ESF Research Conferences

ESF-LiU Conference

Religion, Gender and Human Rights: Challenges for Multicultural and Democratic Societies

21-25 June 2011

Final Programme

TUESDAY 21 June

17:00 onwards: Registration at the ESF desk

19:30: Welcome Drink

20:00: Dinner

WEDNESDAY 22 June

9.00-9.15: ESF Presentation & Chair’s Introduction 
                  Alison Woodward, Free University of Brussels, 
                                                 (VUB), BE                      
                  Niamh Reilly, NUI Galway. Conference Chair

09.15-11.00: PANEL I: Overview of themes – Identities, immigration and multiculture; contesting religious subjectivities; Religion, rights and politics
Chair: Niamh Reilly

Sawitri Saharso, University of Twente, NL, Cultural Agency
Critical Agency: Multicultural feminist perspectives

Stephanie Mitchem, University of South Carolina, US
Religious Intimacies, Threatening Subjectivities

Nira Yuval Davis, University of East London, UK
Multiculturalism, multifaithism and autochthonic ‘muscular multiculturalism’

Titia Loenen, Utrecht University, NL
Balancing religious freedoms and gender equality concerns in the workplace: The case for and against uniform European human rights standards

11.00: COFFEE BREAK

Strand 1: Identity, migration and multiculture

11.15-13.00: ROUNDTABLE I - Migration, integration and multiculturalism
Chair: Nira Yuval Davis

Breda Gray
, University of Limerick, IE
Faith-based organisations in migrant integration: Gender politics and the shifting scope of religious authority

Elif Medeni, University of Vienna, AT
The Role of Imams and Chaplains in the Process of Muslim Integration in Europe and the special role of Women – The current situation in Austria

Catarina Kinnvall, Lund University, SE
Gender and the Securitization of Religion: Postcolonial and socio-psychological dimensions

Sara Silvestri, City University London, UK
Europe’s Muslim women beyond the veil debate: questioning the ‘integration’ question

13.00-14.30: LUNCH

14.30-15.45: SHORT TALK PANEL I: Religion, sexualities and gender identities
Chair:  Stacey Scriver

Mieke Verloo
, Radboud University Nijmegen, NL
Religion, church, intimate citizenship and gender equality: an analysis of differences in gender equality policies in European Catholic countries

Sebnem Kenis, Koc University, TK
(In)compatibility of LGBT Rights and Islam in Turkey: Revisiting the Debate Over Universal Human Rights and Cultural Diversity

Elina Vuola, University of Helsinki, FI
Study of religion and feminist theory: The cult of the Virgin Mary

Ibrahim Tevfik Karatop, Sabanci University, TK
New Forms of Muslim Man: Discourses of masculinity in the Hizmet movement

15.45: COFFEE BREAK

16.00-17.30: POSTER SESSION
Judges: Sawitri Saharso, University of Twente, Netherlands 
Daniel Mekonnen, National University of Ireland, Galway, IR
Tina Beattie, Roehampton University, UK

20.00: DINNER

THURSDAY 23 June

Strand 2: Contesting religious subjectivities

09.00-10.30: PANEL II – Contesting religious subjectivities
Chair: Naomi Goldenberg

Anka Grzywacz
, Catholics for Choice, PL
Pro-choice Catholic – a contradiction in terms? Defending sexual and reproductive rights limited by strong Roman Catholic Church influence on state policies

Eoin Daly, Dublin City University, IE
Laïcité and gender equality: Between state neutrality and non-domination

Nida Kirmani, Lahore University of Management Sciences, PK
Comparing the Approaches of the Indian and Pakistani Women’s Movements vis-à-vis Islam

Duncan Dormor, Director of Studies for Theology, St John's College, Cambridge, UK
Rebellious bodies and disordered desires: The challenge of transsexuality to some influential Christian theologies of Creation

10.30: COFFEE BREAK & GROUP PHOTO

10.45-12.30: ROUNDTABLE II - ‘Religion’ in the academy through a gender lens: challenges in theory, methods and practice
Chair: Stephanie Mitchem

Tina Beattie
, Roehampton University, UK
The End of ‘Woman’ and the Ends of Women: Postmodern perspectives on religion and women’s rights

Naomi Goldenberg, University of Ottawa, CA
Contemporary Statecraft, Gender and the Construction of Religion:  Understanding religions as vestigial states

Vesna Malesevic, National University of Ireland, Galway, IE
Religion and Sex from Sociological Perspective

Rubya Mehdi, University of Copenhagen, DK
Co-existence of Religious laws with other laws?

Chia Longman, Ghent University, BE
Gender Studies of Religion in Secular Locations: Beyond androcentric scholarship or patriarchal religion?

12.30-13.30 LUNCH

13.30-14.45: SHORT TALKS II: Nation, migration, border crossings
Chair: Breda Gray

Stacey Scriver
, National University of Ireland, Galway, IE 
Masculinised ethno-nationalism, public religion and the role of autonomy: Explaining the absence of a veil debate in Ireland

Alessia Belli, Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, IT
She Who Disputes. Multiculturalism and Muslim Women in Italy and the UK

Anitta Kynsilehto, University of Tampere, FI
Exploring multivocality: Maghrebi women narrate gender, religion and human rights

Sam Wong, University of Liverpool, UK
Gendering religious capital: A case study of poor Mainland Chinese migrants in Hong Kong

Bernadetta Siara, City University London, UK
Religion, gender and sexuality within recent migration of Poles to the United Kingdom


15.00-18.00: EXCURSION

20.00: DINNER + POSTER PRIZE PRESENTATION

FRIDAY 24 June

Strand 3: Human Rights, Religion and the State

9.00-10.30:  PANEL III: Religions, rights, public spheres
Chair: Titia Loenen

Valerie Amiraux
, University of Montreal, CA
The racialization process of European Muslims

Fatemeh Haghighatjoo, University of Massachusetts, Boston, US
Religion, Gender Policy, and “State Feminism” in Iran

Mary Anne Case, University of Chicago, US
Modalities of Vatican Opposition to the "Gender Agenda” in Europe

10.30: COFFEE BREAK

10.45-12.30: ROUNDTABLE IV - Secularization, secularism and the public sphere
Chair: Tina Beattie

Sarah Bracke
, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, BE
How Gender Matters to the Secular

Geraldine Finn, Carleton University, CA
Plus Ça Change Plus C'est La Même Chose: On the secular-religious distinction and the maintenance of patriarchal power

Fadwa Al-Labadi, Al-Quds University, Palestine
Secular and Islamist Women Debate in Palestinian Society

Niamh Reilly, National University of Ireland, Galway, IE
Secularisms and Feminisms in a Neo-secular age

Jawad Syed, University of Kent, UK
The False Dichotomy of Islam and Secularism

12.30-14.00: LUNCH

14.00-15.15: SHORT TALKS III: Regulating religions and rights
Chair:  (TBC)

Peggy Schmeiser, University of Saskatchewan, CA
So Help You God? The Strange Case of Religion and Law in Canada

Esra Demir Gursel, Marmara University, TK
Regulating Women's Bodies in the Name of Secular/Religious Sensibilities of others in the Jurisprudence of the ECtHR

Yafa Shanneik, University College Cork, IE
Arab Muslim Women in Ireland: Gender, nationality and religion in the formation of Arab diaspora identities in Europe

Emanuela Dalmasso, University of Turin, IT
Which universal human rights?

15.15-15.30: COFFEE BREAK

15.30-17.00: PANEL IV - Gender and religion in transnational politics
Chair: Sara Silvestri

Naveed Sheikh
, Keele University, UK
Gender, Religion and Radicalism: The fourth wave and the compounded complexity of studying religio-politics from a gender(ed) perspective

Anne Jenichen, University of Bremen, DE
Religion as an obstacle to the diffusion of women's rights norms?

Daniel Mekonnen, NUI Galway, IE
Religious Persecution in Eritrea and the Role of the European Union in Tackling the Challenge

17.00: SHORT BREAK

17.00-18.30: Forward Look Session:
Chairs: Niamh Reilly & Alison Woodward
‘Discussion of medium to long-term views regarding future research developments in the field of religion, gender and human rights.’

20:00: CONFERENCE DINNER

SATURDAY 25 June

Breakfast and Departure