www.cumberlandlodge.ac.uk/movingbeyond

www.cumberlandlodge.ac.uk/movingbeyond

Challenging Discourses of Religious Otherness and Building a More Inclusive Society

Cumberland Lodge ,Windsor Great Park, Monday 1st June 2015

Conference on defining current problems and on providing potential ways to resolve challenges associated with the following debates:

  • Citizenship: How does religion and interfaith relations impact on political participation?

  • Education: How can education act as a vehicle for bridging the ‘us’ and ‘them’ divide?

  • Employment: How does religion affect (un)employment experiences and/or workplace interactions?

Current political and social events such as the Communities Secretary’s questioning of the compatibility of Islam with the British identity, the on-going Syria crisis, ‘Trojan Horse’ schools controversy and the debate over the failure of multiculturalism have made religious differences a contentious issue in UK public and political debates. Religious differences have increased fear of religious ‘others’. Dialogue between and within groups becomes increasingly important to promote a peaceful society based on mutual respect and cross-cultural understanding. It is even more important in contemporary societies where assumptions about the ‘other’ result in labelling and categorisation, leading to feelings of injustice, socio-economic inequalities and religious tensions.
With this in mind, the Moving Beyond ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ conference, hosted by Cumberland Lodge in Great Windsor Park on 1st June 2015, aims to provide a forum to challenge the ‘us’ and ‘them’ divide – which is not a simple binary, but rather a complex relationship in which religion intersects with many other social divisions. Participants will discuss possibilities for reducing social divisions within and across groups as well as opportunities to build a more inclusive society in which the voices of Muslim and other minority religious groups are not simply heard, but also understood on equal terms to the majority religious and secular groups.


This one-day event will take an interdisciplinary approach, bringing together academics and students from the social sciences and humanities, as well as practitioners whose work deals with issues of social cohesion.

Monday 1st June 2015
For further information visit our webpage : www.cumberlandlodge.ac.uk/movingbeyond

If you have any questions, you are welcome to contact the Organising Committee at movingbeyond@cumberlandlodge.ac.uk
Follow us on Twitter: @BeyondUvT Tweet about us: #beyondUvT
The Organising Committee

www.cumberlandlodge.ac.uk/movingbeyond

www.cumberlandlodge.ac.uk/movingbeyond

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