Colloque : « Religious conversion and commitment » — Sciences Po CERI (Paris), 7-8 décembre 2023
07/12/2023 ▸ 08/12/2023 
08:30 ▸ 12:45 Face-to-face event
Religious conversion and commitment
Venue: Room G009, rez-de-chaussée, 28 rue des Saints-Pères – 75007 Paris
Leaving behind theories conceiving of religious conversion as a sudden “shock” (Focant, 2012), it is nowadays admitted in academic literature that conversion should be regarded as a process. The latter comprises mainly the ways in which converts “encounter” their new religion, how they integrate into their new community of believers, as well as the lasting consequences of their conversion on their secondary socialization (Le Pape, 2015). Yet, conversion remains a multi-faceted phenomenon, that could also be regarded as a form of commitment (in French, engagement) of the individuals taking part in this process. This specific way of conceptualizing religious conversion will be at the core of this conference. The papers presented will be organized along four complementary axes:
1) Conversion as individual commitment
2) Aesthetics and religious conversion
3) Conversion as activism
4) (de)Conversion and disengagement
This conference is part of the events of the Chaire d’Études sur le Fait Religieux at CERI, co-directed by Alain Dieckhoff and Stéphane Lacroix. It is organized with the support of the Bureau Central des Cultes (BCC). The Chair is supported by Groupe Bayard.
Conference program
1st day: 07/12/2023
8:30am – Welcoming the participants and the audience
9am – Presentation of the conference by Alain Dieckhoff, Stéphane Lacroix and Julien Argoud
9:30 am – Nancy Venel, Université Lumière Lyon-2, Triangle – « It really was Islam that led me to Christ! ». Trajectory analysis of former Muslims who have become Christians.
Discussion by Juliette Galonnier, Sciences Po, CERI
10:15 am – Federico Biasca, Université de Fribourg, Centre Suisse Islam et Société – The challenge of “becoming Muslim” within Islamic associations. The example of Latin Switzerland.
Discussion by Aziz Hlaoua, Université Mohammed V, Rabat, IURS
11 am – Coffee break
11:30 am – Juliette Galonnier, Sciences Po, CERI – The varieties of coming out: announcing one’s conversion to Islam in France and the United States.
Discussion by Omar McRoberts, University of Chicago, department of sociology
12:15 am – Fatiha Kaouès, EPHE, GSRL – Being Christian in Algeria: between recognition and “strangeness”
Discussion by: Julien Argoud (Sciences Po, CERI)
1 pm – Lunch break
II – Conversion as activism
2:30 pm – Stefano Allievi, Università degli studi di Padova, FISPPA – Changing religion to change the world. Militants and activists converted to Islam: from right-wing and left-wing extremist in the Eighties to foreign fighters for the Islamic State. Anything in common?
Discussion by Haifaa Jawad, University of Birmingham, Department of Theology and Religion
3:15 pm – Esra Özyürek, University of Cambridge, Faculty of Divinity – Converting Muslim Masculinity: Patriarchy and Christianity in German Immigrant Integration.
Discussion by Nancy Venel, Université Lumière Lyon-2, Triangle
4pm – Coffee break
4:45 pm – Aziz Hlaoua, Université Mohammed V, Rabat, IURS – Human and knowledge mobility. A case study of international converts within Qadiriya- Butchichiya in Morocco.
Discussion by Kamal Feriali, Université Hassan II, Casablanca, département de sociologie
5:30 pm – Haifaa Jawad, University of Birmingham, Department of Theology and Religion – Zaid Shakir: A Convert advocating traditional Islam as a means to counter radicalism and achieve social justice.
Discussion by Federico Biasca, Université de Fribourg, Centre Suisse Islam et Société
6:15 pm – End of the first day of the conference
2nd day: 08/12/2023
9 am – Welcoming the participants and the audience
III – Aesthetics and religious conversion
9:30 am – Omar McRoberts, University of Chicago, department of sociology – Aesthetics of Conversion in African-American Narratives of Individual and Collective Redemption.
Discussion by Fatiha Kaouès, EPHE GSRL
10:15 am – Julien Argoud, Sciences Po, CERI – The role of “aesthetics” in the trajectory of Christian converts from Islam in France.
Discussion by Stefano Allievi, Università degli studi di Padova, FISPPA
11 am – Coffee break
11:30 am – Kamal Feriali, Université Hassan II, Casablanca, département de sociologie – This is the Lamb who vanquishes entropy: An academic’s journey into postmodern Catholicism.
Discussion by Julien Argoud, Sciences Po, CERI
12:15 am – Conclusion of the conference
À retrouver sur le site de Sciences Po
OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
Chargé de diffusion scientifique (4 décembre 2023). Colloque : « Religious conversion and commitment » — Sciences Po CERI (Paris), 7-8 décembre 2023. IISMM. Consulté le 16 septembre 2024 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/q390
