The Royal Norwegian Consulate General with The European Union National Institutes for Culture (EUNIC), announces three evenings of debate and discussion, co-hosted by EUNIC and The New York Public Library, June 9 - 11, 2009, as part of the ongoing festival, Muslim Voices: Arts and Ideas
The Royal Norwegian Consulate General is proudly participating in Islam in Europe, a three-evening symposium of debate and discussion at the New York Public Library, June 9- 11, 2009.
The program is co-hosted by the European Union National Institutes of Culture (EUNIC) and Live from the NYPL, the New York Public Library's public programs series. Islam in Europe is part of the festival, Muslim Voices: Arts and Ideas, co-hosted by Asia Society, BAM and NYU Center for Dialogues.
The program will gather prominent, cross-sector speakers from across disciplines, and across Europe, the United States and elsewhere across the Muslim diaspora, to share country-specific perspectives on Muslim communities’ integration in European society, addressing related topical issues for citizens of a multi-cultural, increasingly globalized world.
The Royal Norwegian Consulate General is pleased to be bringing Anne Hege Grung, PhD Fellow of the Faculty of Theology at the University of Oslo to the program "Migration Policy, Response and Reaction: The Status Quo" on 10.June at 6:00 p.m.
Anne Hege Grung has been involved in Christian-Muslim relations and dialogue in Norway since 1995. She is currently working on a PhD about Christian and Muslim women and their interpretations of the Bible and the Koran at the CULCOM-project, University of Oslo. In 2000, she published a book on dialogue between Christian and Muslim women together with Lena Larsen, then the leader of the Islamic Council in Norway.
Other publications by Grung are the articles “Women´s perspective on Christian-Muslim dialogue” (“Kvindeprespektiv på kristen-muslimsk dialog” , 2004), “Inter-religious dialogue and gender” (“Religionsdialog og kjønn”, 2006) “Sacred texts in Islamic and Christian traditions: Tools of oppression, tools of liberation” (“Hellige tekster i islamsk og kristen tradisjon. Et verktøy for undertrykkelse eller frigjøring?” 2007), “Christian-Muslim Dialogue: A Gendered Arena”, 2008. The issues of gender and women’s rights, as well as dialogue as a method to deal constructively with differences of culture and religions are the topics she has been focusing at the latest years. Grung received the Bridge-builder award (“Brobyggerprisen”) from the Norwegian Church Academy on behalf of the Dialogue Center she then directed (Emmaus) in 2003.
Wednesday, June 10, 6:00 p.m., "Migration Policy, Response and Reaction: The Status Quo"
This session will explore whether assimilation or integration are the only options for Muslim immigrants and their
children. How have rising tensions at the global level impacted polarization of Muslims within European societies?
Moderator: Paul Berman, Contributing Editor of The New Republic
Special guest panelists for this session include Ambassador Ingmar Karlsson (former diplomat, Sweden), Pastor
Anne Grung (Oslo University, Norway), Ahmet Kuru (Columbia University, Turkey), Hasni Abidi (Study and
Research Center for the Arab and Mediterranean World, Switzerland) and Luz Gómez‐García (Universidad
Autónoma de Madrid, Spain).
All events take place in the South Court Auditorium of The New York Public Library’s Stephen A. Schwarzman
building located on Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street. The program is subject to change; latest details will be published
on the New York Public Library’s web site: http://www.nypl.org/live
Tickets are $25 general admission and $15 for library donors, seniors and students with valid identification.
Tickets may be purchased through www.smarttix.com or by calling 212.868.4444.
For full program, forthcoming event details and updates, see http://www.nypl.org/live