernization in non-western societies requires going beyond the usual model adoption and model adaptation approaches and exploring a multiple modernities perspective.

Constructing a Public Comparative Theology: Examining Ernst Troeltsch through a Critical Hermeneutic Lens

Abstract This article explores Ernst Troeltsch’s potential contribution to a Christian public theology. It does so by way of a case being made for a public comparative theology. For this purpose I reconsider investigating Troeltsch’s sociological method through a critical hermeneutic lens provided by Hans G. Gadamer’s hermeneutics and Jürgen Habermas’ sociology of a lifeworld. Through this hermeneutical mediation I propose a more comprehensive understanding of Troeltsch’s project, and how it can bring relevancy to a public theology that takes into account the comparative study of religions in our pluralist context. Troeltsch’s work will thus be hermeneutically refined in a socially responsible manner in keeping with the reality of multiple modernities and the religious humanism in our contemporary context.

Past and Present of Latin American Jewry: A Conceptual Pathway

The article aims to analyze the conceptual pathway that the author followed along her research trajectory focused on past and present trends in contemporary Jewish life, as specifically expressed in Latin America. Along a systematic reflection on axioms, theories and findings, diverse conceptual elaborations are presented, as they entail a sustained encounter with previous scientific formulations and changing times and contexts. Thus the author reflects on theory and biography as they nourished her research questions, while simultaneously committed to the stricter canon of scientific conscientiousness. Political science, sociology and contemporary Jewish studies converge in the development of research axes that found their point of departure in the prefix “multiple,” covering the author’s multidisciplinary journey through Latin American multiple modernities; multiple collective identities; and multiple social and communal structures and praxis. Diverse thematic clues are displayed to account for the striking fact that over the course of two generations Latin American Jews have transformed from mostly immigrants and immigrant communities, to rooted communities of locally-born citizens and, simultaneously, of expatriates and emigrants. The richness of Jewish life in the region, its presence and relevance in the Jewish world, as well as in national and communal spheres, and simultaneously, its relocation in new geographies are part of their current reality marked by disjunctures and paradoxes. The research presented crosses disciplinary confines in order to reach a wider epistemic spectrum and become better equipped to deal with the complexity that characterizes Jewish life today, as well as to traverse the national borders where Jewish diasporas dwell, in an effort to understand the globality of the Jewish condition and grasp its current dynamics.

‘To be or not to be’ (like the West): modernisation in Russia and Iran

Having passed through a labyrinth of social contradictions, both Russia and Iran have reached a point on their historical timelines where they have transcended the logic of development of the eighteenth, nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Today, Russian and Iranian modernisation reflects the interaction of universal norms and practices and specific cultural traditions. As an epistemological category, modernity can no longer be enchained in the grip of a totalising narrative. Modernity has given rise to civilisational patterns that share some core characteristics, but which unfold differently. The Russian and Iranian historical experiences reveal the need to take a much broader view of the modernisation process by placing it in the context of cultural adaptation of civilisational particularities to the challenge of modernity. The era of fixed, Euro-centric and non-reflexive modernity has reached its end, and we have, in practical terms, the emergence of ‘multiple modernities’.