Yasmeen Abdel-Wahab Abu-Taleb
Country: Jordan
Email: yasminooo@yahoo.com
Employer: University of Jordan in Aqaba
Position: Lecturer
Teaching Level: Undergraduate
Subject(s) Taught: Islam. Intercultural Communication, History/National Culture
Education: Ph.D. in Theology and Religion from the University of Birmingham, UK, M.A. in Islamic Studies from the University of Jordan
Interests: Help eastern and western culture better understand each other through international dialogue.
Religion: Muslim
Ghassan Ali Bou Diab (Jason)
Country: Lebanon
Gender: Male
Email: teacher_gad@hotmail.com
Employer: Rafik Hariri University
Position: Lecturer
Teaching Level: Undergraduate
Subject(s) Taught: Media, Business Ethics, Critical Thinking
Education: Ph.D. in the Science of Religion from the Higher Institute for Religious Sciences at Saint Joseph University; M.A. in Christian-Islamic Studies from the Islamic Christian Studies Institute
Interests: Create a global interfaith dialogue to help support members of his community as a scholar. He was a SUSI Students participant in 2010
Religion: Druze
Maria Eugenia Funes
Country: Argentina
Gender: Female
Email: marufunes28@gmail.com
Employer: El Salvador University
Position: Associate Professor
Teaching Level: Undergraduate
Subject(s) Taught: Sociology of Religion, Anthropology
Education: Ph.D. in the Social Sciences from Buenos Aires University, M.A. in social anthropology from National University of San Martin
Interests: Introducing American authors to her students to help better understand international approaches to Spirituality.
Ilias Hussain Mulamparambil
Country: India
Gender: Male
Email: mhilias@gmail.com
Employer: Mahatma Gandhi University
Position: Director and Professor
Teaching Level: Graduate
Subject(s) Taught: World Religion, Conflict Resolution
Education: Ph.D. from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Major: Thesis ‘Geography and Memory: Terrorization of Jewish National Identity;” M.A. from Mahatma Ghandi Kerala in Politics and International Relations
Interests: New Publication and Course based what he learns about religious pluralism.
Malahat Veliyeva
Country: Azerbaijan
Gender: Female
Email: malahatveliyeva@yahoo.com
Employer: Azerbaijan University of Languages
Position: Associate Professor
Teaching Level: Undergraduate
Subject(s) Taught: Religious Study, British and American Literature
Education: Ph.D. from Azerbaijan University of Languages; M.A. from Azerbaijan University of Languages
Interests: Learning about the American view of religious freedom, tolerance, and pluralism.
Juha Veikko Luodeslampi
Country: Finland
Gender: Male
Email: juha.luodeslampi@evl.fi
Employer: University of Helsinki
Position: Researcher
Teaching Level: N/A
Subject(s) Taught: History of Religious Education
Education: Ph.D. in Religious Education from the University of Helsinki
Interests: Learning about American methods of teaching religion and religious pluralism.
Amena Farouk Shakir
Country: Austria
Gender: Female
Email: Amena.shakir@gmail.com
Employer: Sigmund Freud University
Position: Director
Teaching Level: N/A
Subject(s) Taught: Director of Interdisciplinary Research Center Islam and Muslims in Europa
Education: M.A. in the Study of Political Sciences, Germanistic, Pedagogy, and Semitic Studies
Interests: Learning about Muslim life in the United States
Religion: Muslim
Alfred Bornea Taboada
Country: Philippines
Gender: Male
Email: alfredborntab@gmail.com
Employer: STI College
Position: Academic Head
Teaching Level: Undergraduate/Graduate
Subject(s) Taught: Peace and Development, Education
Education: Ph.D. in Peace and Development from Notre Dame University; M.A. in English Language Studies from Mindanao State University
Interests: Learn more about dialogue to help create a reliable intervention program
Religion: Protestant Christian
Zhe Wei Lau
Country: Malaysia
Email: lau_zhewei@hotmail.com
Gender: Male
Employer: International Islamic University of Malaysia
Position: Assistant Professor
Teaching Level: Undergraduate
Subject(s) Taught: Political Science
Education: Ph.D. in Ethnic Politics from the University of Bristol; M.A. in Party Politics from the National University of Malaysia.
Interests: Enhance his exposure to American studies to improve his lecturers for his students.
Muhammad Isnur
Country: Indonesia
Gender: Male
Email: isnur@ylbhi.or.id
Employer: Indonesia Legal Aid Foundation
Position: Department Chair
Teaching Level: N/A
Subject(s) Taught: N/A
Education: B.A. in Law from the Islamic State University ● Interests: Deepen his knowledge of religious freedom to better serve his community as a lawyer.
Religion: Muslim
Tekalign Nega Angore
Country: Ethiopia
Gender: Male
Email: tekalignnega@gmail.com
Employer: Addis Ababa University
Position: Assistant Professor
Teaching Level: Graduate
Subject(s) Taught: Research, Islam and Christianity
Education: Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from Tilburg University in the Netherlands; MTh (Research Masters) in Christian Muslim Relations from the Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology; M.A. in Biblical and Theological Studies from Ethiopian Graduate School of Theology; M.A. in Counseling Psychology from Addis Ababa University; M.A. in Accounting and Finance from Addis Ababa University.
Interests: Learn about interreligious dialogue to help teach people how to support differences.
Martin Kipkerich Tanui
Country: Kenya
Gender: Male
Email: tanuimartin@yahoo.com
Employer: University of Eldoret
Position: Lecturer
Teaching Level: Undergraduate/Graduate
Subject(s) Taught: History of Religion, Psychology of Religion
Education: Ph.D. in Religion and the Environment from Moi University; M.A. in Religious Studies from Moi University
Interests: Learn about American multicultural ethos, values, and ideals to help integrate those into teaching in Kenya.
Sakir Dincsahin
Country: Turkey
Gender: Male
Email: sakir.dincsahin@hku.edu.tr
Employer: Hasan Kalyoncu University
Position: Associate Lecturer
Teaching Level: Undergraduate/Graduate
Subject(s) Taught: Political Science
Education: Ph.D. in Political Science And International Relations from Yeditepe University; M.A. in International Economics from Yeditepe University
Interests: Better understand American politics and religious pluralism in the United States.
Mirkhat Zhambulovich Serikbayev
Country: Kazakhstan
Gender: Male
Email: mirhat@mail.ru
Employer: Kazguu University
Position: Senior Professor
Teaching Level: Undergraduate
Subject(s) Taught: Comparative Law
Education: D.B.A. from University of Business and International Studies, Switzerland; Candidate of Law from Kazakh National University
Interests: Better understand American politics and religious pluralism in the public sector.
Jian Cao
Country: China
Gender: Male
Email: yoficj@163.com
Employer: Philosophy Department, Sun Yat-sen University
Position: Associate Professor
Teaching Level: Undergraduate/Graduate
Subject(s) Taught: Jewish/Christian Studies
Education: Ph.D. in Biblical Studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; M.A. in Religious Studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; M.A. in Applied Linguistics from Hunan University
Interests: Western evangelical mission in China and Jewish-American tradition
Ywet Wai Aung
Country: Myanmar
Gender: Female
Email: ywetwaiaung@gmail.com
Employer: Religions for Peace-Myanmar
Position: Area Coordinator
Education: M.A. in education from Masaryk University, Czech Republic; M.A. in Oriental Studies from the University of Pyay
Interests: Learn how to dialogue through racial and religious issues in Myanmar.
Mayya Jafarguliyeva Sumqayit
E-mail: jafarguliyeva.mayya@gmail.com
Azerbaijan
Area of interest is multiculturalism in Azerbaijan, along with a comparative analysis of different models multiculturalism. Participation in the SUSI program will allow Ms. Jafarguliyeva to exam the effect of U.S. religious diversity on its political systems, and to explore the shared values of multiculturalism and secularism in Azerbaijan and the United States.
Mariano Jorge Gancedo
E-mail: marianogancedo@yahoo.com.ar
Buenos Aires, Argentina
Area of interest is local appropriations of alternative religions. Participation in the SUSI program will allow Mr. Gancedo to explore the the U.S. context in comparison to Argentinian society, as both represent colonial societies that emerged from liberal revolutions and were molded by mass immigration. Mr. Gancedo is interested in deepening his understanding of the laws that regulate the separation of church and state in the U.S.
Fouzia Mannan
E-mail: fouzia@ewubd.edu
Dhaka, Bangladesh
Area of interest in in gender and development, and sociology of religion. Participation in the SUSI program will allow Ms. Mannan to explore the impact of U.S. pluralism on society. This is of particular interest to Ms. Mannan in light of current global religious tensions and radicalization. Ms. Mannan hopes that the SUSI experience can assist her in her project of developing an MSS in sociology at her university.
Petsy Jessy Ismoyo
E-mail: jessyismoyo@gmail.com
Depok, West Java, Indonesia
Area of interest is in gender and religious identities. Participation in the SUSI program will allow Ms. Ismoyo to explore Religious Pluralism in the U.S. in order to enrich her courses in Multiculturalism and International Relations. Ms. Ismoyo’s current dissertation research examines local religious identity and its representation in documentary films, with attention to the politics of documentary films and their ability to bring social change and effect peacebuilding at the grassroots level.
Ismaiel Andaso Yaseen Mzgool
E-mail: yaseen.andaso@gmail.com
Dalanj, Sudan
Area of interest is in comparative religions. Participation in the SUSI program will help Mr. Yaseen Mzgool Ismaiel Andaso deepen his understanding of the multiplicity of religions in the United States, and its impact on the lives of American citizens. He hopes that this model of coexistence can move across borders to effect peaceful coexistence between the religions in Sudan.
Kashshaf Ghani
E-mail: kashshaf@hotmail.com
Kolkata, India
Area of interest is in Islam in South Asia, focused on pre-modern India (10001800), with a current research focus on interfaith relations within Persian scholarly traditions in non- Muslim/Hindu societies. Participation in the SUSI program will help Mr. Ghani enrich his courses on Sufism and Islamic Intellectual Traditions by incorporating modules on ‘Sufi Traditions in America’ and ‘Muslim Societies in America’ respectively.
Mariya Khoma
E-mail: mkhoma@ucu.edu.ua
Lviv, Ukraine
Area of interest is in religious pluralism in the United States and its intersection with American democracy. Participation in the SUSI program will help Ms. Khoma explore interfaith dialogue in the U.S. context in order to consider more broadly the global religious situation. The SUSI program will help Ms. Khoma develop or expand curricula on U.S. religious studies at her university.
Gašper Mithans
E-mail: gasper.mithans@zrs-kp.si
Koper, Slovenia
Gašper Mithans is a Senior Research Fellow at the Science and Research Centre Koper, Slovenia. He led a project funded by the Europe for Citizens programme and conducted postdoctoral research on interreligious relations in interwar Slovenia. In 2020, he was a Fulbright Scholar at University of California, Berkeley, in 2018, a visiting researcher at the University College Cork, and a grantee of the U. S. Department of State’s SUSI program. His research interests include history of religions and transnational history of Slovenia and Yugoslavia.
Petr Chuprikov
E-mail: petrchuprikov@gmail.com
Nizhny Novgorod, Russia
Areas of interests are in the relationship of church and society in Russia, interaction of religious institutions and government, and inclusiveness of the religious organizations (especially Russian Orthodox Church) in the political decision making process. Participation in the SUSI program will give Mr. Chuprikov a deeper understanding of how democratic models of religious pluralism function in order to perform a comparative analysis of Russian and American experiences.
Savong Houn
E-mail: savongmcfa@gmail.com
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Area of interest is in the collection and preservation of intangible culture in areas of performing arts, music, especially the knowledge and practices concerning nature, universe, social practice, rituals and festive events in Khmer society. Participation in the SUSI program will help Mr. Houn explore how religious pluralism contributes to a thriving democracy, and how he can compare religious harmony during the reign of Great King Jayavarman 7 in the Angkor period with that of U.S. society.
Mandalar Lankara
E-mail: mandalarzan@gmail.com
Mandalay, Burma
Area of interest is in transforming conflict by creating more space for dialogue among communities in Burma. Participation in the SUSI program will help Mr. Lankara to be able to learn from the U.S. how to promote dialogue despite deep rooted misunderstandings and prejudice, and to narrow the gap between communities.
Yichao Tu
E-mail: tuyichao@fudan.edu.cn
Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
Area of interests are in religion and international relations, religion and politics in U.S. and the history of religion. Participation in the SUSI program will help Ms. Tu understand religion and pluralism in contemporary United States. As member of the Center for American Studies at Fudan University, a think tank, Ms. Tu expects that the SUSI program will offer new insights and enable fresh perspectives during the think tank’s policy recommendation process.
Arif Kemil Abdulah
E-mail: arif_abdllh@yahoo.com
Sofia, Bulgaria
Area of interest is in religious pluralism, and specifically theological perspectives of religious pluralism. This interest is with a specific concern for the ramifications of a theological approach in the postmodern era and its impact on peaceful coexistence and common good. Participation in the SUSI program will help Mr. Abdulah familiarize himself with American academic experience regarding theological religious pluralism.
Rahma Daoud Ep Rebai
E-mail: daoudrebairahma@gmail.com
Sfax, Tunisia
Area of interest is American cultural pluralism and specifically religious pluralism. Participation in SUSI program will help Ms. Daoud Ep Rebai understand religious pluralism in the U.S. and its role in understanding diversity and the United States overall. This will also help Ms. Daoud Ep Rebai’s develop course at her university, which has several U.S.focused courses, but none of which address religious pluralism
Naranbat Battumur
E-mail: naranbat9101@gmail.com
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Area of interest is in researching and translating Buddhist teachings. Participation in the SUSI program will help Mr. Battumur broaden his knowledge of non-Buddhist religions, religious pluralism in the U.S., and U.S. values of social inclusiveness and acceptance of diversity. This is important to Mr. Battumur as religious discrimination is a current issue in Mongolia, along negative attitudes toward the resurgence of native religion and the increase of non-native religions since the Democratic Revolution of 1990.
Ousmanou Adama
E-mail: ousmanouad@yahoo.fr
Maroua, Cameroon
Area of interest is in ethnic and religious clashes as they relate to resource scarcity in Chad Basin region. Mr. Adama is also concerned with addressing violent extremism by managing religious expression on university campuses and beyond in the communities. Participation in the SUSI program will help Mr. Adama explore how different religions can cohabit peacefully in the United States with the interest of implementing a similar model in Northern Cameroon and Nigeria.
Mr. Mahfoud Ali Zoui
E-mail: mahfoud_alizoui@yahoo.com
Position: Assistant Professor of Civilization Department of English, University of Guelma
Country: Algeria
Research areas of interest are centered on ethnic and religious minorities in the United States and Britain with a focus on the Muslim minorities, ethnopolitics, radicalization, multiculturalism, religious pluralism, US civilization, British civilization and intercivilizational dialogue.
Dr. Ferdinand Gjana
E-mail: fgjana@beder.edu.al
Albania Rector Beder University
Country: Albania
Has a background and advanced degrees in Political Sciences, International Relations and Diplomacy. Has lectured on International Security and Violent Extremism, Religious radicalism, Interreligious dialogue in Modern societies. Has consulted with students about participating in the worldwide network of Peer to Peer: Countering Violent Extremism (P2P:CVE) initiative administered by Edventure Partners for three semesters motivating them to creative ways of sharing peaceful messages among peers, reflecting on the Albanian model of intercultural and interreligious understanding and tolerance.
Luiz Siveres
Email: luiz.siveres@gmail.com
Country: Brazil
Position: Professor and researcher in the Graduate Program in Education at the Catholic University of Brasília
Current work involves research on Pedagogy of presence, proximity and departure, with the aim of contributing to educational processes. The presupposition of this pedagogy is dialogue and, therefore, I am interested in researching the influence of dialogue on people's lives, on educational processes and on social systems.
Ms. Yosra Elgendi
E-mail: yosraelgendi@yahoo.com
Country: Egypt
Position: Research Officer American University in Cairo
Conducts research related to ethnic and religious conflict in Egypt, by interviewing various stakeholders including government officials, political parties, journalists and civil society actors to investigate the various conflicts and how they were resolved.
Dr. Rameez Aboobacker
E-mail: arameez@seu.ac.lk
Country: Sri Lanka
Position: Senior Lecturer in Sociology - South Eastern University of Sri Lanka
Research interests include race and ethnicity, social issues, and sociology of religion. Currently responsible for updating the Sociology curricula, and hopes that this program will help contribute to this update. Also interested in the intersections of religion and politics in elections, public policy and so on, and diversity of contemporary religious beliefs in American politics and society.
Mr. Obydullah Al Marjuk
E-mail: marjuk@iub.edu.bd
Position: Senior Lecturer and Additional Director of Institutional Quality Assurance Cell (IQAC)
Independent University Bangladesh (IUB)
Research in the fields of education and digital divide. In consideration of how individuals in Bangladesh struggle with understanding their identity in relation to religion and its intersection with the nationality, Mr. Marjuk is interested in exploring how a country like U.S. with great religious and ethnic varieties maintains religious pluralism as well as to maintain largest democracy, and what can be learned and applied to overcome challenges in Bangladesh.
Mr. Jussi Tapio Ikkala
E-mail: jussi.ikkala@helsinki.fi
Finland Teacher University of Helsinki, Faculty of Educational Sciences / Kulosaari, Secondary School Teacher of Religious Education; Ethics and acting lower secondary study guidance counselor in bilingual (Finnish, English) Kulosaari Secondary School in Helsinki. The school has become known around Finland due to its experimentation in partly integrated model of worldview education / religious education as opposed to teaching students in separate groups according to their religious/nonreligious affiliation.
His research interests include topics related to religious education and cultural diversity within the field of education. His PhD studies focus on various models of religious education and worldview education within the framework of Schola Europaea, the network of educational institutions (the European Schools and the Accredited European Schools) set up in the European Union’s Member States.
Mr. Dursun Aykit
E-mail: aykit@yahoo.com
Country: Turkey
Position: Associate Professor - Cumuriyet University, Sivas University, Sivas, Turkey
His research field is the history of religions and he has taught Christianity and Judaism as well as Islam. He teaches more from an anthropological perspective than theological and values the lived experience of the differing religious traditions in order to have a first-hand experience books alone cannot give.
Dr. Matkur Sabati
E-mail: madzkurSabati@yahoo.com
Country: Indonesia
Position: Lecturer, Teacher, Consultant State Islamic Institute (IAN), Jember, Bondowoso, East Jave, Indonesia
His field is Islamic Studies particular in relation to the development of democracy in Indonesia and to western countries. He has a research interest in education and pedagogy in primary, high school, and grassroots organizations and has helped Nahdlatul Ulama in its programs. He desires to learn how the American educational system studies religion in order to preserve pluralism.
Dr. Soumen Mukherjee
E-mail: soumenmukherjee26@googlemail.com
Country: India
Position: Assistant Professor of History, Presidency University, Howrah, West Bengal, India
Research interests lie widely in the fields of socioreligious and intellectual history of modern South Asia with particular focus on questions of identity, religious normativity, religiouslyinflected social service, and histories of South Asian diasporas and religious networks in the western Indian Ocean world. I am also in the process of transitioning to research projects on broadly the three following areas: A) Indian secularism, religious pluralism and the intellectual enterprise of “Indian philosophy”; B) the intersection of religious experience and the sciences (especially the “psydisciplines”); C) and aspects of “new religious movements” and “new age spirituality.”
Dr. Helena Vilaca
E-mail: hvilaca19@gmail.com
Country: Portugal
Position: Assistant Professor of Sociology, Universidade de Porto, Porto, Portugal
Research interests include: religious and ethical pluralism; Portuguese Catholicism; Protestant and Evangelical congregations; migrations and ethnicity; church planting and reverse mission.
Dr. Nassef Adiong
E-mail: info@nassef-m-adiong.com
Country: Philippines
Position: Associate Professor, University of the Philippines-Diliman, Manilla, Philippines
My research interests are: Islamic approaches and Muslim contributions to International Relations as area of inquiry and practice. Islam and Muslim societies, particularly their relations and responses to EuroAmerican modernity, secularization, and nationstate system. State crafting of Muslim polities. History and contemporary issues on Bangsamoro (the Muslim community in the Philippines).
I am tasked to design courses on Religion and International Relations, Multiculturalism, Islamic Political Thought, and History of Islam. I helped design the revised curriculum of Master of Arts in Islamic Studies program of the Institute of Islamic Studies at the University of the PhilippinesDiliman last year. While this year, I will design the curriculum of Bachelor of Arts in International Studies program of the Far Eastern University, Manila. I will be organizing the very first academic conference on International Relations in the Philippines. It will be under the supervision of the Philippine International Studies Organization (PhISO), a research association I founded in 2015. In just few months since its inception, PhISO became a member of the World International Studies Committee (WISC), a partner organization of the International Studies Association (ISA), affiliate member of the Global South Caucus of International Studies (GSCIS), and the country partner of the 2017 TRIP Faculty Survey.
Dr. Aleksey Rakhmanin
E-mail: a.rakhmanin@gmail.com
Country: Russia
Position: Associate Professor and lecturer, Russian Christian Academy for the Humanities
My professional life focuses on religious studies; I started them almost 16 years, and I’m planning to continue them in future. My interests are mostly theoretical and methodological matters, though I give due consideration to anthropological study of popular religion (of Russian North people) as well as new religious movements.
At the moment I mostly concern myself with the problem of defining religion and specifically with the discursive strategies of defining religion which are significant for religious actors; in this inquiry I’m studying the manner in which religious people interprets themselves and other religious groups. I have a great experience in education management and development of new educational programs – for instance, I worked out one of the first MA in religious studies in Russia. Besides, I developed several short-term classes on religious studies for journalists. I’m involved in journalism myself – I have been covering social, religious and artistic life in Saint-Petersburg, Russia, for several years. Nevertheless, at one point I have tired of administrating education and decided to concentrate myself on researches and developing scientific projects.
Dr. Roman Micka
E-mail: roman.tf@seznam.cz
Position: Associate Professor, University of South Bohemia in Ceske Bridejovice, Czech Republic
Areas of my research interest are especially social ethics and social doctrine of the Church – more generally relations between politics, economics and religion. Big part of my past studies (PhD theses, two books and several papers) was oriented on American political Catholicism, especially more radical American Catholic writers (Michael Novak, Patrick Buchanan).
At my home faculty – Faculty of Theology –I am asked to teach courses from the area of Christian social ethics and political science, where I of course use available knowledge and reflection of American reality – not only Catholic, but of other approaches and paradigms, especially from the US protestant and evangelical spectrum.
Mr. Shuxi Yin
E-mail: yin.shuxi@gmail.com
Country: China
Position: Senior Professor, Hefei University of Technology, Hefei, People’s Republic of China
Research interests: comparative religions, especially east and west; from Anui rural province he designs curricula to serve east-west understandings.
He has written on Mormons in China and visited in Utah. His comparative work has been on Buddhism and Christianity as it has migrated to China.
Mr. Altankhuu Tserenjav
E-mail: taltankhuu@yahoo.co.uk
Country: Mongolia
Position: Administrator, Dashichoiling Monastery, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Assumes a major role of management of the projects of the monastery especially ones of humanitarian focus. Briefly, current situation of religion in Mongolia is very different from the socialist period and the Buddhism dominated period. After 1990, just as the local religions of Buddhism and shamanism were beginning to revive, a range of new religious groups entered Mongolia. These included Christianity, new religious movements and global Buddhist organisations.
According to Mongolian constitution, all religions should equally coexist in Mongolia so that all religious organizations need to respect each other and cooperate for public benefits. For the last decade, we are truly trying to cooperate with Christian, Muslim and other different religious organizations but we haven’t achieved our goal. The reason for this is that we lack of knowledge, experience, and approach to work with other religious organizations for benefiting public and society. As a result of attending Religious Pluralism in the United States program, first, I was be able to gain necessary knowledge of working for religious field in further. Second, I was able to learn practical methods and approaches for improving collaboration of religious organizations in Mongolia. Third, the program helped me to exchange and share my thoughts and experiences of religious study with researches and experts in the United States. I want to make some contribution to the development of religion in Mongolia.
Dr. Joseph Nfi
E-mail: nfi.joseph@ubuea.cm
Position: Lecturer, teacher, consultant
University of Bamenda, Bamenda, Cameroon
History is an important tool for nation building and for preservation of the culture and identity of a people. This philosophy guides my teaching of this discipline. The World Commission on Culture and Development has said that religious beliefs have a strong influence on the culture of a community and is a major influence in the world today. At foundation, the English protestant settlers, the French and Spanish catholic settlers and the Africans tolerated each other in the US and this gave birth to a strong and stable nation. Islamic fundamentalism and clash between western democracy and Islamic doctrines seem to threaten the American experience in religious pluralism. Cameroon and certain regions in Africa face similar challenges with the multiplication of terrorist groups and religious conflicts on the continent.
Apart from African traditional religions practiced by various ethnic groups, Islam was introduced in the Northern Cameroon in the first half of the 19th century through jihads (holy wars) led by Modibbo Adama. Christianity was introduced by the London Baptist Missionaries in the 1840s. As the natives were rapidly converted to either Islam or Christianity, cohabitation between Christianity, Islam and African traditional religions became problematic. This is largely due to mutual suspicion and the lack of understanding on the basic principles and even similarities that exist between these religions.
In the Northwest Region of Cameroon the uneasy cohabitation between the three main religious groups are common. My childhood was greatly influenced by religious intolerance. It was difficult to attend the same schools with Muslims or even non-Catholics and marriages between Muslims and Christians or even within different Christian denominations were uncommon.
Dr. Irine Kurdadze
E-mail: irine.kurdadze@tsu.ge
Position: Senior Professor, Head of Organizations Law
Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
I have worked at the Tbilisi State University since 1997. Having obtained my PhD Degree (Doctor Juries) from Tbilisi State University with the specialization in Public International Law in 2004, I was elected as an Associate Professor the same year and further in November 2012, as a Professor of International Law at the Institute of International Law, Faculty of Law. I have been teaching different International Law subjects since 1997 at both BA and MA levels. Throughout my teaching practice I have initiated theoretical and practical courses for both undergraduate and postgraduate students such as “The Role of the International Organizations and Transnational Corporation in the Modern Globalizing World” (BA); “The Legal influence of International Law on the Georgian legislation” (MA).
In 2012, I introduced a new course “Ethnic, Religious and Language Minority’s Rights and Applicable Standards under international, Universal, and Regional (European) Law” at MA level. The rationale for suggesting a new course was based on my theoretical knowledge of International Public Law, and practical challenges faced while serving in Public Offices, in particular in the capacity of the Deputy Minister of Education and Science of Georgia. In the latter position, one of my job responsibilities was to support integration of ethnic minorities into the Georgian Society.
In the process of my work on the above mentioned syllabi, I discovered that there is lack of material in the Georgian Language. In order to fill in the existing literature gap, I decided to develop the textbook “Protection of Ethnic Minority Rights under the International (universal and regional) Standards” in the Georgian Language. Having a text book in the native language will help all persons interested in the field to gain access to relevant and updated information regarding contemporary challenges. The work on the book is already finished and the textbook has been sent for the editing. The content of the textbook includes such subjects as: the protection of ethnic, linguistic and religious minorities in the modern word; the evolution of minority governance under the umbrella of the League of Nations; universal mechanisms for the protection of ethnic minority rights; European mechanisms for the management of minority majority relations.
