Sacred Spaces and Contested Identities: Space and Ritual Dynamics in Europe and Africa

The fundamental changes in society and culture are forcing us to reconsider the position of sacred space, and to do this within the broader context of ritual and religious dynamics and what is called a spatial turn . Conversely, sacred sites are a privileged way of studying current cultural dynamics. This collection of studies on sacred space concerns itself with both perspectives by exploring place-bound dynamics of the sacred in Africa and Europe. Central concepts in this connection are identity and ownership, and contestation and conflict. Cultural dynamics, identities and ownership, and contestations are very much interrelated. The essays and cases show that, via these contested fields and the contested grounds connected with them, identities are always at stake. One can think here of identities in the sense of local, regional and national delineations and profiles of group cultures in contact. One can also think here of the religious interactions that are currently taking place in religiously pluralistic Africa and Europe. Identities, however, are always nested in several echelons, and, especially in the non-book religions, sacred sites with their rituals may enhance cohesion at any level of society, while at the same time bonding and separating groups.