Research Hubs
Religion and Global Public Life
Convenor: Mark Juergensmeyer
The research hub on Global Religion in Public Life at the UCSB Orfalea Center brings together faculty and advanced graduate students who are interested in the role of religion in the social, cultural, and political transformations related to globalization. By “global religion” we mean both the transnational reach of religious traditions, and the varied religious responses to globalization. By “public life” we mean anything in the arena of the public sphere from political institutions to movements in civil society. We research such diverse topics as religious nationalism, social media, diasporic communities, multiculturalism, terrorism, and social paranoia as exhibited in racism, homophobia, Islamophobia and xenophobia. Almost any aspect of contemporary culture and society is affected by the tumultuous changes of globalization and its religious responses.
TALK: Lakshmi the Rebel Goddess
A talk by Bidyut Mohanty, former Orfalea Center fellow. Lunch will be provided. Bidyut Mohanty, PhD, is Head of Women’s Studies at the Institute of Social Sciences (ISS) in New Delhi. She has been a Visiting Professor in the Global and International Studies program at UC Santa Barbara and is
‘The Last Earth’: On Reclaiming the Palestinian Narrative and Recreating the Self
Dr. Ramzy Baroud will talk about his latest book, The Last Earth, a narrative nonfiction story of modern Palestinian history. The book comprises the stories of complex characters whose accounts overlap in terms of the collective experience. It tells the story of modern Palestine through the memories of those who
The Global Dimensions of Religious Othering
Organizers: Professors Kathie Moore and Mark Juergensmeyer Abstract: The topic of religious othering — stereotyping of people of other faiths in a prejudicial way — has become an aspect of nationalist politics and social conflict around the world. At Goettingen University in Germany and UC Santa Barbara in the United States, the
