Religion & International Affairs News

News & Events

Book Launch at Georgetown’s Berkley Center

On May 1, 2012, Georgetown University's Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs hosted the launch of a new volume: Rethinking Religion and World Affairs (Oxford, 2012), edited by Timothy Shah, Alfred Stepan, and Monica Toft, and produced with support from the Henry R. Luce Initiative on Religion and International Affairs. The book documents how scholars, policy professionals, and journalists are now grappling with global religious dynamics and influences. The launch of the book will feature the volume's editors as well as three of its contributors: Michael Barnett (George Washington University), Thomas Farr (Berkeley Center), and Katherine Marshall (Berkeley Center). The panel will ask: How much real progress has been made in "rethinking religion and world affairs" in the worlds of scholarship and policy making? And what further progress is needed, particularly in terms of new concepts, methods, and research agendas?

Book Publication: Religion, Identity, and Global Governance

A new book, edited by Patrick James, director of the Center for International Studies at the University of Southern California, asks how we can establish when religious identity is a relevant factor in explaining or understanding politics; when and how religion can be applied to advance positive, peace-oriented agendas in global governance; and how governments can reconsider their foreign and domestic policies in light of religious resurgence around the world. Created with support from the Henry R. Luce Initiative on Religion and International Affairs, Religion, Identity, and Global Governance: Ideas, Evidence, and Practice (University of Toronto Press, 2011) contends that global governance cannot and will not improve unless it can find a way to coexist with the powerful force of religion.

Conference on Religion and International Affairs at Arizona State University

The Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict at Arizona State University held a conference on March 15-16, “Religion and International Affairs: Through the Prism of Rights and Gender.” An interdisciplinary group of scholars and practitioners gathered to explore and rethink paradigms about the relationships between religion, secularism, gender, and rights. The conference was open to the public and included keynote speakers Martha Nussbaum, Saba Mahmood, and Hauwa Ibrahim. Panelists from abroad joined with ASU faculty who have been participating in an ASU project supported by the Luce Foundation, which has included faculty seminars, visiting scholars and practitioners, and interdisciplinary graduate seminars.

PBS airs first in a new series of stories from The Bureau for International Reporting

The first report in a new PBS NewsHour series, “Fault Lines of Faith,” was aired on February 21. Produced by The Bureau for International Reporting, the story focused on the insurgency in Southern Thailand, where conflict between minority Muslims and majority Buddhists has resulted in the deaths of 5,000 people since 2004.

Digital Religion: Knowledge, Politics and Practice—Events at the Center for Religion and Media

The Digital Religion: Knowledge, Politics and Practice project at the Center for Religion and Media at New York University held two spring events. “Tahrir Square, 2012: Women and Religious Minorities”—short films, digital media, and discussion with journalist Mona Eltahawy, Coptic filmmaker and scholar Viola Shafik, and Yasmin Moll (Anthropology, NYU)—was held March 1, at NYU. “Blogistan and Beyond: Religion, the Internet, and Politics in Iran,” a conversation between scholars from Columbia University, the University of London, and NYU, took place on February 17.

Students at USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism Complete 2011 Israel-Palestine Project

Students in Diane Winston’s Reporting on Religion class at the Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Southern California went to Israel in a unique collaboration with On Being, Krista Tippett’s award-winning radio program. The graduate students’ multimedia reporting was published on the On Being blog, on a class Tumblr page, and in many major publications, and the 2011 Israel-Palestine Project now showcases their work online.

Summer School for Religion and Public Life Held in Cyprus

Boston University's Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs held the 2011 Summer School for Religion and Public Life in Bulgaria. The theme, "A Mosaic of Margins: Ethnicity, Religion, and Belonging," gave fellows the opportunity to focus on problems of marginality in contemporary social life.

(Photo: Tony Schnitter)

Last year's summer institute, held in Cyprus, focused on the theme of "Divided Cities." A New York Times article about the project is available here.

SSRC Dissertation Workshop

In early June, the Social Science Research Council's program on religion and the public sphere convened twelve advanced graduate students and five distinguished professors for a five-day dissertation workshop on religion and international affairs. Over the course of the workshop, students shared their ongoing work, considered critiques from student and faculty participants, and debated the coherence of the very banner under which they had been gathered. Throughout the summer, a group of these students have been blogging regularly for The Immanent Frame, sharing notes and reflections on their emerging research, as well as other insights and questions, ruminations and observations. Read all of their contributions to Notes from the Field.

Venice Workshop Examines Politics of Religious Freedom

The “Politics of Religious Freedom: Contested Norms and Local Practices,” a three-year project based at the University of California, Berkeley, and Northwestern University, held its first workshop in Venice in July 2011. A report is available here. The workshop brought together academics, human rights and civil society organizations, plus jurists and policy-makers who have helped to reshape national and international debates on religious freedom. Invited participants considered the relation between European debates and the legal governance of religious difference in other parts of the world including the Middle East, Africa, the United States, and Asia. The workshop also built on an intensive summer course on the politics of religious freedom and the rights of religious minorities co-taught by the project team at the European Inter-University Center for Human Rights and Democratization (EUIC). The project organizers were Saba Mahmood (UC-Berkeley), Elizabeth Shakman Hurd (Northwestern), Winnifred Sullivan (SUNY-Buffalo Law), and Peter Danchin (University of Maryland Law).

Knight Luce Fellowship Recipients Announced

The USC Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism announced the recipients of the 2011 Knight Luce Fellowship for Reporting on Global Religion. From a pool of more than 50 applicants, seven American journalists were chosen to receive stipends from $5,000 to $25,000 to report and write stories illuminating how religion crosses geographic, temporal and ideological borders. The fellowship is sponsored by the Knight Chair in Media and Religion at the University of Southern California and funded by a grant from the Henry R. Luce Initiative on Religion and International Affairs.

Woodrow Wilson Center Holds Seminar on Religion and Politics

On Monday, February 14, 2011, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. held a seminar entitled “Religious Revival in the 21st Century: What Impact on Politics?” The seminar featured a diverse group of fellows supported over the past three years by a grant from the Henry R. Luce Initiative on Religion and International Affairs, offering presentations on topics such as “The Counter-Jihad,” “The Appeal of the Al Qaeda Message,” “Religious Revival in China,” and “Religious Politics in Latin America.” The Woodrow Wilson Center seeks to memorialize Woodrow Wilson by providing a forum for neutral dialogue on important national and international issues.

Orfalea Center at UC-Santa Barbara Hosts Workshop on Role of Religion in Civil Society in South/Southeast Asia

On Saturday, January 15, 2011, the Orfalea Center for Global & International Studies at the University of California - Santa Barbara hosted an all-day invitational workshop as part of a Luce Foundation-sponsored initiative to examine the role of religion in global civil society. This workshop brought together academic experts on South and Southeast Asia with practitioners from international NGOs working in the region to discuss the role that religion plays in civil society within this regional context.

Center on Law and Security at NYU Holds Conference on "The Constitution and National Security"

On Friday, November 5, the Center on Law and Security at New York University School of Law held a conference supported by the Henry R. Luce Initiative on Religion and International Affairs. The conference, titled “The Constitution and National Security: First Amendment Under Attack?”, featured scholars, journalists, policymakers, religious leaders and other experts; they explored issues such as “Free Speech and Incitement,” “The Humanitarian Law Project,” and “Islam in America.”

Berkley Center at Georgetown Releases Reports on Global Development and Faith-Inspired Organizations in Southeast Asia

Two new publications have recently been released by the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University , supported by the Henry R. Luce Initiative on Religion and International Affairs. “Global Development and Faith-Inspired Organizations in Southeast Asia” summarizes a conference that took place on December 14-15, 2009, in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, while “Faith-Inspired Organizations and Global Development Policy” provides background information by “mapping” social and economic development work in the region. The initiative aims to explore the role of faith-based organizations in Southeast Asia, highlighting best practices and policy issues.

NYU Holds Public Conference on Religion and Politics in the Americas

On November 4-5, 2010, New York University hosted "States of Devotion: Religion, Neoliberalism and the Politics of the Body in the Americas." The conference aimed to promote and strengthen interdisciplinary dialogue about the changing role and place of religious discourses and practices in the wake of the transformations wrought by neoliberal globalization upon communities, societies and polities across the Hemisphere. The event was part of a multi-year project on "Religion and Politics in the Americas" funded by the Henry R. Luce Initiative on Religion and International Affairs.

American Abroad Media Holds Roundtable on "Africa's Holy Healers"

On Friday, November 5, American Abroad Media held a roundtable discussion on Africa’s Holy Healers , its one-hour documentary on faith-based public health services and religious healers in sub-Saharan Africa. The event, held at the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, was supported by the Henry R. Luce Initiative on Religion and International Affairs.

New School's India China Institute Holds Workshop in Kathmandu

From October 24 to 28, 2010, the New School's India China Institute (ICI) hosted the inaugural planning retreat of Everyday Religion and Sustainable Environments in the Himalayas, a project supported by the Henry Luce Foundation. The workshop took place in Kathmandu, Nepal. The project is a three-year initiative that seeks to foster interdisciplinary inquiry on the interrelationship of religion, environment, and international development in the Himalayas.

"Faith and Public Health in Africa" Featured on American Abroad Media Website

American Abroad Media's website currently features an interview with Dr. Anne Peterson on “Faith and Public Health in Africa” on its AAM Insight exclusive web interview series. AAM's Faith and Public Health program was funded by the Henry R. Luce Initiative on Religion and International Affairs.