Kristina Stoeckl

In Memory of Massimo Rosati (1969 - 2014)

Kristina Stoeckl - APART [Austrian Program for Advanced Research and Technology], Fellow of the Austrian Academy of Sciences at the University of Vienna, Department of Political Sciences (Vienna, Austria). kristina.stoeckl@eui.eu

This is a small obituary devoted to the memory of Massimo Rosati, who passed away in January 2014. The text offers an overview of Rosati's research projects - f e. the concept of post-secularity and post-Kemalist Turkey as a "postsecular society in the making" - as well as his institutional activities - f e. Center for the Study and Documentation of Religion and Political Institutions in Post-Secular Societies at University of Rome Tor Vergata (Italy).

Keywords: Massimo Rosati, post-secularity.

MASSIMO Rosati left us too soon. I met him only four years ago when I joined the University of Rome Tor Vergata as a temporary employee. Our working relationship soon developed into a friendship, and our research interests coincided almost naturally (Massimo's interest in "building a post-secular society" in post-kemalist Turkey and my interest in post-Soviet Russia). Massimo has led several specific projects that, as I can now see, have led to the development of a number of new projects.-

page 268
being in Tor Vergata was the most productive time for me in terms of research. After the foundation of the Center for the Study and Documentation of Religious and Political Institutions in Post-secular Societies, we worked very closely: creating the book series Modernita Postsecolare ("Postsecular Modernity"); finding financial resources; seminars (in 2012 we published materials from one of the seminars on "Multiple Modernities in Post-secular Societies"); lectures; a new approach to the study of religious and political institutions in post-secular societies. a project dedicated to the religious presence in Italian penitentiaries (with Valeria Fabretti); nerve-racking discussions with our superiors and then inspiring conversations with each other, during which we reminded ourselves why we were doing all this. During the entire time I knew Massimo, there wasn't a week (except for holidays and vacations) when we didn't communicate by phone or email, discussing our business and plans related to the Center for Post-Secular Society Studies (CSPS).

In addition to his work within the Center, which was the main subject of our cooperation, Massimo worked in a variety of areas. He was preparing to publish his book The Making of Post-Secular Society. The Turkish Laboratory ("The formation of a post-secular society. Turkish Laboratory"), which represents a step forward in Massimo's research work on the study of Durkheim, on the one hand, and Habermas, on the other. Massimo was strongly influenced by Durkheim. He translated Elementary Forms of Religious Life (2005; second edition - 2013) into Italian and offered an original interpretation of Durkheim in Solidarieta e sacro (Solidarity and the Sacred, 2002). Together with William Pickering (W. S. F. Pickering), he prepared the anthology Suffering and Evil. The Durkheimian Legacy ("Suffering and evil. Durkheim's Legacy", 2008), and also published his book Ritual and the Sacred. A Neo-Durkheimian Analysis of Politics, Religion and the Self ("Rite and sacred. Neo-Durkheimian Analysis of Politics, Religion and the Self", 2009). At the same time, he was engaged in a critical intellectual dialogue with Jurgen Habermas, which was initiated by his first dissertation on Habermas ' theory of communicative action (1993, published in 1994). Massimo was convinced of the need to supply theoretical discussions with the results of empirical analysis. He is sympathetic, although at the same time

page 269
He critically observed religious processes in post-Kemalist Turkey and combined his neo-Durkheimian approach to religion with a critical reinterpretation of Habermas ' concept of the post-secular in The Formation of a Post-Secular Society. I owe much to Rosati's conceptual and methodological approach, and I am confident that it will have an impact on other researchers in the future.

The other side of Massimo Rosati's professional activity is institutional and official. After receiving his doctorate from the University of Florence in 1998, he became a lecturer at the University of Perugia, and soon, at the age of thirty-five, at the University of Salerno. In Salerno, he taught sociology for a little over three years, and then, in 2008, moved to the University of Rome Tor Vergata, where he earned a reputation as a highly qualified sociology teacher and research advisor to many MA and PhD applicants. Two months ago, in December 2013, he became Italy's youngest full professor of sociology (according to the new rules). He was the kind of specialist who navigated the Italian academic waters with skill, patience, but also with the necessary amount of irony, with all their multidirectional currents. I admired that ability of his. He was an example for a whole generation of young scientists.

Massimo Rosati was an active member of the editorial boards of several sociological journals and a participant in those network projects that today, in times of increasing bureaucracy and the accompanying obsession with deadlines and schedules, those who are concerned with the mission of the university have migrated to. These include the Gallarate-Cortona permanent seminar on critical theory, the Urbino-group and the Philosophy & Society colloquium in Italy; the annual Prague Philosophy and Social Science Conference; the ResetDoC Istanbul seminars; various Durkheim study centers (especially in the UK and Brazil); the Hrant Dink Foundation in Turkey; the Center for Critical Theory religions (Center for Critical Theory of Religion). In November 2013, Rosati was again appointed Director of the Roman Center for Jewish Studies (CERSE). His role as a public intellectual and influence on Italian cultural life can be clearly seen on the pages of his blog Living Together, Differently on the Reset website (http://www.reset.it/blog/author/rosati),

page 270
where he posted posts about memory, post-secularism, and overcoming cross-cultural and inter-religious divisions. His latest post is dedicated to reflections on ritual and remembrance; it is dated January twenty-seventh-International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Three days later, he was gone.

Massimo Rosati left us too soon. His dedication to his family, his amazing efficiency, his caring attitude towards friends, his ability to turn his intellectual and human curiosity into remarkable scientific results - all this was ruthlessly and abruptly interrupted by the unexpected deterioration of his health. I never thought I'd have to write such words.

Massimo-with the greatest respect.

page 271

Permanent link to this publication: