Iona College – Muslims and the Making of American Democracy

Are the Arts Essential?. Specialists will take the customary deliberations about arts and culture into new, substantive, and shaping discussion. Beyond “leisure” or “entertainment,” beyond art’s personal impacts, beyond contributions to tourism, community building, or the classroom, do the arts and culture power progress? This convening will ask if (and how) the arts provide structures and strategies for social change, how they help define peoples and nations, how they deal with actual matters of life and death. Are the arts essential in ways that economics and medicine and politics are? If so, how is this manifest? What are the theoretical…

Call for Papers: Muslim Perspectives on Peacebuilding   Paper Proposals Due: July 1, 2012 Conference Date: Oct. 12-13, 2012   Claremont Lincoln University, USC’s Office of Religious Life, the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), and the Center for Global Peacebuilding at Claremont Lincoln are co-sponsoring a conference on Muslim Perspectives on Peacebuilding, from Oct. 12-13, 2012, in Claremont, Calif.   They’ve issued a call for papers from community leaders, activists, educators, researchers, and professionals to inspire fellow scholars and community members interested in peacebuilding from Muslim perspectives, by sharing their experiences in resolving family, community and interfaith conflicts. Themes should relate to…