Events > Archive > Spring 2008 Conferences

Panel: “The Threat to Turkish Democracy: Islam or Secularism?”

A Panel Discussion with
Nilüfer Göle
Professor of Sociology
Ecoles des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris

Alfred C. Stepan
Wallace Sayre Professor of Government
Director of the Center for Democracy, Toleration, and Religion
Columbia University

Ahmet T. Kuru
Postdoctoral Research Scholar
Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration, and Religion
Columbia University

Date: Thursday, April 17, 2008
Time: 4:30-6:15 pm
Location: International Affairs Building, Room 801

A reception will follow the panel.

The talk is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration, and Religion (CDTR), the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP), and the Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life (IRCPL).

For more information: Ahmet Kuru: ak2840@columbia.edu

“Tolerance, Democracy, and Sufis in Senegal”

Senegal is one of a very few countries with a large Muslim population (over 90 percent) that is governed by democratic institutions; and it is generally accepted that Sufi brotherhoods have played a crucial role in establishing this democratic and tolerant Senegalese society.

The two-day international conference, with the participation of Senegalese scholars, explores the trajectory of the making of this democratic and tolerant society, the tours and detours, the plural and changing expressions (political, social, cultural and aesthetical) it took since the early engagement of Islam and politics in Senegambia. The conference will also explore the successive rearrangements of the "social contract" in the global context of the international religious resurgence. To what extent have the multiple revisions of the “social contract” affected (and been affected by) tolerance, the democratic process and the various discourses and public expressions of citizenship?

As part of this conference, Columbia University and the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture presents A Saint in the City: Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal, a landmark exhibition curated by the Fowler Museum at UCLA, which features contemporary Senegalese representations of Sheikh Amadou Bamba, the founder of the Sufi Mouride brotherhood. At the exhibition’s opening at the Schomburg Center, Senegalese singer Musa Dieng Kala will perform a music recital, incorporating the poems of Sheikh Bamba. This opening provides an opportunity to examine the artistic contributions of Sufi brotherhoods to Senegalese culture at one of New York’s most important cultural centers.

Click here to download the program of the conference.

Date: Friday, March 7
Time: 9:00 am - 5:30 pm
Location: IAB Room 1501

This talk is co-sponsored by the Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life (IRCPL), the Institute of African Studies (IAS), the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration, and Religion (CDTR), and Committee on Global Thought (CGT).

“International Conference: The New Draft Constitution of Turkey”

The conference entitled “The Draft of the New Turkish Constitution” will bring together the academics and politicians who have drafted the new constitution with scholars of democratic theory and comparative constitutions in a way that both side exchange critical views and share them with the public audience. The declared aim of the new constitution project is to contribute to the process of liberalization of Turkey's political and legal systems as part of its integration to the European Union.

Date: Monday, March 3rd
Time: 9:00 am - 6:30 pm
Location: IAB Room 1501

The governing Justice and Development Party of Turkey has drafted a proposal for a new Turkish Constitution. This conference will be the first in the world outside of Turkey to bring together the key Turkish drafters with important non-Turkish theorists of democratic constitutions, and democratic practice.

Click here to download the program of the conference.

This conference is sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration, and Religion (CDTR) and the Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life (IRCPL) at Columbia University, and Turkish Cultural Center (TCC).

For more information, please contact Ahmet Kuru: ak2840@columbia.edu

“Sharing Sacred Space: Religion and Conflict Resolution”

The conference “Sharing Sacred Space: Religion and Conflict Resolution” intends to focus on the role of sites and spaces that are significant to more than one religion and on the ways these religions engage each other in order to overcome and resolve conflict. The goal is to illuminate a pioneering approach for promoting toleration through religious processes that engage and respect the narrative and beliefs of the Other, be it religious or ethnic groups.

Download the tentative program of the conference.

Date: Thursday, February 14
Time: 9:00 am - 6:45 pm
Date: Friday, February 15
Time: 9:30 am - 12:30 pm
Location: IAB Room 1512

This conference is being sponsored by The Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR), Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life (IRCPL), the Center for the Study of Human Rights (CSHR) at Columbia University, and Institute for Historical Justice and Reconciliation (IHJR) in Salzburg.