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Islam and Religious Identity: The Limits of Definition (Conference)

October 14, 2016 @ 8:00 am - October 16, 2016 @ 12:00 pm

[Annual Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies Conference]

Recent decades of research in historical, cultural, and social studies of religion have produced a body of scholarship on the construction and development of religious identities that seriously questions essentialist claims about the unchanging nature of religions. Nonetheless, essentialist notions of religions as unchanging entities are remarkably persistent, and relations between supposedly unchanging religions are generally conceived in terms of categories that are simplistic, exclusive, and totalizing. Religions are commonly imbued with agency as if they were conscious entities (“Islam says that ….”). Highly metaphorical concepts (syncretism, influence and borrowing, survivals) portray religions as entities that are by definition separate, so any overlaps or similar features are problematic. The legacy of the Protestant Reformation, combined with European imperialism, produced the concept of multiple competing religions that are inherently in conflict. These categories have been reinforced by modern instruments of state such as the census, constitutions, elections, and the courts in ways that solidify boundaries between religions; colonial and neocolonial interventions have been particularly effective in hardening competitive religious identities.

This event is planned as a workshop (to be held October 14-16, 2016, in Chapel Hill) with pre-circulated short summaries submitted a month in advance. The aim of the workshop is not necessarily to produce a conventional edited volume, but rather to forge new scholarly connections and generate fresh research agendas.

In addition to one keynote speaker, eight speakers will present their work, each being allotted 50 minutes on the program, starting with brief (10-15 minute) presentations followed by a response of the same duration, the remaining time being reserved for discussion. There will also be a public performance by Issa Boulos. Respondents will be drawn from the faculty of UNC-CH, Duke University, and NC State University.

For detailed program and location information, see the conference’s official website.

Please email harver@email.unc.edu with questions.

Details

Start:
October 14, 2016 @ 8:00 am
End:
October 16, 2016 @ 12:00 pm
Website:
http://islamworkshop2016.web.unc.edu/