Summer School for Cultural and Social Studies (ESSCSS)

Reli­gion and Soci­ety: Com­mu­ni­ties, Pow­er Rela­tions, and Mate­ri­alites

The Sum­mer School is aimed at ear­­ly-career researchers in the his­tor­i­cal sci­ences, reli­gious stud­ies, and relat­ed dis­ci­plines (such as cul­tur­al anthro­pol­o­gy or lit­er­ary stud­ies). With­in the frame­work of the Sum­mer School, ques­tions of the dis­tri­b­u­tion of pow­er in past soci­eties will be brought into focus, among them the aspect of lived reli­gion, that is, every­day reli­gious prac­tices beyond the­o­log­i­cal debates, reflec­tion, and con­fes­sion. Using var­i­ous the­o­ries and case stud­ies, we aim to explore how reli­gion, as a social phe­nom­e­non, has con­tributed to the for­ma­tion of com­mu­ni­ties and pow­er struc­tures, while at the same time being sub­ject to con­stant change and con­tin­u­al rene­go­ti­a­tion of pow­er rela­tions. The atten­dants will gain a new set of the­o­ret­i­cal and method­olog­i­cal skills that they can apply to their own projects, as well as with a deep under­stand­ing of a num­ber of ancient and medieval cas­es stud­ies.