Locating religion in the fabric of the secular An

							Locating religion in the fabric of the secular: An experiment in two
public sector organisations (funded by the Arts and Humanities
Research Board)

In April 2004, Kim Knott, principal investigator, and Myfanwy Franks, research
fellow, began a one-year study of the location of religion within two ostensibly
secular organisations.

Has the secular superseded religion, or is religion still to be found within ‘the
very fabric of the secular’? This study of two public sector organisations – a
school and a medical practice or medical school – investigates the presence
and absence of religion by means of a spatial analysis. The aim is not merely
to examine the obvious signs, but to uncover evidence of the religious within
secular structures, ideology, and practice by looking at the spaces of
controversy between the two and areas from which religion appears to have
withdrawn entirely.

The project’s purpose is to test the spatial methodology devised by Professor
Knott (and discussed in her book, The Location of Religion) and to investigate
whether religion is to be found in the fabric of the secular by means of two
short ethnographic studies. The aim is not to focus on what is conventionally
religious within such organisations, but rather to look at overtly secular
ideology and practice for evidence of religion. This is to be achieved by (a)
identifying areas of anxiety and controversy within the secular, (b) subjecting
these to a spatial analysis that will reveal the historical strata and
contemporary relations that comprise the secular, and (c) examining the place
of religion/the religious within these strata and relations. The stages of the
research include,

•   researching the relevant background literature, policy documents and
    reports on the history of the religious and the secular in school education
    and healthcare in England, and to identify and contact two appropriate
    organisations (months 1-3),
•   identifying provisional areas of controversy vis-à-vis the religious and the
    secular which are worthy of investigation (months 1, 2 and 5),
•   undertaking a three month study of each organisation (months 2-4, and 5-
    7),
•   working on a spatial analysis of sites of controversy to assess evidence of
    religion within the secular (months 8-9),
•   and writing working papers and articles, and co-deliver presentations
    (months 3, 10-12).

The intellectual outcomes of the project will be an evaluation of the place of
religion within the secular as it is manifested in two English public sector
bodies, and an assessment of the viability of the interpretive framework. The
research will be completed at the end of April 2004.

The research was featured in the University of Leeds Reporter in February
2005.