Feminism and Hospitality: Religious and Critical Perspectives in dialogue with a Secular Age

Scholars, students, artists and activists are invited to participate in the first conference of the Nordic Summer University study circle Hospitality and Solidarity: Feminist Philosophy in Thought, History and Action (2020-2022) on the themes of Hospitality and Solidarity.

For our first winter symposium we want to engage in a discussion on Hospitality. Many religions and philosophical worldviews seem to uphold the concept of hospitality as a core value. We want to ask, are there differences in what is meant with hospitality in different traditions and how does solidarity with the ‘other’ take concrete form? Historically, hospitality has often been associated with the practices of family life where women are expected to serve and be at the “giving” end of care and comfort. What kind of demands does hospitality place on people as an emotional labour? What happens to the practices of hospitality when society becomes secularised? Recent studies (e.g.
Scott 2017) show that there is a much closer relationship between increased gender inequality and the rise of secularism, than earlier presumed. Especially religious women have fallen under the double burden of being seen as a-rational due to both their gender and their religious views. However, one may also ask: does a religious worldview have a unique contribution to offer in an increasingly secular society where the values of market economy and new public management are spreading across institutions and political structures? Are there forms of resistance to be found in the values of religions and faiths, which can offer tools to combat the increased marginalisation of people in our secular society? Recent studies in Finland, where churches offer refuge for immigrants seems to point in this direction (Ahonen 2019) Hence, the symposium strives to explore what can be discovered at the intersection of:

• feminist thinking,
• hospitality,
• solidarity with the other,
• religious and philosophical worldviews,
• practices in a secular age.

We invite papers that approach any combination of these themes from different theoretical and methodological perspectives and in relation to various religious and philosophical traditions.

The conference is organised by the network Hospitality and Solidarity: Feminist Philosophy in Thought, History and Action of the Nordic Summer University in collaboration with Åbo Akademi and the Donner Institute for Research in Religion and Culture.

More information: http://nordic.university/study-circles/3-hospitality-solidarity-feminist-philosophy-thought-history-action/