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PUBLIC EVENTS
FALL 2008
Launch of Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life
Thursday, November 6, 1-6:30pm
Rotunda, Low Memorial Library
To celebrate its inauguration, the Institute will host an afternoon of public lectures on religion in contemporary society convened by co-directors Mark C. Taylor, Chair of Department of Religion and Alfred Stepan, Wallace Sayre Professor of Government:
1-2:30 pm: The Past and Future of Religion and Toleration
• Toleration Faculty Working Group: Karen Barkey,
Rajeev Bhargava, Akeel Bilgrami, Ira Katznelson,
Sudipta Kaviraj, Alfred Stepan, and Nadia Urbinati
• with Charles Taylor, Emeritus Professor of
Philosophy at McGill University
3-4:30 pm: Art, Religion and Politics: Guggenheim Abu Dhabi
• Thomas Krens, Director of Solomon R. Guggenheim
Foundation
5-6:30 pm: Literature and Terror
• Salman Rushdie, whose Midnight’s Children (1981)
was recently named the best novel to have received
the Man Booker Prize
• Opening Remarks by Lee C. Bollinger, President of
Columbia University
• Introduction by Orhan Pamuk, 2006 Nobel
Laureate in Literature
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Salman Rushdie is recent winner of best novel to have won the Man Booker Prize for Midnight’s Children (1981). His other novels include Shame, The Satanic Verses, and The Enchantress of Florence (2008).
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Thomas Krens is Director of Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Over the course of his nearly 20-year tenure as director, he has transformed the museum world and greatly influenced the direction of contemporary art. |
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Orhan Pamuk is the 2006 Nobel Laureate in Literature. He is author of novels such as Cevdet Bey and His Sons, The Black Book, My Name is Red, Snow, and the collection of essays Other Colors (2007). |
UPCOMING EVENTS
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Philip Gourevitch: Literature and Terror
Tuesday, October 14, 6-7:30pm
Kellogg Center, International Affairs Building, Room 1501
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Richard Locke, Professor of Writing at Columbia's School of the Arts, in conversation with Philip Gourevitch, writer and editor of The Paris Review, on his most recent book Standard Operating Procedure, which he co-authored with filmmaker Errol Morris. The book and Morris' film explore Abu Ghraib.
Copies of his books will be on sale courtesy of Book Culture.
Humanitarianism • Activism • Media • Religion: A public panel and media project
Thursday, October 23, 6-8pm
Library, Italian Academy, 1161 Amsterdam Avenue
While distinctions between religious and secular activist media often seem self-evident, this panel asks what they might share.
Panelists include Birgit Meyer (VU University Amsterdam), Charles Hirschkind (University of California, Berkeley) and Peter Redfield (University of North Carolina).
Co-sponsored with Social Science Research Council (SSRC) and Center for Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR).
Religion and Medicine in New Spain
Thursday, October 30, 6-7:30pm
International Affairs Building, Room 802
As part of the series "New Evidence, 1400-1800," a lecture with Jaime Lara, Associate Professor of Christian Art and Architecture at Yale University Divinity School, and José ardo Tomás,
a member of the Department of History of Science at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas in Barcelona.
Co-sponsored with Departments of Spanish and Portuguese and of Religion; Institute for Latin American Studies; Institute for Comparative Literature and Society; and Mexican Cultural Institute of New York.
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1948-1978: Orientalism from the Standpoint of its Victims
Friday-Saturday, November 7-8, 9am-5pm
Kellogg Center, International Affairs Building, 1501 |
A conference on the legacy of Edward Said's work and its part in the larger phenomenon of Orientalism with regard to the question of Palestine and the Jewish question.
Includes lectures by Rashid Khalidi,
Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies and Literature, and Joseph Massad,
Associate Professor of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures.
Co-sponsored with Middle East Institute (MEI).
600 Years of Religious Conflict and Accommodation in India
Monday, November 10, 10am-1pm
Kellogg Center, International Affairs Building, Room 1512
A conference on India's tradition of social peace and tolerance in public life, an example that demonstrates a successful democracy does not depend on the decline of religious belief in society.
Convened by Sudipta Kaviraj, Professor of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures, and Rajeev Bhargava, Professor of Political Science at the University of Delhi, is Director of the Center for the Study of Developing Societies.
Co-sponsored with Center for Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR).
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Charles Taylor: Distinguished Scholar in Residence
Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at McGill University and Templeton Prize-winning author of A Secular Age (2007). |
What is Enchantment?, Monday, November 17, 8-10pm, International Affairs Building, Room 1501
Co-sponsored with Center for Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR); Committee on Global Thought (CGT); and Heyman Center for the Humanities.
The Secular Age in a Global Context, Wednesday, November 19, 6-8pm, Kellogg Center, International Affairs Building, Room 1501
Co-sponsored with Center for Study of Democracy, Toleration
and Religion (CDTR) and Committee on Global Thought (CGT).
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Jonathan Safran Foer: Literature and Terror
Tuesday, December 2, 6-7:30pm
Kellogg Center, International Affairs Building, Room 1501 |
A conversation with Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and the acclaimed Everything is Illuminated, which was adapted into a feature film directed by Liev Schreiber.
Copies of his book will be on sale courtesy of Book Culture.
PAST EVENTS
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The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power
A Lecture by Tariq Ali
Thursday, September 18, 5-7pm
Davis Auditorium, Schapiro Hall |
Historian and novelist Tariq Ali discusses his new book The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power with an introduction by Mahmood Mamdani, Herbert Lehman Professor of Government and Professor of Anthropology. Copies of the book will be on sale courtesy of Book Culture.
Co-sponsored with Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures (MEALAC).
After Pluralism: Rethinking Models of Religious Interaction
Saturday, September 20, 5-6:30pm
80 Claremont Avenue, Room 101
An open forum that addresses the limitations of current models of religious pluralism used in academic and political contexts.
Organized by Courtney Bender, Professor of Religion, the discussion culminates two years' work by an interdisciplinary group and highlights some of the empirical and analytical issues that will appear in a forthcoming edited volume.
Who’s Afraid of Sharia?
War, Law and Humanitarian Intervention
Thursday, October 2, 4-6pm
Schermerhorn Extension, Room 754
A open forum with Naz Modirzadeh, Senior Associate at Harvard School of Public Health, and Mahmood Mamdani, Herbert Lehman Professor of Government and Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University.
Organized by Lila Abu-Lughod, William B. Ransford Professor of Anthropology and Gender Studies.
Co-sponsored with Institute for Research on Women and Gender (IRWAG) and Center for the Critical Analysis of Social Difference (CCASD).
Looking ahead to Spring 2009
The Literature and Terror series will continue with writers Paul Auster, David Ignatius, Uzodinma Iweala, and Dalia Sofer. Specific dates are to be determined.
In addition, Irving Weissman, Professor of Pathology and Developmental Biology at Stanford University, will deliver the prestigious Bampton Lectures in America in January 2009. Dr. Weissman is Director of the Stanford Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine and the 2008 Koch Prize Winner for advances in the biomedical sciences. The series of lectures will held at the Kellogg Center, International Affairs Building, Room 1501 on the following dates:
Wednesday, January 21, 5-7pm
Thursday, January 22, 5-7pm
Tuesday, January 27, 5-7pm
Thursday, January 29, 5-7pm
Click here to view past Spring 2008 events.
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