This panel will feature experts of religion, gender, and environment to highlight recent efforts by religious leaders and communities to raise awareness on climate change. The panel speakers will then discuss the interconnections between environmental justice and gender justice by drawing upon from their particular religious traditions. A critical discussion of how the cosmos is ordered on a delicate balance the maintenance of which is trusted upon the humankind as a collective and shared duty will be underlined as the main argument of the panel: environmental care serves and needs the feminist agenda, and the religious communities should not deprive themselves of this crucial tool while developing their own strategies for curbing the global catastrophe that humanity is about to bring upon itself.
Speakers and Session Topics
Speaker #1: "Tracing anti-patriarchy in the environmental message of the Qur'an."
Prof. Zeki Saritoprak, Bediuzzaman Said Nursi Chair in Islamic Studies at John Carroll University.
Dr. Zeki Saritoprak is the Bediuzzaman Said Nursi Chair in Islamic Studies and a Professor in the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at John Carroll University in Cleveland, Ohio. He holds a Ph.D. in Islamic Theology from the University of Marmara in Turkey. His most recent books are Islam’s Jesus was published by the University Press of Florida in 2014 and Islamic Spirituality: Theology and Practice for the Modern World published by Bloomsbury in 2017. He is currently working on a book on Islamic Eschatology.
A renowned scholar of Islamic Studies, Dr. Saritoprak is currently teaching the Islam and the Environment seminar at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at John Carroll University. His publications and ongoing projects can be found at his personal website https://zekisaritoprak.com
Speaker #2: "Climate Fiction as Feminist and Moral Work."
Prof. Debra Rosenthal, Department of English, John Carroll University.
Debra Rosenthal specializes in 19th-21st-century American fiction. A winner of JCU's Culicchia Award for Teaching Excellence, Dr. Rosenthal is passionate about teaching students about American literature, particularly about climate change fiction. She is the author of two books of literary criticism, and has published numerous scholarly articles. She is currently writing another book, and editing three more about climate change fiction. Her full list of publications can be found at this link: https://shorturl.at/S3F7n
Speaker #3: "Eco-feminism, the anthropocene, and the Al-Mizan perspective on environmental governance."
Prof. Anas Malik, Professor of Political Science at Xavier University
Teaching courses such as Science, Civilization and Sustainability, and Politics of the Anthropocene, Prof. Malik brings an interdisciplinary approach to the subject of religion and environment. He is the author of Polycentricity, Islam, and Development (Lexington, 2018) and Political Survival in Pakistan: Beyond Ideology (Routledge, 2011). His research interests are in governance in Islamic and multicultural contexts, and the political economy of institutions. https://www.xavier.edu/political-science-department/directory/anasb-malik
Prof. Malik has been co-leading the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ National Catholic-Muslim Dialogue theme "Journeying Together: Deepening Eco-Social Friendship as We Care for Our Common Home: A Contemplative Dialogue on Laudato Si and Al Mizan" together with Prof. Marianne Farina.
Speaker #4: "Women, peace, and environment -perspectives from Laudato Si."
Prof. Marianne Farina, CSC, Dominican School of Philosophy & Theology.
Sister Marianne, a member of the Sisters of the Holy Cross, Notre Dame, IN, is Professor of Theology and Philosophy and member of the Core Doctoral Faculty at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology, Graduate Theological Union, Berkeley, CA. Through teaching and professional affiliation, Marianne, is engaged in efforts to address some of the most critical issues facing today’s global communities – ecumenical and interreligious affairs, interfaith dialogue, cross cultural communications, Catholic social teaching, and care of Earth. http://dspt.edu/marianne-farina
Each presentation will take 15 minutes, and the panel will end with a 30 minute Q&A discussion.
