| 
A
TWO-DAY CONFERENCE ON RELIGION IN EUROPE
October 29 - 30, 2008
The
Riley Institute and the Department of Political Science sponsored
a 2-day conference to discuss the current state of religion in Europe.
Is religion dying in Europe? What is the impact of Islam on European
Politics? The conference included two public addresses and a panel
discussion by two well-renowned experts on these subjects.
On
Wednesday, October 29 at 4:00 p.m. in Johns Hall 101, Eric
Kaufmann delivered an address, "Sacralization by Stealth?:
Religion Returns to Europe."
On
Thursday, October 30, at 6:00 p.m. in Johns Hall 101, Peter
O'Brien delivered an address, "Immigration, Religion, and Political
Philosophy in Europe: The Headscarf Controversy" followed by
a panel discussion that will include Peter O'Brien, Eric Kaufmann
and Akan Malici, assistant professor of the Department of Political
Science at Furman and Brent Nelsen, professor and chair of the Department
of Political Science at Furman .
 |
Eric
Kaufmann |
Eric
Kaufmann is Reader in Politics and Sociology at Birkbeck College,
University of London where he directs the Masters Programme in Nationalism
and Ethnic Conflict. Kaufmann is currently a Fellow in the Religion
in International Politics/International Security Initiative, Belfer
Center, Kennedy School, and Harvard University. He
was awarded the 2008 Richard Rose Prize of the Political Studies
Association for best research published on British politics by a
scholar under 40.
Kaufmann is
the author of The Orange Order: A Contemporary Northern Irish
History (Oxford 2007), Unionism and Orangeism in Northern
Ireland Since 1945, with Henry Patterson (Manchester University
Press, 2007), The Rise and Fall of Anglo-America (Harvard
University Press, 2004) and editor of Rethinking Ethnicity:
Majority Groups and Dominant Minorities (Routledge, 2004).
He has published numerous journal articles and his recent work on
religious demography has appeared in the Interdisciplinary Journal
of Research on Religion as well as in Newsweek and
Prospect magazines.
His current
research examines the future religious composition of the United
States, Europe, Israel and the Muslim world, as well as the demography
and future size of Republican and Democratic party identifiers in
the United States. He is currently researching and writing a book,
provisionally titled Shall the Religious Inherit the Earth?
(Profile Books, 2009).
 |
Peter
O'Brien |
Peter
O'Brien is Professor of Political Science at Trinity University
and an expert on Islam in Europe. His research focuses on Europe's
relations with non-Europeans: Islamophobia and Anti-Americanism.
His
most recent book is European Perceptions of Islam & America
from Saladin to George W. Bush: Europe’s Fragile Ego Uncovered
(Palgrave Macmillan, 2009). The book examines how frail self-esteem
has played a significant role in the formation of European identity.
He is also the author of Beyond the Swastika (Routledge,
1996), a study of the impact of the legacy of the Holocaust on postwar
German immigration policy. In addition, he has published numerous
articles on the presence of Islam in Europe.
O’Brien
received his B.A. from Kalamazoo College and his M.A. and Ph.D.
from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He was a Fulbright Senior
Lecturer at Bosporus University in Istanbul during 1995-1996 and
a Fulbright Senior Scholar at the Humboldt University in Berlin
during 2005-2006.
Peter O'Brien |
Eric Kaufmann |
The panel discussion (l-r) Peter O'Brien, Akan Malici, Eric
Kaufmann, Brent Nelsen |
Peter O'Brien and Eric Kaufmann |
|
