Workshop: Identifying as Woman in Transnational Religious Spaces: Contemporary Dynamics of Lived Religion, Femininity, and Womanhood, 18-20 November 2026

20 Oktober 2026

Contemporary religious practices are increasingly shaped by transnational dynamics, including migration, displacement, and global movements of ideas and practices. This workshop explores the interrelation between women’s everyday religious practices, transnational spaces, and performative discourses of femininity and womanhood.

We ask how femininity and womanhood are negotiated, lived, and embodied in transnational religious spaces, whose experiences become visible or remain invisible, and how these processes intertwine with global political, social, and (post)colonial discourses. Particular attention is given to questions of agency, materialities, aesthetics, and the political dimensions of women’s lived religion.

We understand transnational spaces as dynamic, performative, and formative social and cultural configurations extending across national borders. Lived religion is approached through everyday embodied enactment, emphasizing the interplay of individual agency and collective frameworks. Femininity and womanhood are understood as social and cultural discourses with material, aesthetic, and performative impact, shaping both religious practices and our analytical gaze.

The workshop will take place at Universität der Bundeswehr from 18 to 20 November 2026. For further information or to attend the workshop, please contact lina.aschenbrenner@unibw.de and sophie.moser@unibw.de.