Are you interested in religion and international studies?
Dr H A Hellyer, a BISA member, senior associate fellow at the Royal United Services Institute in London and the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC, is looking to convene a new BISA working group - Religion and International Studies (RAIS).
Dr Hellyer explained:
"It is clear that religion is an important factor in understanding how events unfold in the world of international studies, and no less so than in recent years. Potential topics of interest might be studies around security, where religious minorities are targeted owing to their religious affiliation; it might be in terms of how terrorist groups claim to justify their attacks against civilians; it might be in terms of how axes of power in different regions view their roles in the world. Irrespectively, it is clear religion matters. We run a great risk in failing to understand precisely how religion matters - and how, indeed, it does not, where it is used as an excuse to problematise religious communities. This group within BISA will be a platform to discuss and tease out some of these tensions, and to build on such discussions for publications, events and further activities going forward".
If you would be interested in joining this group, please subscribe to the new RAIS mailing list in the first instance. New BISA working groups require a minimum of 20 BISA member participants in order to be approved.
