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Faith in suburbia: secularisation, modernity and the changing geographies of religion in London's suburbs

Faith in suburbia: secularisation, modernity and the changing geographies of religion in London's suburbs
Faith in suburbia: secularisation, modernity and the changing geographies of religion in London's suburbs
Spectacular new religious buildings on London’s outskirts are often cited as evidence of London’s multicultural diversity. However, the suburban location of these new buildings is usually dismissed as incongruous, drawing on familiar tropes of the suburbs as sites of modernisation, materialism and secularism. This paper uses this assumed incongruity to address the complexity of relationships between religion and suburban space by tracing the significance of religion in changing suburban geographies through a focus on London’s suburbs. The paper begins with a critique of the absence of religion in suburban studies, which emphasise secularisation and homogeneity. The rediscovery of the creative potential of the suburbs gives little consideration to religious creativity. Similarly recent work on diasporas and religion have little to say about the significance of the suburban. Our paper uses three case studies, of different faith groups, from North and West London to explore three distinctive articulations of the relationship between religion and suburban space that we call ‘semi-detached faith’, ‘edge-city faith’ and ‘ethnoburb faith’. These examples are not intended as ideal types but as analytical categories that open up the relationships between space, faith and mobilities. We argue there is a need to more carefully theorise the ways in which faith communities have engaged with the challenges of suburban geographies including processes of secularisation and suggest that the study of faith in suburbia offers new ways of thinking about the complexity of suburban space.
religion, suburbs, modernity, secularisation, multiculturalism, london
0020-2754
403-419
Dwyer, Claire
4372d17a-e052-4e05-a082-845bc261f5ee
Gilbert, David
7ad07aaf-7624-4020-a240-e2556b451cbe
Shah, Bindi
c5c7510a-3b3d-4d12-a02a-c98e09734166
Dwyer, Claire
4372d17a-e052-4e05-a082-845bc261f5ee
Gilbert, David
7ad07aaf-7624-4020-a240-e2556b451cbe
Shah, Bindi
c5c7510a-3b3d-4d12-a02a-c98e09734166

Dwyer, Claire, Gilbert, David and Shah, Bindi (2013) Faith in suburbia: secularisation, modernity and the changing geographies of religion in London's suburbs. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, 38 (3), 403-419. (doi:10.1111/j.1475-5661.2012.00521.x).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Spectacular new religious buildings on London’s outskirts are often cited as evidence of London’s multicultural diversity. However, the suburban location of these new buildings is usually dismissed as incongruous, drawing on familiar tropes of the suburbs as sites of modernisation, materialism and secularism. This paper uses this assumed incongruity to address the complexity of relationships between religion and suburban space by tracing the significance of religion in changing suburban geographies through a focus on London’s suburbs. The paper begins with a critique of the absence of religion in suburban studies, which emphasise secularisation and homogeneity. The rediscovery of the creative potential of the suburbs gives little consideration to religious creativity. Similarly recent work on diasporas and religion have little to say about the significance of the suburban. Our paper uses three case studies, of different faith groups, from North and West London to explore three distinctive articulations of the relationship between religion and suburban space that we call ‘semi-detached faith’, ‘edge-city faith’ and ‘ethnoburb faith’. These examples are not intended as ideal types but as analytical categories that open up the relationships between space, faith and mobilities. We argue there is a need to more carefully theorise the ways in which faith communities have engaged with the challenges of suburban geographies including processes of secularisation and suggest that the study of faith in suburbia offers new ways of thinking about the complexity of suburban space.

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More information

e-pub ahead of print date: 22 May 2012
Published date: July 2013
Keywords: religion, suburbs, modernity, secularisation, multiculturalism, london
Organisations: Sociology, Social Policy & Criminology

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 338961
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/338961
ISSN: 0020-2754
PURE UUID: c7a6436f-17a7-4874-bf21-8435f0598bac
ORCID for Bindi Shah: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-5571-9755

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 21 May 2012 11:12
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:38

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Contributors

Author: Claire Dwyer
Author: David Gilbert
Author: Bindi Shah ORCID iD

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