Project Details
Projekt
Bells, Drums and Muezzins – Colonial (In)Tolerance of Religious Sounds
Applicant
Professorin Dr. Stephanie Zehnle
Subject Area
Modern and Contemporary History
Term
since 2023
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 493131063
Modern colonial empires were multi-ethnic and multi-religious formations that partly legitimated their conquests and overrule by the alleged need to ‘pacify’ the so-called ‘uncivilised’ peoples by offering them religious freedom and tolerance. This project tackles the contradictions of this history of religious (in)tolerance within colonial societies of the British Empire by focusing on practices and negotiations of (inter)religious sound tolerance. Social concepts of in-group and out-group are key elements to understand disapproval or acceptance of sounds in a multi-religious colonial context. When colonial urbanisation led to a confrontation of different religious rules and performances regarding noise in public spaces, religious authorities complained to colonial police stations about ‘noise pollution’ by profane groups or other religious communities. At the same time, neighbouring residents of churches, mosques or traditional African initiation societies demanded that the Muslim call to prayer, church bells or drumming at night be banned. The proposed project analyses by which technical, political and judicial measures the British colonial governments navigated through these local conflicts With this comparative history project, we can explore which sound was respected as tolerable from a religious or secular point of view, and which noise was considered intolerable blasphemy or arousal of public nuisance with regard to quality and quantity (Work Package 1). In cases where religious sounds were disapproved or when profane sound was disliked by historical religious actors, members of the project team will explore how respect or disrespect was negotiated or imposed by colonial institutions (Work Package 2). And with a methodological reflection of sound (in)tolerance as an indicator of inter-group conflict, this historical project bridges the two-sided nature of tolerance as attitudes and as practices (Work Package 3). The period of the British Empire offers relevant case studies because of its global dimension, its propagated commitment to the freedom of religions, its long duration and its colonial migration and transfers. In the project, we will focus on three selected colonial metropolises, including Freetown (Sierra Leone), Accra (Ghana) and Mombasa (Kenya). The comparative study of these cases is structured along the disapproval–respect model of our Research Unit. By this means, the proposed project can contribute to the entire Research Unit with important insights into the historical dynamics of practices of tolerance based on diverse religious foundations and with regard to multi-cultural settings.
DFG Programme
Research Units
