Moderator: Ann Astell, University of Notre Dame
Speaker: Rhys Williams, Director of the McNamara Center for the Social Study of Religion and Chair of the Department of Sociology at Loyola University – Chicago
Respondent: Kraig Beyerlein, Center for the Study of Religion and Society, University of Notre Dame
Respondent: Daniel Groody, C.S.C., Theology Department and the Institute for Latino Studies, University of Notre Dame

Rhys Williams’ presentation addresses the ways in which liberal individualism, as a cultural paradigm, shapes public life and civic action in American society, particularly with reference to communities of “new immigrants” – those groups who have arrived in large numbers since the change in immigration law in 1965. Two things make this historical moment distinct from the narratives and experiences of previous groups of newcomers to the U.S. First, there is a diversity to the most recent immigrants that was less true of earlier generations. Many of our most recent arrivals are not Christians and many are not uniformly coming here as impoverished. Second, the assumption of assimilation – or “Anglo conformity” – as the path to American success has been seriously challenged, both in theory and in practice.

This event took place as part of the “2010 Colloquium on Violence & Religion - Transforming Violence: Cult, Culture and Acculturation”

At the COV&R conference, scholars from a wide range of disciplines explore questions about violence and their impacts on daily life. What sort of artistic, expressive forms and cultural formations result from the experience of violence?

Recorded Saturday, July 03, 2010 at University of Notre Dame - McKenna Hall Auditorium.