Dr. Robert M. Hayden will undertake basic scientific research on a topic of great importance: long-term interaction between religiously defined groups of people who share a territory, and whose interactions are at times amicable and at other times violent. He proposes a new, interactionist model called, "antagonistic tolerance," or competitive sharing. The model encompasses the conjunction of syncretism and separation at religious sites long shared by communities identified and differentiated by religious associations. Typically, interactions exhibit long periods of peaceful coexistence punctuated by periods of violence, sometimes including the complete destruction of sites previously shared, and the expulsion ("ethnic cleaning") of members of one group by another. Usually, individual cases have been analyzed separately. In contrast, this researcher's model will provide an analytical framework for a generalized explanation covering multiple cases and contexts, even those widely separated in space and time.

Methodologically, the research is grounded in systematic, macrocomparisons, using historical and contemporary data from religious sites in Turkey, Bulgaria, India and Portugal. The data will be gathered and analyzed by a multidisciplinary team of regional specialists. This approach will permit a major comparative study of this form of interaction that then will be applicable to other cases worldwide.

The project differs from work which presumes that conflict is an aberration from a normal state of amicability. This research, to the contrary, anticipates that over long periods of time, interaction between groups may fluctuate between periods of amicability and periods of violence. The antagonistic tolerance model will explain such fluctuation and, thereby, not only will contribute to social science theory but also may help lead to the development of more effective ways of managing competitive interaction between religiously defined ethnic groups in ways that minimize violence.

Project Report

This project has developed and refined a theoretical approach and empirical indicators for understanding both sharing of and competition over major religious sites, by members of different religious communities who had lived intermingled for generations but rarely intermarried. Interacting religious communities studied included Hindus, Muslims and Christians in India, Orthodox Christians and Muslims in Turkey, Cyprus and the Balkans, Sunni and Alevi /Bekta?i Muslims in Turkey and Bulgaria, Muslims, Mozarabs and Catholics in Portugal, and Catholics and followers of native religions in Mexico and Peru. This study of competitive sharing of religious sites through time was based on a multidisciplinary and comparative study of such shared sites in a number of different countries. Sites studied included a mosque intersecting an ancient Roman temple in Ankara, Turkey; Christian sites transformed into mosques in Turkey; a mosque transformed into a Roman Catholic church in Portugal; the transformations of formerly Jewish and Muslim ghettos in Portugal since 2000; Muslim sites transformed into Christian ones in Bulgaria; colonial-era and post-colonial transformations of sites in Goa, India; shared contestation from the mid-19th century through 2013 of a saint’s shrine and related sites in central India; colonial and post-colonial transformations of native sites into Christian ones in Mexico and Peru; and shared and contested religious space in the Ottoman and post-Ottoman periods in Bosnia, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Serbia. Field research was conducted by experts in these regions, always accompanied by at least one team member expert in another region. Senior personnel came from India, Mexico, Peru, Serbia and Turkey as well as the USA. Disciplines were Anthropology, Archaeology, History, History of Art & Architecture and Religious Studies. Analyses were conducted in part through workshops involving all participants, with publications jointly authored under lead authorship/ editing of PI. The ultimate goal was to establish a conceptual and methodological basis for the comparative, systematic analysis the phenomenon of contested sharing of religious space, applicable in varying places and historical periods. Major findings: We have defined a processual model of competitve sharing of religious sites, based on the theoretical concept of religoscapes, and as measured by specific indicators of dominance: perceptibility and centrality. Religioscapes Most research in anthropology and history on shared or contested religious sites treats each site (e.g. Ayodhya, India; or the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem) in isolation from other sites sacred to members of the religions that claim the space. The findings of this project, however, indicate strongly that treating sites in such isolation ignores so many relevant factors as to make the analyses largely meaningless. In order to address this problem we have developed the concept of religioscapes, the distribution in spaces through time of the physical manifestations of specific religious traditions and of the populations that build them. Both the population and the physical manifestations of the religion are components of a religioscape; a physical artifact associated with a religion that is no longer practiced may be evidence of a previous religioscape but does not itself constitute a religioscape. The situations we are interested in are those in which two populations distinguished by differing religions inhabit the same territory; in such cases, two religioscapes intersect. Measuring Indicators of Dominance Since our model sees religious sites as indicators of political dominance, or challenges to it, we have developed measures of dominance that, we think, have potentially universal applicability. These measures are based on what we have come to regard as important features of major religious sites: perceptibility (especially visibility, audibility, massiveness) and centrality in a socially-defined space (e.g. a settlement). In all cases, a greater level of the feature indicates dominance. Centrality and perceptibility are Co-relevant factors: A shrine may exhibit a combination of these attributes. A key finding of the research thus far, however, is that centrality is the key factor in indicating dominance. That is, a religious structure that is at a central location is presumed to reflect dominance over shrines at less central positions. Intellectual Merit: This project is of considerable interest in multiple fields of scholarship. The foundational concept of Antagonistic Tolerance has thus far produced major articles and discussions in journals in Anthropology, History and Religious Studies, and at conferences on ethnic conflict and conflict in cities. Broader Impact: Conflict between religious communities is increasing. By providing empirical indicators of dominance and a processual model of competitive sharing of religious space, this project should enable policy makers, negotiators and peacekeepers to better understand the tactics of competition for control over religious space in contexts such as the Balkans, South Asia and the Middle East, and also to better understand the implications of destroying or, alternatively, rebuilding religious structures in areas of longstanding interaction, and antagonistic tolerance, between members of different religious communities.

Agency
National Science Foundation (NSF)
Institute
Division of Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences (BCS)
Application #
0719677
Program Officer
Jeffrey Mantz
Project Start
Project End
Budget Start
2007-09-01
Budget End
2013-02-28
Support Year
Fiscal Year
2007
Total Cost
$254,418
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Pittsburgh
Department
Type
DUNS #
City
Pittsburgh
State
PA
Country
United States
Zip Code
15213