This year’s Program in Religion, Conflict and Peacebuilding explored the complex role of religion in civil strife and peace efforts in Africa, where warfare fueled by religious and ethnic tensions has claimed the lives of millions in recent years.

The centerpiece of 2003-04 PRCP activities was the institute’s first conference in Africa, held in Jinja, Uganda, from March 31 through April 3, 2004. Titled “Religions in African Conflicts and Peacebuilding Initiatives: Prospects for a Globalizing Africa,” the conference assembled scholars from Europe, Africa, and the United States, along with African religious leaders engaged in peace efforts. Peacebuilding practitioners from non-governmental organizations, including several alumni of the Kroc Institute’s M.A. program, also attended. The conference was organized by Rashied Omar, PRCP coordinator, with the assistance of Thomas McDermott, C.S.C., who has more than 20 years experience working in Uganda.

Keynote speakers were Dr. Hizkias Assefa, founder of the Africa Peacebuilding & Reconciliation Resources in Nairobi; Hon. Professor Mondo Kagonyera, Office of the Prime Minister of Uganda; Archbishop John Baptist Odama, Chairman of the Acholi Religious Leaders Peace Initiative in Gulu, Uganda; and the Rt. Rev. Macleord Baker Ochola II, retired Bishop (Anglican) of Kitgum Diocese, Northern Uganda. Two distinguished scholars closed the conference. Charles Villa-Vicencio, director of the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation in South Africa, and Jean Comaroff, Sunny Distinguished Service Professor of Anthropology at the University of Chicago, synthesized the findings of the conference and its contribution to wider discussions of the issues. The institute will publish a volume of conference papers, edited by the 2003-04 Rockefeller Visiting Fellows.

The visiting fellows, each of whom gave public lectures at the institute, were: Rosalind I. J. Hackett, Distinguished Professor in the Humanities at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Hackett expanded her research on the growing links between media liberalization and religious conflict in Africa, and explored the peacebuilding potential of the media. Sakah Saidu Mahmud, associate professor of political science at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky. While at the institute, he conducted research for a comparative study examining how and why Islamic activism has produced civic peace in Senegal in contrast to Nigeria, where activism often leads to conflict. James Smith, a social-cultural anthropologist who completed a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 2002. He examined the conflict over cultural revivalism and new religious movements in East Africa.

Kroc faculty continued to conduct research and write about the religious dimensions of conflict. For example, Daniel Philpott’s article, “The Catholic Wave,” published in The Journal of Democracy (April 2004), examined the role the church has played when predominantly Catholic countries made the transition to democracy. Rashied Omar wrote about “Opportunities & Challenges for Islamic Peacebuilding After September 11” in Interreligious Insight (October 2003).

During 2003-04, the PRCP prepared to welcome Tariq Ramadan, a renowned Swiss scholar of Islam, who accepted an appointment as the Henry R. Luce Professor of Religion, Conflict and Peacebuilding. The United States government approved Professor Ramadan’s work visa, but revoked the visa without explanation shortly before his August departure for the United States. Ramadan resigned from the position in December 2004.

The program’s focus during the 2004-05 academic year is inter-religious encounters. The visiting fellowships are funded with a $325,000 grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, which extends this program from 2004-2007.

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