Culture(s) and Conflict(s), Culture(s) in Conflict: Religious Issues in the English-speaking World.
Oxford, Jesus College, 7-8 September 2007

The process of migration clearly fosters interfaces, both exchanges and confrontations between cultures whose boundaries consequently sharpen or blur. While intercultural contacts can bring about convergence, they may also reveal divergences, differences and oppositions which can give rise to conflict, a phenomenon inherent to the functioning of societies throughout the centuries.

The double title of this conference suggests two possible approaches to the connection between culture(s) and conflict(s) :
- on the one hand, one may focus on the relationship between culture(s) and conflict(s), that is to say the way people analyse conflict(s) according to their own cultural background : in other words, the way conflict is presented, interpreted, echoed ;
- on the other hand, conflict may be considered as a clash between cultures and the emphasis will be laid on the origins of conflict, its means of expression, its significance, its consequences.
One may also ponder the possible conjunction of the two approaches, whenever an individual, or a group of individuals, is simultaneously the actor and the observer of conflict.

Because religion has always been such an integral part of people’s lives, it has also always been a integral part of many conflicts. For this conference, papers will be accepted from a wide variety of disciplines: theology, history, anthropology, ethnology, sociology, psycho-sociology, political science, economics, literature, linguistics.

This conference will examine the interplay between religion and conflict:
- conflict between religions
- conflict within religions
- the religious interpretation of conflicts as well as the interpretation of religious conflicts
- religions conflicting with socio-cultural choices or as a vector of socio-cultural choices
- religion as a socio-cultural filter
- religion conflicting with other means of or filters for perceiving the world
- the representation of conflict(s) as a source of conflict.
- the representation of conflict in religion(s)

For this multidisciplinary conference, papers will be accepted from a wide variety of disciplines. In the field of area studies, theology, history, anthropology, ethnology, sociology, psycho-sociology, political science and economics will be useful theoretical tools to study, on the one hand, the various cultural approaches to conflicts (analysis, representations, interpretations), or, on the other hand, the genesis of conflicts. In literature, the dual approach « Culture(s) and conflict(s), cultures in conflict » is fully justified. On the one hand, the relating of conflicts is conditioned by the narrator’s culture; on the other hand, novels, drama and poetry provide ample space for intercultural conflict in any culture.
In linguistics, languages will be studied both as conflicting objects and as vectors of conflict, via the analysis of texts and discourses.

Although the conference focuses on the English-speaking world, comparative perspectives will also be very welcome.

Paper proposals should be sent in one-page abstract form in English, together with 5 keywords, to Pr Valérie Peyronel (peyronel@univ-paris12.fr) by no later than April 15, 2007. The proposals will be peer-reviewed and authors will be notified of acceptance by no later than April 30.

Organised by the CRPA research group (Culture and Religion in the English-Speaking World),created in 1976 at the University of Paris XII. Following the restructuring process of public research in France, the CRPA is now part of a larger Paris XII University registered research team, IMAGER EA3958 (Institut du Monde Anglophone, Germanique et Roman).