Junior Year Abroad Network 2006/2007

Religion in Brazil, as in every other place on Earth, plays a central role in shaping the morals and ideals of society, but what we often forget is that the...

I had a hard time thinking of a topic for this letter, because I didn’t want to revisit Catholicism or Islam in France.  But there’s no avoiding...

After studying abroad in Chile for a semester, traipsing around Bolivia and Peru for my summer vacation, and witnessing the profundity and diversity of religious...

Last week, I had the opportunity to hear a former ambassador from the United States to Egypt speak at the American University of Cairo. After addressing his views on a...

In 1948, the National Party of DF Malan won a majority of the seats in the South African parliament. It was an astounding political victory given that the party...

Egyptians are, for the most part, confused about what role religion should have in their everyday life. One of my Professors (a Christian) recently explained her fears...

Could it really be possible that two more months in São Paulo have not dramatically altered my original perspective on religion in Brazil? While I hesitate to...

I am nearly twenty-one years old and the Easter Bunny still visits my house. Twenty years of practice have honed this holiday rabbit’s basket-filling skills to...

When I arrived in Ireland earlier this spring, I expected to be bombarded with news and information about the Northern Ireland conflicts. The religious violence was...

Judging from the official state statistic proclaiming a 99% Muslim majority, few would guess the rich history of religious plurality lingering in this land's recent...

Global migration fuels the nexus between religion and politics. Living in Europe spring semester, and traveling throughout the region, I have experienced this dynamic...

During the Ottoman Empire, the people of Anatolia defined themselves largely by religion, and those who shared the religion of the ruling family considered themselves...

It was not too long ago when Canal +, a public television channel in France, aired a news segment about Nicolas Sarkozy, current presidential hopeful and then still...

With the 2007 presidential elections fast approaching, France has reached a new point in the debate on laïcité—the country's version of separation...

To imagine South African society is an exercise in thinking in parallels, recognizing the inherent duality which results from centuries of rule under a regime which...

Walking along a ridgeline that parallels Table Mountain, the majestic mountain around which Cape Town furls itself, I came across something most unexpected. It was a...

In the random draw for a host family in Lyon, France, I was given a very devout Catholic family with four grown children and one still at home. My host mother, who...

This past Friday, I visited the great Al-Azhar Mosque, part of what the guidebooks here call “Islamic Cairo.” Egyptians are easily amused by the title; the...

A taxi driver recently told me that the United States is the foremost driver of splitting people apart utilizing religion as a force. “Look at us here in...

In Turkey, the call to prayer projects from the minarets in the largest city to the tiniest town. The muezzin's amplified voice comes filtering into my dreams at 5 am...