SIME - Secular Ideology in the Middle East
Secular Ideology in the Middle East (SIME) is a new research group at Roskilde University, Denmark. It is funded by the Velux Foundation and is led by Associate Professor Sune Haugbolle.
SIME’s five project researchers work with debates about the role of religion in state and society and the possibility of a secular culture. Such debates today take place in all Middle Eastern countries. They have a long and important history, involving secular intellectuals, activists, and movements. This historiography, in conversation with a global theoretical debate about secularism, has mainly been addressed through the juxtaposition of secularism and Islam. But secular ideology in the Middle East cannot merely be seen as a reaction to resurgent Islamism. Just as much, it has its anchoring in communism, socialism as well as long-standing debates about the place of religious minorities. It is the ambition of SIME to contribute to our understanding of secular traditions in the Middle East and the conceptualization of ideology.
