Secularities – firstness through religion and gender
In this article we explore how the positing religion as other simultaneously makes secularism a firstness. How does actors use and embodies secularism and reproduce it as an objective and neutral space – a firstness. The secular subject is being represented as free and rational in contrast to an imagined religious, traditional, and often Muslim other. By studying Swedish contemporary debates about freedom of speech, veils, gender equality, and the in/tolerant society, we aim to unpack how secularism is done in a Swedish neoliberal contemporary context. Inspired by Talal Asad, we wish to contribute to the undermining of the tightly knit weave of secularism, reason and critique in Western discourse.