Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life

A conversation with DAVID SHIPLEY, op-ed editor at The New York Times. He also served in the Clinton Administration as Senior Presidential Speechwriter and was the executive editor of The New Republic Magazine. Moderated by Mark C. Taylor, Chair of the Department of Religion.

Co-sponsored with Columbia Journalism School and the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion.

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A presentation of the film Household Saints (1993) with a discussion by Elizabeth Castelli, Professor of Religion.

A film series sponsored by the Religion Departments of Columbia University and Barnard College

A workshop led by Sudipta Kaviraj, Professor of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures, and Rajeev Bhargava, Director of the Center for Studies in Developing Societies (Delhi). Discussion will focus on the role of religion in India throughout its history, particiularly the dynamics of conflict and accommodation between Buddhists and conventional Vedic religion and among Saivas, Vaisnavas and Jains in ancient and medieval society.

Click here for schedule and more information.

Co-sponsored with the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion and the Heyman Center for the Humanities. For directions to the Heyman Center, click this link: http://heymancenter.org/visit.php

A discussion with CHRISTOPHE JAFFRELOT, Alliance Visiting Professor (Sciences Po-CERI, Paris), THOMAS BLOM HANSEN, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Amsterdam, and RAJEEV BHARGAVA, Professor of Political Science at the University of Delhi and Director of the Center for the Study of Developing Societies.

Co-sponsored with the Alliance Program; the South Asia Institute; the Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures; and the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion.
 

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A lecture by CHARLES TAYLOR, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at McGill University and winner of the 2007 Templeton Prize and the 2008 Kyoto Prize.

Co-sponsored with the Committee on Global Thought; Heyman Center for Humanities; Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion.

audio:
 

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A discussion led by MARTA LAGOS, Director of Latin Barometer in Santiago, MARGARET CRAHAN, Senior Research Scholar at the Institute of Latin American Studies, ALFRED STEPAN, Wallace S. Sayre Professor of Government. Participants also include John Burdick (Syracuse University), Timothy Steigenga (Florida Atlantic University), David Smilde (University of Georgia), Alejandro Natal (Interdisciplinary Program for Third Sector Studies, El Colegio Mexiquense, Mexico), and Diana Lima (Institute Universitário de Pesquisas do  Rio de Janeiro).

Co-sponsored with the Center for the Study of Toleration, Democracy and Religion and the Institute for Latin American Studies.

Brown Bag Lecture Series presents a talk with Yakov Rabkin, Professor of History at University of Montreal and author of A Threat from Within: A History of Jewish Opposition of Zionism.

Co-sponsored with the Middle East Institute.

A conversation with JON MEACHAM, the editor of Newsweek magazine and author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House as well as American Gospel: God, the Founding Fathers, and the Making of a Nation. Moderated by Randall Balmer, Professor of Religion.

Co-sponsored with Columbia Journalism School and the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion.
 

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A presentation of the film Ghostbusters (1984) with a discussion by Courtney Bender, Professor of Religion.

A film series sponsored by the Religion Departments of Columbia University and Barnard College.

A talk by JACK MILES, Senior Fellow for Religious Affairs with the Pacific Council on International Policy and Distinguished Professor of English and Religious Studies, University of California, Irvine. A MacArthur Fellow, he is winner of the 1996 Pulitzer Prize for God: A Biography.

For directions to the Heyman Center, visit: http://heymancenter.org/visit.php

Co-sponsored with the Heyman Center for the Humanities.

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A conference in honor of B.R. AMBEDKAR, chief architect of the Indian constitution and Columbia alumnus. Participants include President Lee C. Bollinger; Vice President Nicholas B. Dirks; Gnana Alyosius; Masood Alam Falahi; Marc Galanter; Gopal Guru; Rajkumar Hans; Christophe Jaffrelot; Pratap Mehta; Smita Narula; Balmurli Natrajan; Gyan Pandey; Sudha Rani; Anupama Rao; Nat Roberts; Palanimuthu Sivakami; Jebaroja Singh; Anand Teltumbde; Gauri Viswanthan.

Co-sponsored with Center for Human Rights and Documentation; Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Race; Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Culture; Institute for Social and Economic Research. Made possible by additional funding from the Dr. Ambedkar International Mission (AIM) Inc. U.S.A; Provost’s Office of Columbia University; Taraknath Das Foundation; and the US Department of Education.

For a full conference schedule, visit  the South Asia Institute’s site.

Eli Black Professor of Jewish Studies at Dartmouth College and author of Abraham Geiger and the Jewish Jesus, which won a National Jewish Book Award and Germany’s Geiger Prize.

Intrigued with Islam: Jewish Scholars, Travelers, and Converts in Modern Europe
Tuesday, October 13, 6:30-8pm
International Affairs Building, Room 707
420 W. 118th St.

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Jesus as Aryan Hero: The Peculiar Conversion of Christianity into National Socialism
Thusday, October 15, 6:30-8pm
International Affairs Building, Room 707
420 W. 118th St.

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A talk by Abdallah Schleifer, Professor Emeritus and Senior Fellow at the Kamal Adham Center for Journalism Training and Research at the American University in Cairo.

Co-sponsored with the Middle East Institute.

A conversation with JAMES TRAUB, who writes on politics and international affairs for The New York Times Magazine and has also written for The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly and National Review. Moderated by Jack Snyder, The Robert and Renée Belfer Professor of International Relations.

Read a review of the event at the Columbia Journalism School’s website.

Co-sponsored with Columbia Journalism School and the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion.

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A lecture by Etienne Balibar, Professor Emeritus at the Sorbonne and Distinguished Professor at University of California, Irvine, on racism, nationalism and the plight of non-European immigrants in a newly unified Europe.

Co-sponsored with the Maison Francaise at Columbia University.

As part of the World Leaders Forum, internationally renowned artist Alfredo Jaar will present a selection of projects he has created in response to conflicts around the world. Following will be a conversation with Alfredo Jaar and Dean of the School of the Arts, Carol Becker.

For RSVP information, visit the World Leaders Forum site.

Co-sponsored by the School of the Arts and the World Leaders Forum.

A discussion with CHARLES TAYLOR, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy at McGill University and winner of the 2007 Templeton Prize and the 2008 Kyoto Prize, ALAN MONTEFIORE, Emeritus Fellow at Balliol College, Oxford, and EMMANUEL PICAVET, Professor of Political Philosophy, University of Paris.

Co-sponsored by Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life, the Committee on Global Thought, and the Alliance Program

Video of the Panel

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Video of the Discussion

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Schedule: Friday, Sept 25, 12-6pm, and Saturday, Sept 26, 10am-6pm

A conference on the multiple meanings of the new urban wars and the limits of power and of war. Discussions will focus on asymmetric armed conflict, US Army training for the “urban enemy,” cities and urban space as a technology for war, re-appropriating the city of fear, and civil war refugees and their flight from and to cities.

Speakers include Arjun Appadurai, Elazar Barkan, Ted Byfield, Partha Chatterjee, Tony Conrad, Susan Crile, Claire Cutler, Ashley Dawson, James Der Derian, Gar Smith (Environmentalists Against War), Yasmine Ergas, Karen Jacobsen, Fiona Jeffries, Danny Kaplan, Jennifer S. Light, Peter Marcuse, Suketu Mehta, Rosalind C. Morris, Les Roberts, Saskia Sassen, Jan Schneider, Richard Sennett, Jessica Stern, Ida Susser, Gediminas Urbonas, Sudhir Venkatesh, Eyal Weizman, Florian Schneider and Susanne Lang (Dictionary of War Project).

For more information, please visit http://cgt.columbia.edu/events/cities_and_new_wars/

Co-sponsored with the Committee on Global Thought; Center for the Study of Human Rights; Department of Sociology; Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation; ISERP; Mailman School of Public Health; New York Theological Seminary.

A presentation of the film Wings of Desire (1987) directed by Wim Wenders with a discussion by Jonathan Schorsch, Professor of Religion.

A film series sponsored by the Religion Departments of Columbia University and Barnard College.

A two-day conference promoting a public dialogue between science and religion on environmental sustainability. Speakers include Jeffrey Sachs (Earth Institute), Wayne G. Ramsey (Fetzer Institute), James Hansen (NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies) and other scholars, leaders, and activists. For more information: www.columbia.edu/cu/cssr

Sponsored by Center for the Study of Science and Religion and the Earth Institute at Columbia University with the Fetzer Institute.

A lecture by AIJAZ AHMAD, a leading Marxist thinker and prominent commentator on South Asian politics, on global Islamist jihadi groups. He is Professorial Fellow at the Centre of Contemporary Studies in New Delhi and author of several books, including In Theory: Classes, Nations, Literatures.

Co-sponsored by the Heyman Center for the Humanities; Committe on Global Thought; and the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion.

An undergraduate interdisciplinary conference on East Asia. Panels include “Recovering the Individual: Contemporary Asian Art,” “Soft Power in Asia,” and “Rice and Steel: Urban Development in Northeast Asia.” The Columbia East Asia Review (CEAR), an undergraduate peer-review academic journal, will also launch its second volume. To learn more about the conference, please visit www.eastasiasymposium.org.

A conversation with PAUL AUSTER, acclaimed novelist, essayist and translator. His many works include The New York Trilogy, Moon Palace, The Brooklyn Follies and, most recently, Man in the Dark. Moderated by Mark C. Taylor, Chair of the Department of Religion and Co-Director of the Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life.

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Loren Ryter, Visiting Scholar and Lecturer at the University of Michigan, on Indonesia’s New Order, in which state-sactioned criminal groups were given license to control gambling, prostitution, drug distribution, and protection rackets in exchange for political support.

Sponsored by Southeast Asian Student Initiative. For more information, contact: mb3120@columbia.edu

A lecture with Professor James Collins, Director of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Northern Illinois University, on language shifts in Indonesia due to colonial genocide, natural disasters as well as complex socio-economic factors.

Sponsored by the Southeast Asian Student Initiative. For more information, contact:  mb3120@columbia.edu

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.

A lecture by PHILIP BOBBITT, the Herbert Wechsler Professor of Federal Jurisprudence and the Director of the Center for National Security at Columbia University. He has written extensively on constitutional law as well as international security and strategy in such works as The Shield of Achilles: War, Peace and the Course of History and, most recently, Terror and Consent.

A lecture by G. MURAT TEZCUR (Political Science, Loyola University) as part of the Religion, Ethnicity, and Politics Lecture Series. Moderated by Macartan Humphreys (Political Science, Columbia University).

Co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion, the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP), and the Middle East Institute (MEI).

A lecture by ZEYNEP AKBULUT KURU (University of Washington, Seattle) as part of the Religion, Ethnicity, and Politics Lecture Series. Moderated by Nadia Guessous (Anthropology, Columbia University).

Co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion, the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP), and the Middle East Institute (MEI).

A lecture by SIMON C. TAY, chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, on the future of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The talk will address its charter, economic community and relationship with the Obama administration as well as global priorities in human rights, environment and security.

Sponsored by Southeast Asian Student Initiative. For more information, contact: mb3120@columbia.edu

A lecture by AMY LIU (Emory University) on what part language plays in statebuilding and governments’ tendency to share linguistic powers when the threat of state destabilization is high.

Sponsored by the Southeast Asia Student Initiative. For more information, contact: mb3120@columbia.edu

A public lecture by Charles Taylor, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at McGill University and Templeton Prize-winning author of A Secular Age (2007). His talk is based on his Consultation Commission on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences (CCAPRCD) in Quebec, which he co-chaired.

Co-Sponsored by the Heyman Center for Humanities; Center for the Study of Democracy, Tolerance; and the Committee on Global Thought.

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Indonesia is the largest Muslim-majority state in the world and underwent a successful transition to democracy in 1998. Panelists will reflect on the past ten years of the country’s democratic experiment, in particular on the role of Islamic organizations in the democratic transition, the role of veto actors in the consolidation process, and the relationship between Islamic law and democratic institutions.

Presenters and Discussants include Alfred Stepan, Edward Aspinall, John Bowen, L. Carl Brown, Michael Buehler, Jose Casanova, Greg Fealy, Robert Hefner, Nadirsyah Hosen, Mirjam Künkler, Michael Laffan, Marcus Mietzner, Musda Mulia, Sidney Jones and Franz Magnis Suseno.

Co-sponsored by the Princeton Institute for International and Regional Studies (PIIRS), Princeton University

Click here for more details

In recent decades, scholars of religion have attempted to shift attention away from belief and doctrine to practices, rituals identities and institutition. This focus has allowed scholars to recognize that “lived religion” is a multilayered and dynamic phenomenon, but it has kept them from examining other ways in which belief remains central to religious practices. By re-examining what it means to believe, this conference explores if and how belief matters.

Discussants include Courtney Bender, Mark C. Taylor, Penny Edgell, Joshua Dubler, Wayne Proudfoot and Zareena Grewal.    Co-sponsored by the Religion Graduate Students Association at Columbia University.

A lecture by CEREN BELGE (Political Science, Harvard University) as part of the Religion, Ethnicity and Politics Lecture Series. Moderated by George Gavrilis (International Relations, University of Texas at Austin).

Co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion, the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP), and the Middle East Institute (MEI).

A lecture by TRUDY JACOBSEN, an ARC Postdoctoral Fellow in the Monash Asia Institute, on the Khmer Rouge’s methods of torturing and targeting women during the Democratic Kampuchea (1975-1979) in Cambodia.

Sponsored by Southeast Asian Student Initiative. For more information, contact:  mb3120@columbia.edu

A conversation with David Ignatius, columnist for The Washington Post and author of Body of Lies, which was recently adapted into a feature film. Moderated by Nicholas Lemann, Dean and Henry R. Luce Professor of the Graduate School of Journalism.

Co-sponsored with Columbia Journalism School.

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University Lecture by Ira Katznelson, Ruggles Professor of Political Science and History. Hosted by President Lee C. Bollinger and Provost Alan Brinkley.

Sponsored by University Program and Events.

A performance of extracts from the operas The Daughters of Ishmael in Wind and Storm by Assia Djebar and Margaret Garner by Toni Morrison and Richard Danielpour. Accompanied by a discussion with Assia Djebar, Toni Morrison, Leila Ahmed (Harvard Divinity School), and Angela Davis (University of California Santa Cruz).

Co-sponsored with the Institute for Comparative Literature and Society.

A talk by JEAN LECA (Sciences-Po, Paris) on current global political dynamics in reference to the concepts of uncertainty, vulnerability, and legitimacy. He will use Algeria as a case study for democratic processes in the Arab world. Introduction by Peter Awn, Director of the Middle East Institute and Dean of General Studies. Light lunch will be served.
Co-sponsored by the Alliance Program and Middle East Institute.

Read Leca’s articles (PDF):

• “Democratization in the Arab World: Uncertainty, Vulnerability and Legitimacy,” Democracy Without Democrats?: The Renewal of Politics in the Muslim World (1994).

• “Opposition in the Middle East and North Africa,” Government and Opposition (1997).

A lecture by CHRISTOPHE JAFFRELOT (Sciences Po-CERI, Paris) on the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the rise of ethnic nationalism and ideology in India. Moderated by Alfred Stepan, the Wallace S. Sayre Professor of Government at Columbia University.

Co-sponsored by the Alliance Program; Southern Asian Institute; Center for Democracy, Toleration and Religion; and the Political Science Department.

A lecture by DAN SLATER, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, addressing Indonesia’s elites and their response to the country’s democratic transition. Slater will discuss elite strategies during the 1999-2004 period and likely results from the upcoming 2009 elections.

Co-sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration, and Religion (CDTR).

A lecture by SENEM ASLAN (Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University)as part of the Religion, Ethnicity, and Politics Lecture Series. Moderated by Ayca Cubukcu (Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University).

Co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion, the Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP), and the Middle East Institute (MEI).

Turkey is the only member of NATO and candidate member of the European Union that is a Muslim-majority country. Assertive secularism, multiparty democracy, and military interventions are other puzzling aspects of Turkish politics. This conference aims to present an integrated picture of Turkey by bringing together comparative perspectives on its past, present, and future, and delving into such issues as the legacy of the Ottoman Empire, secularism, religion, democracy, civil-military relations, and the European Union membership.

Participants include Alfred Stepan, Ergun Ozbudun, Andrew Arato, Karen Barkey, Richard Bulliet, Ümit Cizre, David Cuthell, ?ükrü Hanio?lu, Stathis Kalyvas, Rashid Khalidi, Mirjam Künkler, Ahmet Kuru, Joost Lagendijk, Joan Scott and Nur Yalman.

Co-sponsored by the Turkish Studies Institute, the Middle East Institute, and the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion.

• Watch coverage on Ebru TV and Turk.net.

Click here for more information

A conversation with DALIA SOFER, author of the novel The Septembers of Shiraz based on her family’s flight from post-revolutionary Iran. It was named one of the New York Times Notable Books of 2008. Moderated by Dohra Ahmad, Assistant Professor of English at St. John’s University.

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A conversation with ERGUN OZBUDUN, Professor of Law at Bilkent University in Turkey and IRCPL Distinguished Scholar in Residence. He is the author of Contemporary Turkish Politics: Challenges to Democratic Consolidation and the co-editor of Atatürk: Founder of a Modern State. He recently chaired the academic committee to draft a new constitution for Turkey.

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 Middle East Institute.

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Are candor and respect compatible when discussing other religions in the public sphere? This conference investigates the dangers of neglecting both in the realms of governance, diplomacy and journalism.

Panelists include Bat Ye’or, Faisal Devji (The New School University), Philip Hamburger (Columbia Law School), Marci Hamilton (Cardozo Law School), Leonard Leo (US Commission on International Religious Freedom), Tomoko Masuzawa (University of Michigan), Flemming Rose (Culture Editor, Jyllands-Posten), Alfred Stepan (Columbia University) and Winnifred Sullivan (SUNY at Buffalo Law School).

Sponsored in partnership with Mark Kingdon and Columbia Law School.

A lecture by JOHN SIDEL, the Sir Patrick Gillam Professor of International and Comparative Politics at LSE, on anti-colonialist revolutions in the Philippines, Indonesia and Vietnam.

Co-sponsored by the Weatherhead East Asian Institute and the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration, and Religion (CDTR).

A conversation with Uzodinma Iweala, author of Beasts of No Nation and named one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists. Moderated by Mamadou Diouf, the Leitner Family Professor of African Studies and Director of Institute for African Studies.
 

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The 36th Bampton Lectures will be delivered by Irving Weissman, the Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Professor for Clinical Investigation in Cancer Research and Director of the Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine Institute at Stanford University. He is also the 2008 Koch Prize Winner for advances in the biomedical sciences.

• “Adult Stem Cells and Regenerative Medicine,” Wednesday, January 21, 5-7pm
   

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• “Cancer and Leukemia Stem Cells: A New Paradigm for Research, Diagnosis and Therapy,” Thursday, January 22, 5-7pm
   

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• “Embryonic and Pluripotent Stem Cells: Science and Medicine meet Politics and Religious Organizations,” Tuesday, January 27, 5-7pm
   

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• “Self and Nonself: Co-evolution of Stem Cells and Immunity and Speculations on Stem Cells and the Mind,” Thursday, January 29, 5-7pm

Co-Sponsored with the Department of Religion and the Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life at Columbia University.

A conversation with Jonathan Safran Foer, author of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close and the acclaimed Everything is Illuminated, which was adapted into a feature film directed by Liev Schreiber.

Moderated by Jenny Davidson, Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Columbia University.

Copies of his book will be on sale courtesy of Book Culture.

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A talk by Riza Yildirim, Postdoctoral Scholar at Harvard University. Moderated by Ahmet T. Kuru, Postdoctoral Scholar at Columbia University.

Co-sponsored with the Center for the Study of Democracy,

Toleration and Religion (CDTR), Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP), and Middle East Institute (MEI).

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

A public talk with Gail Omvedt, sociologist and author of Seeking Begumpura: The Social Vision of Anticaste Intellectuals (2008). Dr. Omvedt has also worked actively with social movements in India, including the Dalit and anti-caste movements, environmental movements, farmers’ movements and especially with rural women.

Co-sponsored with the Southern Asian Institute.

A book presentation by Gilles Kepel, Professor of Middle East and Mediterranean Studies at Sciences Po, Paris. His book investigates the ideological quagmire of terrorism and martyrdom and explores the terms of a new and constructive dialogue between Islam and the West, one for which Europe, with its expanding and restless Muslim populations, may be the proving ground.

Moderated by Alfred Stepan, Co-Director of IRCPL.

Co-sponsored with the Middle East Institute and the Alliance Program at Columbia University.

A talk by Akif Kireççi, Assistant Professor of History at Bilkent University, with Richard Bulliet, Professor of History at Columbia University.

Co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR), Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP), and the Middle East Institute.

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

A book presentation by Laurence Louër (Professor of Middle East Studies at Sciences Po-CERI in Paris) and moderated by Gary Sick (Middle East Institute).

Co-sponsored with the Alliance Program at Columbia University.

A talk by Mucahit Bilici, Assistant Professor of Sociology, John Jay College, with Taylor Carman, Professor of Philosophy at Barnard College.

Since the tragic events of 9/11, there has been an upsurge in ethnic comedy by Muslims in America. This talk will explore the landscape of Muslim ethnic comedy in the United States and its intricate relationship with Islamophobia.

Co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR), Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP).

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

Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at McGill University and Templeton Prize-winning author of A Secular Age (2007).

What is Enchantment?
Monday, November 17, 8-10pm
International Affairs Building, Room 1501

Audio:
 

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More on the web: read the ongoing discussion of Charles Taylor’s “A Secular Age” at The Immanent Frame

Co-sponsored with Center for Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR); Committee on Global Thought (CGT); and Heyman Center for the Humanities.

A public roundtable with Rajeev Bhargava (Center for the Study of Developing Societies), José Casanova (Georgetown University) and Alfred Stepan (Columbia University).

Co-sponsored with Social Science Research Council (SSRC) and Center for Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR).

“Turkey’s Role in Shaping the Future,” a World Leaders Forum program with keynote address by Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister of the Republic of Turkey.

Hosted by Alan Brinkley, Provost and Allan Nevins Professor of American History at Columbia University. Moderated by Alfred Stepan, Wallace S. Sayre Professor of Government. For more information, and to register, please visit www.worldleaders.columbia.edu

Co-sponsored with the School of International and Public
Affairs; the Center for Study of Democracy, Toleration, and Religion (CDTR); and the Middle East Institute at Columbia University.

A conference on India’s tradition of social peace and tolerance in public life, an example that demonstrates a successful democracy does not depend on the decline of religious belief in society.

Convened by Sudipta Kaviraj, Professor of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures, and Rajeev Bhargava, Professor of Political Science at the University of Delhi, is Director of the Center for the Study of Developing Societies.

Co-sponsored with Center for Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR).

A conference on the legacy of Edward Said’s work and its part in the larger phenomenon of Orientalism with regard to the question of Palestine and the Jewish question.

Includes lectures by Rashid Khalidi, Edward Said Professor of Modern Arab Studies and Literature, and Joseph Massad, Associate Professor of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures.

Co-sponsored with Middle East Institute (MEI).

To celebrate its inauguration, the Institute is hosting an afternoon of public lectures on religion in contemporary society with Salman Rushdie, Thomas Krens, Charles Taylor, and Orhan Pamuk.

Click here for more information

The Past and Future of Religion & Toleration (IRCPL Launch Event)
*Toleration Faculty Working Group with Charles Taylor, Emeritus Prof. of Philosophy
 

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SALMAN RUSHDIE in conversation with Gauri Viswanathan (IRCPL Launch Event)

* Opening Remarks by Lee C. Bollinger
* Introduction by ORHAN PAMUK
 

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As part of the series “New Evidence, 1400-1800,” a lecture with Jaime Lara, Associate Professor of Christian Art and Architecture at Yale University Divinity School, and José ardo Tomás, a member of the Department of History of Science at the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas in Barcelona.

Co-sponsored with Departments of Spanish and Portuguese and of Religion; Institute for Latin American Studies; Institute for Comparative Literature and Society; and Mexican Cultural Institute of New York.

While distinctions between religious and secular activist media often seem self-evident, this panel asks what they might share. Panelists include Birgit Meyer (VU University Amsterdam), Charles Hirschkind (University of California, Berkeley) and Peter Redfield (University of North Carolina).

Co-sponsored with Social Science Research Council (SSRC) and Center for Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR).

Richard Locke, Professor of Writing at Columbia’s School of the Arts, in conversation with Philip Gourevitch, writer and editor of The Paris Review, on his most recent book Standard Operating Procedure, which he co-authored with filmmaker Errol Morris. The book and Morris’ film explore Abu Ghraib.

Copies of his books will be on sale courtesy of Book Culture.
 

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An open forum with Naz Modirzadeh, Senior Associate at Harvard School of Public Health, and Mahmood Mamdani, Herbert Lehman Professor of Government and Professor of Anthropology at Columbia University.

Organized by Lila Abu-Lughod, William B. Ransford Professor of Anthropology and Gender Studies.

Co-sponsored with Institute for Research on Women and Gender (IRWAG) and Center for the Critical Analysis of Social Difference (CCASD).
 

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An open forum that addresses the limitations of current models of religious pluralism used in academic and political contexts.

Organized by Courtney Bender, Professor of Religion, the discussion culminates two years’ work by an interdisciplinary group and highlights some of the empirical and analytical issues that will appear in a forthcoming edited volume.

Historian and novelist Tariq Ali discusses his new book The Duel: Pakistan on the Flight Path of American Power with an introduction by Mahmood Mamdani, Herbert Lehman Professor of Government and Professor of Anthropology. Copies of the book will be on sale courtesy of Book Culture.

Co-sponsored with Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures (MEALAC).
 

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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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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 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.

Schedule Notes:
Day one: 9 a.m.–6:45 p.m.
Day two: 9:30 a.m–12:30 p.m

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.

Speaker series chaired by Jack Snyder, Professor of Political Science, in cooperation with Professor Alfred Stepan.

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).