Is Secularism Too Western? Disputes Around Offending Pictures of Muhammad and the Virgin Mary

This paper aims at exhibiting a convergence between particular ‘religious sensibilities’ that would require, according to prominent anthropologists, a transformation of the way in which freedom of speech is usually understood under Western secular-liberal law. In particular, Saba Mahmood’s anthropology gains from revealing its potential, but also its limitations, in the Eastern-European context that could require an effort of ‘cultural translation’. Could some Muslims’ relation to images of Muhammad be founded not only on representation, but also on attachment and cohabitation with Muhammad hi... Mehr ...