"Entering" and "leaving" Islam: cross views on trajectories, dynamics and commitments in the field of religious conversion 

Wed 12th Jul 23
11h-13h
Athéna 046

Abstract:

Conversion is a complex, polysemous and polymorphous process which highlights the issue of religious mobility (Mossière, 2005). At the juncture between an individual approach and a collective phenomenon, religious conversion embodies crosscutting research that enlightens the dynamics and lines of adherence, constitutes a sort of religious "DIY" and challenges the way in which religion is coordinated in spatial terms (Hervieu-Léger). How can the "quest-after-truth" approach lead those who set out to achieve such to varied forms of religious expression in community life? What function do religious considerations have for those individuals who integrate themselves into a new community? How do they redefine their relationship with their body after such a conversion? This workshop proposes looking at religious conversion through the prism of cross trajectories that branch off and communicate and which can include diversions, shifts and rediscovery of the self. The cross views on the ways of "entering" and "leaving" Islam aim to examine how religious considerations mobilise individuals around artistic, learned or militant driving forces. 

Conversion of the being, belonging to a "tradition of belief" and religious identification demonstrate how an individual sees him/herself in a thought process that transforms them to the point of "taking the plunge" to redefine beliefs, practices and identity. We propose looking at the fields of thought, the body and the arts so as to enhance the way we perceive the multiple modes that go to make up this complicated phenomenon. 

Convenor:
Samir Abdelli Samir, PhD student in contemporary history, EHESS – Centre for Turkish, Ottoman, Balkan and Central Asian Studies (CETOBaC) 

Discutant:
Loïc Le Pape, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne – CESSP

 Samir Abdelli EHESS – CETOBaC
"Religious conversions to Islam and Muslim intellectual networks in France (20th Century)"

 Julien Argoud, Sciences Po – CERI
"Genesis of the conversion of Muslims to Catholicism: understanding the gradual development of a Catholic vision of the world and oneself"

Stefania Carriglio, EHESS- CéSor
"My body is an 'amanah': converting to Islam in order to be 'born to the spirit' "

Masbah Hajar, EHESS – CETOBaC
"The  influence of Islamic art and Sufi culture in conversion to Islam in France"