Religious Plurality in Havana

The aim of this dissertation project is twofold: First, it seeks to understand how religious plurality is maintained and what arrangements foster it and prevent or resolve conflicts. Second, it aims to make both an empirical and theoretical contribution to current debates in the sociology of religion, particularly in the context of the reflexive and postcolonial turn.

Therefore, it investigates how religious purality can be studied empirically and how collective and (sub)cultural patterns of interpretation as well as institutional and subjective conditions and challenges for religious and non-religious coexistence can be explored in the case of the urban center of Cuba, Havana.

Three research stays of between two and six months as well as close collaboration with colleagues in Havana served this purpose. Using an empirical research design based on the research logic of grounded theory methodology and combining ethnographic observations and group interviews, the project aims to reconstruct how religious and ideological plurality is negotiated and maintained. This is based on five heuristic dimensions of demarcations, overlaps, hierarchies, discourses and mediations which are result of a dialogue of theory and empirical research. Through its conceptualisation and empirical research, the project aims to make a meaningful contribution to ongoing debates in the sociology of religion.