Summer School /Ecole d’été

Decompartementalizing the Study of Religion 

The Middle East and its Diasporas (late 19th – 21st centuries) Lexis, Mapping and Staging

Summer School
11-15 October 2026

Cairo

French version below

Organising Committee

Marie-Laure Boursin (IDEAS), Séverine Gabry-Thienpont (IDEAS), Emir Mahieddin (CéSor), Norig Neveu (IREMAM), Karène Sanchez Summerer (University of Groningen-NL), Annalaura Turiano (IREMAM), Antoinette Ferrand (IFAO)

Disciplines: Humanities and Social Sciences (with a historical and anthropological focus)

The PredicMO Summer school addresses a major methodological challenge in the study of religion: decompartementalizing the analysis of Religion of the Book. Since the 1980s, collective research programmes have sought to place the three monotheistic traditions in dialogue or in a comparative framework when examining, for example, religious authorities, conversions, holy places, and pilgrimages. While these efforts aimed to break down confessional silos, they often remained a juxtaposition of separate case studies.

This Summer school treats decompartmentalization—crossing and dismantling disciplinary and confessional boundaries—as a deliberate analytic stance. Workshops will give particular attention to historical and anthropological perspectives. The Middle East, including its diasporic and migratory extensions from the late nineteenth century to today, provides a privileged observatory for the transformations of the monotheisms, a modern historical category whose very genesis (coined in the 17^th century by philosopher Henry More) and contemporary contours will also be interrogated. Marked by circulation, connection, and exchange, this space invites a trans-confessional, diachronic approach.

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