MIGRATION, RELIGION, AND NATIONAL IDENTITY CONFERENCE

Dates: April 15 and 16, 2009

Time:TBD

Location:
Joan B. Kroc Theatre
University of San Diego

TBI is a unit of the conference sponsor: The Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies

Event Flyer [ PDF (206.22 KB) ]

Throughout history, religious experience has shaped the exodus, migration, and movement of peoples in significant ways. The making of the modern world hinged critically on the movement and tensions between people of faith, predominantly Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, and Jewish. The earliest European settlers of the New World not only sought to escape religious persecution, but also sought to convert native peoples to their faith through both persuasion and conquest. The gradual consolidation of an international system of sovereign states -and the strengthening of national identities- contributed to significant tensions between religion and national identity. While many newcomers find solace and support from their faith traditions, the tight-knit nature of religious communities have historically raised concerns that religion is a barrier to cultural assimilation and national loyalty.

Indeed, the collective experiences of generations of migrants from multiple religions points to a frequently unacknowledged aspect of the U.S. "melting pot": to find acceptance, new immigrant groups undergo a trial by fire that frequently places their religious faith in jeopardy. For example, early 19th and 20th century immigration of Catholics - Irish, Italians, and Poles, in particular- fueled nativist fears that these groups would fail to assimilate to U.S. culture, or might even conspire to convert the United States into a papist state. More recently, reputable scholars like Harvard professor Samuel Huntington have raised questions about the ability of new, mainly Catholic immigrants from Mexico and other parts of the Americas to assimilate in a country founded initially on Anglo-Saxon, Protestant values.

Meanwhile, in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks, a sharp increase in discrimination and hate-crimes against Muslim immigrants illustrates that migrants of other religious faiths face similar challenges of acceptance and assimilation, both in the United States and abroad. Indeed, the migration of Islamic North Africans and Turks into Spain, France, and Germany presents long-standing and still unresolved tensions over religion, migration, and national identity. Often, such tensions derive from unfortunate misunderstandings and cultural insensitivities on the part of both natives and immigrants.

How does religious identity shape the migrant experience? How can immigrants of different faith traditions better assimilate and become part of the national fabric of their new communities? How can receiving communities draw on their own religious perspectives to become more tolerant and open toward new immigrants from different faiths? On April 15-16, 2009, the Trans-Border Institute will sponsor a major international conference to consider these questions and other connections between migration, religious experience, and national identification. Bringing together nationally renowned scholars and religious leaders from the United States and abroad, this conference will provide a unique opportunity to examine migration, religion, and national identity in historical and comparative perspective, as well as the efforts of different faith communities to grapple with the challenges of contemporary immigration and assimilation.