This webinar features a conversation with Rajeev Bhargava, Marieme Hélie-Lucas, and Tuğçe Kayaal on how secularism is practiced in different contexts and what lessons these various approaches offer plural societies and for promoting equal rights and dignity for all.
Shuddhashar FreeVoice’s webinar on “Secularisms: Global Perspectives” engages Rajeev Bhargava, Marieme Hélie-Lucas, and Tuğçe Kayaal on how secularism is practiced in different contexts and what lessons these various approaches offer plural societies and for promoting equal rights and dignity for all.
Panelists:
Rajeev Bhargava
Rajeev has had an illustrious career with multiple high-profile academic and professional appointments at universities around the world, and has been published extensively on secularism, ethics, and political theory. He is currently the Director of the Institute of Indian Thought at CSDS, having held previous roles in the Centre. His work on secularism and methodological individualism is internationally acclaimed, and he is currently working on religious and philosophical pluralism in ancient Indian Thought.
Marieme Hélie-Lucas
Marieme is a sociologist and activist for women’s rights and secularism. She taught epistemology and methodology in social science at Algiers University and was a Research Fellow at both the Women’s Program, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, and at Columbia University, New York. She is the founder and international coordinator of the solidarity network Women Living Under Muslim Laws (WLUML), as well as being the founder of the international network Secularism is a Women’s Issue (SIAWI).
Tuğçe Kayaal
Tuğçe is an Assistant Professor of History at Furman University. Her specializations and interests lie at the intersection of social and cultural histories, queer studies, feminist studies, and childhood studies. Her research investigates how multiple identity-based categories intertwine with and mutually inform each other in cultivating colonial subjects. Her work has appeared in both academic and public-facing venues. She is currently completing her first book manuscript, Children of War: Queer Childhood on the Ottoman Homefront.
Hosted by Lisa I. Knight, Alva and Beatrice Bradley Professor of Anthropology, Asian Studies, & Religion at Furman University and Editor and Co-Director of Shuddhashar FreeVoice.
Livestreamed on 5 May 2026.
