Author Archives: Janaki

Opinion piece: M. Hashas, “Italian Islam in Mainstream TV: Either Invisible or Visibly Othered”

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Italian Islam in Mainstream TV: Either Invisible or Visibly Othered

By Mohammed Hashas

This piece reflects on reputed Italian TV programmes and how they tackle issues of terrorism, Islam and Muslims. Reference will especially be made to these particular programmes and dates, though they do not differ from what I have seen from them for the last six years or so of my stay (studies and work) in this country: Porta a Porta (14/11/2015), Virus and Virus Speciale Parigi (15/11/15; 18/11/15), Ballarò (18/11/15; 24/11/15), Linea Notte TG3 (20/11/15), L’Arena (22/11/15). Among these, Ballarò – and mildly so also Porta a Porta of Bruno Vespa – seems to have discussed the Paris tragedy in the fairest manners, presented by Massimo Giannini who holds the tone of a journalist that tries to present and understand, instead of the tone of provocation and suspicion that Virus and L’Arena have shown on this particular topic. However reputed the list of these programmes may be, and however many fair observers agree with these reflections and findings, one has to underline the fact that this is not a systematic study of all mainstream Italian media. Still, broadly, the mainstream presentation of the issue is simply very negative, biased, dis-informed, and lacks professionalism. The Italian mainstream media is not open, and it entertains itself with the little it knows and does. This makes it fall into prejudices, un-ethical statements, and lack of professionalism with regards to Islam and Muslims whose contribution to society dynamics remains invisible and whose values remain stigmatized, misrepresented and othered.
 
Outline:
 
-The Invisible Mainstream Arab-Islamic World
-The Visible Islam: The Case of the Ex-Muslim Magdi Allam
-The Invisible Italian Islam: The Case of COREIS
-Stereotypical Fallacies: Examples
-The Invisible Italian Scholars of Islam
-“Not In My Name” Rally: Why Only Few Muslims Went to the Streets?
 

Full article at Resetdoc Dialogues on Civilizations, Rome: 

Book Announcement: The Muslim Question in Europe: Political Controversies and Public Philosophies

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The Muslim Question in Europe

Political Controversies and Public Philosophies

Peter O’Brien

   “A thought-provoking and fresh look at the history of ideas that have shaped Europeans’ encounter with the historic settlement of Muslim minorities in Western Europe. O’Brien is an able guide to the best research in philosophy and the social sciences as he explores the nuances of western cultural contexts. The Muslim Question in Europe combines rich normative and empirical analyses that shed light on unresolved conflicts in European nation-states.”—Jonathan Laurence, Associate Professor of Political Science at Boston College and author of The Emancipation of Europe’s Muslims and Integrating Islam

   An estimated twenty million Muslims now reside in Europe, mostly as a result of large-scale postwar immigration. In The Muslim Question in Europe, Peter O’Brien challenges the popular notion that the hostilities concerning immigration—which continues to provoke debates about citizenship, headscarves, secularism, and terrorism—are a clash between “Islam and the West.” Rather, he explains, the vehement controversies surrounding European Muslims are better understood as persistent, unresolved intra-European tensions.

   O’Brien contends that the best way to understand the politics of state accommodation of European Muslims is through the lens of three competing political ideologies: liberalism, nationalism, and postmodernism. These three broadly understood philosophical traditions represent the most influential normative forces in the politics of immigration in Europe today. He concludes that Muslim Europeans do not represent a monolithic anti-Western bloc within Europe. Although they vehemently disagree among themselves, it is along the same basic liberal, nationalist, and postmodern contours as non-Muslim Europeans.

Peter O’Brien is Professor of Political Science at Trinity University in San Antonio, Texas. He is the author of European Perceptions of Islam and America from Saladin to George W. Bush: Europe’s Fragile Ego Uncovered, and Beyond the Swastika. He has been a Social Science Research Council Fellow at the Free University in Berlin, and Fulbright Visiting Professor at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul and at the Humboldt University in Berlin.

Temple University Press

CFP: “Songs of Songs – literal exegesis in the light of new approaches”

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Call for Papers: Shir ha-Shirim 2016
Pretoria, 31 August to 2 September

The fifth international conference on Song of Songs in the Shir ha-Shirim conference series will take place in Pretoria, South Africa, from the evening of 31 August until 2 September 2016 (thus ending two days before the IOSOT conference in Stellenbosch, well in time for colleagues wanting to combine these two events as a conference series).
Taking up the central exegetical debate identified in the previous meetings, the theme for 2016 has been formulated as:
“Song of Songs – literal exegesis in the light of new approaches”
Contributions that engage with African publications and thematics are particularly encouraged. As is the tradition with this conference series, exegetical, hermeneutical and cross-disciplinary contributions from different specialisms are warmly welcomed. All papers may afterwards be submitted for publication to the Journal for Semitics (shortened Harvard reference system); they will undergo the usual peer-reviewed process.
If you would like to attend the conference in order to present a paper, please submit a paper proposal (consisting of a title and ± 150-word abstract) no later than 15 April 2016 to stefan.fischer@univie.ac.at.
If you would like to attend the conference without presenting a paper, please reserve a seat no later than 13 May 2016.
The conference fee: R1 500.00. The fee is payable in cash upon registration, and includes the conference dinner. Receipts will be issued by the departmental secretary.
Please note: Colleagues who want to take day-trip game drives or visit important sites in Pretoria and Johannesburg (Voortrekker Monument, Mandela House in Soweto, Apartheid Museum, Mandela Square) should inform Christo Lombaard beforehand. He will arrange group trips with trusted service providers, who will convey the costs to interested participants.
For more information contact:
PD Dr Stefan Fischer
University of Vienna
Schenkenstr. 8-10
A-1090 Wien
Austria
stefan.fischer@univie.ac.at
Prof. Christo Lombaard
University of South Africa
P.O. Box 392
Pretoria 0003
South Africa
ChristoLombaard@gmail.com

CFP: “Spirituality and Theology: visions, postsecularism and religion”

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UNIVERSITY OF LATVIA
FACULTY OF THEOLOGY
Raina bulv. 19, Riga, LV-1586, Latvia
Phone: 371 67034441
E-mail: teoldept@lanet.lv
Riga

Call for papers
“Spirituality and Theology: visions, postsecularism and religion”
30 May – 1 June 2016
Faculty of Theology (Room 161), University of Latvia, Raina bulv. 19, Riga
Dear friends and colleagues,
Following on our 2015 conference on interdisciplinarity and theological education (for good
memories, see: http://foto.lu.lv/arhiivs/2015/d_apr/16/index.html), you are herewith
formally notified of the 2016 conference, and cordially invited to present a paper at our
2016 meeting, or to attend the meeting without presenting a paper.
Taking into account the ideas from the 2015 conference, the topic for this year has been
formulated as:
“Spirituality and Theology: visions, postsecularism and religion”.

Please send to me (University of Latvia) and to Christo Lombaard (University of South
Africa) paper proposals containing a paper title and a 100-300 word abstract, along with
your name, title and institutional affiliation: laima.geikina@lu.lv &
ChristoLombaard@gmail.com.
The closing date for proposing papers: the last day of March 2016.
The dates of the conference: the afternoon of 30 May until the evening of 1 June 2016.
Included on the formal conference programme is a visit to the small but beautiful town of
Cesis, particularly the Alternative Family Home “Zvannieki” (www.zvannieki.lv/aboutzvannieki/?
lang=en) there.
With my best wishes
Laima Geikina
www.lu.lv/par/kontaktinformacija/meklesana/persona/66a72fbbe1010b70ddbfc8bc8b9da17a

New format for Yearbook of Muslims in Europe

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New format for Yearbook of Muslims in Europe.

Recently, the seventh volume of the Yearbook of Muslims in Europe was published, covering the calendar year 2014. While the particular strength of the Yearbook has always been its comprehensive geographical remit, starting with this volume the reports primarily concentrate on more topical information.

 

The most current research available on public debate, shifting transnational networks, changes to domestic and legal policies, and major activities in Muslim organisations and institutions from surveyed countries are available throughout the Yearbook. At the end of each country report, an annual overview of statistical and demographic data is presented in an appendix. By using a table format, up-to-date information is quickly accessible for each country.

By focusing on developments of the previous calendar year, each report offers a fresh annual overview. This means that combined, the separate volumes of the Yearbook will provide cumulative knowledge of on-going trends and developments around Muslims in different European countries

To see how these changes affect the articles, please read this sample chapter about Austria.

Governing religion: Interfaith dialogue and organized cultural encounters

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You are invited to the research seminar and joint PhD-course ‘Governing religion: Interfaith dialogue and organized cultural encounters’ held at University of Agder (UiA) in Kristiansand, Norway, on March 30 2016.

The seminar critically engages with the ways in which interfaith dialogue constitutes a means to govern religion and the religious, and it explores which forms of religion that are produced from these organized cultural encounters and raises questions as to which roles local government, migration and media play.

Two keynote lectures by international experts on interfaith dialogue, Mar Griera from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and Lise Paulsen Galal from Roskilde University, will take place during the morning session. The rest of the seminar will take the form of a workshop and provide an opportunity for Ph.D.-students to present on-going Ph.D.-projects (app. 30-45 min. each) and receive comments from the lectures, commentators and fellow Ph.D.-students.

The seminar is free of charge. Lunch, coffee and tea will be provided as well as mandatory reading for the seminar (app. 3 texts). The seminar is open for all, but preregistration is necessary.

Deadline for registration: March 7 2016 to Louise Lund Liebmann (louise.l.liebmann@uia.no).

For those PhD-students who want to present a paper: please add an abstract of 200 words.

Notification of paper acceptance will be given shortly after the deadline.

 

The seminar is organized by the research project ‘Conflicts in Mediatized Religious Environments’ (CoMRel) and University of Agder.

 

Practices towards good life? The role of religion and faith in the integration process of immigrants – is it threat or possibility?

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18th Nordic Migration Conference Oslo 11 – 12 August 2016

 

Welcome to our workshop:

 

Practices towards good life?

The role of religion and faith in the integration process of immigrants – is it threat or possibility?

 

Organizers:

Dr. Ulla Siirto, Principal lecturer, Diaconia University of Applied Sciences

Dr. Sari Hammar, Specialist, Diaconia University of Applied Sciences

Contact:

ulla.siirto@diak.fi; sari.hammar@diak.fi

There are rapid changes going on in Europe due to the influx of migrants. In many countries we are facing a challenge to live together in culturally – and religiously – diverse societies in different scale than before. It is largely agreed that some new practices are needed to promote integration of the newcomers. But how ready we are to open up the discussion about the role of the religion(s) and faith(s) in this context?

We express that dialogue between the representatives of different religions and faiths is essential to build mutual understanding and cohesion. But before the parties are capable to start the dialogue they might need some new tools to help the process to begin.

Religious literacy is our contribution to introduce one practice to improve the competence of meeting and cooperate with people with different backgrounds. To join us in this workshop we are welcoming all who have practices or examples or other interests concerning religion/faith and integration.

More about the conference and registration:

http://www.sv.uio.no/iss/english/research/news-and-events/events/conferences-and-seminars/the-18th-nordic-migration-conference/index.html

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CFP Special Issue of New Diversities: Religion and Migration in Africa and the African Diaspora

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Guest editors: Dr Federico Settler (University of KwaZulu-Natal), Prof Trygve Wyller (University of Oslo), and Dr Mari Engh (University of KwaZulu-Natal)

As the field of transnational and migration studies has burgeoned, research about Africa has remained under-represented, and often Africa is depicted as the place from where people flee from in pursuit of liberty and modernity in the ‘North’. Recent decades has seen a great deal of scholarship in the field of migration focused on movement from the global South to the North, with most studies characterised by sentiments oriented around social exclusion, integration, multiculturalism, and ethnic relations.

In this special issue of the New Diversities Journal (http://newdiversities.mmg.mpg.de/) we wish to include papers that qualitatively explore the religious lives (Islam, African Pentecostalism, Hinduism, and Indigenous Religions) of migrants in Africa and the African Diaspora. The special issue is premised on the idea that when people move, they take their religions and cultural identities with them. In this, migrants make use of, and form, religious communities as networks of support, trust and knowledge, and to accumulate material knowledge of regulations, languages, expectations, desirable jobs, and settlement.

We invite papers concerned with the intersections of religion, migration and transnationalism in African contexts and in African diasporas across the world. We are interested in submissions that consider a cross-section of migratory aspirations, legal status, or extent of integration into the host society. Locating reflections within a postcolonial perspective, we invite contributions that are not simply concerned with migration as a strategy for fleeing from war, patriarchal relations and societies, and/or under-development, but that draw attention to the ways in which religion is produced and used in the migratory processes of people from and within postcolonial societies. We invite papers that provide an analysis of the ways in the religious beliefs and practices of migrants are resources for articulating, obtaining and maintaining transnational mobilities. Ultimately, through this special issue we hope to not only explore the ways in which religious beliefs, affiliations and practices shape migration, but also significantly, how migratory processes shapes our understandings of what constitutes religion, and religious work and practice.

Please submit abstracts (of approx 750 words) via email to Dr. FG Settler (settler@ukzn.ac.za) no later than 15th March 2016.

Schedule:

Submission of abstracts by 15th March 2016

Notification of abstracts selected for full paper submission by 1st April 2016

Submission of full papers by 1st July 2016

Final decision on manuscripts by 15th October

De la régulation des cultes à la gestion de la diversité religieuse

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Le Centre de recherche Société, Droit et Religions de l’Université de Sherbrooke (SoDRUS), en collaboration avec la chaire de recherche droit, religion et laïcité vous invite à une conférence publique qui aura lieu le mercredi 9 mars 2016.

De la régulation des cultes à la gestion de la diversité religieuse

(Analyse des politiques locales de la laïcité dans trois municipalités françaises)

Date : Le mercredi 9 mars 2016

Heure : De 12 h 00 à 13 h 30

Lieu : Campus principal de l’Université de Sherbrooke, local A4-166

 

Cette conférence sera présentée par  la Pre Sara Teinturier, chercheure associée à la Chaire Gestion de la diversité culturelle et religieuse de l’Université de Montréal et chercheure post-doctorante, Religion and Diversity Project.

 

Pour vous désabonner de la liste d’envoi du SoDRUS, merci de cliquer sur le bouton suivant : Se désabonner

Kursinbjudan: “Ledarskap, religion och demokrati” 2016

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Kursinbjudan till unga ledare inom trossamfunden i Sverige:

LEDARSKAP, RELIGION OCH DEMOKRATI

2016 anordnar SST, Nämnden för statligt stöd till trossamfund, i samverkan med DemokratiAkademinlänk till annan webbplats, öppnas i nytt fönster och Sveriges Interreligiösa rådlänk till annan webbplats, öppnas i nytt fönster ett utbildningsprogram med fokus på demokrati, ledarskap och religion där vi samlar unga ledare från olika trossamfund.

Idén bakom Ledarskap, religion och demokrati är att erbjuda dig som ung ledare en möjlighet att fördjupa dina teoretiska kunskaper om demokrati och mänskliga rättigheter och samtidigt utveckling av dina praktiska färdigheter i ledarskap och projektledning. Ledarskap, religion och demokrati är ett program som omfattar sammanlagt åtta dagar i internatform – uppdelat på tre omgångar. Detta betyder att deltagarna träffas vid tre separata tillfällen under 2016 och bor, äter och umgås tillsammans under de åtta dagarna. Du som ansöker till programmet förväntas vara med samtliga kursdagar.

Läs mer om programmet i bifogat dokument eller på SSTs hemsida

PS: önskar du inte få någon kommande information från SST vänligen meddela oss med vändande mail! Önskar du däremot mer information så anmäl intresse för SSTs nyhetsbrev som kommer ut några gånger per år.

Senaste datum att söka: 15 mars 2016.

Med vänlig hälsning

 

LEDARSKAP, RELIGION
OCH DEMOKRATI
En utbildning för unga ledare inom trossamfunden
2016 anordnar SST i samverkan med DemokratiAkademin och Sveriges Interreligiösa råd ett
utbildningsprogram med fokus på demokrati, ledarskap och religion där vi samlar unga
ledare från olika trossamfund.

Praktiskt information
När? Sammanlagt 8 heldagar:
Delomgång 1: 6-8 maj (fre-sönd)
Delomgång 2: 26– 28 augusti (fre-sönd)
Delomgång 3: 17-18 september (lör-sönd)
Var? På kursgård i Stockholmsområdet
Hur söka? På särskild blankett till SST senast 15 mars
Om jag vill veta mer? Kontakta Max Stockman på SST
max.stockman@sst.a.se eller ring 08-453 68 77