[URBANTH-L]
ANN: Religion and Globalization in Asia:Prospects, Patterns, and
Problems for the Coming Decade
Angela Jancius
jancius3022 at comcast.net
Fri Jan 2 00:03:58 EST 2009
Religion and Globalization in Asia: Prospects, Patterns, and Problems for
the Coming Decade
March 13 &14, 2009
University of San Francisco, Lone Mountain Campus
Presented by The Kiriyama Chair for Pacific Rim Studies at the USF Center
for the Pacific Rim
Join us in beautiful San Francisco as keynote speakers Mark Juergensmeyer
(UC Santa Barbara), Saskia Sassen (Columbia), Nayan Chanda (Yale)-and nine
other presenters -- explore the dynamics of globalizing forces on the
established and emerging religions of South and East Asia. One of our
central concerns will be to understand "the dialectical tension of
codependence and codeterminism between religion and globalization." How do
communication technologies, capital flows, security issues,
transnationalism, immigration and migration, and identity politics
contribute to social conditions in which some kinds of religious belief and
practice prosper and proliferate, while others are adversely affected?
Conference Description:
Few scholars or policy makers twenty years ago could have imagined that the
first decades of the 21st century would be a time of explosive and
wide-spread religiosity. As modernity progressed and societies became more
secular and democratic, religion was supposed to loosen its hold on the ways
men and women envisioned their place in the world. On the contrary, the
dynamics of globalization-such as communication technologies, immigration
and migration, capital flows, transnationalism, and identity politics-have
contributed to social conditions in which religious belief and practice not
only survive but prosper and proliferate.
A growing body of scholarship and reportage has documented this phenomenon
in the western hemisphere, but are these patterns applicable to Asia as
well? With an estimated 300 million religious adherents in China (home also
to the world's fastest growing Christian population), the world's largest
and most diverse concentration of Muslims in Indonesia, and the rise of a
more assertive and nationalistic Hinduism among India's 1.3 billion people,
the role of religion in globalizing processes in Asia requires sustained
analysis and elucidation rather than a mention in passing.
The objective of this conference is to muster the intellectual resources and
research of experts in a variety of fields to better understand the
prospects, patterns, and problems of religion and globalization in Asian
societies in the near future. As noted in the recent edited volume
Religions/Globalizations, how can we better understand the dialectical
tension of codependence and codeterminism between religion and
globalization? With a focus on the populations of South and East
Asia--densely concentrated, increasingly well-informed and
technologically-sophisticated--the conference participants and its keynote
speakers will reference and address the following questions and themes:
Prospects
- How can religious pluralism and tolerance be promoted and practiced?
- What social, economic, and political scenarios contribute to peaceful
religious proliferation in Asia?
- Can global trends and dynamics increase the range of choices for
individuals to determine their own religious and cultural identities?
Patterns
- Are there identifiable characteristics for situations where religion is
(or could become) a strategic political resource in Asian nations?
- How can we better understanding the codependent and codeterminative
dynamics and patterns of religion and globalization?
- Does religious conservatism always compromise the more positive
characteristics of globalization that are egalitarian, diverse, hybrid, and
cosmopolitan?
Problems
- Are there substantial differences in how we regard religious
fundamentalism in Asia and in western nations, especially concerning the
belligerent kind that resorts to violence?
- Does the globalizing character of religion impede human rights in Asia?
- Are there regional conflicts that, aided by globalizing forces and
religious ideologies, might grow into large-scale wars?
Conference Structure
- Friday, the conference will start with a keynote lecture, then break for
paper sessions. After lunch, a second paper session will follow, with a
concluding lecture preceding a general reception.
- Saturday will start with paper sessions, then conclude with a final
lecture before lunch and adjournment.
Outcomes
The end result of the conference will be a strategically edited volume that
will appeal to courses in history, religious studies, political science,
sociology, anthropology, and cultural studies. We will also develop a
website that summarizes the conference proceedings, details the key
contributors and their work, and provides links to organizations and
institutions that promote the study of globalization.
Please visit the conference website:
http://www.pacificrim.usfca.edu/religionandglobalization.html
For additional information or questions, contact:
John Nelson, Conference Chair
Associate Professor, Theology and Religious Studies
nelsonj at usfca.edu
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