From the Local to Europe: Religious Belongings in the Changing Hierarchy of Identities

This panel will scrutinize the role played by religion in the contemporary variable combination of identities in Europe . Plurality of belongings can be found at the - relatively pacified - level of individual and cultural identities, as well as on the - more tense - normative level, when it has to do with the elaboration of collective preferences. The political identities can be articulated vertically or cumulatively, through the superposition of different scales of territorial identification, from the local to Europe . Tensions can occur between specific belongings and transnational solidarities, either community-based (diasporas, etc.) or functional. Religion represents a particularly salient factor of these horizontal affiliations which may challenge the established hierarchy of identities. Religion refers both to a set of common values and to institutional, national and transnational, networks. This duality turns religion into a key actor in the current identity-building processes in Europe , and invites to question again the picture of the 'European exception' in terms of secularisation. Theoretical contributions crossing identity politics, theories of nationalism/regionalism/europeanisation and theories of secularisation will be welcome, as well as empirical contributions concerning European territorial issues. Comparative research will be particularly welcome, as well as in-depth national or infranational case-studies