Interreligious and Interfaith Studies Unit

The Dangers of Interreligious Engagement and Interfaith Dialogue in a Shifting Landscape

We invite paper proposals, panel proposals, or alternative formats to explore the following theme:

While interreligious dialogue and engagement has many benefits, it also carries risks for the individuals involved. The volatility of the current political climate and quickly shifting social landscapes magnify the dangers—and some participants are more vulnerable than others depending on the intersections of their identities. Social media has been deployed to intimidate or punish participants through demonization and doxing. Social justice causes both unite and divide faith communities. “Cancel culture” leads to silencing and self-censorship, and the academy is particularly fraught in this regard. Other risks include the loss of personal relationships, alienation within one’s own community, and apprehension over identification. How do we understand and navigate these risks that those involved in interfaith engagement experience, including the intersectional complexities? What are the broader implications for Interreligious Studies?

Interactive Workshop

Based on the success of our previous interactive workshops, we invite brief presentations (10 minutes) designed to stimulate substantive conversation on critical issues in Interreligious and Interfaith Studies and engagement. Please submit it as a paper proposal and indicate in your text that you intend it for the workshop.

We will address 4-5 of the following topics:

• Syllabus Design and Exchange: Share your own syllabus and/or those of others teaching in the field to examine various approaches.
• Recent Publications in the Field: Discuss your own work or review significant new contributions
• Engaging the Arts
• Graduate Student Education in Interreligious Studies
• Interfaith is Everywhere: Discuss interreligious encounter as it unfolds in the workplace, prisons, schools, or the public square
• Building Interreligious Studies on Campus: Examine curricular, co-curricular, interdisciplinary, community partnership and/or other elements; strategies for developing a culture of active engagement, etc.
• New Modes of Interreligious Engagement
• The Different Questions We Might Be Asking: If interspirituality (multiple religious belonging) or dharmic traditions were centered in Interreligious Studies, what might be different about the field?

Presentations unfold simultaneously at separate tables, with attendees selecting the conversations in which they would like to participate.

Co-sponsored with Religion in Europe:

Rising tides of Islamophobia & Antisemitism across Europe and North America

Antisemitism and Islamophobia have been rising dramatically across Europe and North America. While there are distinct underlying social structures, political dynamics, and cultural phenomena that have fueled the emergence and evolution of antisemitism and Islamophobia, especially from country to country, they are often intertwined in certain ways and echoed across contexts. In light of these troubling trends, we seek papers that explore the complex distinctions between and/or intertwinings of antisemitism and Islamophobia in Europe or North America, or papers that offer a deeper perspective of either antisemitism or Islamophobia in comparative light between Europe and North America. We also welcome papers that problematize or contest these terms (antisemitism and Islamophobia), their conceptual formulations, their applicability, and their usefulness in certain contexts due to residual colonialism and ongoing intersections/confrontations with white supremacy. We encourage attention to how global events affect the rise of and relationship between antisemitism and Islamophobia and/or interreligious relations in either contemporary or historical contexts.