Religions, modulators in Pluri‐ethnic cities: An anthropological analysis of the relative shift from ethnic to supra‐ethnic and meta‐ethnic faith communities in Brussels

Abstract

Abstract Anthropological analysis of how and to what extent socio‐ethnic shifts take place in a pluri‐ethnic urban setting reveals that the process occurs from a situation of group‐clustering on the basis of ethnicity to a situation of ethnicity that is absorbed and sometimes left behind in faith communities. Situations are identified of social and religious‐cultural bridging to the region of origin, but also of socio‐cultural integration, supra‐ and meta‐ethnic self‐affirmation, cultural‐religious syncretisin and (non‐)adaptation to the host country. Religion is seen as a grammar with elements that may be considered as a form of modulation leading to social transformation. A number of generational and gender dimensions are also briefly discussed.