News

Last month, CIP co-sponsored postgraduates "Searching for the Sacred in South Asia". Faculty of Divinity PhD student and lead organiser Hina Khalid reports back from the symposium:“Over the two days of the conference, participants – in the online format and on the in-person day – energetically discussed and debated a wide range of themes relating t…

How do you define literacy? Young learners at a Jewish complementary school found themselves grappling with competing ideals as their teacher encouraged them to accept variation in transliteration and pronunciation, and let go of their concern to comprehend textual Hebrew. The end result was a language-learning experience that diverged from schoole…

During celebrations for the 20th anniversary of Cambridge Interfaith Programme, there were many kind words from friends of the Programme. One special token came from Kalam Research and Media, a collegial thinktank directed by Dr Aref Nayed. Dr Nayed has been a consultant and key advisor since the Programme's inception. Together with colleagues at K…

"Cultures of continuity: Jewish-Muslim conversations on a contested ideal" is the inaugural conference of the Forum for Jewish--Muslim theology and thought.The three-day conference takes place this October (24-26), at the Humboldt University, Berlin. It opens with a joint introduction from hosts Asher Biemann (University of Virginia) and Ufuk Topka…

Early career researchers (within 5 years of PhD degree)* are invited to submit proposals for projects on Armenian-Turkish relations with a contemporary focus. Applications across social sciences and humanities are eligible, such as political science, economics, sociology, anthropology, modern history and religious studies. Subject to the approval o…

For 15 years, Dr Vanessa Paloma Elbaz has been recording and documenting the musical traditions of Jewish women in Morocco. As NY Times reporter Aida Alami learned, this dwindling community's musical heritage is powerfully influenced by experience of living in another land: Spain.   A full-length feature on Dr Paloma Elbaz's research appeared in la…

On Monday 20 and Tuesday 21 June 2022, Cambridge Interfaith Programme hosted the first workshop in a series funded by the Cambridge DAAD Research Hub:Entangled otherings: racism, solidarity, identityEntangled and disentangled otherings is a collaboration between Cambridge Interfaith Programme, the Centre for Research on Antisemitism at the Technica…

Cambridge Interfaith Programme's Academic Director Professor Esra Özyürek is the guest interviewee on the latest episode of the Germany Now podcast. The interview focuses on her recent research exploring the backstories behind conversions to Islam in today’s Germany.Converts to Islam in Germany number about 100,000 according to current estimates. P…

Cambridge Interfaith Programme associate, Hina Khalid, is among the organisers for a postgraduate symposium taking place in Cambridge this autumn. The one-day event is entitled “Conversations: searching for the sacred in South Asia”.Hina and her collaborators aim to provide a platform where postgraduate students from a range of disciplines can come…

We will be hosting a gathering in September to celebrate two decades of interfaith research and engagement.The 24-hour programme will include interactive sessions, panel discussion, and more.Capacity is limited, so we will provide opportunities to join us over livestream as well as attending on site in Cambridge.Bookings will open in June.Bookmark …

On Friday 4 April, CIP associate Dr Vanessa Paloma Elbaz is curating a concert-come-exhibit underpinned by her archival work in Morocco. As those who attended our 15 February seminar will recall, Dr Elbaz has created a digital archive celebrating the musical culture of Maghrebi Jews and exploring their interaction with Muslim neighbours.In this one…

Our researchers are gearing up for this year's Cambridge Festival, sharing work on violent texts, chairing discussion on reparations, and offering an introduction to the practice of Scriptural Reasoning. On Thursday 31 March at 7pm, join Dr Julia Snyder and Dr Daniel Weiss for an interactive workshop using resources from the Scripture and Violence …

In the latest episode from our Religion and Global Challenges podcast (released 9 March 2022), Dr Marlene Schäfers interviews Dr Tobias Müller about his fieldwork exploring the role of religion and spirituality in climate activism.CIP associate Dr Müller has been following Extinction Rebellion (XR). He also reports his observations from the COP26 g…

On 19 February 2022, the first Scriptural Reasoning Workshop for Lecturers in Indonesia was organized by Dr Andreas Jonathan, an alumnus of Cambridge Interfaith Programme Academic Summer School and Director of the Centre for Religion and Peace Studies at Immanuel Christian University (UKRIM) Yogyakarta Indonesia.The online workshop was arranged in …

In Spring 2022, together with colleagues from Al-Quds Bard College and SOAS University of London, CIP associate Dr Safet HadžiMuhamedović is teaching a new course as part of the Open Society University Network. The course, Dislocated identities in a fragmenting world, is part of the OSUN Special topics in social thought offer (9117312). Fifteen stu…