Berkley Center for Religion, Peace and World Affairs Student Programs Annual Report 2020-2021

In the Political Status of the Amerindian Subject (SPAN 307), Borowitz explored the debates around the intellectual capacity and political status of the Amerindians in the Spanish Empire through various historical, religious, and legal texts from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Students in Dante’s Afterlife in Popular Culture (ITAL 383), taught by Ciabattoni, read selected cantos from Dante’s Divine Comedy and explored its rewritings and adaptations in popular and global cultures including literature, comics, cinema, rock/pop songs, television, and the visual arts.

Corrigan’s Writing to be Heard (ENGL 288) considered crucial questions of elitism, identity politics, and the balkanization of popular discourse in relation to the role of the public intellectual. Students explored selected moments in twentieth-century American cultural criticism, as well as the practice of writing accessible yet rigorous criticism.

Designed as an introduction to ecumenism and its relationship to Protestant Black churches, the Black Churches and Ecumenism (THEO 049), taught by Goines, examined the mosaic of the American pluralist religious scene by honing in on the different ethical approaches that exist within the ecumenical movement.

Lefebure’s Christian Theology in Asia (THEO 146) explored the issues of religious diversity that Asian Christians face and examined how Christian theologians in Asia interpret Christian faith in relation to many different religious traditions, as well as differing religious, political, societal, economic, and social challenges.

In Black Equity, Black Equality: Race and Racism in the Criminal Justice System (AFAM 406), Patterson examined anti-Black racism within the criminal justice system to consider whether racial equity within the criminal justice system is even possible, focusing on how anti-Black racism governs law, policy, and policing.

Ranjan’s Performing Migration (TPST 235) explored questions of borders, nationalism, and security made real through performative acts. Through a combination of classroom discussion and hands-on performance work, students considered the social and political issues of modern migration.

In Global Justice/The Environment (PHIL 435), Táíwò focused on an ongoing, deeply contentious, and quickly moving subject: climate change, and accordingly, climate justice. Students conducted collaborative research projects on relating community-scale climate action to global-scale climate targets.

Students in Wang’s Asia/America (ARTH 469) examined art and design produced by people of Asian descent in the Americas, broadly defined, from the mid-nineteenth century to the present day through a transnational lens. The class foregrounded labor, capitalism, U.S. imperialism, and war as defining characteristics of Asian American art.

Belser’s Judaism and Gender (THEO 066) examined how gender has shaped Jewish culture and religious practice throughout history. Students explored the construction of gender in the rabbinic period and considered modern transformations in Jewish life.

My paper examined the extent to which climate change, economics, and environmental degradation played a role in Rohingya migration, advocating that international law expand to protect refugees impacted by any of these aspects. 

Read more about Bereday’s project.

I attempted to answer whether India’s fundamental pillars of democracy, secularism, and the protection of minority rights will fade as a direct result of the Bharatiya Janata Party’s rise to power and the accompanying force of Hindu nationalism.

Read more about Chandra’s project.

My paper examined the historic role of Our Lady of Charity in Cuba across different populations, including those of Afro-Cuban, mixed-race, and white descent—as well as revolutionaries and more recently, exiles. 

Read more about Coromina’s project.

In this project, I sought to answer three core questions: What was the role of the Catholic Church in the Rwandan genocide? How has its role affected the Church’s post-genocide reconciliation efforts? What can be learned from this case about the influence of religious institutions in both conflict and conflict resolution? 

Read more about Cureton’s project.

My project explored the role of faith-based organizations (FBOs) as responders to the Syrian refugee crisis in Lebanon, asking broader questions about the ways in which FBOs can ensure that aid is universal, impartial, and compliant with the humanitarian imperative all while maintaining their religious characters. 

Read more about Kyriazis’s project.

In my REWA project, I explored how Persian Jews view their relationship with Israel, and how Jewish communities practice their religion in Iran despite efforts by the government to stunt the religion. I also examined how the actions of the Iranian government square with teachings of religious freedom in Islam.

Read more about McGrail’s project.

I examined the different ways in which the Catholic Church approaches the issue of abortion in South Africa and in the United States, suggesting how issues of religious controversy might be more informed by political—rather than religious—context.

Read more about Moffatt’s project.

My paper explored how the leaders of three prominent Eastern European countries—Hungary, Poland, and Ukraine—have employed religion as a means of propagating their parties’ platforms and amassing popular support. 

Read more about Murphy’s project.

In my REWA project, I aimed to address two questions: How did ISIS select and interpret sacred texts to theologically rationalize sexual violence? How did ISIS use rape, sex, and power over women for recruitment? 

Read more about Rocha’s project.

My project studied the roots of sectarian conflict in the modern Middle East, examining how much of it is theologically or politically derived, and how novel a challenge it is. It also examined measures that could be taken to bridge the gap between sectarian rivals, focusing on issues from regional economic cooperation to religious diplomacy.

Read more about Shapiro’s project.

“The experience of living as a Pakistani in Qatar has taught me that religious differences do not only manifest in the practice of different religions but are also heavily affected by the history and dominant ideology of each place, even in the everyday practices of the same religion.” 

Read Malik’s full reflection.

“I have taken away so much from the process, looked at things through finer lenses than I did before, and I’m continuing to do that. DGD is a wholesome experience, one that I keep recommending everyone to do because of everything that we learn while doing it.”

Read Mutare’s full reflection.

“The contribution of other DGD participants to the fruitful discussions was vital in terms of its impact on the formation of my cultural understanding. As I reflect on the past four months, I had a great opportunity to learn more about intercultural and interracial differences while exploring the experiences of DGD participants and my own.” 

Read Khujametov’s full reflection.

“When I started the Doyle Global Dialogue program, what I thought of as norms were mainly vague concepts and ideas from both Egypt and Qatar, considering I was raised in both countries…What I used to consider ‘different’—and how that slowly changed into the acceptance of differences—became clearer to me.”

Read Darwish’s full reflection.

Hatfield examined the educational impact of COVID-19 on the Partnership in Education (PiE) program at St. Xavier’s College in Kathmandu, Nepal. Her research, conducted in partnership with Rohil Kulkarni (SFS’21), focuses on socioeconomic hardships, especially the lack of access to online connectivity, and how the PiE program sought to address the digital divide.

Kulkarni examined the educational impact of COVID-19 on the Partnership in Education (PiE) program at St. Xavier’s College in Kathmandu, Nepal. His research, conducted in partnership with Tierra Hatfield (G’22), focuses on socioeconomic hardships, especially the lack of access to online connectivity, and how the PiE program sought to address the digital divide.

Stanford partnered with the University of Antonio Ruiz de Montoya (La Ruiz) in Lima, Peru, to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic impacts students, faculty, staff, and the larger community. Her research aims to better understand how La Ruiz is responding to this global health crisis and what effects those choices are having on the university and its community.

Villadolid worked with her high school alma mater, St. Ignatius College Preparatory School in San Francisco, California, looking at their Magis Center for Equity and Inclusion. Her project is focused on assisting the Magis Center, along with other Jesuit service-related bodies, in centering racial justice in their programming, as well as spotlighting communities who have benefited from Magis Center programming.