Our working assumption in this year’s school was that empires and nation-states have traditionally presented very different ways of dealing with social, ethnic and religious diversity which have significant implications for the world we live in today. We are now entering a period quite different from that of the “classical” 19th century national state and the problems of a multi-cultural society and the growing diversity of populations (not only in Europe and the USA, but throughout the world and in countries as diverse as Brazil and Bangladesh, India and Indonesia, Korea and Kyrgyzstan, Nigeria and Nicaragua) present new challenges to cooperation and social stability. As is our practice, we explored select dimensions of this development, not solely from the academic but also from the lived, experiential dimensions of the fellows, staff and all involved in the summer school. It remains our firm belief that it is only when the theoretical is deeply embedded within the practical and experiential that we can progress to new understandings and insights.

Our host in Istanbul was Bilgi University. Bilgi University is a private, non-profit institution within the Turkish system of higher education, established in 1996. It seeks to educate free-thinking, creative, intellectually-curious and enterprising individuals and is responsible for providing a basic education for students in a diversity of fields. It fosters open-minded, multi-dimensional ways of thinking within its student body. Bilgi University is a member of the European University Association (EUA), the International Association of Universities (IAU), and the OECD/IMHE (Program on Institutional Management in Higher Education).

As in the past, bringing together people from different backgrounds, countries and religions all with differing commitments, histories and dreams enable us to achieve new insights, not only into issues revolving around State, Ethnos and Religion, but most of all into our own perception of these subjects. The success of the school has always depended on the wide range of people, commitments and views presented. It is only through the intense encounter with the truly different that we are forced to rethink our fundamental assessments and so break-through to new ways of knowing, thinking, feeling; and hence acting as well. The ISSRPL provides a crucial laboratory where we not only see the other and see the other see us, but, perhaps most importantly learn to see ourselves view the other. Through this ongoing challenge and critique of our own deepest beliefs, fears and prejudices, we gain new understandings and new capacities that are then translated into practice upon our return from the school.

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30 June-13 July 2007

30 June (Saturday): ARRIVE Istanbul

• Arrival
• 19:30 Gather for evening / introductions / framing of school
• 21.00 Dinner (after sunset) at hotel

1 July (Sunday): Istanbul (Bilgi)

• 07:30-08:30 Breakfast
• 09:00-11:00 Course 3 (Practicum): Orthodox Church service at the Patriarchal Church in Phanar
• 11:30-12:45 Course 1: “Religion and Society: A Theoretical Framing” Lecturer: Prof. Adam B. Seligman
• 12:45-14:00 Lunch at Bilgi
• 14:00-15:30 Course 2: “A Very Short History of Turkey” Lecturer: Prof. Kaan H.  Ökten
• 16:00-17:00 Diary writing
• 17:00-19:00 Back to hotel / free time
• 19:00-21:00 Dinner at hotel

2 July (Monday): Istanbul (Bilgi)

• 07:30-08:30 Breakfast
• 09:00-10:30 Course 1: “Religion, Identity and the Recognition of Difference” Lecturer: Prof. Adam B. Seligman
• 10:30-11:00 Break
• 11:00-11:30 Few opening words and some questions to the participants from the Rector Prof. Aydin Ugur, followed by a short welcome speech of the Dean of Law Faculty Prof. Turgut Tarhanli
• 11:30-12:30 Course 2: “Ethnic/Religious Minorities in Turkey” Lecturer: Prof. Niyazi Öktem
• 12:30-14:00 Lunch at Bilgi
• 14:00-15:00 Diary writing
• 15:00-17:00 Course 3 (Practicum): Visit to Armenian Patriarchate  
• 19:00-22:00 Dinner at Kallavi’s in Beyoglu

3 July (Tuesday): Istanbul (Bilgi)

• 07:30-08:30 Breakfast
• 09:00-10:30 Course 1: “Tolerance and Tradition” Lecturer: Prof. Adam B. Seligman
• 10:30-11:00 Break
• 11:00-12:30 Course 2: “Ottoman Empire and Diversity” Lecturer: Prof. Mete Tunçay
• 12:30-14:00 Lunch at Bilgi
• 14:00-15:00 Diary writing
• 15:00-18:30 Course 3 (Practicum): Sultanahmet, Ayasofya, Yerebatan
• 19:00-20:30 Dinner at Hamdi’s in Eminonu

4 July (Wednesday): Istanbul (Bilgi)

• 07:30-08:30 Breakfast
• 09:00-10:30 Course 1: “Law and Religion in Europe: Systems of Church-State Accommodation” Lecturer: Prof. Silvio Ferrari
• 10:30-11:00 Break
• 11:00-12:30 ISSRPL Presentation: To be announced
• 12:30-13:30 Lunch at Bilgi
• 13:45-14:45 Diary writing
• 14:45-16:30 Processing
• 16:30-18:00 Course 3 (Practicum) with members of Islamic groups
• 18:00-19:30 Dinner with members of Islamic groups

5 July (Thursday): Istanbul (Bilgi)

• 07:30-08:30 Breakfast
• 09:00-10:30 Course 1: “The Concept of Laicite in Comparison with Civil Religion in America” Lecturer: Prof. Silvio Ferrari
• 10:30-11:00 Break
• 11:00-12:30 Course 2: “Muslim Perspectives on Religion and Ethnicity” Lecturer: Prof. Mustafa Abu Sway
• 12:30-14:00 Lunch at Bilgi
• 14:00-15:00 Diary writing
• 15:00-17:30 Movie: Journey to the Sun
• 17:45-18:30 Course 3 (Practicum) with Alevite Muslim community
• 18:30-20:30 Dinner with Alevite Muslim community, followed by Ayin-i Djem service

6 July (Friday): Iznik and Bursa

• 06:30-07:30 Breakfast
• 08:00 Course 3 (Practicum): Early departure to Iznik and Bursa
• 12:30-13:30 Juma Namaz at Iznik Merkez Camii
• 13:45-15:00 Lunch in Iznik at Sahil Restaurant
• 15:00-17:00 Depart to Bursa (note: we will arrive in Bursa at least 90 minutes before sundown)
• 19:00-20:30 Dinner in Bursa at Kebab Restaurant

7 July (Saturday): Bursa / Return to Istanbul

• 07:30-08:30 Breakfast
• 09:00-11:00 Course 3 (Practicum): Synagogue in Bursa
• 12:00-13:30 Lunch in Bursa
• 13:30-17:30 Course 3 (Practicum): Tour of Bursa
• 17:30-19:30 Processing at the City Park of Bursa
• 19:30-20:30 Dinner in Bursa at the City Park of Bursa
• 21:30 Depart after sunset (Note: will arrive very late in Istanbul)

8 July (Sunday): Istanbul (Bilgi)

• 08:30-10:00 Breakfast
• 10:00-11:00 Course 3 (Practicum): Catholic Service at Saint Anthony Church in Beyoglu
• 11:30-13:00 Course 2: “Law on Religion in Germany and Islam” Lecturer: Prof. Gerhard Robbers
• 13:00-14:00 Lunch
• 14:30-16:00 Course 1: “Religion and Civil Society from a Jewish Perspective” Lecturer: Prof. Susanne Last Stone
• 16:00-16:30 Break
• 16:30-18:00 Course 2: “Religion in Turkish Life” Lecturer: Prof. Kenan Çayir
• 18:00-19:00 Diary writing
• 19:00-20:30 Dinner at the hotel
• 21:00-23:00 Evening walk through Beyoglu district

9 July (Monday): Istanbul (Bilgi)

• 07:30-08:30 Breakfast
• 09:00-10:30 Course 1: “Fundamentalism or Romantic Nationalism?: A View of Israeli Modern Orthodoxy” Lecturer: Dr. Shlomo Fischer
• 10:30-11:00 Break
• 11:00-12:30 Course 2: “East Asian Reflections on West Asian Identities” Lecturer: Ambassador Kagefumi Ueno
• 12:30-14:00 Lunch at Bilgi
• 14:00-15:00 Diary writing
• 15:00-16:30 Processing
• 16:30-19:00 movie Syrian Bride
• 19:30-22:00 Dinner at Refik’s in Beyoglu

10 July (Tuesday): Edirne and Çanakkale

• 06:30-07:15 Breakfast
• 07:30 Course 3 (Practicum): Early departure to Edirne and Çanakkale
• 10:00-13:00 Course 3 (Practicum): Tour Edirne
• 13:00-14:00 Lunch in Edirne at Merkez Restaurant in the city
• 14:00 Depart to Çanakkale
• 16:00-18:30 Course 3 (Practicum): Tour Çanakkale
• 18:30-19:30 Dinner in Çanakkale at Liman Fish Restaurant
• 19:30 Depart for Istanbul (Note: we will arrive back in Istanbul late)

11 July (Wednesday): Istanbul (Bilgi)

• 09:00-10:00 Breakfast
• 10:30-12:00 Course 1: “Language, Culture and Origin: The Challenge of a Multicultural Europe” Lecturer: Prof. Antonio Cuciniello
• 12:00-13:30 Lunch at Bilgi
• 13:30-14:30 Diary writing
• 14:30-16:00 Course 2: “Ethnic and Religious Issues in Turkey” Lecturer: Prof. Ayhan Kaya
• 16:00-18:00 Course 3 (Practicum): Tarlabasi Community Center
• 19:30-21:00 Dinner at hotel

12 July (Thursday): Istanbul (Bilgi)

• 07:30-08:30 Breakfast
• 09:00-10:30 Fellows Presentation
• 10:30-11:00 Break
• 11:00-12:30 Course 2: “Religion in Turkish Life” Lecturer: Prof. Emre Öktem
• 12:30-14:00 Lunch
• 14:00-15:00 Diary writing
• 15:00-16:30 Processing
• 16:30-18:30 Course 3 (Practicum): Jewish Community of Turkey
• 19:30-22:30 Dinner at Baltalimani fish restaurant at the Bosphorus

13 July (Friday): Istanbul / DEPART Istanbul

• 7:30-8:30 Breakfast
• 9:00-10:30 Evaluation
• 10:30-11:00 Break
• 11:00-12:00 Closing ceremony
• 12:00-13:00 Lunch
• Depart – taxis to airport

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Shaida Adatia (USA)
Noor Akbar (Pakistan)
Stuart Brown (Canada / Nigeria)
Jorida Cila (Albania)
Walter Cuenin (USA)
Enver Ferhatovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
David Franz (USA)
Ari Gordon (USA)
Gülnaz Görgin (Turkey)
John Holmwood (UK)
Sundjata ibn Hyman (USA / Nigeria)
Orhan Jasic (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Wasfi Kailani (Jordan)
Zahari Konkyov (Bulgaria)
Elena Molchanova (Kyrgyz Republic)
Laurie Patton (USA)
Mihail Puskuloglu (Turkey)
Bella Rosner (USA)
Jusuf Salih (Kosovo)
Eldar Sarajlić (Bosnia and Herzegovina)
Selma Şevkli (Turkey)
Saul Schapiro (USA)
Abdallah Tarabieh (Israel)
Esra Ünal (Turkey)
Hana Van Ooijen (Netherlands)
Gila Yakov (Israel)
Riza Yildirim (Turkey)

Shaida Adatia (USA) Shaida Adatia is a program officer for His Highness Prince Aga Khan Shia Imami Ismaili Council for the United States of America. She has been working with the Ismaili community for many years, as a volunteer and more recently in a professional capacity. She develops new programs for different constituencies within the community, training parents, teacher educators, and teachers nationwide. She also conducts many outreach programs with schools and interfaith communities on Islam in general and the Ismaili community in particular.

Noor Akbar (Pakistan) Noor Akbar completed his graduate studies in Journalism and Mass Communication from the University of Peshawar, Pakistan in 2002. Since then he has been serving as Communication Officer at Just Peace International (JPI), an NGO, which is working for peace education, tolerance, conflict resolution and interfaith harmony in Pakistan and Afghanistan. The organization is the first of its nature to work for peace, nonviolence and human rights in the Pukhtoon community, which is known for its fundamentalist and extremist outlook. JPI's overall goals are to promote a culture of peace, tolerance and respect for human dignity. The organization designs and implements peace education programs through formal and informal avenues, provides training programs to community leaders and develops rehabilitation programs for people affected by war and violence.

Stuart Brown (Canada / Nigeria) Stuart Brown is the Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Abti-American University in Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria. This is his third post in Nigeria and he has also worked in Kenya, Cameroon, Senegal, Tunisia, Switzerland and several provinces of Canada, in a variety of academic and ecumenical or interfaith positions. Stuart has a doctorate in Islamic Studies from McGill University in Montreal. He has been married to Margaret for forty-one years (and counting); with four children and five grandchildren.

Jorida Cila (Albania) Jorida Cila was born in Tirana, Albania. She earned a BA in Psychology from Bogazici University, Istanbul and an MA in Urban Management and Development, from IHS, Erasmus University Rotterdam. One of her special areas of interest is the role of culture and identity in the integration process of rural migrants. She is also familiar with studies on the Roma and Egyptian communities in Albania. As a social scientist, she feels that the dynamic development of her country from a political, social and economic perspective presents new challenges which, in order to be dealt with, first need to be thoroughly understood. She is particularly interested in research methods in the social sciences.

Walter Cuenin (USA) Reverend Walter Cuenin was ordained a priest in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican in 1970. He received his doctorate in sacred theology from the Gregorian University in Rome in 1977. He has served in parishes in North Andover, Lexington, Marlborough, and most recently, as pastor of Our Lady Help of Christians in Newton. He is currently the Catholic chaplain at Brandeis University. Fr. Cuenin has always been active in interfaith relations. He is the Catholic panelist on "Talking religion" a weekly interfaith radio program on WRKO which he shares with a Muslim, Jewish and Protestant colleague.Rev. As pastor in Newton, he established a gay and lesbian support group and worked with other Catholic churches in the Boston area to offer days of prayer and support for gay people and their families. He resides at Our Lady Comforter of the Afflicted Parish in Waltham, MA.

Enver Ferhatovic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) Enver Ferhatovic is currently the Senior Political Advisor for Strategy at the Office of the High Representative/ European Union Special Representative in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Enver studied political science and law at the Free University Berlin (MA) and Islamic studies (MA) at the School of Divinity at the Sarajevo University. Enver is an active member of Transfuse, Forum Bosnia and Transformation leaders associations and programs. During his studies and civil engagement Enver focused on post-conflict issues, European and Transatlantic security issues, EU integration and transformation processes, Muslim political thought, inter-religious dialogue, diverse issues concerning Islam and modernity and the Ash'arite school of thought.

David Franz (USA) David Franz is a doctoral candidate in sociology at the University of Virginia and a Dissertation Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Culture. He has written on religious diversity and civil society, the rise of Evangelicals in American public life, and the corresponding decline in confidence of social scientific theories of secularization. His current work examines the influence of the business corporation and corporate models of organization on moral culture.

Ari Gordon (USA) Ari Gordon serves as assistant director of American Jewish Committee's department of interreligious affairs, where he develops interreligious programs and resources, forwarding AJC's goals of pluralism and understanding in the interreligious sphere. Ari writes for and co-manages the department’s website, www.EngagingAmerica.org. He also serves as the secretariat of the International Jewish Committee on Interreligious Consultation (IJCIC), the official representative of world Jewry to other international religious bodies. Ari is from Merion, Pennsylvania, and recently graduated from Yeshiva University with a B.A. in philosophy. Ari focused his studies on Jewish theology and law as well as both general and Jewish philosophy. In tandem with his studies, he trained hundreds of Jewish high school leaders around the country, and in 2005 headed a Jewish leadership seminar before beginning at the AJC. In addition, Ari constructed and facilitated Jewish educational programs around North America, Israel and the Former Soviet Union.

Gülnaz Görgin (Turkey) Gülnaz Görgin is forth year Political Science student in Istanbul Bilgi University. She coordinates many social responsibility projects and is the 2003-2007 Head of Development Student Club; the 2005-2006 Vice President of European Union Club; the 2005-2007 Life Platform General Secretary; member of the 2007-SULH Club, and the Vice President of the Politics International Relation Law Student Club at Istanbul Bilgi University.

John Holmwood (UK) John Holmwood is an academic sociologist, currently working at the University of Birmingham. The city of Birmingham has many different faith communities and is poised to become the first British city that will be majority ethnic minority”. John’s formative experience in becoming a sociologist was reading the English novelist, E.M. Forster’s injunction to “only connect” and he has been trying (and failing) to make connections ever since. He has no “sacred faith” but he expects to be rigorously tested by the theme of the summer school and consideration of the legacy of Empire and nation state. “Only connect! That was the whole of her sermon. Only connect the prose and the passion and both will be exalted, and human love will be seen at its height. Live in fragments no longer.” E.M. Forster, Howard's End

Sundjata ibn Hyman (USA / Nigeria) Sundjata ibn Hyman is Associate Professor of Economics and Sociology, Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Abti American University at Yola in Nigeria. Prior to joining the faculty, he held the position of an Assistant Professor of Sociology, Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at Edward Waters College in Jacksonville, Florida, Assistant Professor (Clinical) in the Community Development Program of the Human Development Center, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center. Dr. ibn Hyman has also served at Xavier University in New Orleans as Program Manager for Research with the Deep South Center for Environmental Justice and an Assistant Professor in African American Studies and Sociology. Dr. ibn Hyman has held faculty teaching positions at Frostburg State University (Maryland), Gettysburg College (Pennsylvania), Western Michigan University, and has served as Director of the Black Cultural Center at Iowa State University and as Director of Multicultural Affairs at Olivet College (Michigan). A former U.S. Marine who served with distinction in various American Embassies in Africa between 1978-1981, Dr. ibn Hyman graduated summa cum laude and valedictorian from Morgan State University in Maryland with a Batchelor of Arts degree in political science. Between 1984-85, Dr. ibn Hyman studied jurisprudence and tort law as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. He returned from East Africa in 1985 to complete a Master of Science degree in Applied Economics. Dr. ibn Hyman spent three years at the University of Notre Dame studying development economics before returning to Africa as Project Director for the Save the Children Federation in Zambia. Dr. ibn Hyman has worked with secondary school students in college preparedness and self-determination in southwestern Michigan for several years before earning a doctorate in sociology with specializations in the sociology of economics and development, racial and ethnic minorities, and the sociology of culture. Dr. ibn Hyman’s scholarly work is highly interdisciplinary, focusing on the axiological dimensions of culture and cultural processes; the role of culture in economic agency and socioeconomic development; and, the cultural elements of racism and inter-ethnic social interaction.

Orhan Jasic (Bosnia and Herzegovina) Orhan has participated in many interfaith dialogues, including Christians and Muslims in Dialogue: The Future of Humanity in Vienna, and two through the Interreligious Council in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Orhan specializes in comparative religions and therefore spent the year of 2006-07 at the Francis theology in Sarajevo at the department for dogmatic in specialization of Sacramentology at Franciscan Mire Jelevcic. Beside comparative religions, Orhan specializes in the philosophical inter-influence of East and the West, through the philosophy of Muhammed Ibn Rushd (Averroes), Thoms Aqunatu and Maimonides on the subject of Latin averroism. The latter mentor of the specialization is Lecturer M. Sc. Orhan Bajraktarevic.

Wasfi Kailani (Jordan) Wasfi Kailani is a Jordanian PhD candidate at the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and a visiting scholar at Truman Research Institute at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is also a fellow of al-Urdun al-Jadeed Research Center in Amman. Beside his work on his PhD studies on the Jewish Quarter and the Arab-Jewish frontiers in the Old City of Jerusalem, Wasfi has been, since August 2000, involved in a variety of research joint-projects, with some focus on subjects of  'identity', 'religion' and 'boundaries' among different societies in Jordan, Israel and Palestine. Meanwhile, he also conducted concrete fieldwork on different societies and gained an interesting experience of university-teaching in these three countries. Wasfi published articles and he is writing on Jordanian Chechens, Judaism, Jerusalem and American Jewry in Israel.

Zahari Konkyov (Bulgaria) I graduated in theology from Sofia University in 1997. Then I was accepted in Pontifical Gregorian University and from 2005 I am doctoral student in Byzantology and I work on a topic related with Bulgarian external church relations in 13-th century. My interests concern also Christian art and contemporary external relations of Bulgarian Orthodox Church.

Elena Molchanova (Kyrgyz Republic) I was born into a family of geologists, which was very active and throughout the years traveled a great deal. My parents were amazingly tolerant toward other religions and opinions of different people. During the high school years I had already made a choice of my career (Psychiatry) and my adviser. My professor (Valery Solojenkin) in the Department of psychiatry at the Kyrgyz State Medical Academy became my first teacher in the field. After graduating from the University, gaining a master’s degree in Psychiatry and after several years of practice as a doctor—psychiatrist in various departments of the Republic Center of Mental Health in Kyrgyzstan, I received candidate degree in Medical sciences. The topic of my dissertation was dedicated to ethno-cultural differences in the emotional expression (e.s. alexithymia) of patients with somatoform disorders. Before joining the faculty at the American University in Central Asia, where I currently teach such courses as cognitive psychology, counseling and psychological testing, I participated in a number of clinical research projects. Today my clinical and research activity continues. I’ve been a senior clinical expert in two departments (Department of Acute Psychosis and in the Department of Psychotherapy in the Republic Center of Mental Health) for 10 years and have collaborated for two years with the cultural and research center “Aigine”. Working with the Aigine team gave me the wonderful opportunity to meet Adam Seligman and Robert Weller and to take part in their seminar, dedicated to understanding rituals in traditional Kyrgyz society. This particular academic year was filled with stimulating research, exploring unique abilities of traditional Kyrgyz healers, balanced between official Islam and ancient traditional beliefs. We received some interesting neurological, physiological and psychological data, which seemed to be quite similar to Russian researches of shamans in Khakasiya and Sokha. Currently my research interests have an interdisciplinary character: I am interested in the interaction of anthropology and psychology, and interested in using fractal geometry principles in psychiatry and psychology.

Laurie Patton (USA) Laurie L Patton is Professor of Early Indian Religions and Chair of the Department of Religion at Emory University. She is also CoConvenor of the Religion, Conflict, and Peacebuilding (RCP) Initiative at Emory, which has sponsored seven years of conferences and workshops on the area of religion, conflict and peacebuilding. She has currently raised over $1 million as part of a larger project to create a curriculum and hire a director for this RCP initiative. She and her colleagues are instituting an RCP “track” within the Graduate Division of Religion's doctoral program at Emory, and hope to hire several people to help Emory folks teach and conduct research in this area full time next year. She is particularly interested in local peacebuilding and interfaith work based in cities, and is currently working on an outreach project developing the idea of “pragmatic pluralism” between religions in cities. She is the author or editor of seven books on early Indian mythology and ritual, one book of poetry, and her translation of the Bhagavad Gita is forthcoming from Penguin next year. She is also completing a book on the public study of religion in the 21st century, forthcoming from University of Chicago Press. She is very excited to meet and work with like-minded colleagues and learn from their expertise and experience at this Istanbul Institute.

Mihail Puskuloglu (Turkey) I was born in Istanbul in 1986. I graduated from Zappeion primary school in 1997 and from Zograpfeion High School in 2004. I’m a sophomore in Bilgi University School of Law. I worked in the Greek Consulate in Istanbul, Visa Department during the summer of 2004. I also worked as a tourist guide for a short period. I participated in the organization of the conference “Meeting in Istanbul: The present and the future” concerning the Rum minority in Istanbul, held in June of 2006. Some of my habits are reading books, stamp collecting, performing in plays and playing chess. I speak Turkish, Greek and English.

Bella Rosner (USA) I grew up in New York City and was raised in a fairly traditional Jewish home. I went to a “modern” orthodox Jewish school for 12 years, until college. This meant that for 8-10 hours/day, studies were divided between religious, Hebrew language and secular studies. My mother was born in Hebron, now one of the occupied territories in Palestine. I have a large family that has lived in Israel for centuries. My father left Berlin in the early 30’s and was able to get his family out of Germany during the Holocaust. Saul Shapiro and I have been married for almost 35 years. We have 2 wonderful grown children. During our lives together we have struggled with our approach to religious observance and the role of Judaism in our lives. I am more secular/universalist, although I am personally drawn to the Hasidic texts and to the Jewish mystical tradition that informs my work as a healer. Professionally, I practice acupuncture and joined Acupuncturists Without Borders to help out in New Orleans after the devastating hurricane. My work in a community hospital and in an HIV clinic also brings me in intimate contact with people of all faiths and from all socio-economic levels. I am very grateful for this “immersion” opportunity to be with others as equals, and to challenge myself by stepping out of the familiar (to me) role of caretaker and learn about deep rooted assumptions and feelings I am not necessarily conscious of in my day to day life.

Jusuf Salih (Kosovo) Originally from Kosovo and educated in Turkey’s premier institution for Islamic Studies, (Marmara University, Faculty of Divinity, Istanbul), Jusuf Salih has a BA in Islamic Theology and Philosophy and an MA in Islamic Theology from Marmara University. In Spring 2006 he finished another MA in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia. In fact, prior to transferring his academic formation in the U.S., he actually had finished all the required course work and comprehensive exams for his Ph.D. in Islamic Theology at Marmara University. Now he is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of Virginia and is working on his dissertation about intellectual debates within Islamic theology at the end on 19th and beginning of the 20th century Islamic world with focus on the Ottoman Empire. As a graduate student in the UVA, he has been teaching assistant in several courses related to Islam, such as: Classical Islam; Islam in the Modern Age; Islam, Democracy and Human Rights; Theology, Ethics and Medicine; Introduction to Western Religious Tradition. This Spring Semester he taught his own course named: Islam in Europe and North America.

Eldar Sarajlić (Bosnia and Herzegovina) Eldar Sarajlić (1978) is a postgraduate student of political sciences at the University of Sarajevo. He is an editor in the Status, a magazine for political culture and social affairs. Studies of ethnicity, culture and politics are his main interests; at the moment he is writing his master’s thesis, on ethnicity and postmodernity in context of contemporary Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Selma Şevkli (Turkey) Selma Şevkli was born in Germany in 1981. She got her B.A. degree in Psychology and worked with children in Washington D.C. for 2.5 years. After coming back to Turkey, she has worked at Intercultural Dialogue Platform as the foreign relations coordinator. She got to chance to meet different religious and ethnic minority groups while organizing meetings. She started travelling to the Middle East, especially Palestine / Israel Area. At the moment, she is a graduate student at Istanbul Bilgi University, Department of Cultural Studies. She is developing projects to encourage youth to volunteer in the conflicted areas, especially in West Bank. She believes that peace is healthier if it comes from the base. Before having any judgment, we need to meet and understand each other. She recently opened a photo exhibition in Istanbul: “The Other Children: Kenya & Palestine” including 50 portraits of smiling children from those countries to emphasize they can smile in such hard conditions. Her articles about cultural diversity, conflict, dialogue and travels are published at Turkish Daily News, Turkish Weekly, Today's Zaman and Zaman.

Saul Schapiro (USA) My name is Saul Schapiro. I am an attorney practicing in Boston, Massachusetts. I presently serve as the corporate attorney for the ISSRPL. Before entering into law school I had considered the rabbinate as a career. While I elected to practice law, with an acute interest in issues that relate to the public interest and the public sphere, I have maintained an interest in Jewish education. I served as a Board Member for twenty years and President for seven years of Camp Ramah of New England. Camp Ramah is a Hebrew speaking overnight summer camp for Jewish youth that is operated under the educational supervision of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (the rabbinical seminary for the Conservative Movement.) I would characterize my personal religious orientation, however, as nondenominational and experimental. I grew up in a small town 60 miles north of New York City that was primarily Catholic and Protestant, but because of the strong identity in Jewish affairs maintained by my parents, I was able to maintain my Jewish identity in a primarily Christian community. I have five cousins (who have children and grandchildren) who live in Israel. Most recently, in my law practice, I successfully defended the decision of the Boston Redevelopment Authority to convey a parcel of land to the Islamic Society of Boston for the construction of a Mosque and Community Center against a challenge that the conveyance violated the principle of separation of church and state.

Abdallah Tarabieh (Israel) I work in Al-qasemi academy since 1997 as a lecturer of Hebrew literature, I research of middle ages literature in Andalusia and the relation between Arab and Jewish poetry currently I work as the coordinator of pedagogic instruction and advance educational Initiatives among Arab and Jewish schools.

Esra Ünal (Turkey) My name is Esra Ünal. I was born in Istanbul, in Turkey, on 13th of April, 1986. My education career started in 1991, in Children Education Department of Istanbul Municipality. I performed in many plays till 2001. I graduated from FMV Private Ayazaga Isik High School. In 2005, I started to study law in Istanbul Bilgi University. I am a sophomore. I am the founding president of Istanbul Bilgi University Human Rights Club and I am a member of  Findikli Rotaract Club in Istanbul. I have attended to student Exchange program of Rotary in Austria and to the social projects held in Greece, executed by the USA Cornell University, in Germany, executed by European Union and in Thailand, executed by Greenway. I play tennis. My favorite hobby is painting. I like travelling and learn new cultures and languages. I speak English and German as foreign languages.

Hana Van Ooijen (Netherlands) Since February of this year, I have embarked on a Ph.D. research on religious manifestations in public office in the Netherlands within the reference framework of secular principles and human rights. In order to get a deeper understanding of secular principles, I will make a comparative analysis with the UK and France. I am conducting this research at Utrecht University, the same university where I have studied international and European law, though momentarily residing in the lively city of Amsterdam. During my period of study, I have really enjoyed new challenges, such as studying in Toulouse or learning to plead a case in the Philip C. Jessup International Law Moot Court Competition. These experiences taught me that I take great pleasure in meeting people from all over the world, something which I have also noticed on a professional level when doing an internship at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. There is also a more personal note to this intercultural interest. As a Korean adoptee in the Netherlands I am rather familiar with sensitivity to cultural differences. I could particularly experience this as an active member of the Dutch association for adopted Koreans, Arierang. I happen to have been shortly acquainted with Istanbul before when visiting for a few days with my co members of the Dutch United Nations Students Association. I cannot wait to take this first acquaintance with Istanbul further while being immersed in the rich program of the Summer School. I am very much looking forward to meeting the other participants and lecturers and to sharing a unique experience together.

Gila Yakov (Israel) Gila Yakov received her Ph.D. from the Technion Institute of Technology in Haifa, Israel. Her research topic was Ethical Aspects of Elderly Oncological Patient Treatment. She has received training to be and Israeli-Diaspora dialogue leader. She is the Director of Instructions and Advanced Studies at the Yesodot Organization, and has given instruction at religious schools to clarify and strengthen the commitment to democratic values in the religious communities of Israel. She is also responsible for Budget allocations for cities of Yokneam, Migdal HaEmek and Rehasim, including responsibility for social, educational and community projects. She also worked for the Ministry of Education, and served as both teacher and principle at the Yigal Alon ORT junior high school in Yokneam, Israel. She is also the head of the Partnership 2000 sub-committee of the Jewish Agency for Israel.

Riza Yildirim (Turkey) I am currently writing my Ph.D. dissertation on the “Making of Qizilbash Identity in the Ottoman Empire, 1487-1514”; in the Department of History of Bilkent University. Hopefully I will finish it by September 2007. During my MA studies I have studied the heterodox dervishes and their role in the society and politics during early Ottoman periods. Now I am focused on the respond of Anatolian nomadic Turkomans to the Safavid call, on the process which had much on the production of the qizilbash identity.In general, I am interested in the history of non-conformist popular religious groups, especially in the history of Alevi-Bektashi society. Although my primary area of specialization falls within the scope of history, I have intense interest in the anthropological aspects of the issue as well. I have already conducted some readings especially on nomadism-pastoralism, tribalism, orality, social memory, cognitive development and religious perception in oral societies, etc. As a last point, I am personally a member of Alevi society.

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Mustafa Abu Sway (Palestine / Israel)
Kenan Çayir (Turkey)
Antonio Cuciniello (Italy)
Silvio Ferrari (Italy)
Shlomo Fischer (Israel)
Ayhan Kaya (Turkey)
David W. Montgomery (USA)
Emre Öktem (Turkey)
Niyazi Öktem (Turkey)
Kaan H.Ökten (Turkey)
Gerhard Robbers (Germany)
Stuart Schoffman (Israel)
Adam B. Seligman (USA)
Suzanne Last Stone (USA)
Mete Tunçay (Turkey)
Kagefumi Ueno (Japan)
Rahel Wasserfall (USA)
Abby Yanov (USA)

Mustafa Abu Sway (Palestine / Israel)
Mustafa Abu Sway is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Islamic Studies, and Director of the Islamic Research Center at Al-Quds University in Jerusalem/Palestine. He graduated from Bethlehem University (BA, 1984), Boston College (MA, 1985; Ph.D. 1993). Dr. Abu Sway taught at the International Islamic University-Malaysia 1993-95, where he was the chairperson of the Dept. of Philosophy, International Institute for Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC) 1995-96, and joined Al-Quds University since 1996. He was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Florida Atlantic University, 2003-2004. He is one of the winners, along with Dr. Khaled Salem from Al-Quds University, of the Science and Religion Course Award 2001, The Center for Theology and the Natural Sciences, Berkeley, CA. Amongst his publications are the following books: Islamic Epistemology: The Case of Al-Ghazzali (Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 1995), and Fatawa Al-Ghazzali (ISTAC, 1996). He also co-authored the Islamic Education Book (7th Grade) for the Palestinian Ministry of Education (published in 2001). Dr. Abu Sway has been engaged in interfaith dialogue for many years. He contributed a paper “Ibrahim in the Islamic Scriptures” to Abraham in the Three Monotheistic Faiths (Jerusalem: PASSIA, 1998).

Kenan Çayir (Turkey)
Professor Kenan Çayir earned his PhD in 2000-2004 in Political Science and International Relations at the Bogaziçi University; his MA in 1994-1997 at the Department of Sociology, Bogaziçi University; and his BA in 1987-1992 at the Department of Sociology, Bogaziçi University, Istanbul. Since 2004 he is an Assistant Professor, Istanbul Bilgi University, Department of Sociology. Between 1999- 2004 he was Teaching Assistant, Istanbul Bilgi University, Department of Sociology. Between 1995-1996 he was Research Assistant, Department of Sociology, Dumlupinar University, Kütahya.

Antonio Cuciniello (Italy)
Antonio Cuciniello was born in 1975 in Torre del Greco (Naples, Italy). In 2000 he got a degree (Laurea) in Comparative Studies (Arabic-English language and literature) at Istituto Universitario Orientale, Naples (Thesis: Gesu e la sua seconda venuta nelle scritture islamiche—Jesus and His Second Coming According to Islamic Writings). In 2001 he got a Diploma in Arabic Studies and in 2002 a Licentiate in Arabic and Islamic Studies at P.I.S.A.I.(Pontifical Institute for Arabic and Islamic Studies) Rome (Thesis: I segni dell’Ora nell’escatologia musulmana—The Signs of the Hour in Islamic Eschatology). From 2003 to 2005 he lived in Cairo, where he taught Italian at Salesian Institute “Don Bosco” and studied different manuscripts (Library Dar al-Kutub) by Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (15th century), about the second coming of Jesus in Islam. In 2006 he took part in an International Visitor Leadership Program with the support of The U.S. Consulate General in Milan focused on Intercultural Relation and Muslim Integration (Washington and Detroit). In 2007 he published with Professor Paolo Branca Destini incrociati: Europa e Islam, (Fondazione Achille e Giulia Boroli, Milano). He works at Ismu Foundation, an independent organization promoting studies, research and projects on multi-ethnic and multi-cultural society, and focusing in particular on the phenomenon of international migrations.

Silvio Ferrari (Italy)
Ferrari is Professor at the Law Faculty of the Universita degli Studi di Milano and president of the International Consortium for Law and Religious Studies. He is one of the experts on the legal status of Islam in Europe. He is a frequent contributor to journals, workshops and conferences dealing with these and other legal issues, spanning the civil and cannon law traditions. His many publications include: Islam and European Legal Systems (edited with A. Bradney, Aldershot, 2000), Musulmani in Italia (Bologna, 1996), Law and Religion in post-Communist Europe (Leuven, 2003).

Shlomo Fischer (Israel)
Fischer holds the Horowitz Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the department of Sociology and Anthropology at Tel Aviv University. He was awarded his Ph.D. degree in June 2007 from the Department of Sociology and Anthropology in Hebrew University in Jerusalem. As a fellow of the Van Leer Institute and of the Shalom Hartman Institute, he has given university talks and published numerous articles in Israeli and European journals on the topics of Jewish history, Israeli society, secularization, Zionism, and religion and tolerance and inter religious dialogue from within the monotheistic traditions. His edited book (together with Adam Seligman), The Burden of Tolerance: Religious Traditions and the Challenge of Pluralism was published (in Hebrew) by the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute and by HaKibbutz HaMeuchad in 2007. Fischer has worked in the field of education for the past 25 years. In the past 10 years he has worked in the field of religion, democracy and tolerance. From 1996-2007 he has been the founder and executive director of Yesodot—Center for Torah and Democracy which works to advance education for democracy in the State Religious school sector. 

Ayhan Kaya (Turkey)
Professor Ayhan Kaya studied international relations at the Marmara University in Istanbul and earned his PhD in ethnic relations in 1998 at the Warwick University, UK. Between 1992-98 he was research assistant, Marmara University, Department of Political Science and International Relations. His lecture posts included: Full-time Lecturer, Marmara University, Department of Political Science and International Relations (teaching Political Theory and Sociology); Part-time lecturer, Yeditepe University, Department of Social Anthropology (teaching Modernity in Turkey, and Colonialism and Nationalism) for 1998-2001. Between 2000-03 he conducted a two-year project on Circassian Diasporic Identity in Turkey sponsored by the Population Council MEAwards, Cairo. He was Chairperson, Department of International Relations, Istanbul Bilgi University in 2002-04. He conducted a research on Euro-Turks in 2004-05 which was critically acclaimed and earned him various academic prices. He is Director of the Centre for Migration Research and Director of the Center for European Studies. He is also Director of the European Union Institute at the Istanbul Bilgi University and full-time lecturer, Chair, Istanbul Bilgi University, Department of Political Science and International Relations.

David W. Montgomery (USA)
Montgomery received his PhD in Religion and Society and his dissertation—The Transmission of Religious and Cultural Knowledge and Potentiality in Practice: An Anthropology of Social Navigation in the Kyrgyz Republic—focused on how the transmission of religious and cultural knowledge influences the practice of religion and culture. For 2006-07 he was a Rockefeller Visiting Fellow in the Program on Religion, Conflict and Peacebuilding at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame, and for 2007-08 is supported by an American Councils Title VIII-grant to conduct ethnographic research on religion in Albania. He has conducted anthropological field research in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan as an IREX Individual Advanced Research Opportunities Scholar and has been a research fellow at the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs and the Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology and Policy. He has worked as a Legislative Assistant for the U.S. House of Representatives and prior to arriving at Boston University he served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer. He holds graduate degrees in medical ethics from Michigan State University and in international relations from Boston University. His publications include writings on the diversity of everyday religious life in Central Asia and his current research on the social aspects of religious change in Central Asia and the Balkans.

Emre Öktem (Turkey)
Professor Emre Öktem studied law at the University of Istanbul and got his Master in Law in 1992-1995 at the Faculty of Law, Istanbul University. He earned his PhD in 1995-2001 at the Istanbul University and Galatasaray University, Istanbul. He was Research Assistant, Galatasaray University, Istanbul in 1995-2002. Since 2002 he works as Assistant Professor, Galatasaray University, Istanbul.

Niyazi Öktem (Turkey)
Professor Niyazi Öktem was graduated from the French-speaking Galatasaray high school in 1964. He was a foreign exchange student at Dallas, Texas in 1962-63 and graduated from the Richardson High School. He studied law at the University of Istanbul and got his BA in 1971. He joined the faculty in 1972 as research assistant and acquired his PhD in Law in 1977. In 1981 he earned the title Associated Professor of Law at the University of Istanbul. He continued his studies in Paris as visiting professor in 1980-81. He was appointed as Professor at the Faculty of Communication (University of Istanbul) in 1988. In 1989 he was nominated Chevalier, Palmes Academiques of French Government. Between 1989-91 he was Director of Erol Simavi School of Communication. He was awarded with a Fulbright scholarship in 1990 and was a visiting professor at the University of Lawrance, USA. He was appointed Professor of Sociology and History of Political Thought at the Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Istanbul in 1993. Between 1994-1997 he was Dean of the Faculty of Communication of the University of Galatasaray, Istanbul. Since 1998 he is Professor of Law at the Istanbul Bilgi University Faculty of Law.

Kaan H.Ökten (Turkey)
Professor Kaan H. Ökten graduated from the International Relations department at the University of Istanbul in 1994 . His MA was on Political History at the University of Istanbul in 1996. He earned his PhD on International Relations at the University of Istanbul in 2001. He was appointed Associated Professor, Istanbul Bilgi University (2006- ); Assistant Professor, Istanbul Bilgi University (2003-2006) and Assistant Professor, Maltepe University (2002-2003). He is Vice-Director of the Center for European Studies at the Istanbul Bilgi University. He won the Macit Gökberk Philosophy Prize of the Turkish Philosophical Association in 2007.

Gerhard Robbers (Germany)
Prof. Dr. Gerhard Robbers is one of the most distinguished experts on State-Church relations. Since 1989 he is Professor for Public Law at the University of Trier. He is Director of the Institute for European Constitutional Law and Director of the Institute for Legal Policy. He serves as judge at the Administrative Court of Appeals Rhineland-Palatinate. His main areas of work are the law on religion, constitutional law and international public law. He is advisor to several national governments and international organizations.

Stuart Schoffman (Israel)
Stuart Schoffman has lived in Jerusalem since 1988, and writes and lectures widely on politics, religion and culture. A columnist since 1990 for the Jerusalem Report, he is a research fellow in advanced Judaic studies at the Shalom Hartman Institute. He has worked as a staff writer for Time magazine, and as a screenwriter in Hollywood and Israel. He has taught history at the University of Texas, and film at the University of Southern California and Tel Aviv University. In August 2006, he served on the faculty of the International Summer School on Religion and Public Life in Bosnia. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Schoffman received his B.A. from Harvard University, and an M.Phil. in American history from Yale.

Adam B. Seligman (USA)
Seligman is Professor of Religion at Boston University and Research Associate at the Institute for Culture, Religion and World Affairs there. He has lived and taught at universities in the United States, in Israel and in Hungary where he was a Fulbright Fellow from 1990-1992. He lived close to twenty years in Israel where he was a member of Kibbutz Kerem Shalom in the early 1970s. His books include The Idea of Civil Society (Free Press, 1992), Inner-worldly Individualism (Transaction Press, 1994), The Problem of Trust (Princeton University Press, 1997), Modernity’s Wager: Authority, the Self and Transcendence (Princeton University Press, 2000) with Mark Lichbach Market and Community (Penn State University Press, 2000), Modest Claims: Dialogues and Essays on Tolerance and Tradition (Notre Dame University Press, 2004) and with Robert Weller, Michael Puett and Bennett Simon, Ritual and its Consequences: An Essay on the Limits of Sincerity (Oxford University Press, 2008). His work has been translated into over a dozen languages. He is director of the International Summer School on Religion and Public Life, which leads seminars every year on contested aspects of religion and the public square in different parts of the world. He lives in Newton, Massachusetts with his wife and two daughters.

Suzanne Last Stone (USA)
Stone is a Professor of Law at Cardozo School of Law and Director of its Program in Jewish Law and Interdisciplinary Studies. In the 2004-05 academic year, she was a Visiting Professor at the Harvard Law School, holding the Caroline Zelaznik Gruss and Joseph S. Gruss Visiting Chair in Talmudic Civil Law. She also has taught Jewish Law at Hebrew University Law School, Haifa Law School, and Columbia University Law School, and taught Jewish Law this year at Tel Aviv Law School. In addition to teaching courses on Jewish Law, Professor Stone teaches Civil Procedure, Federal Courts, and Law, Religion and the State. A graduate of Princeton University and Columbia University Law School, Professor Stone also was a Danforth Fellow in Jewish History and Classical Religions at Yale University. Before joining the Cardozo faculty, Professor Stone clerked for Judge John Minor Wisdom of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and then practiced litigation at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton and Garrison. Professor Stone writes and lectures on a wide variety of topics related to the intersection of Jewish legal thought and contemporary legal theory. Her publications include: In Pursuit of the Countertext: The Turn to the Jewish Legal Model in Contemporary American Legal Theory, (Harvard Law Review); The Jewish Conception of Civil Society, in Alternative Conceptions of Civil Society (Princeton University Press); and Justice, Mercy and Gender in Rabbinic Thought, (Cardozo Studies in Law and Literature, reprinted in Women, Gender, and Jewish Philosophy, Indiana University Press). She currently has two books in progress: Jewish Law and Legal Theory: A New American Perspective, based on her collected essays, and Jewish Law and the Irrational, a study of the Talmudic transformation of formally irrational modes of gaining knowledge into a system of legal rationality.

Mete Tunçay (Turkey)
Professor Mete Tunçay earned his BA in 1958 and his PhD in 1961 both at the Ankara University. Between 1961-63 he studied at the London School of Economics and Political Science by means of a Rockefeller scholarship. He worked as associated professor at the Ankara University between 1966-72. Worked at the Ministry of Culture in 1974-75. Between 1975-77 he was an adviser to the National Library in Ankara. Later he worked again as Associated Professor at the Ankara University (1978-81). A Fulbright scholarship brought him to Stanford University (Hoover) in 1979-80. He was appointed professor in 1981 at the Ankara University, until he was suspended from office in 1983 by the military government. Between 1987-88 he was visiting professor at the Berlin Freie-Universität. Since 1996 he is professor at the Istanbul Bilgi University and Head of Department (History).

Kagefumi Ueno (Japan)
Ambassador Kagefumi Ueno is the Japanese Ambassador to the Holy See. He has served as Japan's Ambassador, Minister or Consul in Argentina, United Kingdom, USA, Singapore, France, Spain, Australia and Guatemala. His special expertise is in Religion and Theology. He began to be interested in the different mind sets of different civilizations when he was Consul in New York in the early 1980's and continued writing on such issues during his tenure as Ambassador to Guatemala in the 1990's. He has authored two books: A New Interpretation of Modern Japanese Civilization: How the Japanese Divinities Encountered Monotheism and the West (Tokyo: Daisan, 2006) and The Celts and Japan (Tokyo: Kadokawa 2000). He remains fascinated by Western concerns with absolute justice, absolute goodness, the idea of one creator God and the current concern with identity and identity politics in so many Western societies.

Rahel Wasserfall (USA)
Wasserfall is Senior Research Associate at Education Matters Inc. She is an anthropologist with a PhD from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, who has a wide experience in three different continents. For many years her work focused on gender and ethnic studies in Israel, and in the Jewish world. She taught gender studies and qualitative methodology classes at the Hebrew University, Duke University, Chapel Hill (NC), University of Colorado, Boulder and Eotvos Lorand University in Budapest. She has been a Fulbright fellow as well as a beneficiary of Ford Foundation grants. She has widely published in the area of gender and is the editor of Women and Water: Menstruation in Jewish Life and Law (UPNE, 1999). With her move to Boston, Wasserfall shifted her interest to Jewish education. She was the Special Coordinator at JCDS (Boston Jewish Community Day School) in which capacity she directed the AISNE accreditation process. She also co-authored (with Susan Sevitz) a study on Jewish pluralism in a local Day School. She has wide experience in qualitative evaluation and is the yearly evaluator of the ISSRPL. At Education Matters, Wasserfall is co-leading the Special Education Initiative and contributing to the Peerless Initiative and other projects. She is also a committed yoga practioner and teacher, having completed teacher training in the Iyengar tradition.

Abby Yanov (USA)
Abby Yanow is an Organizational Development consultant, working with non-profits, community-based organizations and government agencies. Abby has been the President of the Boston Facilitators Roundtable since 2001, and she teaches a yearly course on Methods of Group Participation at University of Massachusetts Boston. She is a peace activist and also facilitates dialogues on the conflict in Israel-Palestine.

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