REMinD

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The Jean Monnet Module REMinD – Religious Minorities in Europe: Material Culture in Dialogue is a teaching and research project co-funded by the European Union under the Jean Monnet Actions of the Erasmus+ Programme. It is delivered as part of the History of Religions course (Group A–L). The project runs for three academic years (2026/2027, 2027/2028, 2028/2029).

 

In line with EU policies for the promotion and protection of religious diversity (TFEU, Article 17), the REMinD Module provides students with knowledge and skills relating to religious pluralism in the European context. In particular, it develops expertise in the history of religions, religious pluralism in Europe, the role of religions in the history of the European Union, and the relevant European policies.

The course adopts an interdisciplinary approach and combines theoretical learning with experiential activities, including workshops and participatory, immersive ethnographic activities conducted within selected minority religious communities in Bologna (Buddhist, Orthodox Christian, and Muslim communities). This integrated approach enables students, on the one hand, to acquire theoretical knowledge of religion in Europe and, on the other, to engage directly with religious communities through ethnographic workshops, fostering a deeper understanding of interreligious dynamics through first-hand experience.

At the same time, the Module aims to promote social inclusion, particularly by creating opportunities for active, local dialogue among religious minorities themselves, students, the University, and civil society, thereby fostering inter-community engagement (EU Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion 2021–2027).

The Module pursues these objectives by placing material culture at its core. Materiality offers a tangible, accessible, and direct means of promoting interreligious dialogue and mutual understanding, rooted in everyday experience. At the same time, it serves as an object of analysis and a primary source of knowledge about religious diversity. Within the REMinD Module, objects provide the foundation for an educational model of interreligious dialogue that brings together the academic community, religious communities, and civil society.

 

 The three-year project includes the following activities each year, as part of the History of Religions course (Group A–L):

  • Seminar-based lectures delivered by the course instructor and experts from various disciplines, including historians, anthropologists, sociologists, education specialists, and legal scholars.
  • Workshops on Orthodox Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam (two communities will participate in the project each year).
  • Ethnographic fieldwork activities within the Orthodox Christian, Buddhist, and Muslim communities of Bologna. An experimental component, involving 14 students, provides opportunities to conduct fieldwork through the active participation of selected minority religious communities in Bologna (two communities each year). The ethnographic fieldwork will focus on religious materiality.
  • Open study days dedicated to presenting the collected ethnographic material and fostering interreligious dialogue, with the participation of members of the religious communities involved.
  • Open-access publication of the collected ethnographic material.

 

Visit the website to discover the activities for the 2026/2027 academic year.

Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.