MIDDLEBURY, Vt. - On Friday, April 20, and Saturday, April 21, a Middlebury College conference titled “Muslims and the State in the Post-9/11 West” will take place at the Rohatyn Center for International Affairs, located in the Robert A. Jones ‘59 House on Hillcrest Road off College Street (Route 125). The conference will explore post-9/11 issues in North America and Europe, such as the effect of homeland security measures on Muslim communities, and the dynamics between Muslim minorities and other groups in a variety of countries.

The speakers for the conference comprise an international group of leading scholars whose primary focus is on the effects of post-9/11 policies on immigrant integration.

The lecturers include: Ihsan Bagby, an associate professor of Islamic studies at the University of Kentucky, whose research for the last 10 years has focused on Muslims in North America; John Bowen, a professor of anthropology at Washington University who studies problems of pluralism, law, and religion; Frank Buijs, a political scientist and anthropologist at the University of Amsterdam’s Institute of Migration and Ethnic Studies; Christian Joppke, a professor of sociology at the American University in Paris; Riva Kastoryano, professor of political science and sociology at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and Sciences Po in Paris; Jytte Klausen, an associate professor of political science at Brandeis University; and Shamit Saggar, a professor of political science at the University of Sussex and former senior policy advisor in the Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit.

Also speaking will be Maurits van der Veen, an assistant professor in the School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Georgia; Mark Carroll, a senior civil servant in the Department for Communities and Local Government in Britain; Paul Statham, a  professor of political sociology at the University of Bristol and a principal researcher for the “LocalMultiDem” multicultural democracy project; Tariq Modood, director of the University Research Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship at the University of Bristol;Baroness Kishwer Falkner, a Liberal Democrat Peer in the United Kingdom’s House of Lords; Geneive Abdo, a senior analyst for the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies; Peter Mandaville, director of the Center for Global Studies at George Mason University; David Low, a former National Intelligence Officer for Transnational Threats; and Cem Oezdemir, a member of European Parliament in Germany.

Erik Bleich, an associate professor of political science at Middlebury College, will provide overview commentary. The speakers will discuss various topics regarding state policies and Muslim community responses in the U.S., Britain, France, Germany and the Netherlands.

For more information, contact Assistant Director of the Rohatyn Center for International Affairs Charlotte Tate at 802-443-5795 or tate@middlebury.edu.

To follow is a schedule of the lecture topics:


“Muslims and the State in the Post-9/11 West”
April 20-21

All events will take place at the Rohatyn Center for International Affairs, located in the Robert A. Jones ‘59 House on Hillcrest Road off College Street (Route 125)

Friday, April 20

9:45 a.m.
Welcoming Remarks

  • Sunder Ramaswamy, acting dean of the faculty at Middlebury
  • Erik Bleich, associate professor of political science at Middlebury

10 a.m.-noon
Responding to Threats of Terrorism
How are states responding to increased threats of terrorism in the post-9/11 era? What homeland security policies have they developed, and how have these affected Muslim communities? What factors influence the nature of anti-terrorist and homeland security policies in different countries?

Lecturers: 
“Policy Responses to Extremism and Extremist Sympathizers,” Shamit Saggar, University of Sussex

“Framing Anti-terrorism Policies: Debates in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands,” Maurits van der Veen, University of Georgia

“Counter-Terrorism After 7/7: Adapting Community-Policing to the Fight Against Domestic Terrorism,” Jytte Klausen, Brandeis University

Comments:


Mark Carroll, Director of Race, Cohesion and Faith for the Department for Communities and Local Government in the United Kingdom

1:30-3:30 p.m.
Civic Integration of Muslims

How have immigrant integration policies changed since 9/11? Has there been a shift toward enforced integration and away from laissez-faire or state-supported multiculturalism? What specific impact have these policies had on Muslims?

Lecturers: 
“Limits of Integration Policy: Britain and her Muslims, ” Christian Joppke, American University in Paris

“Muslims in the Netherlands: Social and Political Developments after 9/11,” Frank Buijs, University of Amsterdam

“Recognizing Islam in France after 9/11,” John Bowen, Washington University

Comments:


Tariq Modood, University of Bristol

4-5:30 p.m.
Muslim Claims-Making vis-à-vis European States
What is the nature of Muslim demands on Western states? Are they different than those of other immigrant or religious minority groups? Are they compatible with standard models of minority claims-making vis-à-vis the state, or do they pose particular challenges in Western Europe?

Lecturers: 
“The Need to Take Religion Seriously for Understanding Multicultural Controversies,” Paul Statham, University of Bristol

“Muslims, Religious Equality, and Secularism,” Tariq Modood, University of Bristol

Comments:


Baroness Kishwer Falkner, House of Lords, UK

Saturday, April 21

9-10:30 a.m.
Muslims in the United States
How has the United States responded to its domestic Muslim community? What are the opportunities and limitations of policymaking in the institutionally fragmented U.S., as compared to its more centralized European counterparts? How are Muslims responding to homeland security policies in the post-9/11 United States?

Lecturers: 
“The American Mosque in Transition: Assimilation, Acculturation and Isolation,” Ihsan Bagby, University of Kentucky

“Mecca and Main Street: Muslim Life in America after 9/11,” Geneive Abdo, Gallup organization and journalist

Comments:


Jytte Klausen, Brandeis University

11 a.m.-12:30 p.m.
Transnational Islam

To what extent do Muslim identities in Western democracies transcend national boundaries? How are states responding to the transnational element of some domestic Muslim groups? Is it necessary to focus more on international policymaking and coordination when responding to domestic Muslim communities?

Lecturers: 
“Muslim Transnational Identity and State Responses in the UK after 9/11: Political Community, Ideology and Authority,” Peter Mandaville, George Mason University

“The Policy Implications of Islam as an Imagined International Community,” Riva Kastoryano, CNRS

Comments:


David Low, former National Intelligence Officer for Transnational Threats, the United States National Intelligence Council

2-4 p.m.
Overviews, Conclusions, and Challenges for the Future

  • Erik Bleich, Middlebury College Associate Professor of Political Science
  • Baroness Kishwer Falkner, House of Lords, United Kingdom
  • Cem Oezdemir, Member of European Parliament, Germany
  • Geneive Abdo, Gallup organization and journalist, author of “Mecca and Main Street: Muslim Life in America after 9/11”

For more information, contact Assistant Director of the Rohatyn Center for International Affairs Charlotte Tate at 802-443-5795 or tate@middlebury.edu.