Religion in Los Angeles,

Religion in the Americas,

Religion in the Era of Globalization

March 6: California State University, Los Angeles

March 7: Claremont School of Theology

This symposium explored a number of interrelated ways in which the multiple communities of twenty-first century Los Angeles navigate religious identities. How, for instance, does religion function as a marker of ethnic/cultural identity in the context of L.A.'s diasporic diversity? Can individuals modify, change, or reject a religious identity without at the same time challenging or abandoning the correlated ethnic identity?

Does religious diversity, in turn, enhance or undermine multicultural dialogue and co-existence? How is religion portrayed in the media? Who defines the place of religion in public life? What challenges and opportunities does religious diversity provide to political life in Los Angeles, the Americas, and the broader global context?

Symposium Schedule

March 6: Cal State L.A.

Golden Eagle Building, 3^rd Floor Ballroom

Religion & Migration; Hybrid &Transnational Religious Identities;

Religion in the Public Media

9:00-9:30 Continental Breakfast

9:30-10:15 Immigrant Religions Engage American Society: A Panel Discussion

Karen Jo Torjesen, Margo L. Goldsmith Professor of Women’s Studies and Dean of

The School of Religion, Claremont Graduate University

Anis F. Ahmed, Bureau of Islamic and Arabic Education (BIAE)

Shazia Kamal, Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)

10:15-11:00 Decolonizing the Local: Rethinking the Politics of Religion in Los Angeles

Joe Parker, Associate Professor, International and Intercultural Studies

Pitzer College

11:00-11:15 Break

11:15-12:00 Selena and the Politics of Cultural Redemption

Gaston Espinosa, Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies

Claremont McKenna College

12:00-2:00 Lunch

2:00-2:45 Religiosity in Asian America: Spiritual Vitality, Secularism and Racialization

Russell Jeung, Associate Professor of Asian Studies

San Francisco State University

2:45-3:30 Constructing Prophetic Activism in the Borderlands

Helene Slessarev-Jamir, Mildred M. Hutchinson Professor of Urban Ministries

Claremont School of Theology

3:30-3:45 Break

3:45-4:30 Roundtable Discussion

Moderated by Scott Wells, Assistant Professor of History and Director of Religious Studies

California State University Los Angeles

March 7: Claremont School of Theology

Haddon Conference Center (Butler Ecumenical Building)

Religion as a Marker of Cultural/Ethnic Identity;

Religion, Politics, & International Relations; Religion on Film

9:00-9:30 Continental Breakfast

9:30-10:15 The Role of Religion for New Immigrants in Los Angeles

Donald Miller, Leonard K. Firestone Professor of Religion

University of Southern California

10:15-11:00 Mexicano/Chicano Public Ritual: Reciprocity, Community, and

Spiritual Realism

Lara Medina, Associate Professor of Chicano and Chicana Studies,

California State University, Northridge

11:00-11:15 Break

11:15-12:00 Postwar Urban Transformations and the Origins of Liberal Christianity’s

Engagement with the War on Poverty

Mark Wild, Associate Professor of History

California State University, Los Angeles

12:00-2:00 Lunch

2:00-2:45 The Altar and the Screen: Filmmaking and Worldmaking

S. Brent Rodriguez Plate, Associate Professor of Religion and the Visual Arts

Texas Christian University

2:45-3:30 The Role of Religion in the U.S. - Iran Confrontation

Afshin Matin-asgari, Associate Professor of History and Religious Studies

California State University, Los Angeles

3:30-3:45 Break

3:45-4:30 Roundtable Discussion

Moderated by Karen Jo Torjesen, Margo L. Goldsmith Professor of Women’s Studies

and Dean of The School of Religion, Claremont Graduate University