Mona Oraby (Amherst, USA): Devotion to the Administrative State

Abstract

This talk draws on my current book project, How Will We Know Who We Are? Devotion to the Administrative State. In the last decade alone, countless communities globally have codified into family and criminal law their religious norms. Still others have enshrined religious establishment clauses within constitutional frameworks. And in constitutionally secular societies, the appeal to state law and courts for religious exemption continues unabated. Such demands – whether for recognition, exemption, accommodation, or protection – are not specific to postcolonial societies. They implicate every geography. They are expressed in states that claim a religious identity, as well as those that claim neutrality toward religion. These developments challenge scholars' deep-seated skepticism toward the nation-state, a skepticism which has led many to argue that state regulation diminishes social flourishing. Contrary to this prevailing skepticism, I theorize in the book what I call ‘devotion to the administrative state,‘ a counterintuitive fidelity to state recognition shared by marginalized, minority communities. I argue that the desire for and pursuit of state recognition is a devotional practice, one that assures communal integrity and coherence over time. My argument is based in an analysis of over fifty years of administrative judicial trends, theological discourse, minority claims-making practices, and documentary evidence specific to modern and contemporary Egypt but also a broader, global history of civil administration and adjudication. I bring to light the extraordinary ways that seemingly marginal religious groups help us to reimagine the relationship between law and religion.

Assist. Prof. Dr. Mona Oraby

Zoom Link: https://uni-bonn.zoom.us/j/97938772045?pwd=elQ2UytJMFB5MmJ6ZmNKRjdyUTRuQT09
Meeting-ID: 979 3877 2045
Password: 899505

Curriculum Vitae

Assist. Prof. Dr. Mona Oraby ist Rechts- und Religionswissenschaftlerin. Sie erforscht insbesondere Prozesse von Gruppenbildung und der Zuschreibung von Gruppenzugehörigkeit. 2017 wurde Mona Oraby an der Northwestern University mit einer Arbeit zum Thema „The Difference that Affiliation Makes: Religious Conversion, Minorities, and the Rule of Law“ promoviert. Anschließend war Mona Oraby Jerome Hall Postdoctoral Fellow am Center for Law, Society, and Culture der Indiana University Maurer School of Law. Derzeit ist sie als Assistant Professor am Department of Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought des Amherst College tätig. Darüber hinaus war sie unter anderem Fellow und Gastdozentin an der American Bar Foundation in Chicago, am Institute for Critical Social Inquiry an der New School in New York sowie am Max-Planck-Institut zur Erforschung multireligiöser und multiethnischer Gesellschaften in Göttingen.

Seit 2017 ist Mona Oraby Herausgeberin des digitalen Publikationsforums „The Immanent Frame“ des Social Science Research Council. The Immanent Frame veröffentlicht interdisziplinäre Beiträge zu den Themen Religion, Säkularismus und Öffentlichkeit. Ebenso ist Mona Oraby Mitglied im Redaktionsbeirat der Zeitschrift Arab Law Quarterly und des Middle East Law and Governance Journals. Des Weiteren ist sie Mitglied des Lenkungsausschusses der Programmeinheit Säkularismus und Säkularität der American Academy of Religion.

Seit Oktober 2020 ist Assist. Prof. Dr. Mona Oraby Fellow am Käte Hamburger Kolleg "Recht als Kultur" in Bonn.