I am often struck by how little human geographers wish to engage with religion. At risk of making unfair assumptions, it seems that they would rather avoid the topic altogether. Over time, and especially while writing one of my manuscripts, I found myself theorizing more on this question of ‘why?’
For a field that so often examines social affinities like gender, ethnicity, and class, I could not help but see a gap. Most societies are highly religious or spiritual.[1] If religion is one of the most influential aspects of humanity, why do we omit it so often from our studies? Why is it that when we study the impacts of natural hazards, we look at political, material, economic, and social challenges, but choose to glaze over the religious or spiritual changes that occur within people and their communities?
For a long time, geographic depictions of religion differed from depictions found within religious studies. One explanation for this is the seeming ignorance of ritual or material approaches and geographers’ affinity for spatial thinking.[2] Others may argue that it is our secular bias, or that there are too many theoretical differences, or that spatial approaches cross the disciplinary boundary and may be challenging to merge with ‘traditional’ approaches.
I am sure that I am not the only geographer who seeks to bridge the gap, but I find little proof that we are building a consistent foundation for said bridge.
The geography of religion promotes rich and meaningful mutual exchange. Not only does it deepen our understanding of the processes behind religious phenomena, but it situates religion across and between land or riverscapes, promotes the evolution of our methodologies, and helps us better understand human behaviour.
In a world where religion continues to shape public life despite assumed secularization, geographers will require a deeper understanding of religion in their attempts to read the blurry line between the religious and secular, especially in ever-changing multiethnic, multicultural spaces. Geographic definitions of religious or sacred space may also evolve with the consideration of digital sacred spaces, the increase of religious spaces across transnational networks and within diasporas, and by borrowing from spatial ethnographies on embodiment.
A careful blending of the disciplines would not only shift our core understanding of people but help us better understand the messy and beautiful challenge that is the multiplicity of space.[3] This is why the geography of religion matters, and my hope for its future.
[1] Henninger, “Religion,” 286–291.
[2] Levine, “On the Geography of Religion,” 428–431; Park, “Religion and Geography,” 42–44.
[3] Massey, For Space.
Joycelin Van Caulart 