Project Title: URBAN GOVERNANCE OF RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY
Project Aims & Objectives:
URBAN GOVERNANCE OF RELIGIOUS DIVERSITY,
aims to offer a comparative analysis of the governance of religious diversity in 4 Italian cities (Padua, Brescia, Turin and Florence) by confronting and contrasting various examples of interreligious dialogue. This analysis allows us to explore the social construction of freedom of/from religion in contemporary societies and to study their meanings. We would like to identify some best practices in the governance of religious diversity and to produce policy recommendations for the municipalities of those cities. In brief, our work stands at the crossroads of religious governance, interreligious dialogue and freedom of/from religion, three different although partly overlapping fields of research.
Scholars/Institutions: UNITO/UNIFI/UNIPD e University of Brescia
Start Date: October 1, 2024
End Date: 03/30/2025
Research Methods: The empirical material is the fruit of a mixed-method research strategy:1. We have worked on a Dataset and analysed policy documents, public speeches, and municipalities’ websites, with a focus on the City Council (34 documents), the City Junta (22 documents) and the Regional Council (42 documents) --- total 98 selected sources;2. We have mapped interreligious dialogue up to now, and this mapping will proceed alongside the Project. We have identified 17 events that mirror the plurality of forms assumed by interreligious dialogue in Turin. Later on, Matteo will expand this point by discussing the typology of interreligious dialogue we aim to elaborate;3. Participant observation. We have conducted 3 sessions of participant observation.4. In-depth interviews. We have collected 30 in-depth interviews (from 45 to 60 minutes each). We have interviewed: - politicians and members of the municipal administration (7); - representatives of local religious organizations, including religious minorities (16); - members of civil society (experts, journalists and academics…) (9); - and members of interreligious groups and associations.5. Focus groups. We have planned 4 focus groups with participants from different religious groups and representatives from non-religious groups. More specifically, two focus groups will be conducted with school personnel and two with city residents.6. Newspapers. We have analysed the social representations of religious diversity and interreligious dialogue in 400 articles from La Stampa (the daily newspaper of Turin) from 2000 to today.
Findings/Outcomes:
The leading hypothesis of our Project is that interreligious dialogue is to be considered as a social practice comprehensible in the framework of freedom of/from religion or, in other terms, one of the most pragmatic expressions of such freedoms. As Bader (2007) notes, it is characterized by a plurality of “mechanisms of action and coordination” such as the autoregulation and involvement, often simultaneously, of the State, local institutions, religious communities, networks and interreligious associations, and other forms of corporate governance (public-private partnerships). So defined, interreligious dialogue is the result of the interaction among many social actors who, incessantly, define and shape its meanings.
Funding Institution: PRIN
Keywords: religion, governance, religious diversity, spirituality, urban, cities
Country of Publication:
Italy
