Books by Mascha Schulz
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Global Sceptical Publics: From Non-religious Print Media to 'Digital Atheism', 2022
Global Sceptical Publics is the first major study of the significance of different media for the ... more Global Sceptical Publics is the first major study of the significance of different media for the (re)production of non-religious publics and publicity. While much work has documented how religious subjectivities are shaped by media, until now the crucial role of diverse media for producing and participating in religion-sceptical publics and debates has remained under-researched. With some chapters focusing on locations hitherto barely considered by scholarship on non-religion, the book places in comparative perspective how atheists, secularists and humanists engage with media – as means of communication and forming non-religious publics, but also on occasion as something to be resisted. Its conceptually rich interdisciplinary chapters thereby contribute important new insights to the growing field of non-religion studies and to scholarship on media and materiality more generally.
Journal Articles by Mascha Schulz
Modern Asian Studies, 2024
In Bangladesh, many secularists pursue their political goals through cultural activism. While com... more In Bangladesh, many secularists pursue their political goals through cultural activism. While committed to achieving a secular, progressive, and non-communal society, they often refrain from explicitly articulating their politics due to the sensitivity of their goals. Instead, cultural performances allow them to instantiate and embody a secular ethos with transformative potential, expressed through distinct cultural genres that become recognized as secular aesthetics. While activists consider culture to be a morally superior and 'purer' way to promote their political aims than party politics, which they perceive as 'dirty' and corrupt, cultural traditions are hardly neutral ground from which to enact secular aspirations. This article explores the ethical struggles that emerge from this position to illuminate what it means to act politically while trying to avoid politics, and why people might choose comparatively elusive forms of political engagement despite their strong commitment to a cause. Attending to less tangible forms of politics encourages us to rethink the role of political messages and visibility in social movements by highlighting the significant role, as well as contradictory implications, of aesthetics, embodiment, and gestures in political action. Conversely, the elusive politics of cultural activism underlines the need to go beyond analysing national discourses to understand the contested nature of secularism in Bangladesh.
This introduction engages with recent scholarship on what has been dubbed ‘lived’ forms of nonrel... more This introduction engages with recent scholarship on what has been dubbed ‘lived’ forms of nonreligion. It aims to profile the anthropology of the secular and nonreligion, no longer treating it as a subdiscipline or ‘emerging trend’ but as a substantial contribution to general debates in anthropology. Drawing on the ethnographic contributions to this special issue, we explore how novel approaches to embodiment, materiality, moral sensibilities, conceptual distinctions, and everyday practices signal new pathways for an anthropology of nonreligion that can lead beyond hitherto dominant concerns with the political governance of religion(s). Critically engaging with the notion of ‘lived’ nonreligion, we highlight the potential of ethnographic approaches to provide a uniquely anthropological perspective on secularism, irreligion, atheism, skepticism, and related phenomena.
Religion and Society, 2023
People in South Asia who neither believe in god(s) nor engage in religious practices nevertheless... more People in South Asia who neither believe in god(s) nor engage in religious practices nevertheless oft en self-identify as Muslims or Hindus rather than-or in addition to-identifying as atheists. Th e situational and contextual dynamics generating such positionings have implications for the conceptualization of nonreligion and secular lives. Based on ethnographic research in India and Bangladesh and focusing on two individuals, we attend to embodied and more ambivalent modes of nonreligiosity. Th is enables us to understand nonreligion as situated social practices and beyond what is typically captured with the term 'religion'. Studying nonreligion also where it is not visible as articulated conviction or identity not only contributes to accounting for the diversity of nonreligious confi gurations but also off ers signifi cant complementary insights.
Global Sceptical Publics: From nonreligious print media to ‘digital atheism’', 2022
Introduction to the book 'Global Sceptical Publics: From nonreligious print media to ‘digital ath... more Introduction to the book 'Global Sceptical Publics: From nonreligious print media to ‘digital atheism’', edited by Copeman and Schulz. UCL Press. 2022.
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Contributions to Indian Sociology, 2020
Bangladesh was the scene of a movement for an unusual cause: students went to the streets in orde... more Bangladesh was the scene of a movement for an unusual cause: students went to the streets in order to demand stricter enforcement of traffic rules and reforms to ensure improvements for road safety. For days, thousands of students blocked roads and intersections in Dhaka and other cities. The popularity of these protests led to the government's decision to close schools in order to impede further mobilisation. The media repeatedly featured pictures of children stopping cars and checking drivers' licences as well as vehicle registrations, effectively taking the enforcement of the existing rules into their own hands. Photos of ordered queues of cars, trucks, and motorcycles lined up before the student-run checkpoints in the usually busy and chaotic roads of the capital were unfamiliar impressions, as was footage of teenagers in their school uniform effectively halting cars of police officers who had failed to show valid driving licences. 1 The movement began after an incident on 29 July 2018, in which two high school students were killed by a speeding bus in Dhaka. The students' original demand focused on legal punishment of the driver and better enforcement of the traffic rules. However, it sparked off a 1 Available at https://www.thedailystar.net/city/road-safety-movement-in-bangladeshstudents-blockade-dhaka-roads-1717726. Accessed on 30 September 2019.
Contributions to Indian Sociology, 2020
This article explores the complex role of political ideologies in everyday politics and for urban... more This article explores the complex role of political ideologies in everyday politics and for urban middle-class Bangladeshis' evaluation of political parties. Drawing on long-term ethnographic research and, more specifically, conversations and contentions around the removal of 'Lady Justice' from the front of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh in 2017, I show that although the Awami League continues to be considered a 'secular party', many people do not believe that the Awami League is implementing secular policy and criticise it for what they perceive as 'hypocrisy'. I argue that this seemingly paradoxical situation can be explained by a political structure that is marked by high factionalism and party competition. Data from research among politicians and the left-leaning, so-called 'culturally-minded' milieu in Sylhet, shows that certain segments of the educated middle class acknowledge the pragmatic realities of politics and do not expect the Awami League to act 'progressively'. Nonetheless, they continue to position the party's 'progressive' and 'secular' ideological basis as a primary reason for supporting the party. The article thus contributes to a deeper understanding of contemporary popular and elite practices and perceptions of party politics, democracy, and what might be labelled the 'party-state effect'.
South Asia Multidisciplinary Academic Journal, 2019
Based on 15 months of ethnographic research between 2016 and 2019, this article explores the camp... more Based on 15 months of ethnographic research between 2016 and 2019, this article explores the campus as a core site for the (re-)production of Bangladesh’s ruling party’s hegemony and domination. While previous research emphasizes the pragmatic and violent nature of student politics, this article explores the role of ideological positioning in campus politics, focusing on commemoration events and the significance of certain symbolic national days. Commemoration practices contribute to the reproduction of party narratives and ideologies at the levels of both student politics and the university administration. However, far from just reflecting the official party discourse, individuals organizing or attending these events often have pragmatic perspectives using them strategically for their own micro-political endeavors on campus. The ethnographic exploration of these dynamics elucidates when and how ideological positioning and commitment becomes relevant, as well as how personal convictions intersect with other reasons for engaging in party politics.
student politics, ideological commitment, commemoration, National day, Bangladesh, university campus, party politics, August
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Südasien-Chronik/South Asia Chronicle , 2013
Book chapters by Mascha Schulz
Nonbelievers, Apostates, and Atheists in the Muslim World, edited by David Eller and Natalie Khazaal, 2025
Between roughly 2012 and 2017, Bangladesh witnessed intense debates about atheism and nonreligion... more Between roughly 2012 and 2017, Bangladesh witnessed intense debates about atheism and nonreligion, visible in heightened public debates about Islam, atheism, and secularism, and most extreme in a series of murders of so-called atheist bloggers. While this increased visibility and controversy about atheism and criticism of religion took place in offline and online spaces, the role of digital media, especially blogs and Facebook, should not be underestimated. Most interestingly, this controversial new public attention to atheism was accompanied by similar developments in many MENA countries after the Arab Spring but also in places like Pakistan or Brazil. In most countries, these controversies were intertwined with broader national political polarization. In Bangladesh, polarization was strongly linked to the Shahbag movement in 2013 and the respective political struggles around that time. However, the international links and parallels should not be underestimated. This chapter seeks to explore these connections and the reasons why this political period became a critical juncture in the publicization of atheism in many countries.
Full version can be accessed here: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/reader/download/0a5407da-6fcc-41d7-8357-0775ba2e1f89/chapter/pdf?context=ubx
Global Sceptical Publics. From non-religious print media to 'digital atheism', 2022
Bradbury, James, & Schulz, Mascha. (2022). Performing the secular: street theatre and songs as 's... more Bradbury, James, & Schulz, Mascha. (2022). Performing the secular: street theatre and songs as 'secular media' in Bangladesh and West Bengal. In Global Sceptical Publics. From non-religious print media to 'digital atheism', (pp. 71–97). UCL Press. https://doi.org/10.14324/111.9781800083448
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Religion & Society, 2023
This introduction engages with recent scholarship on what has been dubbed ‘lived’ forms of nonrel... more This introduction engages with recent scholarship on what has been dubbed ‘lived’ forms of nonreligion. It aims to profile the anthropology of the secular and non- religion, no longer treating it as a subdiscipline or ‘emerging trend’ but as a substan- tial contribution to general debates in anthropology. Drawing on the ethnographic contributions to this special issue, we explore how novel approaches to embodiment, materiality, moral sensibilities, conceptual distinctions, and everyday practices signal new pathways for an anthropology of nonreligion that can lead beyond hitherto domi- nant concerns with the political governance of religion(s). Critically engaging with the notion of ‘lived’ nonreligion, we highlight the potential of ethnographic approaches to provide a uniquely anthropological perspective on secularism, irreligion, atheism, skepticism, and related phenomena.
Call for Papers by Mascha Schulz
The theme for the conference in 2018 is 'claims-making'. While claims-making has implicitly been ... more The theme for the conference in 2018 is 'claims-making'. While claims-making has implicitly been a major theme in research on South Asia, theoretical understanding of the concept remains rather vague. In general, claims-making is related to certain perceptions and framings of social realities. Claims are linked to assumptions about rights or entitlements, on which demands can legitimately be based. Therefore, analysing processes of claims-making can provide complex insight into social, political and economic structures and the complex ways in which they are negotiated and consolidated. It is, however, not at all clear how the relationship between claims-making and ideological formations or moral paradigms should in fact be conceptualised. When taking a closer look at the process of claims-making, various other questions emerge, such as those about the conditions under which new claims arise or how various claims-making strategies change as a result of new spatial arrangements, technologies and different socio-political structures.
Book Reviews by Mascha Schulz
Nova Religio, 2024
Edited by Jacob Copeman and Mascha Schulz. UCL Press, 2022. 357 pages. £50.00 hardcover; £30.00 s... more Edited by Jacob Copeman and Mascha Schulz. UCL Press, 2022. 357 pages. £50.00 hardcover; £30.00 softcover; Open Access download available from publisher. Ever since the turn of the century and the rise of the so-called New Atheists, atheism has been a hot topic of academic scrutiny. Two recent books continue this trend, although they take the discussion of atheism in two very different directions. The Varieties of Atheism is a collection of papers given at a 2018 conference in Rome organized by the book's editor, David Newheiser. According to Newheiser's introduction, the project was motivated by a conviction that the New Atheists (Dawkins et al.) too narrowly define atheism as a lack of belief in God and therefore refuse to dialogue with, or even take seriously, religious people. By looking beyond atheism as simply "a cognitive commitment" (2) to a broader definition that "incorporates ethical disciplines, cultural practices, and affective states" (2), the contributors were asked to identify new forms of atheism hitherto overlooked. Ultimately, the goal of this was to convince nonreligious people that they have something in common with religious people about which they could talk. Such was the program, but as is common with conference collections, most of the papers stick to it only tangentially. Take, for example, the first three papers, which deal with Albert Einstein, David Hume, and Friedrich Nietzsche respectively. While Einstein was often called an atheist by the general public, Mary-Jane Rubenstein makes clear in "On Einstein's 'Cosmic Religious Sense,'" that he was anything but-indeed, Niels Bohr famously told Einstein to stop telling God what to do. If anything, Einstein was a pantheist, which itself was alarming to traditionalists, although as Rubenstein reminds us, "Einstein's cosmic religion held onto many of the characteristics of the God of classical theism" (32). So, Einstein was not an atheist, and neither was (at least unequivocally) Hume, the subject of Andre C. Willis' "Hume's Prefiguration of Rorty." As the title makes clear, Willis links the proto-pragmatism of Hume with the neo-pragmatism of Richard Rorty, but, strangely, both philosophers apparently had little use for the debate between theists and atheists, arguing that the two positions are essentially contingent and only interesting insofar as they impact social solidarity. Finally, in Denys Turner's "Nietzsche, Nominalism, and the Reductive Spirit," we get to a real atheist, but the paper largely ignores Nietzsche in favor of a history of nominalism, which, taken to extremes it is argued, allowed for Nietzsche's atheism. This is interesting enough, I suppose, but the implications of
Book Review "Sanchez, Andrew. Criminal Capital. Violence, Corruption and Class in India. New Delh... more Book Review "Sanchez, Andrew. Criminal Capital. Violence, Corruption and Class in India. New Delhi, London, New York: Routledge, 2016", ASIEN 146 (January 2018): 139-141.
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Books by Mascha Schulz
Journal Articles by Mascha Schulz
Free Download: https://www.uclpress.co.uk/products/209498#
student politics, ideological commitment, commemoration, National day, Bangladesh, university campus, party politics, August
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Book chapters by Mascha Schulz
Full version can be accessed here: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/reader/download/0a5407da-6fcc-41d7-8357-0775ba2e1f89/chapter/pdf?context=ubx
Open-Access via: https://www.uclpress.co.uk/products/209498#
Comments / Reviews / Public Anthropology by Mascha Schulz
Call for Papers by Mascha Schulz
Book Reviews by Mascha Schulz
Free Download: https://www.uclpress.co.uk/products/209498#
student politics, ideological commitment, commemoration, National day, Bangladesh, university campus, party politics, August
Top of page
Full version can be accessed here: https://www.taylorfrancis.com/reader/download/0a5407da-6fcc-41d7-8357-0775ba2e1f89/chapter/pdf?context=ubx
Open-Access via: https://www.uclpress.co.uk/products/209498#