Gennaro Gervasio

Diversity, Fear and Religions

This book investigates ways 'the Other' can be both a cause of and an answer to religious and cultural fears. The multi-layered question of cultural and religious diversity has received some attention recently both in academic and policy circles. The authors of this work address this issue by focusing on fears and phobias, and the ways they are historically and sociologically produced and reproduced in a Global Era. The volume presents examples of fears related to different cultures and religions from a multidisciplinary perspective. Some of these have been provoked or sublimated by religious fundamentalisms, and a double ignorance, that is, ignorance of and about fundamentalisms, which have helped feed these collective concerns. Through a sample of stereotypes, mystifications and simplifications, the authors look at Islam as a focal lens for showing the current power of globalized collective fears. The collection also explores possible cultural antidotes to these phobias, such as the need for awareness and familiarity with diversities, based on an education accepting of interculturality and plural citizenship. The book will be essential reading for academics, researchers and policy-makers working in the areas of Intercultural Pedagogy, History, Anthropology and Sociology of Religions, Law and Religion, Contemporary Islam, Migration Studies, Interreligious Dialogue, and Ethnography.