“Towards ‘the Dignity of Difference’:

Neither ‘the Clash of Civilizations’ nor ‘the End of History’”


University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

October 2-4, 2009


Conference Panels


(Please note that conference program may be subject to change)


Friday Evening (October 02, 2009) – Old Arts Building, University of Alberta


5:00-7:00 Reception and Dinner (Private Function)


Opening Keynote Event:

Convocation Hall, Old Arts Building

7:00-8:00 Opening remarks and musical performance:

Al-Kurd by Professor Michael Frishkopf (Dept of Music). Performed by:

* Dr. Ashraf El-Assaly, oud

* Nadir Bellahmer, violin

* Steven Byrne, frame drum

* Dr. Michael Frishkopf, nay"


8:00-9:00 Keynote Address:

Chair: Thomas Keating (Professor and Vice Dean of the Faculty of Arts, University of Alberta)


• Benjamin R. Barber (Distinguished Senior Fellow at Demos and President of CivWorld, USA):
Talk title: History is not over, but! .... A Need for Global Governance

           Video



Saturday (October 03, 2009) – Lister Center, University of Alberta


9:00 – 10:00: Keynote Address

Maple Leaf Room, Lister Center

Chair: Janine Brodie (Professor and Canada Research Chair, University of Alberta)


• Robert Cox: (Distinguished Professor emeritus of political science at York University, Canada):
Talk title: Consciousness and Civilization: the inside Story

Video


Saturday Morning Panels (10:15: 12:15)



Panel 1: ‘The End of the West’?

Saturday (10:15 am: 12:30 pm)

Maple Leaf Room, Lister Center


• Chair: Lois Harder (Associate Professor and Graduate Chair, Department of Political Science - University of Alberta)


Hamid Dabashi (Columbia University, USA): The End of the West and the Birth of the First

Postcolonial Person


Joshua Castellino (Middlesex University, UK): The End of Liberal State and the First Terrorist


Robert Nichols (University of Alberta, Canada): The Conditions of Liberty and the New Civilizational Discourse

            Video


Panel 2: Difference and Dialogue in Global Politics

Saturday (10:15 am: 12:15 pm)

Aurora Room, Lister Center


• Chair: Judith Garber (Associate Professor at Political Science Department, and

Chair of Centre for Constitutional Studies – University of Alberta)


•Vesselin Popovski (United Nations University, Japan): Dignity of Difference and the United

Nations


Yuri Stoyanov (University of London, UK): De-Apocalypticizing the Differences and the End of History


Abrahim H. Khan (Trinity College, University of Toronto, Canada): The Interplay between

Religion and Mainstream International Diplomacy

            Video


12:30-1:15 LUNCH


Saturday: Afternoon Panels (1:30-3:30)



Panel 3: Beyond Exceptionalism; Towards Dialogue?

Saturday (1:30-3:30)

Maple Leaf Room, Lister Center


• Chair: Don Carmichael (Associate Professor, Department of Political Science –

University of Alberta)


• Mustafa Abu Sway (Al-Quds University, Jerusalem): Constructing civilizational dialogue,

Deconstructing grand narratives of conflicts


• Amira Sonbol (Georgetown University, School of Foreign Service, USA): Beyond Exceptionalism: Is a Common History Possible?


Peyman Vahabzadeh (University of Victoria, Canada): Oblivion of Origins: On Hegemonic

Universals and Hybrid Civilizations

            Video



Panel 4: Cosmopolitan Political Theory of Dialogue?

Saturday (1:30-3:30)

Aurora Room, Lister Center


• Chair: David Kahane (Associate Professor, and Vargo Distinguished Teaching

Chair, Department of Political Science - University of Alberta)


Paul Rowe (Trinity Western University, Canada): Coexist: religion, civil society and global order


Jakeet Singh (University of Toronto, Canada): Violence, Religion, and the Politics of Post-secularism

James Lawson (University of Victoria, Canada): The Coexistence of ‘Umran’ and the Improvement Epic of Settler Societies

            Video


2:30 – 3:30: 4th Annual Hurtig Lecture (Myer Horowitz Theatre, Students' Union Building)

Neil Macdonald (CBC News): "Them and Us: Nationalism's Dangerous Attraction"



AFTERNOON BREAK


Saturday: Afternoon Panels (3:45-5:45)



Panel 5: A Clash of Civilizations? Israel-Palestine in Context

Saturday (3:45-5:45)

Maple Leaf Room, Lister Center


• Chair: Yasmeen Abu-Laban Yasmeen Abu-Laban (Professor and Research Chair, Department

of Political Science - University of Alberta)


• Ghada Hashem Talhami (Professor emerita, Lake Forest College, USA): Terrorism Across

Nations


• Mustafa Abu Sway (Al-Quds University, Jerusalem): How to end the Israeli occupation?

Dialogue, Negotiations, or Unilateralism?


• Ben White (Freelance journalist, UK): Dialogue and resistance – mutually exclusive or

parallel tracks? Global civil society engages with Palestine/Israel.


• Franke Wilmer (Montana State University, USA): Identities and Interests in Making War,

States, and Peace: A Constructivist's View of the Israel-Palestine

            Video




Panel 6: Clash within Civilizations?

Saturday (3:45-5:45)

Aurora Room, Lister Center


• Chair: Julian Castro-Rea (Associate Professor, Department of Political Science –

University of Alberta)


Hochang Hassn-Yari (Royal Military College, Canada): Clashology within Islam: not civilizational but political


Mekere Stewart-Harawira (University of Alberta, Canada): Indigenous Peoples and International relations at the End of Empire

            Video



6:00-7:00 DINNER BREAK


7:15 – 8:15: Keynote Address:

Maple Leaf Room, Lister Center

Chair: Ibrahim Abu-Rabi (Professor and Chair in Islamic Studies, University of Alberta)


• Hassan Hanafi (Cairo University, Egypt)

Talk Title: Cultures, in Conflict or Dialogue? Alternative Models

            Video




Sunday (October 04, 2009) – Lister Center, University of Alberta



9:00 - 10:00: Keynote Address:

Maple Leaf Room, Lister Center

Chair: David Goa (Director of The Chester Ronning Centre for the Study of Religion and Public Life - University of Alberta)


• Fred Dallmayr (Packey J. Dee Distinguished Professor, Departments of Philosophy and

Political Science, University of Notre Dame, USA):

Talk title: Dialogue among Faiths: The Dignity of Religious Difference

          Video




Sunday: Morning Panels (10:15-12:30)



Panel 7: Iran 2009: "Dignity of Revolt"

Sunday (10:15 am: 12:30 pm)

Maple Leaf Room, Lister Center


• Chair: Laurie Adkin (Associate Professor, Department of Political Science –

University of Alberta)


• Hamid Dabashi (Columbia University, USA): The Crisis of an Islamic Republic


• Ramin Jahanbegloo (University of Toronto, Canada): The Gandhian Moment in Iran


• Mojtaba Mahdavi (University of Alberta): The Ahmadinejad Phenomenon: The Rise and

Crisis of Iran’s Neoconservatives

            Video




Panel 8: Resistance, Terror, and Religion

Sunday (10:15 am: 12:30 pm)

Aurora Room, Lister Center


• Chair: Malinda Smith (Associate Professor, Department of Political Science –

University of Alberta)


• Roger van Zwanenberg (Sussex University Alumni and Managing Director of Pluto Press,

UK): Civilization, Empire and History: Resistance, Terror and Religion


Tanya Narozhna (University of Winnipeg, Canada): In the name of the cause: plural

pathways to female suicide terrorism


Zachary Devereaux (Ryerson/York University, Canada): A Comparative Analysis of the

Framing of Terrorism in Online News under the George W. Bush and Barak H. Obama Administrations: from Clash to Dialogue?

            Video


12:30-1:15 LUNCH



Sunday: Afternoon Panels (1:30-3:30)



Panel 9: Rethinking Civilizationist Discourse: Beyond Dialogue among Civilizations

Sunday (1:30-3:30)

Maple Leaf Room, Lister Center


• Chair: Andy Knight (Professor and Chair, Political Science, University of Alberta)


Walther Lichem (Former Austrian Ambassador to Canada): Capacity for otherness in pluri-identity societies


Ramin Jahanbegloo (University of Toronto, Canada): Transcending the Clash of Cultures: The Search for Common Shared Values


Aloka Parasher-Sen (University of Alberta): Negotiating Plurality – The Indian Civilization

Perspective


Siavash Saffari (University of Alberta): Prerequisites for Dialogue: Subaltern counterpublic

as the 'site of radical possibilities'

            Video




Panel 10: Justice and Difference

Sunday (1:30-3:30)

Aurora Room, Lister Center


• Chair: Rob Aitken (Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science –

University of Alberta)


• Mokhtar Lamani (Moroccan diplomat, Former Ambassador of the Arab League to Iraq, visiting IDRC, senior fellow at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, Waterloo, Canada): The Extinction of Iraqi Minorities: Challenge or Catastrophe?


Tracey O’Reilly (Grant MacEwan College, Canada): A Clash of Civilizations or a Clash of

Perceptions? Divergent Views on Democracy between “The West and the rest”

            Video



AFTERNOON BREAK


3:45: 5:00: Keynote Address:

Maple Leaf Room, Lister Center


Chair: Malinda Smith (Associate Professor, Department of Political Science –

University of Alberta)


• Akbar Ganji (Iranian journalist and political activist)

Talk Title: Iran and the West: Confrontation or Dialogue?

            Video

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