Religion, Religious Spaces and Conflict: Cyprus, Lebanon, Bosnia
International Conference, Nicosia, 1 November 2019
The Institute for Interdisciplinary Cypriot Studies at the University of Münster (Germany), the Friedrich- Ebert-Stiftung office in Nicosia and the Department of Politics and Governance of the University of Nicosia, are organising, with the support of Agora Dialogue, an international conference in Nicosia under the title “Religion, Religious Spaces and Conflict: Cyprus, Lebanon, Bosnia”.
The purpose of the conference is to analyse the contribution as well as the impact of religion on conflict, in three conflict-affected zones (Cyprus, Lebanon, Bosnia), and the fate of religious spaces in the context of inter-religious strife.
The participating academics and researchers, with distinct expertise on religiously related conflicts, will present the intermingled complexities of religions and sacred spaces with intra-national ideologies and politics as well as extra-national antagonisms that led, in the recent past, to catastrophic conflicts and bloodshed.
The presentations will explore various dimensions of religiously related conflict, such as the contribution of ethnicity, social and economic status, radicalisation and historical burden on religious violence as well as their impact on post-conflict efforts for reconciliation and the soothing of past traumas.
The conference aims at encouraging a dialogue among scholars and researchers as well as religious authorities and the civil society, about the role of religion in conflict and particularly its impact on coexistence in multi-cultural societies.
The programme includes a morning session (11.00-12.30) about Lebanon with the participation of Dima de Clerck, Ziad Fahed and Elie Al Hindy, and two afternoon sessions, one about Bosnia (13.30-14.45) with Amra Pandžo and Alen Kristić and one about Cyprus (15.15-16.45) with Ali Dayıoğlu, Petros Savvides and Thorsten Kruse.
The proceedings of the conference will end with a round table discussion (16.45-17.30) among the participants, focusing on the differences and commonalities among the three case studies, and will conclude with closing remarks.
The conference will take place on Friday 1 November at the University of Nicosia (UNESCO Amphitheatre).
For information please contact feshamann@gmail.com, 22-377336, 99-725390.