Sessions
December 13-15, 2021, University of Notre Dame Campus
Day 1: Religious Responses to Coronavirus
Breakfast (8:00-8:30 AM)
Welcome (8:30-8:35) (featuring Ansari Institute Executive Director Mahan Mirza)
Session 1 (9:00-10:15 AM): Presentations (featuring Kelsey Dallas, national religion reporter at the Deseret News in Salt Lake City; and Dr. Anita Houck, associate professor of religious studies at Saint Mary’s College).
Session 2 (10:35-11:50 AM): Responses: “Our Professions”
Lunch (12:00-12:50 PM)
Session 3 (1:00-2:15 PM): Presentations (featuring Dr. Abla Hasan, associate professor of practice of Arabic language and culture, University of Nebraska-Lincoln; and Dr. Alan Levinovitz, associate professor of religion at James Madison University)
Session 4 (2:35-3:50 PM): Discussion (featuring Dr. Olivia Wilkinson, director of research at the Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities)
Dinner (6:00-7:00 PM)
Day 2: When Black Lives Matter, So Does Faith
Breakfast (8:00-9:00 AM)
Session 1 (9:00-10:15 AM): Presentations (featuring Adelle M. Banks, projects editor and national reporter at Religion News Service; and Dr. Matthew Cressler, associate professor of religious studies and affiliate faculty in African American studies at the College of Charleston).
Session 2 (10:30-11:50 AM): Discussion (featuring Featuring Dr. Peter Cajka, assistant teaching professor for the University of Notre Dame's Department of American Studies; and Alexander Hsu, adjunct assistant teaching professor for the Ansari Institute for Global Engagement with Religion).
Lunch (12:00-12:50 PM)
Session 3 (1:00-2:15 PM): Presentations (featuring Rev. Tiauna Boyd Webb, director of missions and programs at the Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference in Evanston, Illinois; and Rev. Dr. Michael C. R. Nabors, senior pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Evanston, Illinois)
Session 4 (2:30-3:50 PM): Responses: “How We Tell Stories”
Dinner (6:00-7:00 PM)
Day 3: Polarizing Religion: Faith and Partisanship in the 2020 Elections
Breakfast (8:00-9:00 AM)
Session 1 (9:00-10:15 AM): Presentations (featuring Rev. Dr. Richard L. Baker, Jr., pastor and head of staff at Westminster Presbyterian Church, Dayton, Ohio; and Dr. Russell P. Johnson, faculty member at the University of Chicago Divinity School)
Session 2 (10:35-11:50 AM): Presentations (featuring Dr. Chrissy Stroop, columnist for openDemocracy and senior correspondent for Religion Dispatches; and Alan Cooperman, director of religion research at Pew Research Center).
Lunch (12:00-12:50 PM)
Session 3 (1:00-2:15 PM): Responses: “Feedback and Futures”
Optional Campus Tour (2:30-4:00)
Public Reception: 5:00-6:00 PM
Concluding Session (6:00-7:30 PM): 2020 in Hindsight: The View from 2021 (featuring Scott Appleby, Marilyn Keough Dean of the University of Notre Dame's Keough School of Global Affairs; Adelle M. Banks, projects editor and national reporter at Religion News Service; Alan Cooperman, director of religion research at Pew Research Center; Rev. Dr. Michael C. R. Nabors, senior pastor of the Second Baptist Church in Evanston, Illinois; and Dr. Russell P. Johnson, faculty member at the University of Chicago Divinity School).
Dinner: 8:00 PM
About the Sessions
Each of the three days will be broken down into four sessions. These sessions will be facilitated by Mahan Mirza and Alex Hsu, scholars of religion at the Ansari Institute. The program will also feature select content experts invited to share their research and experiences. We feature a variety of session formats: presentations, discussions, responses, and a public panel.
Sessions will include:
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Presentations (10 to 20 minutes each) on a featured event.Through carefully selected cases and published articles, journalists will walk us through the process of writing a story, from inception to publication to fielding public response; faith leaders will comment on media coverage and encounters with media and academics, or share their own community’s perspectives on issues that received excellent or poor coverage; academics will clarify their own concerns about accuracy, representation, complexity, and ethics in their work of research, teaching, and institution-building. A discussant will identify shared themes and challenges, panelists will respond to questions, and open discussion will follow.
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Discussions, where we will explore short pre-circulated readings to be determined: pieces of longform journalism that may serve as case-studies; academic states-of-the-field; and sets of media guidelines developed by religious institutions.
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Response sessions, where a facilitator will separate attendees into small groups to craft written responses to problems identified before or during the other sessions, as well as sets of best practices, dialogues, manifestos, and memoranda.
- A concluding panel session, where two representatives from each of the three participating groups will be invited to offer prepared remarks. They may choose to incorporate perspectives they learned from the workshops.