CITIES AND FUNDAMENTALISMS: A CONFERENCE
November 30, 2007
9:00 A.M. - 5:00 P.M.
WURSTER AUDITORIUM

In partnership with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS), CMES presents a joint research project to examine "Cities and Fundamentalism." This collaboration will undertake a serious study of the intellectual and practical challenges posed by fundamentalist groups, movements, and organizations with a special but not exclusive focus on religious ones with the intent of understanding how they are affected by the urban condition and how they affect the urban landscape. The project encourages disciplinary and interdisciplinary scholarship pertaining to popular religious movements that works at the intersection of urban studies and identity studies.

CONFERENCE CONVENERS:
Nezar AlSayyad, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of California at Berkeley
Blair Ruble, Comparative Urban Studies Project (CUSP), Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington. D.C.

PROGRAM:
9:00-9:30 am Welcoming Remarks: Nezar AlSayyad, UC Berkeley
Cities and Fundamentalisms: Introductory Remarks

PANEL 1:
Chair: Raka Ray, UC Berkeley
9:30-9:50 am Salwa Ismail, University of Exeter, U.K.
Locating and Dislocating Islamism: Globalization, the City and Islamist Politics
9:50-10:10 am Arvind Rajagopal, New York University
The press in Ahmedabad and Hindu-Muslim violence
10:10-10:30 am Rhys Williams, University of Cincinnati
Symbolic Boundaries, Urban Space, and Religious Identities
10:30-11:00 am Discussion
11:00-11:30 am Break

PANEL II:
Chair: Nezar AlSayyad, UC Berkeley
11:30-11:50 pm Mona Harb, American University of Beirut, Lebanon
Space Matters for Islamists: The Case of Hezbollah in Beirut
11:50-12:10 pm Mrinalini Rajagopalan, New York University
Urban Histories and Fundamentalist Fantasies: Situating Delhi within the Rhetorical Landscape of Hindutva 1
12:10-12:30 pm Oren Yiftachel, Ben Gurion University, Israel
Abraham's Urban Footsteps: Political Geography and Religious Radicalism in Israel/Palestine
12:30-1:00 pm Discussion
1:00-2:30 pm Break

PANEL III:
Chair: Emily Gottreich, UC Berkeley
2:30-2:50 pm John Voll, Georgetown University
Sudanese Islamic Fundamentalism: Urban Religious Cosmopolitanism and Modernity
2:50-3:10 pm Renu Desai, University of California at Berkeley
Frictions in a Communalized City: Hindutva Politics and the Contemporary Urban Condition in Ahmedabad, India
3:10-3:30 pm Haim Yacobi, Ben Gurion University, Israel
Fundamentalism and the Israeli Built Environment: Reflections on Power, Identity and Place
3:30-4:00 pm Discussion

General Discussion with Discussants:
4:00-5:00 pm
Ananya Roy, UC Berkeley
Minoo Moallem, UC Berkeley

5:00-6:00 pm Reception at the Faculty Club, Howard Room

This conference is co-sponsored by the International Association for the Study of Traditional Environments (IASTE), and the Middle East Program (MEP) and the Comparative Urban Studies Project (CUSP) of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars (WWICS).