Abstracts

Pamela Andrews, MA, Religious Studies, Memorial University of Newfoundland
The Five Percenters: The Nation of Gods and Earths
The Five Percent Nation of Gods and Earths is an offshoot of the Nation of Islam which was founded by Clarence 13X, also known as Allah, a former student of Malcolm X and Elijah Muhammad. The Five Percenters, as they call themselves, have had a great influence on hip hop culture and rap music in particular, yet the organization remains virtually unknown to those outside the Five Percent cipher. This paper will outline a history of the Five Percent movement. I will address the underlying cultural, political and economic situation which created space for the inception and proliferation of the movement. Finally, I will discuss the relevance of the Five Percent Nation within the context of contemporary religious movements, and its significance as an example of religion and hip/hop.

Callum Beck, PhD, Religious Studies, University of Prince Edward Island
Living Together By Keeping Apart: Gentlemen’s Agreements and Protestant-Catholic Relations on P.E.I.
After the bitter sectarian/education wars on Prince Edward Island (1847-1877) its leaders settled on an approach of elite accommodation to subdue their sectarian tensions. This began with the establishment of a de facto separate school system in a de jure non-sectarian public school system. Nearly every institution on the Island became divided on a sectarian basis, government patronage was doled out to ensure that each side received a roughly equal share, and gentlemen’s agreements governed all aspects of politics. This system did not begin to be dismantled until the mid-1960s. This use of elite accommodation to calm religious rancour was not practiced in the United States or the United Kingdom, but was a pervasive reality of life in each of the Atlantic Provinces from the 1870s-1970s. In spite of this it has received very little scholarly attention. This paper draws on numerous oral sources in order to trace the contours of how the unwritten agreements functioned in the day-to-day life of Prince Edward Islanders, and how they led to both a cessation of hostilities and a deep sociological divide.

Rachel Courey, MA, Religious Studies, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Transforming Conflict Resolution Through Religion
Conventional theories of conflict resolution and political policy largely displace religion, thereby its potential benefits. When attitudes of oppression and dominance are hidden cultural differences, such as religion and values, are left in the spotlight and seen as elements that perpetuate conflict. Currently, numerous scholars and theorists have devoted their careers to opening up the dialogue on conflict resolution to include important aspects such as religion. They identify religion as a tool for peace, and not simply a perpetrator of violence, while at the same time they do not shy away from the negative role that religion sometimes takes in conflict. I offer another aspect. I do not only contend that religion itself can have a positive influence in conflict resolution but that methods and theories borne out of religious thought can have transformational effects. Looking to Bernard Lonergan’s work on bias, I describe how a theory rooted in religious thought and language can contribute to successful conflict resolution, particularly reconciliation.

Caitlin Downie, MA, Religious Studies, University of Ottawa
Renegotiating Islam: The Challenges and Coping Strategies of Immigrant Women
This study examines how immigration affects Muslim women’s religious practices and integration. Specifically, it focuses on the challenges and coping strategies of Muslim women post-immigration. Interviews with female Muslim students in Halifax highlight the numerous challenges Muslim immigrants face such as discrimination, negative media portrayal, and dealing with the differences between Western society and traditional Islamic societies. Considering these challenges, Muslim immigrants use several coping strategies in order to carve out a social and religious space for themselves. These coping strategies include; separating culture from religion, decreasing their visibility, increasing their involvement with the Muslim community, and increasing some religious practices.

Cathy Holtmann, PhD, Sociology, University of New Brunswick
Religion and Family Violence: The Role of Ethnicity
Social science research conducted in the Atlantic region by the Religion and Violence Team of the Muriel McQueen Center for Family Violence Research at the University of New Brunswick has shown that one of the most effective responses to religious victims of family violence has come through networks of informal support operating at the level of congregational life in both urban and rural contexts. As a result, religion is becoming an important consideration in any community coordinated approach to domestic violence. My doctoral research investigates the lives of Christian and Muslim women who have recently immigrated to the Maritimes to see if and how they access formal and informal networks of support. Are there differences between the responses of Canadian-born religious women to family violence and the responses of foreign-born religious women? Do existing support networks adequately meet the needs of abused religious immigrant women? Do the divisions of race, class and gender in the region increase the vulnerability of ethno-religious immigrant women to domestic violence? This paper will highlight the preliminary findings of this research and place them in the context of contemporary theoretical debates within domestic violence scholarship.

Micheline Hughes, MA Religious Studies, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Scapegoat, Sacrifice, or Saviour: An Examination of the Outsider in the Mahābhārata
My research explores the roles and treatment of social outsiders as depicted in the Hindu epic, the Mahābhārata. Various factors are taken into consideration when determining what social groups qualify as outsiders. These factors include: caste, dharma, liminality, and geography. Four groups of outsiders are examined, they are: Nāgas (a serpent race), Rākṣasas (demons), Niṣādas (a tribal group), and the Pāṇḍavas (the protagonists of the epic). Narratives involving these groups are examined using various theories as a type of lens to better understand the epic’s treatment of social outsiders. Relevant theorists include: Aloka Parasher-Sen, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, Edward Said, Michel Foucault, Robert Goldman, Victor Turner, and Thomas Parkhill. It is important to consider many theories because the social outsider in the epic is not limited to one role, outsiders are role models, heroes, and many are victims, who are sacrificed for the benefit of the Pāṇḍavas and/or their allies. Although this research focuses on an epic that is approximately 2,000 years old, it is currently relevant and relatable to current trends involving social exclusion and social outsiders, such as the current marginalization of South Asian Muslims, in India and Hinduism.

Alyssa MacDougall, BA, Religious Studies, Cape Breton University
A Database of Media Attention Given to the Head Covering Ban in France
Recently, numerous European countries have taken steps to ban the niqab, the burqa and other head coverings associated with the Muslim tradition in public places. The bans have marked a significant breach of what many see as a right to expression of religion. They have generated significant media attention all over the world, suggesting an important interest in the subject that implies concern for the issue. France, specifically, has recently banned the head coverings in public places, creating a political divide that has repeatedly attracted media attention for a number of years now. The amount of media attention devoted to the subject in France illustrates the public interest in the subject and it can be used as an important example of relevance of this matter. By reading and summarizing articles from French media and subsequently organizing them into four common categories (legal, country, gender and politics), we are left with a comprehensive database that clearly illustrates the major categories of discussion and debate regarding the subject, as seen by the French media and public. The French research will be part of a larger project that will also include similar research on the subject English speaking countries and news outlets. Both will ultimately be part of a large searchable database on the topic that will make specific and comprehensive information on the subject easily accessible.

Bonnie Morgan, PhD, History, University of New Brunswick
“I was a lost person, you know”: Women, Conversion, and the Interaction of Christian Traditions in Twentieth-Century Conception Bay, Newfoundland
The pervasiveness and persistence of sectarian tensions is a favorite narrative within the Newfoundland historiography, most recently seen in works by John FitzGerald, Patrick O’Flaherty, and David Dawe. The proposed paper will explore the interaction of different Christian traditions at the community and family level, as remembered and expressed by women who lived on the south side of Conception Bay. This area of Newfoundland was predominantly Anglican during the period under investigation, with Roman Catholics as the second largest segment of the population. Through the twentieth century there was significant growth in new religions, especially Salvationism, Pentecostalism, Jehovah’s Witnesses, and Seventh Day Adventists. Employing oral interviews, church newspapers, and previously unexamined records of the local Church of England Women’s Association, the proposed paper will consider women’s experience of conversion to and from Anglicanism in mid-twentieth century rural Newfoundland, both as a means to better understand relations between people of different Christian backgrounds and beliefs, as well as to examine the impact of gender on religion. Analysis will include the circumstances surrounding women’s decision to convert, the reaction of her family and church community, as well as her own reflections on the move. The research will consider whether the narrative of sectarian tension in Newfoundland, usually portrayed by historians as running along Roman Catholic and Protestant lines, accurately captures the relationship between ordinary Catholics, Anglicans and members of new religions, both male and female, who lived together in the increasingly pluralistic communities of Conception Bay.

Trevor Murphy, MA, Religious Studies, Saint Mary’s University
Religious Influences on the Acadian Renaissance in the Maritimes, 1864-1945
The late 19th Century denotes a crucial point for Acadians in the Maritimes. Though they had been resettled in the region for nearly 100 years following their expulsion in 1755, the late 1880s marked a moment of reawakening for Acadians in which a revitalized collective Acadian consciousness began to emerge. During this period, deemed the “Acadian Renaissance” by many scholars, Acadians, for the first time, undertook unprecedented organized attempts to articulate their unique and distinct identity. While political pressures of the impending Confederation, the development of French newspapers such as Le Moniteur Acadien, a desire for education reform, and the renewed interest in Acadian history thanks to Longfellow’s 1837 poem Evangeline were all factors that contributed to this period of revitalized collective consciousness, one of the most instrumental elements in fostering the Acadian Renaissance was undoubtedly the Catholic Church. This paper identifies the ways in which the Catholic Church was a driving force in cultivating this burgeoning collective Acadian consciousness and examines how this influence ultimately created an Acadian identity imbued with Roman Catholic symbols, virtues and ideals.

Marwa Othman, MA, Religious Studies, Saint Mary’s University
Religion and Secularism between the East and the West
Many people in the Western world and even in the Middle East perceive secularism as an inevitable reality for having a post-modern democratic country. A superficial examination of the status quo proves that the societies who have adopted the secular system hundreds of years ago are stable, just, democratic and modern countries, while those who did not fully adopted secular systems are still suffering from civil wars, backwardness, poverty and injustice. This conclusion is not so accurate. In reality this issue is highly controversial and is controlled by several factors, which makes it impossible to come out easily with this conclusion. A very important factor here is the concept and role of religion in the community, and how this concept perceived and understood differently across history by the West and the Middle East respectively. In other words how religion has been functioning in different countries, and how it affects the community. It is important here to pay attention that each religion has a different nature, which in turn leaves distinctive impacts on the people. This examination must be followed by an examination of how secularism has been functioning both in the East and the West. My aim in this research is to compare and contrast the impact of secularism on two different territories; Egypt representing the Middle East and Quebec and Atlantic Canada representing the West. One of the reasons that make the comparison worthwhile between Egypt and Quebec is that both places have one dominant religion. In addition to that, religion in both nations, yet it is different, has played a great role in forming the culture and the identity. I assume that with the Islamic resurgence that we are witnessing in the Middle East, and the expected re-Islamization, that will probably increase after several political Islamist parties are taking control over some Middle Eastern countries, such a comparison of the relationship between secularism and religion and it has been perceived by the East and the West is highly significant for having a better understanding of what is taking place in the Middle East.

Caitlin Russell, MA, Religious Studies, Memorial University of Newfoundland
A New Context: Hindu Widows in the Canadian Diaspora
With the growing interest in women in religious traditions, one often finds a tendency within academic writing to focus on the obscure or the negative aspects of a religious traditions’ practices, especially with regards to the roles of females. In research of Hindu religious traditions one finds a large amount of research on sati and comparatively little on the life of Hindu widows. This paper will focus on widowhood in Hindu religious traditions. It will be an introduction to literature that surrounds the topic, as well as an outline of the methodology of the anthropological research I hope to complete. The basis of this research will be answering questions of how women who have been widowed experience life after the death of their husbands, specifically within the Canadian Diaspora. What roles do these women occupy within household and community, what rituals do these women participate in, how does this differ, if at all, from before the death of their husband, and how is this different or similar from the perceived roles of widows in India? In the hope of looking past stereotypes that focuses on simply the negative aspects of widowhood within Hindu traditions, and studying the practices, living situations, and beliefs of Hindu widows, this paper describes how my research will seek to examine the actual religious lives of these Canadians.

Lisa Marie Walters, MA, Religious Studies, Memorial University of Newfoundland
Christianity, Conservatism and Capital Hill: How the Christian Beliefs of the Harper Cabinet Affect Public Policy in Canada
It is no secret that Stephen Harper is an Evangelical Christian; he regularly attends the East Gate Alliance Church. Although proud of his religious roots, Harper successfully downplayed his beliefs for the Canadian public. However, on the night of his election as Prime Minister in 2006, Stephen Harper ended his speech with the words “God Bless Canada.” From that moment on, politicians, journalists and scholars have been examining just how much Stephen Harper’s religious beliefs affect his political agenda. Not only has Stephen Harper appointed like-minded Christians to his cabinet, there is also an increasing coalition between the Prime Minister and Conservative Christian lobbyists in Ottawa. These politicians and lobbyists are being referred to as a Canadian extension of the American Christian Right. It is also believed that the convictions of Harper’s cabinet are re-shaping our domestic policies. I am examining the validity of these claims and concluding that Stephen Harper is, in fact, slowly reinstating a marriage between religion and politics in Canada. By researching the changes in our nation’s cultural, social and scientific policies since the election of Stephen Harper, I am finding ample evidence to support the growing theory that Stephen Harper is subtly allowing his Christian values to play a role in how Canada operates.

Jennifer Williams, MA, Religious Studies, Memorial University of Newfoundland
The Impact of the Education System on the Immigration of Non-Christian Minorities to Newfoundland and Labrador
Canada’s Atlantic provinces are going through a phase of transition prompted by government initiatives aimed at increasing immigration. Due to a declining population and expanding economy, Newfoundland and Labrador is one of the greatest examples of an emerging need for immigration. At the same time, the province’s “immigrant scarce” history and its continued Christian-majority population reflect challenges to this end. This paper examines this tension through a historically-informed examination of the province’s education system. I ask what effects a changing and diverse education system have had on the role of immigration and potential immigrant experience in the capital city of St. John’s. Until 1997 the province’s public education system was denominational; children attended either Protestant or Catholic schools. I suggest that this former framework sheds light on understanding previously low immigration of non-Christian minorities. I will chart immigration trends around the debated 1997 conclusion of the province’s denominational school system to investigate its impact (or not) on immigration. I argue that it is imperative to understand the history of Newfoundland and Labrador’s religious education system in order to appreciate the province’s present day immigration.