Reset-DoC and the Istanbul Bilgi University are glad announce the Istanbul Seminars Summer School to be held from May 22 to May 28 (including the Istanbul Seminars 2016 + two more days: May 22 and May 23) at the Santral Istanbul campus of Bilgi.
Participants attending the Summer School will be granted 5 University credits (5 ECTS).
THE SUMMER SCHOOL (22-28 MAY 2016)
The title of the Istanbul Seminars Summer School ’16 is Philosophy & Social Criticism: Religion, Rights and the Public Sphere.
The overall purpose of the summer school is to analyze the relationship between religion, culture and politics. It discusses the role religion, culture and identity play in the foundation of liberal democracy, human rights and political modernity. Moreover it asks what political models are most adequate to accommodate religious and cultural pluralism.
The first two days there will be lectures introducing the topic given the by the Bilgi-Reset faculty, followed by the regular Istanbul Seminars lectures and workshops. The syllabus will be made available as soon as possible.
SYLLABUS OF THE SUMMER SCHOOL
Philosophy & Social Criticism: Religion, Rights and the Public Sphere
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İstanbul Bilgi University | Santral Campus
Kazım Karabekir Cad. No: 2/13 – İstanbul
Conference Room (Monday to Saturday): E1-301
Sunday, 22 May
Conference Room: ÇSM (Modern Arts Museum) Building, room 204
10.00 am – 1.00 pm
Session 1: Contemporary Political Theory
Veysi Kondu
Reading: Jürgen Habermas (1994), “What Theories can Accomplish – and What They Can’t,” in J. Habermas, The Past as Future. Jürgen Habermas interviewed by Michael Haller, pp. 99-120.
2.00 pm – 5.00 pm
Session 2: Turkish Foreign Policy at the Crossroads
Can Cemgil
Reading: Clemens Hoffmann & Can Cemgil (2016): “The (un)making of the Pax Turca in the Middle East: understanding the social-historical roots of foreign policy, in Cambridge Review of International Affairs.
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Monday, 23 May
Conference Room: E2-101
10.00 am – 1.00 pm
Session 3: Contemporary Issues in Turkish Politics
Cemil Boyraz
Reading: S. Şimşek (2004), “New Social Movements in Turkey since 1980,” Turkish Studies 5 (2), pp.111–139.
2.00 pm – 5.00 pm
Conference Room: E1-301
Session 4: Religious and Identity Conflicts
Volker Kaul
Reading: Charles Taylor (1995), “Comparison, History, Truth,” in C. Taylor, Philosophical Arguments, pp. 146-164.
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Tuesday, 24 May
10.15 am – 11.00 am
Session 5: Islam, Citizenship and the Public Sphere
Nilüfer Göle: Personal in the Public Space: Empowerment or Vulnerability?
11.20 am – 1.00 pm
Mohd Eiadat: Islamic Thought and the Public Sphere: A Synthesis
Patrick Weil: Revocation of Nationality and Sense of the Republic
Reading: Nilüfer Göle : Islam in Public: New Visibilities and New Imaginaries; Patrick Weil, Can a Citizen be Sovereign?
2.00 pm – 3.25 pm
Session 6: Islam and Identity Conflicts
Can Cemgil: Beyond Theology and Culture: The Persistent Appeal of Islamic Radicalism from Al-Qaeda to the Islamic State
Fabio Petito: Religion and World Order in the 21st Century: Zooming out on Religious Violence and World Disorder
3.30 pm – 4.40 pm
ROUNDTABLE: Islam, Conflict and Radicalization
Speakers: Mohd Eiadat, Ebrahim Moosa (in video), Fabio Petito, Patrick Weil
Reading: Olivier Roy: Holy Ignorance. When Religion and Culture Part Ways, pp. 109-148.
4.40 pm: Workshop with Discussion Groups for Young Scholars (Reading depends upon the workshop you are involved with)
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Wednesday, 25 May
10.00 am – 12.10 pm
Session 7: Religion and the Public Sphere
Camil Ungureanu: Nihilism, Religion, and Humour in Michel Houellebecq
Rajeev Bhargava: The Implicit Theology of Religious Pluralism
Boyan Znepolski: Unveiling Some Religious Motives in Contemporary Social Critique
2.00 pm – 3.25 pm
Ahmet Murat Aytaç & Bahar Şimşek: Life Style and Rights: A Neo-Secular Conception of Human Dignity
Andreas Koller: Regime Variation, Religion and the Public Sphere: The Macro-Spatial Formation of Institutionalized Uncertainty
Reading: Jürgen Habermas, Religion in the Public Sphere.
12.15 pm – 1.00 pm
Session 8: The Claims of Religions
Silvio Ferrari: The Danger of Compartmentalization. An Analysis of the Relationship between Theology and Politics Through the Prism of Freedom of Religion
3.30 pm – 5.00 pm
ROUNDTABLE: Discussion of Michael Walzer’s “The Paradox Of Liberation: Secular Revolutions and Religious Counterrevolutions”
Introduction: Michael Walzer (in video)
Rajeev Bhargava, Nilüfer Göle, Amr Hamzawy, Ananya Vajpeyi
Replies by Michael Walzer (in video)
Reading: Michael Walzer, The Paradox Of Liberation: Secular Revolutions and Religious Counterrevolutions.
5.00 pm: Workshop with Discussion Groups for Young Scholars (Reading depends upon the workshop you are involved with)
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Thursday, 26 May
10.00 am – 12.30 pm
Session 9: Religion, Democracy and Constitutionalism
Murat Akan: Institutions on Thin Ice: The Politics of Religious Arguments and Narratives
Cristina Lafont: Citizens in Robes: The Place of Religion in Constitutional Democracies
David Rasmussen: The Question of Legitimacy: Constitutionalism and Comprehensive Doctrines
Reading: Jürgen Habermas, “Struggles for Recognition in the Democratic Constitutional State.”
1.30 pm – 3.00 pm
Session 10: Identity Conflicts and Human Rights
Nancy Okail: The Role of Religion in Governance in Egypt
Amr Hamzawy: Egypt’s Illiberal Liberals
3.05 pm – 4.35 pm
ROUNDTABLE: Immigration and Turkey-EU Relationships
Speakers: Zygmunt Bauman, Seyla Benhabib, Fuat Keyman, Patrick Weil
Reading: Zygmunt Bauman, Strangers at Our Door, pp. 47-68.
4.35 pm: Common Workshop for all Discussion Groups for Young Scholars on Refugee Law conducted by Seyla Benhabib
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Friday, 27 May
10.00 am – 11.50 am
Week 11: Religious Conflicts and Multiculturalism
Aleksandra Kania: Religion and Nationalism in Poland
Mikhail Ilyin: Any Way to Avoid Massacres de la Saint-Barthélemy in the Middle East and Elsewhere? Insights from Evolutionary Morphology
11.55 am – 1.05 pm
Zygmunt Bauman: On Strongmen (and Strongwoman) Trails
2.05 pm – 3.30 pm
Ohannes Kılıçdağı: The Non-Religious Public Roles of the Armenian Clergy in the Ottoman Millet System: From the Late Ottoman Era to the Republic
Mustafa Akyol: Lessons about Islamism after the Turkish Experience
Reading: Charles Taylor, “The Politics of Recognition.”
3.35 pm – 4.35 pm
Presentations of the Discussion Groups: (1) Religious and Identity Conflicts, (2) Radicalization of Identities in Europe, (3) Religious Wars in the Middle East, (4) Religion and the Public Sphere in Turkey.
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Saturday, 28 May
10.00 am – 10.45 am
Week 12: Religion, Identity and the Middle East
Maeve Cooke: Unintelligble! Inaccessible! Unacceptable! Are Religious Truth Claims a Problem for Liberal Democracies?
10.50 am – 12.10 pm
ROUNDTABLE: Religious and Identity Conflicts in the Middle East
Mustafa Akyol, Manuel Castells, Nancy Okail, Soli Özel
12.10 pm – 1.10 pm
Manuel Castells: The Failure of the European Dream: Political Unification Without Shared Identity in a Multicultural Europe
Reading: Manuel Castells, Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age, pp. 54-112.
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The program of the Istanbul Seminars (Tuesday-Saturday) may be subject to change. Please check regularly www.resetdoc.org/story/00000022466 for updated information.
REFERENCES:
For the first two days, Sunday and Monday, readings are provided in PDF. It is strictly necessary that those readings are done beforehand.
Zygmunt Bauman (2016), Strangers at Our Door, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Manuel Castells (2015), Networks of Outrage and Hope: Social Movements in the Internet Age, Cambridge: Polity Press.
Nilüfer Göle (2002): “Islam in Public: New Visibilities and New Imaginaries,” in Public Culture 14 (1), pp. 73-190.
Jürgen Habermas (2006), “Religion in the Public Sphere,” in European Journal of Philosophy 14 (1), pp. 1–25.
Jürgen Habermas (1994), “Struggles for Recognition in the Democratic Constitutional State,” in Amy Gutmann, Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition, Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 107-148.
Jürgen Habermas (1994), “What Theories can Accomplish – and What They Can’t,” in The Past as Future. Jürgen Habermas interviewed by Michael Haller, Cambridge: Polity Press. pp. 99-120.
Clemens Hoffmann & Can Cemgil (2016): “The (un)making of the Pax Turca in the Middle East: understanding the social-historical roots of foreign policy, in Cambridge Review of International Affairs.
Farhad Khosrokhavar (2015), Inside Jihadism: Understanding Jihadi Movements Worldwide, New York/London: Routledge.
Olivier Roy (2014), Holy Ignorance. When Religion and Culture Part Ways, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Olivier Roy (2007), “Islamic Terrorist Radicalization in Europe,” in Amghhar, Samir, Amel Boubekeur and Michael Emerson (eds.), European Islam – Challenges for Society and Public Policy, Brussels, Center for European Policy Studies, 2007, pp. 52-60.
S. Şimşek, “New Social Movements in Turkey since 1980,” Turkish Studies 5 (2), Summer 2004, pp.111–139.
Charles Taylor (1995), “Comparison, History, Truth,” in C. Taylor, Philosophical Arguments, Cambridge (Mass.): Harvard University Press, pp. 146-164.
Michael Walzer (2015), The Paradox Of Liberation: Secular Revolutions and Religious Counterrevolutions, New Haven: Yale University Press.
Patrick Weil (2016), “Can a Citizen be Sovereign?, in Humanity Journal, January 2, 2016.
Recommended:
Seyla Benhabib (2002), The Claims of Culture. Equality and Diversity in the Global Age. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Nilüfer Göle (2015): Islam and Secularity: The Future of Europe’s Public Sphere, Durham (NC): Duke University Press.
EVALUATION:
Attendance and participation: 20%.
– Reaction paper (to be submitted at the end of the Seminars on Saturday): 20%.
– Final paper (to be submitted three weeks after the end of the Seminars): 60%.
Reaction Paper: Please write a brief essay (1500 words) elaborating upon the discussions taking place during the Seminars days you found most interesting. Pick three issues and comment up them.
Final Paper: Choose a topic of your interest, develop a thesis and argue for it in an essay (about 3000 words).
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INFORMATION
For information please contact info@istanbulseminars.org.