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PAST SPRING 2008 EVENTS
-Conferences -
The conference will investigate how some religions in conflict have collaborated on agreed access to major religious sites they all hold sacred. A number of sites in India, Morocco, Indonesia, and Palestine/Israel will serve as models for toleration.
Cosponsored with the Center for the Study of Human Rights, the Center for Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion, and the Institute for Historical Justice in Reconciliation in Salzburg, Austria and convened by Elazar Barkan, Professor of International and Public Affairs.
Click here to view paper abstracts.
The current Turkish 1982 Constitution was written after the 1980 military coup and under great military-Kemalist influence. Some argue that amending the constitution will be the end of secularism. Others argue that the new constitution will be more democratic and will allow for the greater practice of religious freedom, such as the right of veiled women to attend public universities. The conference will investigate this sharp difference of opinion. Three key drafters of the constitution will discuss their proposed changes in the morning session. In the afternoon session, three specialists on comparative constitutions in democracies will respond. The day will conclude with a round-table discussion and questions.
Cosponsored with the Center for the Study of Religion, Toleration and Democracy and convened by Professor Alfred Stepan and Ahmet Kuru, a post-doctoral fellow at the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Democracy.
Click here to view event program.
The conference will explore how Senegal's Sufi population has contributed to the country's democratic development and culture. As part of the conference, the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture will present A Saint in the City: Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal, an exhibition curated by the Fowler Museum at UCLA featuring Senegalese calligraphic art and murals as well as representations of Sheikh Amadou Bamba, the founder of the Sufi Mouride brotherhood.
Cosponsored with Institute of African Studies; the Center for Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion; and the Comittee on Global Thought. Convened by Mamadou Diouf, the new Director of Columbia’s Institute for African Studies and Professor of History in Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures.
Click here for more information.
- Lectures and Speaker Series-
The series showcases research that addresses the role of religion in international relations:
• Peter Katzenstein: “Civilizational States, Secularisms and
Religions, Wed., January 23. Click here to read paper.
• Elizabeth Shakman Hurd: “Secularism and IR Theory,” Wed.,
January 30. Click here to read paper.
• Michael Barnett: “Religion, Humanitarianism and International
Relations,” Thurs., February 14. Click here to read paper.
• Daniel Philpott:"When God Means War, When God Means
Peace: Explaining the Wild Variation in Religious Politics," Wed.,
April 9. Click here to read paper.
• Daniel Nexon: "Religion and International Relations: No Leap
of Faith Required," Tue. April 22.
• Monica Toft: "Hypotheses on Religion and War," Wed. April 30. Read papers "Getting Religion? The Puzzling Case of Islam and Civil War" and "Issue Indivisibility and Time Horizons as Rationalist Explanations for War."
Cosponsored with the Political Science Department; the
Saltzman Institute of War and Peace Studies; and the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR).
Democratization and Islamization: Indonesia's Non- Fundamentalist Sources of Shari'a Law
Monday, April 7, 4-6pm
International Affairs Building, Lindsay Rodgers Room (707
A talk by Michael Buehler and Alfred C. Stepan. In recent years a growing number of districts in Indonesia have adopted shari'a laws. This has been interpreted as a sign for the growing influence of fundamentalist Islam in Indonesian politics after the demise of the military-backed dictatorship of President Suharto in 1998. Analyzing shari'a politics in Indonesia over the last 50 years, Michael Buehler will show in his talk that the recent implementation of Islamic laws, however, has non-fundamentalist origins. He will then provide possible answers for why this is the case.
Cosponsored with the Center for Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion and the Weatherhead East Asian Institute.
Michael Buehler is a doctoral candidate at the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Click here to read paper.
The Threat to Turkish Democracy: Islam or Secularism?
Thursday, April 17, 4.30-6.15 pm
International Affairs Building, Room 801
A Panel Discussion with Nilüfer Göle, Professor of Sociology at Ecoles des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, and is author of The Forbidden Modern: Civilization and Veiling.
Cosponsored with the Center for the Study of Religion, Toleration and Democracy.
Muslims, Christians, and Jews: The Ottoman Experience of Peaceful Co-Existence
Tuesday, April 22, 12:30-2:00pm
International Affairs Building, Room 801
A talk by Ali Bardakoglu, Professor of Theology and President of Turkey's Directorate of Religious Affairs.
This talk will examine the Ottoman millet system and its ability to let the peaceful co-existence of tens of different cultural, ethnic,
and religious groups in the Ottoman Empire.
Prof. Bardakoglu is the President of Directorate of Religious Affairs which coordinates 70,000 mosques, in addition to other religious affairs in Turkey.
Cosponsored with the Center for the Study of Democracy,
Toleration and Religion (CDTR) and Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP).
Click here to watch video on Ebru Television.
Transatlantic Differences on the Role of Religion in Politics
Thursday, April 24, 12 noon
International Affairs Building, Room 1501
A talk by Karsten D. Voigt, Coordinator of German-North American Cooperation at the German Federal Foreign Office.
Karsten D. Voigt asserts that religion, however, has more strongly, if subtly, shaped society and politics in Europe than meets the eye, and the process of secularization seems to have been reversed in recent years. He argues Germany is no exception to that. Europeans and Americans simply have different approaches to religion, which are influenced by their respective historical experiences.
Cosponsored with the Center for the Study of Democracy,
Toleration and Religion (CDTR); the Institute for the Study of Europe
(ISE); the Council for European Studies at Columbia University;
Deutsches Haus at Columbia; and the German Consulate General New York.
- Scholars in Residence -
Rajeev Bhargava, Professor of Political Science at the University of Delhi, is Director of the Center for the Study of Developing Societies and the leading scholar on Indian secularism.
• Rehabilitating Secularism, Friday, February 8, 12–2 p.m., The Heyman Center for the Humanities, Common Room.
• To be Secular or Not: How Should States Deal With Religious Diversity? Thursday, February 21, 12–2 p.m, Kellogg Center, International Affairs Building, Room 1512.
Denis Lacorne: Visiting Scholar in Residence
Religion in America
March 2 - 31
Denis Lacorne will discuss his new book De La Religion en Amerique: Essai d'histoire politique (2007), a comparative analysis of religion in America, which has received a popular and critical reception in France. An English translation is forthcoming.
Denis Lacorne is Director of Research at le Centre d'Etudes et de Recheches Internationales at L'Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris, where he is also a professor of comparative politics.
• Rise and Fall of American Secularism: Friday, March 28, noon–2 p.m., 80 Claremont, Room 101.
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