call for papers DAr #10

ISSN 2785-3152


Religious minority architecture in the MENA region

Edited by Romeo Carabelli & Jérôme Bocquet 


Following nine issues of the journal DAr that explored the multifaceted multicultural dimensions of Islamic and Mediterranean architecture and culture, Issue No. 10 seeks to focus on minority places of worship, recognizing them as essential tools for reading, interpreting, and narrating the colonial reality and, consequently, contemporary landscapes.

The construction and reappropriation of Christian places of worship was a major symbolic stake in the production of space within colonial contexts, and even more so within the Muslim spaces of European empires. Their “metropolitan” imprint marked both the buildings and their uses, which, both past and present, exist at the intersection of history and heritage. By studying the design, realization, and subsequent transformations of churches—more so than synagogues, some of which were established long before the arrival of colonial powers in North Africa and the Middle East—we can better understand the inner workings of colonial society, the role of settlers, and the interactions between communities.

This two-century period witnessed, amid political upheavals:

We consider this region—the North African and Middle Eastern Mediterranean’s shores—as an area caught since the 19th century between the “Church of colonizers” and the “Church of margins”, yet always remaining the Church of minorities.


Architecture and Urban Landmarks

Churches provided a tangible form of colonial power’s representation, acting as landmarks within the space of a minority, albeit dominant, faction. Their construction offered opportunities for monumental architecture that characterized the so-called European quarters. The erection of these religious buildings—Catholic and, to a lesser extent, Protestant—profoundly marked the urban fabric of the newly constructed colonial neighborhoods.

At the dawn of the 21st century, more than 50 years after independence movements marked by the transformation of many churches, we observe a renewed interest in these places of worship. Formerly markers of the colonial footprint in the city, they are beginning to be perceived as elements of a national architectural heritage—maybe dissonant—and are being repurposed as cultural venues. Some, however, have remained places of worship—those of a religion perceived as a minority, yet whose users and practices have profoundly changed (as the Cathedrals of Tunis and Rabat or the Notre-Dame de Lourdes church in Casablanca, which are now used by several immigrant groups coming from sub-Saharan Africa). Far from being the expression of the religious, political, and social power of a European settler minority, a new population has taken over these spaces: first the pieds-rouges (post-independence activists/volunteers), apostles of a Conciliar Church, and later an immigrant population from Sub-Saharan Africa, arriving more recently and sometimes practicing charismatic traditions perceived as proselytizing.


Objectives of Issue No. 10

DAr No. 10 intends to explore the role and evolution of cultic practices behind the construction and the political, and symbolic uses of religious buildings erected notably in French Algeria and under the Moroccan and Tunisian protectorates, as well as other regions subject to foreign or colonial tutelage. The objective is to understand the architectural, historical, and heritage stakes involved in creating a predominantly Catholic religious architecture within essentially Arab-Muslim spaces in the MENA region.

The aim is to decrypt and interpret the symbolism, uses, and appropriation of architecture in a colonial situation—both then and now—as a tangible legacy of religious origin deeply tied to minority alterity (otherness).


Call for Contributions

This call welcomes papers that study the conceptualization of religious architecture in a minority context, from the initial design to the transformation of Catholic material assets. It offers a bridge for reflection across architecture, art history, and the social sciences regarding architectural design, cultural heritage, and the evolving usage of these buildings.

Contributions may focus on:

Case studies of minority religious architecture recently designed and/or realized in continuity or discontinuity with the forms and types derived from the colonial experience.