• The issue(s) at the centre of NEGOTIA:
NEGOTIA aimed to analyse the Coptic Orthodox diaspora communities in Europe with specific regard to three key aspects: identities, needs, and relations, to reconstruct the theoretical-practical framework of religious mediation.
Its first goal was to examine the origins and the history of these communities, their cultural heritage, and the peculiarities of their religion, but above all the dynamics of deconstruction and reconstitution of the material, emotional, and relational dimensions experienced by such communities in the pathways from their homeland to abroad and back. Its final goal was to define the research field of religious mediation through an integrated, methodological approach to Copts, who are a peculiar case study to conceptualise this topic, which has never been systematically studied before.
NEGOTIA focused on three case studies: the Church of San Giorgio Megalomartire in Rome, Italy, which was established as an independent diocese in 1996; the Coptic Orthodox Cultural Center (COCC) in Cairo, Egypt, and, more generally, Copts in Egypt; and the Church of St. Petrus, der letzte Märtyrer in Hamburg, Germany, as one of the member churches of Northern Germany Coptic Communities.
The analysis of modern Copts is a relatively new field of study. Research into Coptic communities in the diaspora has only just begun, and religious mediation is a concept that has still to be explored both in terms of theoretical definition and practice. Furthermore, no interdisciplinary research can be found, considering identity, needs, and relations as guiding criteria of analysis for the reconstruction of the historical-biographical and discursive-relational profile of the Coptic communities within the contemporary public sphere.
NEGOTIA aimed to fill the gap in the studies on Coptic diaspora communities in Europe, to create an innovative and original research field, and to provide an integrated, methodological approach, that can be adapted to the analysis of any religious community in the public sphere.
• The relevance of NEGOTIA for society:
The analysis of the Coptic diaspora communities in Europe is a highly relevant topic to find new ways to understand and manage the increasing cultural and religious diversity of the European countries. This topic has become a core, strategic objective of the European Union over the last twenty years.
Thanks to the approach that NEGOTIA has developed, it is possible to analyse how religious communities, particularly minorities, negotiate their place in contemporary societies. This offers an opportunity to shed new light on the relationships between states and religious communities in Europe.
• The objectives of NEGOTIA:
Therefore, the specific scientific objectives of the NEGOTIA project were:
- To reconstruct the concept of identity which characterises the Coptic Orthodox communities in Europe.
- To detect the needs emerging among these communities.
- To analyse the relations between the Coptic Orthodox communities and the central and local bodies of the European states, and to examine the dynamics characterising such relations and their nature.
The analysis of Copts in Egypt added a transnational comparative focus to NEGOTIA.
