By Maya Johnson
UC Santa Barbara’s chair of Religious Studies urged students and faculty of all backgrounds to open their minds and hearts, in light of the immense suffering the world is seeing on all sides of the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
UCSB associate professor Juan Campo, chair of the Religious Studies department.
“Don’t try to centralize it only as violence or hatred,” said chair Juan Campo at the department’s fall 2023 kick-off and information session.
Campo, who specializes in the study of Islam and comparative religion, has conducted research across the Middle East in countries such as Israel, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia and beyond.
He welcomed a diverse group of about 30 faculty and students earlier this month, inviting them to enter a discussion about religious studies in these days of confusion and violence. The department’s kick-off event was designed to open connections between students and faculty.
The Religious Studies department has a key role to play in times of divisive political unrest and violence as students across UC campuses search for understanding, Campo said. Faculty and students described an atmosphere of respect that underscores the importance of religious studies across the breadth of the humanities.
“Religion really affects our day-to-day lives and our thinking,” said fourth-year student Ethan Abraham. “Understanding what religion is or isn’t, transnationally.”
Those who attended the opening event expressed themselves strongly against reactive dogma in the face of recent tragedy, saying the department calls for peace, understanding, and collaboration. Faculty and students agreed that it’s possible to balance the complexities of religion-related political conflicts while studying and researching in the major.
“I try to present this in my experience of having lived in the Middle East and my life as a teacher and a scholar and try to be as open-minded as possible,” Campo said.
“Think about those moments that are also present when people are living together where there is peace and effort to make peace,” he said. “No matter how bad the world seems to be, think about the fact that there are also people that want to see a resolution or a way to bring about a peaceful quality of life.”
UCSB Religious Studies faculty members gathered for their annual kick-off and information session with students.
Reflecting on how religious studies has developed throughout time, different faculty members attested to the growing diversity in the discipline. Campo said that back when many of the faculty members were still just students, like those who attended the kick-off event, far fewer courses in Islam or Middle East Studies were available.
Today, Religious Studies at UCSB offers programs and courses from South Asian, Central Asian, and East Asian traditions to the Jewish, Islamic, and Christian faiths. It also offers four distinct minor programs in Religious Studies, American Indian and Indigenous Studies, Iranian Studies and Jewish Studies.
Campo, former faculty director of UCSB’s Education Abroad Program, encouraged students to explore the world to immerse themselves in their study of religion.
“It’s where you can really get a sense for how people see the world, understand yourself better. Understand what core values are and how they’re shaped in different types of cultures, how we are influenced by different kinds of belief systems and how other people are influenced by them.”
Maya Johnson is a fourth-year Writing and Literature studies major at UC Santa Barbara. She is a Web and Social media intern with the Division of Humanities and Fine Arts.