Theorising place and scale in the geography of religion for the 21st century: Reflections on a burgeoning field

Abstract

This paper explores the contested nature of scared places as a starting point for developing a research agenda for geographers of religion in the 21st century. Following a discussion of the contested nature of scared places, the paper theorises place and scale in the study of religion. It is argued that by conjugating these two crucial concepts, geographers of religion (and surely other disciplines as well) would be better able to engage with the rich socio-political-spatial meanings of contemporary religions. Sacred places, as one of the key features of religion, serve as an entry point into the current discussion. The empirical context and case studies are drawn from over two decades of research in the contested region of Israel/Palestine. They serve to illustrate my main argument that sacred places and their contested nature are central to understanding broader socio-political processes. I will therefore briefly engage in a scalar analysis of sacred places from the body to the global scale.