This workshop, led by Prof Rivke Jaffe (University of Amsterdam), Dr Giovanna Capponi (State University of Rio de Janeiro) and Dr Lav Kanoi (Yale University), encourages scholars to think beyond dominant approaches to environmental struggles by engaging with notions of sacredness, sacred places, invisible or material agents, religious atmospheres, and/or moral values – not classified a priori as “beliefs” but rather taken seriously as actors shaping urban and non-urban ecologies.
The four papers that will be discussed in the workshop are given below:
- Dr Raina Ghosh (USF International Fellow, GPIO: Urban Geographies, University of Amsterdam)
Gods and Ghats: Politics of sacred capture and the secular blind spot of urban political ecology - Dr Lav Kanoi (Postdoctoral Associate and Lecturer, REEC Initiative, Yale University).
(Un)natural care: Attending to water in India’s thirsty capital city - Dr Maria Raquel Passos Lima (USF International Fellow & Assistant Professor, Institute of Social Sciences, State University of Rio de Janeiro)
Liveable urban waterscapes: Pollution, ordinary life, and sacredness in Guanabara Bay - Dr Giovanna Capponi (Assistant Professor of Anthropology and Sociology, State University of Rio de Janeiro)
Is the ocean an Afro-Brazilian deity? Environmental disasters and spiritual agency in the Anthropocene
Further details are available here: https://ias.uva.nl/content/events/2026/09/navigating-sacredness-in-the-anthropocene-towards-a-post-secular-political-ecology.html