Religions, Social Conflict, and Peace Unit
At the turn of the 21st century, Samuel Huntington identified the United States as a nation of settlers facing multiple threats to its constitution, including Muslims and Latinx populations. Over the past two decades, both groups have become central targets in the discursive strategies of international fascism, now in power in the US and in multiple spaces throughout the world. In collaboration with the Contemporary Islam, Latino/a Religion, Culture, and Society and Religions, Social Conflict, and Peace Studies units, we invite proposals that show entanglements in one or more of these topics:
Narratives of white genocide and replacement, particularly regarding Muslim and/or Latinx immigration.
- The new right-wing co-optation of Muslim and/or Latinx populations.
- New religioracial perspectives on whiteness in the United States regarding the future inclusion of a “Middle Eastern or North African” designation in the US Census
- They Are Eternal Foreigners: The denaturalization of longstanding Muslim and/or Latinx histories, memories, or individuals.
- Conspiracy theories that link Muslim and/or Latino Immigration with a Jewish plot to destroy Western civilization.
- Religious resistance against state oppression: Cross-cultural, Muslim and/or Latinx experiences.
- The intersection of Islamophobia and anti-Latinx sentiment with anti-Black racism, Sinophobia, anti-Native racism, and/or antisemitism.
- Liberationist and decolonial frameworks in resistance to racist and authoritarian structures.
- Fascism as "colonialism turned inward:” What the US and Europe can learn from Global South struggles?
- Doctrines of National/International Security, New Red/Green/Brown-scares.
- Conflictive Narratives of ‘Freedom’ and American consciousness.
Decolonizing “Internationalism”: Impoverishing the Nations
2025 marks the 80th anniversary of World War II's end, the United Nations's formation, and the beginning of global conflicts often framed as the “Cold War.” The Liberation Theologies Unit and the Religion and Peace Unit invite proposals for a special panel that examines the complex relationships between international organizations, Western conceptions of global peace, and the rising intra- and extra-state conflicts over the past eight decades. We particularly welcome proposals that explore the role of religion in both fueling these conflicts and offering alternatives to violence and oppression. We invite submissions for both the June online meeting and the November in-person meeting in Boston. To foster inclusivity, we may prioritize international scholars who are typically unable to attend the in-person meeting for the June session, while reserving space in November for our usual constituencies. Proposals may address, but are not limited to, the following topics:
- international law and the Gaza genocide against Palestinians
- Unjust peace and the role of international organizations.
- Pacification plans from above that failed.
- "The North is Cold because the South is Hot": Cold War lessons from Global South/East perspectives.
- International networks of repression in the Global South.
- Why do Western democracies support non-Western autocracies?
- Are we living through a new red scare?
- The Spirit of Bandung as an international network today.
Religion, Art, and Political Reimagination
The Art, Literature, and Religion Unit and The Religion, Social Conflicts, and Peace Units are seeking papers for a co-sponsored session on " We are interested in exploring the role of religion in art and the production, disruption, and reconfiguration of political imagination. We are likewise interested in identifying the relevance of art and religious meaning-making and remaking in processes of social and political protests and visions of alternative political futures.
We seek papers that focus on the following (not an exhaustive list of topics):
- religion and literatures of resistance, exile, and annihilation
- protest art and slogans
- art and disruption of weaponized religious symbols
- art, religion, and the imagination of justice
- art, religion, and political domination
- art amid genocide
Relationships between religions and the causes and resolution of social conflict are complex. On the one hand, religion is a major source of discord in our world, but on the other, religious agents have often played a central role in developing and encouraging nonviolent means of conflict resolution and sustainable peace. While religion as a factor in conflicts is often misunderstood by military and political leaders, it is also the case that the popular call for an end to injustice is quite often a religious voice. We seek to add a critical dimension to the understanding of how religion influences and resolves social conflict. We want to develop and expand the traditional categories of moral reflection and response to war and also to investigate kindred conflicts — terrorism, humanitarian armed intervention, cultural and governmental repression, ecological degradation, and all of the factors that inhibit human flourishing. We also hope to encourage theoretical and practical reflection on religious peace-building by examining the discourses, practices, and community and institutional structures that promote just peace. Through our work, we hope to promote understanding of the relationships between social conflict and religions in ways that are theoretically sophisticated and practically applicable in diverse cultural contexts.
| Chair | Dates | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Atalia Omer, University of Notre Dame | aomer1@nd.edu | - | View |
| Santiago H. Slabodsky | santiago.slabodsky… | - | View |