August 6-17 2007
PRINCIPAL CONVENERS
Saba Mahmood, UC Berkeley
Charles Hirschkind, UC Berkeley
In collaboration with David Theo Goldberg, UCHRI
INSTRUCTORS:
Wendy Brown, UC Berkeley
Judith Butler, UC Berkeley
Mohammad Fadel, University of Toronto
Kirstie McClure, UC Los Angeles
Achille Mbembe, University of Witwatersrand/UCI
Richard Thompson Ford, Stanford University
Gauri Viswanathan, Columbia University
Michael Warner, Rutgers University
ARTIST
Dorit Cypis
CURATOR
Denise Spampinato
PERFORMANCE ARTISTS
Liu Sola and Amina C. Myers with Yang Jing
COORDINATING STAFF
Jennifer Wilkens
Stefka Hristova
Irena Polic
HOURS EACH DAY
AM: 9:30-12:30
PM: 2:00-5:00
EVE: 7:00-9:30
MONDAY, AUGUST 6
AM: (UCHRI)
Introductions, Charles Hirschkind/Saba Mahmood
Readings
Asad, Talal. "Secularism, Nation-State, Religion" in Nation and Religion : Perspectives on Europe and Asia. eds. Peter van der Veer and Hartmut Lehmann. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1999.
Asad, Talal. "The Limits of Religious Criticism in the Middle East" Genealogies of Religion : Discipline and Reasons of Power in Christianity and Islam. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993.
PM: (UCHRI)
Kirstie McClure
Readings
Schmitt, Carl. Political Theology: Four Chapters on the Concept of Sovereignty. Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1985.
Break-out groups: Group Discussion led by GROUP A
EVENING: (UCHRI)
5:30: Welcoming Reception
TUESDAY, AUGUST 7
AM: (UCHRI)
Charles Hirschkind
Readings
Hirschkind, Charles. The Ethical Soundscape : Cassette Sermons and Islamic Counterpublics. New York: Columbia University Press, 2006: chs. 4, 5, and 6.
McClure conversation with Hirschkind
PM: (UCHRI)
Saba Mahmood
Readings
Mahmood, Saba. "Secularism, Hermeneutics, Empire: The Politics of Islamic Reformation," Public Culture 18(2): 323-247.
Asad, Talal. "Trying to understand French secularism." in Political Theologies: Public Religion in a Post-Secular World. eds. Hent de Vries and Lawrence E. Sullivan. New York: Fordham University Press, 2006.
EVENING: (CALIT2)
Movie: The Blood of My Brother: A Story of Death in Iraq (Andrew Berends, 2006)
Break-out groups: Group Discussion led by GROUP B
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 8
AM: (UCHRI)
Achille Mbembe
Readings
Wojcik, Daniel. The End of the World as we Know It: Faith, Fatalism, and Apocalypse in America New York: New York University Press,1997: chapters 1, 2 and 7.
Break-out groups: Group Discussion led by GROUP C
PM: (CALIT2)
Achille Mbembe in conversation
Movie: Avenge but One of My Eyes (2005, Avi Mograbi)
Break-out groups: Group Discussion led by GROUP D
THURSDAY, AUGUST 9
AM: (UCHRI)
Michael Warner
Readings
Bellah, Robert "Civil Religion in America"
Edwards, Jonathan "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God"
Madison, James "Memorial and Remonstrance against Religious Assessments"
Warner, Michael. “Is Liberalism a Religion?“
Warner, Michael. “The Preacher’s Footing”
Break-out groups: Group Discussion led by GROUP E
PM: (CALIT2)
Movie: WACO
EVENING: (CALIT2)
Discussion: Michael Warner in conversation with Achille Mbembe
Break-out groups: Group Discussion led by GROUP F
FRIDAY, AUGUST 10
AM: (UCHRI)
Richard Thompson Ford
Readings
Wolfe, Tom. “The Me Decade and the Third Great Awakening” New York August 23, 1976.
Weber, Max. The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. London ; New York : Routledge, 1994: Ch 2 and 5.
United States vs. Seeger 380 US 163 (1995)
Wisconsin vs. Yoder 406 U.S. 205 (1972)
Ford, Richard. Racial Culture: A Critique. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2005: 23-28 and 113-123.
Break-out groups: Group Discussion led by GROUP G
PM: (UCHRI)
Richard Thompson Ford interviewed by David Theo Goldberg
5:30 PM: (BEALL CENTER)
"Stranded Subject (weekends)"
Dorit Cypis Exhibition and Discussion
Introduced by Denise Spampinato
Each of the nine photographic images featured in “Stranded Subject (weekends),” is a poetic transformation of pictures taken from the front pages of the Los Angeles Times. By juxtaposing seemingly disparate images, Cypis incites the viewer to seek unfamiliar intellectual, historical, allegorical and emotional contexts which might open up the possibilityof thinking differently about issues which the media continues to frame in a homogeneous fashion. Each piece retains some of its original documentary quality but by superimposing two images, or altering its inner contours, Cypis erases the boundary between the documentary and the allegorical. In so doing, she also refocuses the referentiality of the work away from the familiar framing of the photos depicted, opening up the possibility for empathy with those depicted in the images.
7:00 PM: (BEALL CENTER)
Art Exhibit Opening and Reception
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE ART EXHIBITION, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 11
7:30 PM: (SMITH HALL)
Liu Sola and Friends Ensemble: Liu Sola & Amina C. Myers with Yang Jing
Winifred Smith Hall
Join us for a rare and invigorating performance by Liu Sola and Amina Claudine Myers with Yang Jing on Saturday August 11, 2007 at 7:30pm. Don’t miss this magical interplay of voice, pipa, and piano as Chinese and African American musical traditions intertwine into provocative soundscapes. The concert will be held at the Winifred Smith Hall (University of California Irvine) and is free and open to the public.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THE CONCERT, PLEASE CLICK HERE.
SUNDAY, AUGUST 12
4:30 PM: WALK AT CRYSTAL COVE (for those who want to join)
MONDAY, AUGUST 13
AM: (UCHRI)
Gauri Viswanathan
Readings
Pecora, Vincent. Secularization and cultural criticism : religion, nation, & modernity. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2006 chapters 1-3.
Sen, Amartya. The Argumentative Indian. Oxford: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2005: Part One: "Voice and Heterodoxy" (pp. 3-87).
* Hardy, Friedhelm. "A Radical Reassessment of the Vedic Heritage" in Representing Hinduism : the construction of religious traditions and national identity. eds. Vasudha Dalmia and Heinrich von Stietencron. New Delhi; Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1995.
* Von Stietencron, Heinrich. "Religious Configurations in Pre-Muslim India and the Modern Concept of Hinduism" in Representing Hinduism : the construction of religious traditions and national identity. eds. Vasudha Dalmia and Heinrich von Stietencron. New Delhi; Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 1995.
* Viswanathan, Gauri. Outside the fold : conversion, modernity, and belief. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1998: chapter 7, "Conversion to Equality" (pp. 211-239).
Break-out groups: Group Discussion led by GROUP H
PM: (UCHRI)
Gauri Viswanathan in conversation with Charles Hirschkind
Break-out groups: Group Discussion led by GROUP A
EVENING: (CALIT2)
Movie: Arna's Children
Break-out groups: Group Discussion led by GROUP B
TUESDAY, AUGUST 14
AM: (UCHRI)
Judith Butler
Readings
Benjamin, Walter. "Theses on the Philosophy of History" in German 20th-century philosophy : the Frankfurt school. ed. Wolfgang Schirmacher New York: Continuum, 2000.
Benjamin, Walter. "Theological-Political Fragment". in Reflections : essays, aphorisms, autobiographical writing. ed. Peter Demetz. New York: Schocken Books, 1986.
Benjamin, Walter. "Critique of Violence" in Selected Writing vol 1. eds. Marcus Bullock and Michael W. Jennings. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1996.
Break-out groups: Group Discussion led by GROUP C
PM: (CALIT2)
Movie: Local Angel. Discussion with Judith Butler
Break-out groups: Group Discussion led by GROUP D
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 15
AM: (UCHRI)
Wendy Brown
Readings
Taylor, Charles. A Secular Age. Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press, 2007: Chapter 1 and Chapter 5.
Marx, Karl. "The Communist Manifesto" in The Karl Marx library. ed. Saul K. Padover. New York, McGraw-Hill, 1971-77: the first 5-6 pages.
Break-out groups: Group Discussion led by GROUP E
PM: (CALIT2)
Movie: Alan Klima, Ghosts and Numbers.
THURSDAY, AUGUST 16
AM: (UCHRI)
Mohammad Fadel
Readings
NOTE: do not quote without the author's permission Fadel, Mohammad. “Implications of Normative Pluralism for Islamic Reform“
El Fadl, Khaled ABou. "Islam and the Challenge of Democracy" in Islam and the Challenge to Democracy. eds. J. Cohen and D. Chasman. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004.
Fadel, Mohammad. "Too Far from Tradition" in Islam and the Challenge to Democracy. eds. J. Cohen and D. Chasman. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004.
* Fadel, Mohammad. “Public Reason as a Strategy for Principled Reconciliation: The Case of Islamic Law and International Human Rights Law”.
Break-out groups: Group Discussion led by GROUP F
PM: (UCHRI)
Movie: The Night of Truth
Discussion: Fadel in conversation with Mahmood
Break-out groups. Group Discussion led by GROUP G
EVENING:
Anyone wanting to go out together for pay your own way dinner at Chakra (University Center)
FRIDAY, AUGUST 17
AM: (UCHRI)
Roundtable on the theologico-political: Saba Mahmood, Charles Hirschkind, Gauri Viswanathan, and Kirstie McClure
Break-out groups. Group Discussion led by GROUP H
PM: (UCHRI)
Wrap up: General discussion on prevailing themes, where this all leads us, thinking about new openings in analytical themes, politics etc. Participants are invited contribute as groups as well as individually.
5:30PM (ALUMNI HOUSE)
Closing reception: Alumni House