In order to advance our understanding of these critical issues, the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, American University in Cairo, the University of Minnesota, and the University of Toronto will host a workshop, “Religion and Humanitarianism,” at the American University of Cairo on  June 3-5, 2008.   This three day workshop has two principal goals.  One is to begin an interdisciplinary and inter-regional dialogue among academics and practitioners on these critical themes.  Another is to give graduate students the opportunity to further their own professional development, present their research, and engage with other graduate students and faculty members that are engaged in this important topic.
 

Workshop Memos
In order to further our first objective – to initiate and deepen our dialogue on these themes - all participants will be required to write a short memo, around five to seven pages, on one of the three central themes of the workshop: 

What Difference Does Faith Make? It is commonplace for observers to claim that faith-based and secular agencies differ from each other in critical ways.  Yet exactly how?  How do they differ in their aspirations?  Do they act differently when they are in the field?  How does the footprint of religious organizations differ from the footprint of secular organizations?  How does faith matter for understanding the organizational structure, commitments, and mandates of humanitarian agencies?  How does faith the defining principles of the organization?  How are religious principles institutionalized within these agencies?  Many of the largest faith-based agencies have become more bureaucratic and professional over time.  Does this affect what they do and how they do it?  Are they becoming “secularized”? if so, why?

What are the Limits of Faith? What are the limits of “faith-based” humanitarianism?  What sorts of actions are permissible and desirable?  How do we understand the distinctions between charity and philanthropy?  Are religious organizations more or less likely to engage in a politics of transformation that are designed to eliminate the root causes of suffering?  What sort of politics does this resemble and what if anything makes it distinctively religious?  What kind of relationship to religious organizations desire to have with the state and other political authorities?  How are religious organizations transformed by their activities? 

Competing Faiths and Competing World Orders? Humanitarian action is frequently presented as an expression of universal values and as a hope for a more just world order.  Yet how universal is it?  To what extent do different faiths derive from different world views? Does humanitarian in practice in different settings lead to a convergence on values?  How do the recipients view humanitarian action that is delivered by those from outside the community?  Does humanitarian represent the place of a “clash of civilizations” or a constructed cosmopolitanism?

We want to emphasize that while these questions and themes can lend themselves to abstractions, we want to encourage individuals to write memos that draw from their field-based research.  Said otherwise, as we proceed in our conversation it is important that we remain “grounded” and bring to bear the best field research possible on these themes in order to advance a more nuanced understanding.  Consequently, some participants might have a rich and deep understanding of how religious agencies work at the neighborhood level – we want to encourage memos that draw from and reflect on that research.

Research Presentation
In order to further our second goal – to help graduate students develop their research – we will ask that all graduate students present their research in the form of drafts of chapter(s) from a dissertation, a research article, a dissertation prospectus.

Suggested Readings
In order to build our knowledge base of religion and humanitarianism, we will ask that all participants provide some suggested readings.  We will post these suggestions, and, if possible, links to the readings themselves, on this web site.