April 20-21, 2007
Hesburgh Center, Room C-103
University of Notre Dame

Sponsored by

The Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies

University of Notre Dame

 

 

The interdisciplinary workshop will examine the religious dimensions of conflict and faith-based peacebuilding, with special attention to the difference religious movements and individuals make in settings of deadly conflict.  Cases from Central Asia, Great Lakes Africa, southeastern Europe, and the Americas inform the conceptual and theoretical presentations and discussions.  The conference is free and open to the public and all members of the Notre Dame community.

Conference Schedule

Friday, April 20

3:00 p.m.  Welcome and introduction

• Scott Appleby, Professor of History and Director of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies
• Patrick Mason, Coordinator of the Program on Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding, Kroc Institute

3:15 p.m.  Session One – The Formation and Transmission of Religious Knowledge

• David Montgomery (chair), Rockefeller Visiting Fellow, Kroc Institute – “Learning to Live Religion as Part of the Everyday:  Knowledge Acquisition and Religious Expression in the Kyrgyz Republic”
• Margaret Paxson, Senior Associate, Kennan Institute, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington DC – “Remembering without Memories:  Enacting and Enduring Religious Practice in Post-Soviet Rural Russia”
• Harvey Goldberg, Sarah Allen Shaine Chair in Sociology and Anthropology, Hebrew University, Jerusalem – “Jewish Texts and Education as Defining and Crossing Religious Boundaries:  Content and Pragmatics in Some Historic Contexts”

4:45 p.m.    Break

5:00 p.m.    Keynote address

• Abdullahi An-Na’im, Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law, Emory University – “Human Agency in Religion:  Justice and Peace as Everyday Choice and Responsibility”

 

Saturday, April 21

8:30 a.m.    Session Two – Constructing and Deconstructing the Religious Other:  Inter- and Intra-Faith Practices of Conflict and Accommodation

• Johan Rasanayagam, Lecturer in Anthropology, University of Aberdeen, UK – “Uzbekistan:  Good and Bad Islam after the Soviet Union”
• John Heathershaw (chair), Rockefeller Visiting Fellow, Kroc Institute – “Representing Islam in Tajikistan’s Conflict and Peace Process”
• Nick Megoran, Lecturer in Human Geography, Newcastle University, UK – “Crusade Apologies:  ‘Sheer Quackery’ or Grassroots Inter-faith Peacemaking?”

10:00 a.m.    Break

10:15 a.m.    Session Three – Social Movements and Political Agency:  The Roles of Religious Discourse

• Svetlana Peshkova (chair), Rockefeller Visiting Fellow, Kroc Institute – “Religious Discourse and Political Activism:  The Case of Hizb-et-Tahrir in Central Asia”
• Christine Kovic, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Houston-Clearlake – “Catholicism and Peacebuilding in Chiapas, Mexico:  History of Conflict, Stories of Life”

1:30 p.m.    Session Four – Religious Thought and Action:  Reactions to Mass Violence and War in Great Lakes Africa

• Jennie Burnet (chair), Rockefeller Visiting Fellow, Kroc Institute, and Assistant Professor of Anthropology, University of Louisville – “Reconciliation as Bricolage:  Syncretism of Indigenous, Roman Catholic, and Judicial Modes of Confession in Rwanda”
• Timothy Longman, Associate Professor of Political Science, Vassar College – “Christian Churches and Political Power in the Great Lakes Region:  A Mixed Picture”
• François-David Bonyeku Ekofo, Professor of Theology and Director of the New Testament Department, School of Theology, Université Protestante au Congo, DRC – “Church Contributions to the Peace Process in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)”

3:00 p.m.   Break

3:15 p.m.   Session Five (Plenary) – What Kinds of Religious Knowledge and Practices Prepare Believers to Prevent Deadly Conflict and Build Peace?

• Chair:  Rashied Omar, Research Scholar of Islamic Studies and Peacebuilding, Kroc Institute
• Closing comments from respondents:
• Joseph Dunne, Professor of Philosophy and History, St. Patrick’s College, Dublin
• Cecelia Lynch, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies, University of California-Irvine
• Morgan Liu, Assistant Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, Ohio State University
• Plenary discussion

4:30 p.m.    Adjourn

For more information, contact Patrick Mason at pmason1@nd.edu, phone 574-631-4371.

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