A Ring of Peace around the Oslo Synagogue: Muslims and Jews Expressing Interfaith Solidarity in Response to the Paris and Copenhagen Attacks

Abstract

This chapter stresses the importance of a material approach to the study of peace and conflict, by means of a case study of the Ring of Peace: an interreligious public event that was organized by young Muslims in Oslo, Norway, in response to terrorist attacks in Paris and Copenhagen in 2015. It brings together insights from the fields of material religion and affect studies to explore the relationship between materiality, sensorial experiences, and affects in this performance of ‘peaceful togetherness’. I argue that combining Birgit Meyer’s concept of the “sensational form” with Sara Ahmed’s notion of “affective economies” creates a fruitful ground to analyze how communities are made and remade in relation to violent conflicts, and how unequal power relationships between people of different origins and beliefs are challenged as well as reproduced through efforts for peaceful interfaith coexistence.