Reexamining Minority Religious Rites in the Context of Crises (Virtual Session)

Session Submission Type: Virtual Full Paper Panel

Session Description

A constant during the pandemic has been loss and disruption. Even the marking of death has been interrupted, with restrictions on gatherings stopping religious communities from continuing traditional funeral rites. For many, COVID-19 was the first experience of the state imposing restrictions on funeral rites or restricting access to burials. However, for indigenous and minority religious communities, the knowledge that their death wishes are not viewed as compatible with state policies is more familiar. Frequently, secular states view minority religious practices as posing a distinct threat to the state. Indigenous communities can find that their ancestral burial grounds are seen as a threat to state development policies. In the context of religious burials, the location of traditional burial grounds or rights to separate funeral grounds, are seen as incompatible with state “neutrality.” For transnational religious communities, the option to bury their members in their country of origin allowed conflict to be averted until COVID-19 disrupted this.

As religious communities such as the Hasidim in the United States and Muslim communities in Europe struggle to balance adhering to their religious traditions with new COVID regulations, we take a new look at state intervention in death rites. We explore how the regulation of death establishes a very distinct - but often hidden - “Voice, Exit, Loyalty” conundrum. Where the regulation of death prevents certain communities from burying their members in a religiously appropriate manner in the country of residence, or choose private economic rights over communal burial rights, when do they choose “voice and loyalty” to try to change the regulations or “exit” to reinforce the insularity of a religious community? This panel looks at the hidden aspects of the regulation of death and asks what it means for minority religious and indigenous political participation and church-state relationships.

Sub Unit

• Division 11: Comparative Politics

Individual Presentations

• Regulation of Burials in Europe: Measure of Inclusivity or Exclusion? - Emma Rosenberg, New York University; Clare O'Hare, University of Notre Dame

• Sacred Ground: Unearthing Religious Freedom of African-American Slaves - Brady Earley

• Dispossession and Grave Relocation in South Africa - Dineo Skosana, SWOP

• Does Religiosity Increase or Decrease Nationalism? A Comparative Analysis - Sener Akturk, Koç University

Chair

• Ani Sarkissian Michigan State University

Discussant

• Jonathan Fox Bar Ilan University