CORECast’s New Episode Focuses on Roger Alfani and Religious Peacebuilding

The Institute for Communication and Religion’s (ICR) CORECast continues with episode 2.2 featuring Fellow Roger Alfani, Ph.D. and Billy Austin, a Seton Hall junior in Political Science, with Seton Hall alumnus Bernie Wagenblast as host. CORECast is produced by the ICR to host students and faculty discussing both religious and philosophical texts that relate to Seton Hall’s Core Curriculum. 

This episode, “Refugees, Religion, and Politics,” discusses themes from Alfani’s book, Religious Peacebuilding in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and from “Refugees, Religion, and Politics,” a third level Core Curriculum course under the Catholic Studies curriculum. 

Religious Peacebuilding in the Democratic Republic of Congo discusses the peacebuilding efforts that three Catholic churches have advanced in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The text focuses on addressing domestic conflicts at both the grassroots and leadership levels of the churches, highlighting the impact that religious groups play in promoting peace and tolerance. Alfani’s “Refugees, Religion, and Politics” course touches on similar concepts, focusing on refugees from Eastern Africa and their experiences with displacement, and their connection to religion through these experiences. 

“My teaching on forced displaced populations and refugees draws from fieldwork research conducted in both eastern Africa and the United States. The lived experiences of these populations – spanning from fleeing their homes to their eventual place of resettlement – is often represented in a dehumanized manner, with insufficient attention given to the role of religion and religious non-state actors,” said Alfani. “Students who take this course, as Billy Austin clearly points out in the interview, examine these realities through an interdisciplinary lens.”

This episode and other CORECast episodes are available to view now on the ICR’s PodBean.
 
About the Institute for Communication and Religion 
The Institute for Communication and Religion (ICR) is an affiliated unit within Seton Hall University’s College of Human Development, Culture, and Media. Religious traditions are primary drivers for social action across humanity’s full moral range, from care through violence. Launched with THRUST funding in Fall 2017, the ICR is an interdisciplinary nexus for communication and media scholarship addressing the critical intersection between religion and society. Guided by Nostra Aetate’s spirit of ecumenical and interreligious cooperation, the Institute seeks to engage in public dialogue and debate, promote academic inquiry and support religious dimensions of creativity. Our values are Seton Hall’s values: servant leadership, curricular innovation, and intellectual excellence. For more information, visit the Institute for Communication and Religion website. 

Categories: Faith and Service, Nation and World