Religious city-makers and the civic: Tamil religious infrastructures in (sub)urban Paris

Abstract

Religious infrastructures are important social networks of mutual support in cities. This paper examines the ways Tamil places of worship and online prayer groups provide people with spaces and moments to worship and meet in Paris and its suburbs. Examples include Tamil Hindu temples and Tamil Evangelical churches providing French language courses or offering networks of support for finding employment. The heterogeneous Tamil presence in Paris includes people of South Indian and Sri Lankan origins with diverse migration backgrounds ranging from long established families to very recent arrivals and different residence permission statuses. The French laicist state requires religious institutions to register as associations and grants permission for the creation of places of worship through the town hall and the prefecture. While members of Tamil religious associations sometimes perceive these processes as complicated, some also mention that some suburban town halls support their endeavors because they perceive the religious institutions as engaging young people in positive ways instead of loitering or causing trouble. The insights into Tamil religious practices in a European city present a counter point to the focus in this panel on the lack of state-led activity in South Asian postcolonial cities, allowing us to think about the role of religious infrastructures and the (absent) state in contributing to and governing civic life.