The Center for Media, Religion, and Culture at the University of Colorado at Boulder is pleased to announce an International Conference on Fundamentalism and the Media. Please distribute this call for participation widely.

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON FUNDAMENTALISM AND THE MEDIA
The Center for Media, Religion, and Culture
University of Colorado at Boulder, USA
October 10-12, 2006, Boulder, CO, USA
(Proposals Due: June 1, 2006)

Co-Sponsors:
World Association for Christian Communication/North American Region, and World Association for Christian Communication (WACC), London

How do we achieve tolerance more than fifty years after the signatories of the United Nations Charter resolved to "practice tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbors," and more than two hundred years after Voltaire led his fervent philosophical battle against religious intolerance and the bigotry and injustice that it legitimized?

The media today are the primary location of local, national, and global discourse. Social, religious, cultural, and political symbols and ideas are shaped and shared through media words and pictures. It seems that the religion we see in media is increasingly polarized, with emerging fronts of conflict and struggle represented there. It is often thought that the religious impulse most responsible is the impulse to "Fundamentalism." While there is great debate about the meaning and applicability of this term, in popular and public discourse it remains the commonplace way to think about these issues.

This conference will focus on the central questions of Fundamentalism and the Media. It is intended to be a starting point of a global conversation about how best to address religious misunderstanding and conflict in the media sphere, and how the media sphere itself might be used to more positive ends of peace and understanding. The media clearly have the capacity to divide and to unite, to feed ignorance and to feed understanding. This conference will open a dialogue between academics, practitioners, and members of the religious community on how to move forward.

Tentative Speakers:
- Prof. Scott Appleby, University of Notre Dame
- Prof. Annabelle Sreberny-Mohammadi, SOAS, University of London
- Prof. Pradip Thomas, University of Queensland
- Prof. Ogbu Kalu, McCormick Theological Seminary
Invited speakers will address the themes both generally and in specific regional contexts, and will consider issues in relation to specific religious traditions, including Islam, Christianity, and Hinduism.

Proposed themes include:
- Fundamentalism in Religious Culture and History
- The US Experience
- The African Experience
- The South Asian Experience
- The Latin American Experience
- The Middle Eastern Experience
These presentations will, in addition to their regional foci, also reflect on political, social, cultural, and institutional implications in their various contexts.

CALL FOR PAPERS AND PROPOSALS

In addition to the plenary presentations, the program is open to paper, panel, and program proposals. These can be scholarly, practical, roundtable, or workshop proposals. Proposals might consider such issues as:
- Defining Fundamentalism and Media
- Domestic political implications in various national, ethnic, and cultural contexts
- International experiences
- Intercultural and inter-religious implications
- National/regional/group case studies
- The evolution of religion and media
- What is on the horizon?
- What best practice models might be developed?
- The role of journalists and journalism
- Implications for religious institutions and religious authority
- The latest research on religion and media

Proposals should include a narrative of 250 words and a description of the program proposed, including the names of potential or confirmed presenters. Audio-visual needs, if any, should be indicated. Electronic submissions are preferred and they should be sent to FundMed@colorado.edu. The deadline for all submissions is JUNE 1, 2006.

Conference Secretariat
The Center for Media, Religion, and Culture
School of Journalism and Mass Communication
University of Colorado
1511 University Avenue
Boulder, CO 80309-0478 USA
Ph: (Int+1) 303-492-1357
Fx: (Int+1) 303-492-0969
Email: FundMed@colorado.edu
Website: http://www.colorado.edu/journalism/mcm/mrc/fundmed.htm

Conference Director: Professor Stewart M. Hoover
International Consultant: Professor Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu
WACC Staff Liaison: Philip Lee
Conference Staff: Nadia Kaneva

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