Workshop: October 27, 2017
Lecture Series and Workshop on the Topic of:
“Thank God We’re Not Like Them”
The Global Dimensions of Religious Othering
Concept:
This is a topic that has been developed in consultation with a working group of faculty from various departments who work on religion-related research related to global public life. After some discussion, the group concurred that one of the most significant ways in which religious phenomena are related to global society is their relationship to the process of “othering”—identifying and maintaining group boundaries between those who share a particular form of religious phenomena and those who do not. By “religious phenomena” we mean religious identities, ideologies, practices, organizations, leadership, cultural attitudes, and values that are related to the social, cultural, political, and personal aspects of othering in communities and societies across the world. The research activities of the UCSB faculty and guest scholars who may participate in the lectures and conferences may not deal with all of these aspects, and their focus may be on specific case studies, though collectively their presentations will relate to a widely shared aspect of globalization: othering
Time line:
The hub is planning a series of lectures in Winter and Spring 2017, and a one-day conference in October 2017. In both cases the presenters will be members of UCSB faculty and graduate students, as well as selected invited participants, depending on their availability and funding restrictions.
Outcome of the project:
Depending on the publishable quality and coherence of the presentations, the papers in the project may be the basis of a special issue of a journal or a publishable volume. The project might also generate momentum towards forming a proposal for a larger project, perhaps with external foundation funding.
Working group
Chairs: Kathleen Moore, Religious Studies and Global Studies
Mark Juergensmeyer, Sociology and Global Studies
Joe Blankholm, Religious Studies
Mary Hancock, Anthropology and History
Ann Taves, Religious Studies
Jan Nederveen Pieterse, Sociology and Global Studies
Terence Keel, History and Black Studies
Lisa Perez, Religious Studies
Lalaie Ameeriar, Asian American Studies
Roberto Strongman, Black Studies
Amit Ahuja, Political Science
Narayani Lasala-Blanco, Political Science
