The Center for Transdisciplinary Gender Studies at Humboldt-University in Berlin wishes to announce an international conference on the subject of violence in religious discourses. The conference dates are December 11-13, 2003. Presentations at the conference will be given in either English or German, depending on the preferences of the speakers. Translation will be provided upon request. The keynote lecture will be given by Regina Schwartz, Northwestern University. Confirmed speakers include Martha Nussbaum, Daniel Boyarin, Valentine M. Moghadam, Christina von Braun, Hannah Nave, Riffat Hassan, Cornelia Klinger, Eva Kreisky, Gabriele Dietze and Ulrike Brunotte. The deadline for pre-registration is Nov. 15, 2003.
At the beginning of the 21st century, wars seem to have become unavoidable in the war against terrorism in the Western mind. These violent conflicts are being interpreted as an expression and rejection of Western hegemonial claims to world power or are depicted as being deeply rooted in the religious traditions of cultural 'Others'. During the past years Gender Studies research has increasingly pointed at the significance of gender relations and constructions of gender within military conflicts. Violence in times of war tends to be legitimized by existing arrangements of male-female-relationships, yet at the same time is differently experienced by women and men.
We would like to take up and further develop these various strands of discussion by focusing on the meaning of religion and gender in military conflicts. For this purpose, we wish to examine symbolic constructions of gender relations within the three "religions of the book", Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, regarding the representation and approach to violence in each of the respective canonical texts. Taking this as a point of departure, we would like to highlight the ways in which pictures constructed by religion, culture, and the media are being instrumentalized in military conflicts and, in this process, result in religious distortions. In this context we will raise questions concerning the relationship between sexual violence against women and an assumed social order which is legitimized by transcendental dogmas.
Tagungsprogramm/ Conference Program:
Thursday, Dec. 11, Senatssaal
1:00-4:00 p.m. Welcome Note Work-In-Progress-Panel / Doctoral students present current research
Michaela Schäuble (Universität Bremen): Erinnerung und Darstellung traumatischer Kriegserfahrungen in magisch-religiösen Praktiken: Die Rekonstruktion weiblicher Identität in Kroatien nach 1991
Claudia Schimmel (Universität Bremen): Gender und zivil-militärische Zusammenarbeit: Konfliktbearbeitung im Kosovo
Andrea Hapke (Universität Bremen): Geschlechterkonstruktionen in der Friedensarbeit im Nordkaukasus
Daniela Hrzan (HU Berlin): Frauenkörper und reproduktive Rechte im Spannungsfeld von Fundamentalismus und Nationalismus - ein vergleichender Blick auf die Abtreibungsdebatte in den USA und Diskurse über weibliche Genitalverstümmelung in Ägypten und dem Sudan
Nanna Heidenreich (HU Berlin): Gerettete Frauen, gerettete Bilder? Der Westen projiziert das islamische Bildverbot
Chair: Bettina Mathes (HU Berlin)
6:00 p.m. Keynote Lecture Regina Schwartz (Northwestern University, Evanston): Holy Terror
Friday, Dec. 12, Senatssaal
Gewalt und Gott - Violence and God
10.00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Christina von Braun (HU Berlin): Das Kreuz mit dem Kreuz. Zur Geschichte eines christlichen Symbols
Hannah Nave (Universität Tel Aviv): The Sex which is One: The Violence of Men Begetting Men
Riffat Hassan (University of Louisville): Faith and Violence: An Islamic Perspective
Chair: N.N.
3:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Martha Nussbaum (University of Chicago): Genocide in Gujarat: Violence Against Muslim Women in the Struggle for Hindu Supremacy
Valentine M. Moghadam (Illinois State University): Religious Distortions, Violence Against Women, and Feminist Responses: Iran, Afghanistan, Algeria
Chair: Susanne Baer (HU Berlin)
Saturday, Dec. 13, Reutersaal
Geschlecht - Religion - Globalisierung Gender - Religion - Globalization
10.00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. Cornelia Klinger (Wien): Zwischen Auflösung und Verfestigung: Zur Transformation des Begriffs Kultur im Prozess von Globalisierung
Eva Kreisky (Universität Wien): Schwache Staaten, starkes Geschlecht und neue Kriege?
Chair: Stefanie von Schnurbein (HU Berlin)
Opfer - Täter - Geschlecht Sacrifice - Violence - Gender
1:45 p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Daniel Boyarin (University of California, Berkeley) / Carlin Barton (University of Massachusetts, Amherst): Killing the Kids: Child Sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity
Gabi Dietze (HU Berlin): Der politische Schleier. Funktion der Muslimin in amerikanischen Kriegsrepräsentationen
Ulrike Brunotte (HU Berlin): Der Soldat als Initiand, Pionier und apokalyptischer Reiter. Inszenierungen von Religion und Männlichkeit in amerikanischer Kriegsdarstellung und im Kriegsfilm
Chair: Dorothea Dornhof (Europa-Universität Viadrina Frankfurt/Oder)
The deadline for pre-registration is November 15, 2003.
Conference fees (pre-registration):
20,- € 15,- € (for persons holding scholarships/ fellowships) 7,- € (students, unemployed persons)
after Nov. 16:
30,- € 25,- € (for persons holding scholarships/ fellowships) 15,- € (students, unemployed persons)
Konto: Berliner Sparkasse Kontoinhaberin: Kerstin Rosenbusch Konto-Nr.: 3540156410 Bankleitzahl: 100 500 00 Verwendungszweck: Konferenz 11.-13.12.03
For registration please contact:
Dr. Gabriele Jähnert Humboldt-Universität Berlin Zentrum für transdisziplinäre Geschlechterstudien Unter den Linden 6 10099 Berlin Germany
Fax: +49-30-2093 8216 e-mail: zentrum@gender.hu-berlin.de
