The UAE is hardly alone among modern nations in its struggle to manage religious and social diversity. There is a wealth of academic scholarship exploring the function of the rhetoric of tolerance on the state level and the ways in which modern states implement policies of tolerance to attract acclaim on the international level, facilitate trade, and represent themselves to their populations in a positive, paternalistic fashion. This workshop aims to examine the gap between a body of academic scholarship that considers tolerance historically and the lived experience of religious groups for whom normative aspirations for tolerance have facilitated their social and spiritual existence in the UAE.
The UAE is hardly alone among modern nations in its struggle to manage religious and social diversity. There is a wealth of academic scholarship exploring the function of the rhetoric of tolerance on the state level and the ways in which modern states implement policies of tolerance to attract acclaim on the international level, facilitate trade, and represent themselves to their populations in a positive, paternalistic fashion. This workshop aims to examine the gap between a body of academic scholarship that considers tolerance historically and the lived experience of religious groups for whom normative aspirations for tolerance have facilitated their social and spiritual existence in the UAE.
- Justin Stearns, Associate Professor in Arab Crossroads Studies, NYUAD
- NYU Abu Dhabi Institute