Social Science Research Council Research AMP Mediawell

Project Type: Book

  • A book that asks, “How does faith affect how we think about and respond to climate change?” There’s no time left to equivocate. Climate change is undeniable, and as world governments and organizations begin to bring due focus to the crisis, we must understand the specific role that religion plays in climate change policy. This…

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  • As with other aspects of American exceptionalism, religion—American style—has a curious inside/outside dynamic based in assumptions about ourselves and the other which contributes to its stability across many different constituencies, left, right, and center. That dynamic is enabled by a productive hierarchical ambiguity about what counts as “religion” at home and abroad, helping to maintain the…

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  • A book examining religion in support and at odds with human rights The cover of Religion and Human Rights: An Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2011) features Norman Rockwell’s famous painting, Golden Rule. The painting depiects human beings representing the different regions and religions of the world, each with their hands clasped in prayer. Like Rockwell’s…

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  • A book about Indonesia as a model for multicultural citizenship It is both an age-old and glaringly contemporary question: How to live peacefully within a diverse society? With the crisis of multiculturalism in the West and the failure of the Arab uprisings in the Middle East, the problem of coexistence remains at the forefront of…

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  • A book on how faith informs politics and self-definition on the international stage Religion, Identity, and Global Governance: Ideas, Evidence, and Practice (University of Toronto Press, 2011) is a book that addresses some of the central questions of religious studies: Is religious identity an independent social construct, or is it an extension of other social…

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  • A project that explored the histories and genealogies of religious freedom The Politics of Religious Freedom project explored the concepts and practices that collect under the global rubric of religious freedom. Directed by Elizabeth Shakman Hurd, Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, Saba Mahmood and Peter Danchin, it led to several published outputs between 2012 and 2015; these…

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  • The book Ecological Civilization examines how traditional belief systems from China can help facilitate a sustainable future In many ways, the political and economic forces that have led to the decline of traditional belief systems are also implicated in the destruction of the environment. How, then, could Indigenous and traditional faiths play a role in…

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  • When Politics Are Sacralized explores the consequences of using religious claims to fuel nationalist political projects What happens when the competing political goals of nationalists are elevated to the plane of holy principles? How are boundaries made or remade? How is peace secured after violence erupts? How are identities shaped by political actors claimed by…

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