Fall 2008 Conferences and Talks

  • “Distinguished Senior Scholar in Residence: Charles Taylor--The Secular Age in a Global Context” (Nov 19). See details
  • “Distinguished Senior Scholar in Residence: Charles Taylor--What is Enchantment?” (Nov 17). See details
  • “Prime Minister R. Tayyip Erdogan: Turkey's Role in Shaping the Future” (Nov 13). See details
  • “600 Years of Religious Conflict and Accommodation in India” (Nov 10). See details

Fall 2008 Religion, Ethnicity, and Politics Lecture Series

  • “Turkey's Alevi Enigma: A Historical Perspective” (Dec 2). See details
  • “Self-Orientalization or Revitalization: The Decline Discourses in Egypt and Turkey” (Nov 20). See details
  • “Funny Jihad: Islamophobia and Muslim Ethnic Comedy” (Nov 18). See details

Spring 2008 Conferences

  • “The Threat to Turkish Democracy: Islam or Secularism?” (April 17, 2008). See details
  • “Tolerance, Democracy, and Sufis in Senegal” (March 7, 2008). See details
  • “The New Draft Constitution of Turkey” (March 3, 2008). See details
  • “Sharing Sacred Space: Religion and Conflict Resolution” (February 14 and 15, 2008). See details

Spring 2008 Individual Talks and Events

  • Karsten D. Voigt: “Transatlantic Differences on the Role of Religion in Politics” (April 24, 2008). See details
  • Michael Buehler: “Democratization and Islamization: Indonesia's Non-Fundamentalist Sources of Shari'a Law” (April 7, 2008). See details
  • Denis Lacorne: “The Rise ↦ Fall of American Secularism” (March 28, 2008). See details
  • Rajeev Bhargava, “To be Secular or Not: How Should States Deal with Religious Diversity?” (February 21, 2008). See details
  • Imran Khan: “Pakistan: Current & Future Challenges” (January 25, 2008).

Spring 2008 International Relations Theory and Religion Speaker Series
Chaired by the Professors Jack Snyder and Alfred Stepan

  • Monica Toft: “Hypotheses on Religion and War” (April 30, 2008) See details
  • Daniel Nexon: “Religion and International Relations: No Leap of Faith Required” (April 22, 2008) See details
  • Daniel Philpott: “When God Means War, When God Means Peace: Explaining the Wide Variations in Religious Politics” (April 9, 2008) See details
  • Michael Barnett: “Religion, Humanitarianism and International Relations” (Thursday, February 14, 2008) See details
  • Elizabeth Shakman Hurd: “Secularism and IR Theory” (January 30, 2008) See details
  • Peter Katzenstein: “Civilizational States, Secularisms and Religions” (Wednesday, January 23, 2008) See details

Spring 2008 Lecture Series: “Transforming Secularism, Democracy, and Nationalism in Turkey"

  • Ali Bardakoglu: “Muslims, Christians, and Jews: The Ottoman Experience of Peaceful Co-Existence” (April 22, 2008). See details
  • Sener Aktürk: “Challenges to Transform the Ethnicity Regime in Turkey: Alevi and Kurdish Electoral Behavior and Demands for Recognition, 1946-2007” (April 14, 2008). See details
  • Berna Turam: “Contesting Democratization in Turkey: The Gülen Movement, AK Party and their Discontents” (March 12, 2008). See details
  • Hasan Kösebalaban: “Globalization, European Union, and the Transformation of Islamic Perspectives in Turkey” (March 5, 2008). See details
  • Ahmet Yükleyen: “Anthropology of Islamic Authority and Knowledge in Europe: Turkish Islamic Communities in Germany and the Netherlands” (February 11, 2008). See details

Fall 2007 Individual Talks and Events

  • Movie: "Salata Baladi," followed by Q&A with Egyptian filmmaker Nadia Kamel (November 13, 2007) See details
  • Event: Sada Abubakar, Sultan of Sokoto, Nigeria: "Islam and Democracy in Nigeria" (November 7, 2007) See details
  • Event: “Religious Resistance under the Nazi Regime and in the GDR” with Dr. Bernard Vogel (Tuesday, October 9, 2007) See details
  • Event: "India: Religious and Caste Profile of Elected Politicians in 16 States from 1952 to 2006" with Christophe Jaffrelot (October 1, 2007) See details
  • Event: "Islam and Indonesian Attitudes Towards the U.S." with Dr. Syafi'i Anwar (September 27, 2007) See details
  • Event: "What Islam, Whose Islam? The Struggle of Women's Rights Within a Religious Framework: The Experience of Sisters in Islam" with Zainah Anwar (September 19, 2007) See details

Fall 2007 Conferences

Spring 2007 Democratic Voices from the Muslim World Series

  • Penda Mbow: “Islam, Women and Human Rights in Senegal” (April 18, 2007) See details
  • Souleymane Bachir Diagne: “Sufism in Senegal: The Religion of the Rosary” (April 5, 2007) See details
  • Akbar Ganji: “Civil Liberties, Islam and the Nexus between the Struggle for Democracy and Iran’s Nuclear Ambitions” (March 7, 2007) See details | Video
  • Amien Rais: “Islam and Democracy in Indonesia: Some Major Problems I faced as a Muslim Democratic Activist and How I Addressed Them” (February 7, 2007)  See details | Video

Spring 2007 Religion and Democracy Seminar Series
For details and working papers.

  • “Leviathan and Ulama: The Patterns of Cooptation and Islamist Mobilization in Southeast Asia.” Paper giver: Dr. Kikue Hamayotsu; Discussants: Mirjam Künkler and Dr. Rizal Sukma (April 17, 2007)
  • “Judging Minorities in Anti-Terror Cases: The Behavior of India’s Supreme Court.” Paper giver: Dr. Shylashri Shankar; Discussant: Professor Ananya Vajpeyi (April 3, 2007) “How the Rise of the Welfare State Affected Historic Faith-Based Spending.” Paper giver: Dr. Daniel Hungerman; Discussant: Professor Janet Currie (March 6, 2007)
  • “Rethinking the Relationship Between Religion, Secularism and Liberal Democracy: Reflections on the Stepan Thesis and Muslim Societies.” Paper giver: Dr. Nader Hashemi; Discussant: Professor Alfred Stepan (January 23, 2007)

Spring 2007 Religion and the Public Sphere Breakfast Series

  • “Globalization and its Challenges for Islam and Christianity.” A discussion between Dr. Rizal Sukma and Dr. Rev. Shanta Premawardhana (April 23, 2007) See details
  • “Democratic Models of State-Religion Relations.” A discussion between Professor Alfred Stepan and Professor Peter van der Veer (March 29, 2007) See details
  • “The Prosperity Gospel and Its Impact on Black Churches.” A discussion between Dr. Fredrick C. Harris, Dr. Mark Chapman, Rev. Dr. Robert W. Edgar, Mr. Lucille McEwen (February 20, 2007) See details
  • “Judaism, Christianity and Islam: A Fresh Look at Shared Histories.” Dr. Alan Mittleman, Dr. Richard Bulliet, Dr. Dale Irvin (January 18, 2007) See details

Spring 2007 Individual Talks

  • José Casanova: “Religious Pluralism and Civil Society in Ukraine” (April 19, 2007) See details

Spring 2007 Conferences

“Religion and Representation – Comparative Secularisms.” With Aijaz Ahmad, Jean Franco, Harry Harootunian, Ziba Mir-Hosseini, Philip Kitcher, Goenawan Mohamad, Valentin Mudimbe, Vincent Pecora, James Schmidt, Shail Mayaram, Mark Siderits, Romila Thapar, Paolo Valesio, Michael Warner, Xudong Zhang (March 28-29, 2007) See details


Fall 2006 Religion and Democracy Seminar Series
For details and working papers.

  • “The Ethics of Reasoning from Conjecture, or: What’s Wrong with Socratic Justifications for Religious Toleration?”Paper giver: Dr. Micah Schwartzman; Discussant: Professor Nadia Urbinati (November 16, 2006)
  • “Rule of Law, Authoritarianism and Theocracy: The Iranian Bar Association vis-à-vis Religious Authority.” Paper giver: Dr. Sepideh Farkhondeh; Discussant: Professor Mona El-Ghobashy (November 1, 2006)
  • “Religion and Constitution-Drafting in Israel and India: The Need for an Incrementalist Approach.” Paper Giver: Dr. Hanna Lerner; Discussant: Professor Kent Greenawalt (October 26, 2006)
  • “The Contrasting Fates of Middle Eastern Politicized Islam & European Politicized Christianity: Historical Divergence in Configurations of Religious Contention and Democratization.” Paper Giver: Khaled Helmy; Discussant: Professor Charles Tilly (October 12, 2006)
  • “From Beirut Spring to Regional Winter? Is the ‘Intifada of Independence’ and its Promise of Arab Liberalism in Peril?” Paper Giver: Mark Farha; Discussant: Professor Richard Bulliet (September 20, 2006)

Fall 2006 Women and Religion Speaker Series

  • Ziba Mir-Hosseini: “Islam and Democracy in Iran: Eshkevari and the Quest for Reform” (November 29 2006) See details
  • Lily Munir: “The Introduction of Sharia-nuanced By-Laws and the Creation of Patriarchy in Indonesia” (November 20, 2006) See details
  • Zainah Anwar: “What Islam, Whose Islam? Challenges of Women's Rights Advocacy in Malaysia” (November 15, 2006) See details

Issues of Secularism and Diversity in Global Thought