Religions and Secularities in the Caucasus: New Configurations
Tbilisi, June 1-3, 2015
Ilia State University
Conference Sponsors: CASCADE project, in collaboration with the ISSICEU project, under
the aegis of the Seventh Framework Programme of the European Union; and the Ilia State
University. Organizers: Alexander Agadjanian, Silvia Serrano, Sophia Zviadadze.
The international conference is dedicated to dynamic interaction of religion and
secularity in the Caucasus, both Northern and Southern. Revitalization of religions,
emerging new forms of religiosity, and the instrumentalization of religion in politics
have played a crucial role in reshaping the Caucasian societies after the breakdown of
the Soviet Union. Religion became a source of political legitimacy, social capital and
everyday values.
At the same time, the post-communist societies largely retained the deeply ingrained
atheist legacy, combined with the new forms of secularity coming from the West. The
discourses of secularity have been varied and multiple, as were religious actors and
forms of religiosity. The conference will consider the institutional arrangements of
religion and religious diversity within the secular political context; the forms and
limits of religious presence in the public sphere; the current public debates about
religion and secularity.
The conference will look at changes in the religious landscape in the Caucasus,
relating them to the global trends and the current academic literature of the field,
both theoretical and secularity.
The conference is free and open to the public.
