One Day Conference on the role played by both Egyptian and Western media in Egypt’s post-January 2011 political transition

This one-day conference, organized by IRCPL Distinguished Visiting Scholar Emad Shahin and IRCPL Director Karen Barkey, will present a critical overview and analysis of the role played by both Egyptian and Western media in Egypt’s post-January 2011 political transition. Particular attention will be paid to the lead-up to Egypt’s July 3, 2013 military coup and the post-coup period. Presentations will address the current state of free expression in Egypt, and evaluate media professionalism in Egypt’s news media. Experts will discuss how Egypt’s press system may need to be restructured in order to facilitate a democratic turn.

With Dr. Spyridon Antonopoulos, Dr. Peter Bouteneff, Dr. Nina Glibetic, V. Revd. Dr. John A. McGuckin, Lisa Radakovich Holsberg, Orthodox Christian Studies Center of Fordham University

Columbia University's Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life presents Sound and Spirit: A Concert Series, four musical events throughout the 2013-14 academic year from different religious and cultural traditions, which broadly looks at how religion, faith, identity, community, and the political intermingle in the musical expressions of faith. Two concerts were presented in the fall: the first on the African-American Ring Shout, the second on Middle Eastern Religious music of Jewish, Islamic, and Christian traditions. This spring, Sound and Spirit will present an event on the Bhakti musical tradition in Hinduism, and an evening of Eastern Orthodox Christian music.

With Holger A. Klein & Nicholas N. Patricios

The churches of the Byzantine era were built to represent heaven on earth. Architecture, art and liturgy were intertwined in them to a degree that has never been replicated elsewhere, and the symbolism of this relationship had deep and profound meanings. Sacred buildings and their spiritual art underpinned the Eastern liturgical rites, which in turn influenced architectural design and the decoration which accompanied it.

A panel on Islamic Urbanism? Space, consumption, and development in Istanbul and Jakarta

Recent protests and upcoming elections have again raised the visibility of Turkey and Indonesia, and particularly their respective Muslim mega-cities, Istanbul and Jakarta, as locations seeing the rise of a new kind of Islamic urbanism, culture and politics. On the one hand, they are praised as shining examples in debates on alternate modernities, Islam and democracy, with stunning development dynamics framing a rapid change in populace and their urban landscapes. On the other, their economic transformation is hitched to populist politics that have raised concern worldwide about the imposition of "neo-liberal" policies, authoritarian planning, and the suppression of opposition groups and human rights activists. Both countries see elections coming in 2014. One of the most popular potential candidates in the Indonesian race is increasing his popularity through regular surprise visits to Jakarta's vast slums. What role do discussions of urban space and Islamic consumption play in the elections in both countries? What are the emerging problems and what can we learn from the parallels and differences of the cases?

With Akeel Bilgrahmi, Shayoni Mitra, Tyler Williams & Yogi Trivedi

Columbia University's Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life presents Spirit and Sound: A Concert Series, four musical events throughout the 2013-14 academic year from different religious and cultural traditions, which broadly looks at how religion, faith, identity, community, and the political intermingle in the musical expressions of faith. Two concerts were presented in the fall: the first on the African-American Ring Shout, the second on Middle Eastern Religious music of Jewish, Islamic, and Christian traditions. This spring, Sound and Spirit will present an event on the Bhakti musical tradition in Hinduism, and an evening of Eastern Orthodox Christian music.

With Alan Koenig

Prof Koenig's lecture is part of the IRCPL’s Religion and Politics in American Public Life lecture series, coordinated by Professors Karen Barkey, Jean Cohen, and John Torpey.  Seeking to further understand the relationship between religion and politics in the United States, the series continues to explore a number of timely topics that intersect with religion, such as civil religion, public discourses of morality, and reproductive and sexual rights.

With Federico Finchelstein, Ira Katznelson, Maria Pia Lara, Victoria Murillo & Nadia Urbinati

Join the IRCPL, the Blinken European Institute, and the Heyman Center for the Humanities on Wednesday, March 26th for a panel discussion and reception on the occasion of the publication of the new book by Nadia Urbinati, Democracy Disfigured: Opinion, Truth and the People.

With Madiha Tahir, Manan Ahmed Asif and Amy Goodman

Wounds of Waziristan highlights the stories of those directly affected by drone attacks in Pakistan - in their own words.

Since the drone attacks began in Pakistan in 2004, much of the focus has been on the technology. And, although the borderlands between Pakistan and Afghanistan are endlessly debated and declared upon by journalists and pundits, the ordinary people who actually live there are rarely heard from. Madiha Tahir's documentary Wounds of Wazirstan records the voices of those who have been either labeled “militants,” or summarily dismissed as “collateral damage.”

With Joseph Blankholm

In three recent lawsuits, America's major nonbeliever organizations have challenged the courts to see them in three very different ways: as religious, as similar to religion, and as wholly secular. Relying on extensive fieldwork among a national network of secular activists, this talk contextualizes these lawsuits within the aims of the larger secular movement and examines their impact on the state's understanding of religion and the secular. By challenging the courts to balance tolerance for religion with tolerance for Americans who are avowedly non-religious, nonbeliever organizations are reshaping what it means to be secular in America today.

With Kimberly Hart

The IRCPL welcomes Kimberly Hart to speak on her recently published ethnography by Stanford University Press, And Then We Work for God.  She will focus on the gendering of religious practice in rural western Turkey and ethnographic method.

With Marci A. Hamilton

The United States is one of the most, if not the most, liberated countries in the world for women generally, but there are pockets of severe oppression, largely driven by religious precepts. Join us for a lecture by Marci A. Hamilton, Paul R. Verkuil Chair in Public Law at the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Yeshiva University, as she discusses the First Amendment doctrines that permit and even foster oppression, and the legal principles that have counteracted it.

With Najib Shaheen

Oudist Najib Shaheen will be performing with members of Simon Shaheen's Near East Music Ensemble, with special guest Rabbi J. Rolando Matalon and Deacon Naji Yousuf. The performance will be followed by a discussion of the shared musical histories between Jewish, Islamic, and Christian music traditions in the context of Israel and Palestine, led by moderator Nili Belkind, PhD candidate in Ethnomusicology at Columbia University.

With Simone Natale

As spiritualism developed as a religious movement in the second half of the nineteenth century, the realm of show business and spectacular entertainment was experiencing revolutionary changes, with the creation of new kinds of audiences, the industrialization of the circuits of life entertainment and, ultimately, the introduction of the new spectacular technology of the moving image. Focusing on the performances of mediums on the theatrical stage, on the relationship between beliefs in spirits and fictional representation of ghosts, and on the entertaining character of the spiritualist experience, this talk will tackle the mostly disregarded history of the role of entertainment and spectacle in the British and American spiritualist movement.

With Sara Lewis and Annabella Pitkin

Recent work in global mental health has shown that commonly accepted practices, like psychotherapy and 'debriefing' are not always relevent across cultures. In the context of political violence and resettlement, Tibetan refugees tend not to draw upon religious practices and cultural understandings of emptiness and compassion to mitigate distress. Sara Lewis will discuss how Tibetans deploy shared cultural sensibilities to reframe the traumas they have experienced and promote healthy coping. Using Bodhichitta practice, difficulty in life become an opportunity to “wake up”—-that is, to generate compassion and a view of emptiness. This challenges the notion that trauma is a universal and inevitable outcome of political violence, and instead shows how social and religious practices work to empower communities in transforming adversity.

With Daphne Lappa

Over the past two decades, the idea that religious boundaries and religious identities were ‘fluid,’ ‘ambiguous,’ ‘malleable,’ or ‘imprecise’ has prevailed within the field of early modern studies. Although widely diffused, this understanding remains rather unclear, as imprecision underlies both its function and content. That is, ‘fluidity’ is at times considered a conclusion based on the analysis of early modern boundaries and identities and at other times an analytical framework within which boundaries or identities are interpreted, while more often than not the concept is treated as a general characteristic of early modernity without being further elaborated or historicized. In fact, concepts like fluidity or ambiguity probably tell us less about early modernity and more about the era within which they have emerged, as their diffusion actually reached its peak during the post-cold war period, when the idea of clearly defined nation-states and the closely interlinked modernization theory were seriously challenged, while the notions of globalization and multi-culturalism emerged in order to provide answers to question that the ‘liquid modernity’ posed. The paper will discuss the way these notions have been employed within early modern studies and explore their boundaries and usefulness by looking at the 18th century cases of religious conversion in the Venetian institution of the Casa dei Catecumeni.

With Winnifred F. Sullivan

It is widely acknowledged that the jurisprudence of the religion clauses of the First Amendment is up for grabs once again. What can we say about the cases decided in the last eight years? Is the Court leading or following—or perhaps doing something tangential—when it comes to the religion of most Americans? 

With Fabrice Balanche

The slogan chanted in the demonstrations against the regime of Bashar al-Assad in spring 2011 was controversial: "The Alawites to the grave and Christians to Beirut."  The Syrian opposition claimed that the authors of this slogan were members of the intelligence services who infiltrated the demonstrations. According to them, the purpose was to show the radicalism of the opposition, dominated by Salafists, to scare minorities and all those who wish to live in a secular Syria. Is it actually a manipulation of the system or a real aim of a part of the opposition?

With Rashida Bumbray, Ebony Golden, Adenike Sharpley, Jawole Zollar, Matthew Morrison and Courtney Bryan

On Friday, November 1, Rashida Bumbray & Dance Diaspora Collective will perform RUN MARY RUN at The Glicker-Milstein Theatre.  RUN MARY RUN is a Ring Shout, a ritual of dance and music created by African-Americans during slavery. It is the ring shout where early forms of African-American music like the spiritual were created.

With Etienne Balibar, Stathis Gourgouris and Jean Cohen

Join us on Monday, October 21 for a conversation between Etienne Balibar and Stathis Gourgouris on "Rethinking the Secular Public."  The discussion, moderated by Jean Cohen, Professor of Political Science at Columbia University, will take place at the Heyman Center, in the second floor common room, at 6:30pm. 

With David Campbell

Over the past twenty years, there is evidence that—while remaining one of the most religious nations in the industrialized world—the United States has been experiencing a growth in secularism. Increasing evidence also suggests that this secular turn has been caused, at least in part, by a negative reaction to the mixture of religion and partisan politics. In this lecture, David Campbell, Professor of Political Science at the University of Notre Dame, will present new ways of thinking about what it means to be secular in contemporary America, and then explain how those types of secularism are, and are not, affected by the mixture of religion and politics.

With Soli Özel 

The Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life welcomes Professor Soli Özel to speak on Tuesday, October 15th, at 12:15pm. He will be discuss religion and the recent Gezi Park protests in Turkey.

With Philip Hamburger

Join us for a lecture by Philip Hamburger, Maurice and Hilda Friedman Professor of Law at Columbia University, as he explores the complicated relationship of the Ku Klux Klan to the separation of church and state in the US.