IAFOR > The Asian Conference on Ethics, Religion & Philosophy (ACERP) > ACERP2018

ACERP2018

“Surviving and Thriving in Times of Change”

March 22–24, 2018 | Art Center Kobe, Kobe, Japan

The way we think, reason and behave as individuals, as communities and societies is in a process of constant change and renegotiation. The only constant of change is change itself, as Heraclitus most famously put it some 2,500 years ago. Change may not be new, but its pace, assisted and facilitated by advanced technologies, means these processes have never been faster. While in some ways we have grown together through the processes of globalisation, in others we have become more isolated, marginalised and alienated. Religious traditions, and the relationship between religion and civil society, have also faced dramatic change.

This conference’s theme of “surviving and thriving” in these times of change invites us to continue to consider this large question through the traditions and lenses of studies associated with religion, philosophy and ethical studies.

The role of religion is seen by many as having no place in the modern world. Where and when it does wield influence it is often viewed as inappropriate or malevolent, and as a barrier to “progress” and “modern” thinking. In today’s fast-paced and technology driven world are the study of philosophy and ethics useful, or are they similarly becoming irrelevant and ossified? What is the continued role and relevance of ethics, religion and philosophy, as subjects to be studied, discussed and lived as core parts of our individual and collective lives? How can they help us stay resilient in the face of challenges and failures? How can they help us overcome the various difficulties that life brings?

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ACERP2018 Conference Photographs

Human interaction is at the root of all knowledge creation, and hence the great importance of the conference in introducing, testing and spreading ideas through challenging, rigorous and thought provoking discussion and debate. But beyond that, a conference is also a great chance to meet people from around the world, and to extend and grow ones’s professional network, and above all, to make friends.

It may be impossible to tell the story of the conference, or rather the many hundreds of interlocking stories that go to make up the conference, but the documentary photography in this slideshow aims to give a taster of the more serious academic side of the event, as well as the lighter side…

[envira-album slug="acerp2018-conference-photographs"]

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Programme

  • On Being Tolerant and Acceptant to Survive Life Changes
    On Being Tolerant and Acceptant to Survive Life Changes
    Featured Presentation: Monty P. Satiadarma
  • Patterns of Depression Among Elderly Asian Immigrants to the United States Over the Past Decade
    Patterns of Depression Among Elderly Asian Immigrants to the United States Over the Past Decade
    Featured Presentation: James W. McNally
  • Shinto: Window on Universal Religion
    Shinto: Window on Universal Religion
    Featured Presentation: Brian Victoria
  • Psychological Literacy: The Most Important Literacy for the 21st Century
    Psychological Literacy: The Most Important Literacy for the 21st Century
    Featured Panel Presentation: Dexter Da Silva (Panel Chair), Steve Cornwell, Ronald Mellado Miller & Monty P. Satiadarma
  • Law, Religion and Authoritarianism: From State Shinto to Religio-Trumpism
    Law, Religion and Authoritarianism: From State Shinto to Religio-Trumpism
    Keynote Presentation: Frank S. Ravitch
  • IAFOR Silk Road Initiative Information Session
    IAFOR Silk Road Initiative Information Session
  • IAFOR Documentary Photography Award 2017 | Award Winners Screening
    IAFOR Documentary Photography Award 2017 | Award Winners Screening

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Speakers

  • Dexter Da Silva
    Dexter Da Silva
    Keisen University, Japan
  • Steve Cornwell
    Steve Cornwell
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) & Osaka Jogakuin University, Japan
  • Frank S. Ravitch
    Frank S. Ravitch
    Michigan State University College of Law, United States
  • James W. McNally
    James W. McNally
    University of Michigan, USA & NACDA Program on Aging
  • Brian Victoria
    Brian Victoria
    Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, UK
  • Monty P. Satiadarma
    Monty P. Satiadarma
    Tarumanagara University, Indonesia
  • Ronald Mellado Miller
    Ronald Mellado Miller
    Brigham Young University – Hawaii, USA

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Organising Committee

The Conference Programme Committee is composed of distinguished academics who are experts in their fields. Conference Programme Committee members may also be members of IAFOR's International Academic Board. The Organising Committee is responsible for nominating and vetting Keynote and Featured Speakers; developing the conference programme, including special workshops, panels, targeted sessions, and so forth; event outreach and promotion; recommending and attracting future Conference Programme Committee members; working with IAFOR to select PhD students and early career academics for IAFOR-funded grants and scholarships; and overseeing the reviewing of abstracts submitted to the conference.

  • Dexter Da Silva
    Dexter Da Silva
    Keisen University, Japan
  • Frank S. Ravitch
    Frank S. Ravitch
    Michigan State University College of Law, United States
  • Joseph Haldane
    Joseph Haldane
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
  • Brian Victoria
    Brian Victoria
    Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, UK
  • Monty P. Satiadarma
    Monty P. Satiadarma
    Tarumanagara University, Indonesia

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Review Committee

ACERP2018

  • Professor Barney Erasmus, UNISA, South Africa
  • Dr Diana Po Lan Sham, Hong Kong Chinese Institute of Engineers, Hong Kong
  • Professor Nai-Ying Whang, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan
  • Dr Rolando Libutaque, Philippine Science High School - Western Visayas, The Philippines
  • Dr Yi-Ming Yu, National Defense University, Taiwan

IAFOR's peer review process, which involves both reciprocal review and the use of Review Committees, is overseen by conference Organising Committee members under the guidance of the Academic Governing Board. Review Committee members are established academics who hold PhDs or other terminal degrees in their fields and who have previous peer review experience.

If you would like to apply to serve on the ACERP2019 Review Committee, please visit our application page.

Apply to Join the Review Committee

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IAFOR Grant & Scholarship Recipients

Our warmest congratulations go to Man-Ching Yao, Judith Sue-Hwa Joo, Julio Ramillo A. Mercurio, who have been selected by the conference Organising Committees to receive grants and scholarships to present their research at The Asian Conference on Ethics, Religion & Philosophy 2018.

IAFOR’s grants and scholarships programme provides financial support to PhD students and early career academics, with the aim of helping them pursue research excellence and achieve their academic goals through interdisciplinary study and interaction. Awards are based on the appropriateness of the educational opportunity in relation to the applicant’s field of study, financial need, and contributions to their community and to IAFOR’s mission of interdisciplinarity. Scholarships are awarded based on availability of funds from IAFOR and vary with each conference.

The Organising Committee of the relevant IAFOR conference awards scholarships to eligible applicants who have submitted exceptional abstracts that have passed the blind peer review process and have been accepted for presentation at the conference.

Man-Ching Yao

IAFOR Scholarship Recipient

Man-ching Yao is currently studying PhD program of religious studies at National Cheng-Chi University in Taiwan. In addition to joining the training program on the translation project of the Khyentsé Foundation, Man-ching also received a scholarship from Khyentsé Foundation in 2016. As part of the PhD program, Man-ching is currently embarking on a ritual survey of Tibetan Buddhism and conducting research on the controversial issues of Tibetan Buddhism such as violence, gender and tantric practice.

Enlightenment Through Violent Means: The Transformation of the Practice of Vajraklaya in Tibetan Buddhism
Man-Ching Yao, National Cheng-Chi University, Taiwan

In this study, I offer some insights into the ancient Tantric ritual practice of Vajrakīlaya, by looking at it from historical and anthropological perspectives and as well as data gathered from my participant observation. I am also particularly interested in testing some of the most popular theories advanced by anthropologist Victor W. Turner (1920-1983), namely those on rituals and rites of passage, which I found inspiring and thought-provoking. The classification of the ritual of Vajrakīlaya from the viewpoint of a Western anthropologist is an interesting endeavour. Turner’s theoretical output expands especially in Betwixt and Between: The Liminal Period in Rites de Passage, where he highlights the status system of the passenger in rituals. I argue that the notion of “Betwixt and Between” or “liminality” in the Tibetan Buddhist context is best represented by the ritual process of drölwa, which can be glossed in English as “liberation killing,” a central, yet controversial theme in the Vajrakīlaya’s ritual. The Vajrakīlaya ritual is believed to assist in one’s advancement toward personal liberation and includes the application of three aspects or rites of separation, transition, and incorporation. This violent killing is legitimised as “liberation killing” in Tibetan Buddhism. “Liminality” equals to “liberation killing,” which provides the transformation to the effigy (enemy) to transcend to a better realm. In addition, I would argue that Vajrakīlaya, endowed with primordial wisdom is able to transform “wrath” into “compassion” to implement “liberation killing”.

Judith Sue-Hwa Joo

IAFOR Scholarship Recipient

Judith Sue-Hwa Joo is currently the CEO of the Awakening Life Education Foundation, also concurrently a doctoral student of Graduate Institute of Religious Study, National Chengchi University of Taiwan. Judith Sue-Hwa Joo has been devoted to the education and promotion of well-being of the body, mind and soul for more than 30 years.

The Evolving Salvation Functions and Gender Forms of Guanyin in Modern Chinese Societies
Judith Sue-Hwa Joo, Graduate Institute of Religious Study, National Cheng-Chi University, Taiwan

Guanyin (the Chinese transformation of Avalokiteśvara in Sanskrit), the Bodhisattva of Compassion, is the most widely worshipped Buddhist Divinity with miraculous powers to help all those who call upon his/her names for their lamentations since the introduction of Buddhism into China. For Chinese, Guanyin is the most overwhelmingly worshipped one among other Buddhas and bodhisattvas. He has 33 different manifestations, including female ones; all to suit the minds of various beings. The gender of Guanyin in Chinese societies is variably portrayed initially as male and later as female; his/her salvation functions have been evolving and expanding in the Chinese history. These aspects have been subjected to further changes and transformations to account for the distress of modern life (e.g., increased abortion rate, gender awakening and identification, devastating wars, global weather changes, environmental catastrophes, and etc.). To elucidate this, we had conducted a comprehensive general survey, employing questionnaire approach, in Chinese societies across various countries. Functions as the role of salvation under different confronting situations were investigated. In addition, psychological dimensions of religious belief in Guanyin were probed in terms of worship experience, willingness of veneration, and egoistic or altruistic ideation in the believers and non-believers. Literature review on documented functional attributes was carried out in parallel for comparison analyses with traditional roles. Our study unveils the contemporary religious images of Guanyin in the context of genders, functional attributes, roles, and beliefs. The findings can substantially shed light on the understanding of modern beliefs of Guanyin in Chinese people.

Julio Ramillo A. Mercurio

IAFOR Scholarship Recipient

Julio Ramillo A. Mercurio is currently the Coordinator for the Office for Research and Development of the Dalubhasaan ng Lungsod ng Lucena, Lucena City, Philippines – the first local College in the Province of Quezon. Mercurio graduated in 2011 with a Bachelor’s degree in Classical Philosophy at Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary Seminary, Manasa, Lucban, Quezon, Philippines. He then pursued and completed academic requirements for Master of Arts degree in Theology at St. Alphonsus Regional Seminary in Lucena City, Philippines. His research interests revolve around Personality Development, Philosophy, Theology and Values Formation. A Licensed Professional Teacher, he is currently pursuing a Ladderized PhD program at De La Salle University, Manila, Philippines.

Yhwh’s Cult: Reading Deuteronomy Through the Lens of the Bildung Tradition and F.P. Demeterio’s “Dialogical Hermeneutics” Framework
Julio Ramillo A. Mercurio, Dalubhasaan Ng Lungsod Ng Lucena, The Philippines

Many people perceive the Book of Deuteronomy as “the second law,” following its etymology. It has been misunderstood because of the mistaken rendering of the Septuagint as “this second law;” should have been correctly translated as “a copy of this law,” instead. This may also be precisely the reason of our indifferent feeling towards Deuteronomy as somewhat a “collection” of dry ordinances and testimonies that have little relation to the life of the spirit, justification by faith, and perfection of freedom. This paper presents, in a qualitative manner, the inseparability and indissolubility of the theologico-historico-sociological dimension of Israel as a nation and as a believer – on how the faith-struggle of the people of Israel, during and after their entry into the Promised Land, is intertwined in their history and recollection of the past. Through the lens of Bildung Tradition, and F.P. Demeterio’s “Dialogical Hermeneutics” Framework, this paper will try to analyse and show the central theme of the Book – the call towards an interpersonal relationship between God and Israel – from a humanist-constructivist point-of-view. Situating Deuteronomy in its proper and actual setting in history, defining the unique character of Israel as “God’s chosen people,” it also aims to magnify the impact of the message of Deuteronomy in contemporary times – that our faith (generically, “belief in the Divine”) cannot be divorced from our common life. Thus, this paper hopes to contribute to the renewed appreciation and intellectualization of the Scriptures in the Philippines, relevant to the K-12 Program.

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On Being Tolerant and Acceptant to Survive Life Changes
Featured Presentation: Monty P. Satiadarma

Every person needs to adjust to life changes in order to survive. Changes may create conflict. Conflict is the arousal of two strong motives within a person and can not be solved together. Festinger (1957) concluded that conflicting situation created discomfort leading to dissonance. In field theory, Lewin (1935) had previously mentioned that in various conditions people had to deal with multiple approach-avoidance conflict. In modern society such conflicting situations remain, and people are being challenged to change their behaviours, attitudes, and sometimes their beliefs in order to get adjusted and survive to live in the society. Tolerance (Fish, 2014) and acceptance (Fish, 2014; Taylor, 2013) are two key aspects people need to use to deal with such conditions. However, the process of being tolerant and ability to accept conditions is enduring and often needs painstaking efforts. This paper discusses the challenges on being tolerant and acceptant toward conflicting situations for people to remain survive in dealing with life changes.

Read presenter biographies.

Patterns of Depression Among Elderly Asian Immigrants to the United States Over the Past Decade
Featured Presentation: James W. McNally

Immigrants in the United States often face increased stressors associated with the transitions from an established home to a new environment. Factors such as cultural displacement, language barriers, economic and employment concerns, immigration status and safe housing can all contribute to fears that can manifest themselves in depression or anxiety. These risks can be further intensified when the individual is elderly, and their health, socioeconomic status and social support networks within the United States are weakened. This paper will use ten years of the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) to examine change in reported rates of depression or social anxiety among the elderly Asian population. The paper will compare immigrant elders to native born Asian elders and control for duration in the United States, sociodemographic characteristics, and health factors to isolate the impacts of immigration on mental health outcomes. The presence of social support networks, access to care, and level of disability will also be examined as part of the analysis. The paper argues that two factors play into the emotional uncertainty that can result in depression and or social anxiety. We argue that recent immigrants are more vulnerable to mental health challenges compared to US born due to increased levels of social displacement. We also argue that this risk can be attenuated among elderly immigrants by the presence of social support networks measured by contact with family or other individuals with a similar background.

Read presenter biographies.

Shinto: Window on Universal Religion
Featured Presentation: Brian Victoria

To claim that Shinto is in some way connected with “universal religion” would appear to be an oxymoron. As explained in any guidebook on Japan, Shinto is the indigenous religion of the Japanese people, and only the Japanese people. By comparison with the five great world religions, i.e. Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism, Shinto appears to an exclusively ethnic religion.

At the same time, it is important to recall that everyone alive today is a homo sapiens, a human species with a history of at least 200,000 years and likely longer. Nevertheless, the five major world religions have, at most, a history of only 5,000 years. Even older religions, such as those of the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, and Indo-Europeans, add perhaps another five thousand years to our knowledge of religious history. Thus, we currently have some idea of the spiritual life of homo sapiens dating back, at most, 10,000 years. This means we currently understand only about 5% or less of our collective religious history, or in other words, we are largely ignorant of 95% of the spiritual life of our species.

The thesis of this paper is that what existed prior to known or historic religions, and therefore the oldest form of religious belief, is today called “animism.” Animism is a religion (or, more accurately, a series of closely related religions) once prevalent throughout the entire world and can therefore be rightfully identified as the universal religion of all homo sapiens. Inasmuch as Shinto is today one of the most vibrant forms of animism still in existence, it can serve as a window to that time when animism was the universal religion of humankind. This paper explores not only Shinto’s ritual and mythological content but also the impact that animism, as manifested in Shinto, has had on today’s world religions.

Read presenter biographies.

Psychological Literacy: The Most Important Literacy for the 21st Century
Featured Panel Presentation: Dexter Da Silva (Panel Chair), Steve Cornwell, Ronald Mellado Miller & Monty P. Satiadarma

Psychological literacy is the ability to apply psychological principles to personal, professional and societal issues. It includes, amongst the nine factors identified with it: 1) having a well-defined vocabulary and basic knowledge of psychology; 2) valuing scientific thinking; and 3) taking a creative approach to problem-solving. I have come to agree with those who consider it to be the most important literacy of the 21st century. The technological, social, geopolitical and other changes facing humans today enable and force us to make decisions and choices, to be more trustworthy and to have to trust more and more people who have more and more influence on important aspects of our lives. Understanding our communities and our world, our relationships, and ourselves, understanding what we can control or change and how we can control or change them for the benefit of ourselves and those in our communities and in our care is the most important and powerful tool for this millennium.

Read presenter biographies.

Law, Religion and Authoritarianism: From State Shinto to Religio-Trumpism
Keynote Presentation: Frank S. Ravitch

In recent years authoritarianism has become an increasing threat to democratic institutions, human rights, and the rule of law. Authoritarian regimes have taken hold throughout the world. One of the most troubling trends has been the rise of authoritarian movements, leaders, and policies buoyed by populist politicians in longstanding democracies such as the United States. This has occurred at the same time as authoritarian regimes in Russia and Turkey have increased their holds on power.

Law has proven an inadequate tool to stem this tide and in some cases has been used to reinforce authoritarian agendas. Moreover, even in democratic countries constitutional structures have sometimes proven inadequate to prevent authoritarian actors from inflicting significant harm to human rights and the rule of law. To protect against the damage that is being inflicted we must first understand the dynamics underlying authoritarianism and dispel some myths that may confuse policymakers and social justice advocates as they work to stem the tide.

One such myth involves the relationship between religion and authoritarianism. This talk will address that myth, which confuses the relationship between authoritarianism and religion by assuming that religion is a driving force for authoritarian leaders and especially for many of their followers and acolytes. Certainly religion is an especially powerful tool in the hands of authoritarians, but without that tool authoritarians and their followers will, and have, found other tools to use.

A better understanding of the real relationship between religion and authoritarianism (where religion is a tool rather than a cause of authoritarianism) can be explored by studying two seemingly different situations: the role and use of State Shinto in Meiji, Taisho, and early Showa periods in Japan and the use of religious culture war issues and religio-patriotism by Trump and his followers in the U.S. today. Eerily, these two seemingly different situations have significant commonalities.

Read presenter biographies.

IAFOR Silk Road Initiative Information Session

As an organization, IAFOR’s mission is to promote international exchange, facilitate intercultural awareness, encourage interdisciplinary discussion, and generate and share new knowledge. In 2018, we are excited to launch a major new and ambitious international, intercultural and interdisciplinary research initiative which uses the silk road trade routes as a lens through which to study some of the world’s largest historical and contemporary geopolitical trends, shifts and exchanges.

IAFOR is headquartered in Japan, and the 2018 inauguration of this project aligns with the 150th Anniversary of the Meiji Restoration of 1868, when Japan opened its doors to the trade and ideas that would precipitate its rapid modernisation and its emergence as a global power. At a time when global trends can seem unpredictable, and futures fearful, the IAFOR Silk Road Initiative gives the opportunity to revisit the question of the impact of international relations from a long-term perspective.

This ambitious initiative will encourage individuals and institutions working across the world to support and undertake research centring on the contact between countries and regions in Europe and Asia – from Gibraltar to Japan – and the maritime routes that went beyond, into the South-East Continent and the Philippines, and later out into the Pacific Islands and the United States. The IAFOR Silk Road Initiative will be concerned with all aspects of this contact, and will examine both material and intellectual traces, as well as consequences.

For more information about the IAFOR Silk Road Initiative, click here.

IAFOR Documentary Photography Award 2017 | Award Winners Screening

The IAFOR Documentary Photography Award was launched by The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) in 2015 as an international photography award that seeks to promote and assist in the professional development of emerging documentary photographers and photojournalists. The award has benefitted since the outset from the expertise of an outstanding panel of internationally renowned photographers, including Dr Paul Lowe as the Founding Judge, and Ed Kashi, Monica Allende, Simon Roberts, Jocelyn Bain Hogg, Simon Norfolk and Emma Bowkett as Guest Judges. Now in its third year, the award has already been widely recognised by those in the industry and has been supported by World Press Photo, Metro Imaging, MediaStorm, Think Tank Photo, University of the Arts London, RMIT University, British Journal of Photography, The Centre for Documentary Practice, and the Medill School of Journalism.

As an organisation, IAFOR’s mission is to promote international exchange, facilitate intercultural awareness, encourage interdisciplinary discussion, and generate and share new knowledge. In keeping with this mission, in appreciation of the great value of photography as a medium that can be shared across borders of language, culture and nation, and to influence and inform our academic work and programmes, the IAFOR Documentary Photography Award was launched as a competition that would help underline the importance of the organisation’s aims, and would promote and recognise best practice and excellence.

Winners of the IAFOR Documentary Photography Award 2017 were announced at The European Conference on Media, Communication & Film 2017 (EuroMedia2017) in Brighton, UK. The award follows the theme of the EuroMedia conference, with 2017’s theme being “History, Story, Narrative”. In support of up-and-coming talent, the IAFOR Documentary Photography Award is free to enter.

Access to the Award Winners Screening is included in the conference registration fee. For more information about the award, click here.

Image | From the project Single Mothers of Afghanistan by IAFOR Documentary Photography Award 2017 Grand Prize Winner, Kiana Hayeri.

Dexter Da Silva
Keisen University, Japan

Biography

Dr Dexter Da Silva is currently Professor of Educational Psychology at Keisen University in Tokyo. He has taught EFL at junior high school, language schools, and universities in Sydney, Australia, and for more than two decades has been living, and teaching at the tertiary level, in Japan. Professor Da Silva was educated at the University of Sydney (BA, Dip. Ed., MA), and the University of Western Sydney (PhD). He has presented and co-presented at conferences in Asia, Australia, Europe and the United States, co-edited two books on Motivation in Foreign Language Learning, and written or co-written articles and book chapters on education-related topics, such as trust, student motivation, autonomy, and content-based language teaching. He is a past editor of On CUE Journal, past president of the Asian Psychological Association, regular reviewer for conferences, proceedings, journal articles and book chapters, and regularly co-chairs and participates in the Organising Committee of conferences on Motivation, Language Learning and Teaching, and Psychology and the Behavioral Sciences.

Featured Panel Presentation (2019) | “The Value of Internationalising Psychology” or “The Value of Indigenous Psychologies”

Previous Presentations

Featured Presentation (2018) | Psychological Literacy: The Most Important Literacy for the 21st Century
Featured Panel Presentation (2017) | Battles of Ideas: Identity and Alienation
Featured Presentation (2015)
Featured Presentation (2014)
Featured Presentation (2012)
Steve Cornwell
The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) & Osaka Jogakuin University, Japan

Biography

Steve Cornwell is the President of IAFOR, and President of the Academic Governing Board. He coordinates and oversees the International Academic Advisory Board, and also serves on the organisation's Board of Directors. He is Chair of the Language Learning section of the International Academic Advisory Board.

Dr Cornwell is Vice President of Osaka Jogakuin University, Japan, where he is also a Professor of English and Interdisciplinary Studies. He helped write and design several of the courses at the New School in New York, and currently teaches on the online portion of the MA TESOL Programme, having been involved with the programme since its inception.

He has also been involved with the Japan Association for Language Teaching (JALT) serving on its National Board of Directors as Director of Programme from 2012 to 2016; where his duties involved working with a volunteer team of over 50 people to organise JALT’s annual, international conference each autumn.

Since 2012 he has been the Committee Chair of Osaka Jogakuin University’s Lifelong Learning Committee and is responsible for their evening extension programme geared towards alumni and community members. He is also the Vice-Chair of Osaka Jogakuin University’s English Education Committee, which is responsible for suggesting policy regarding English education and for developing material for the integrated curriculum.

Featured Panel Presentation (2018) | Psychological Literacy: The Most Important Literacy for the 21st Century
Frank S. Ravitch
Michigan State University College of Law, United States

Biography

Frank S. Ravitch is Professor of Law and Walter H. Stowers Chair in Law in Religion at the Michigan State University College of Law. He also directs the MSU College of Law's Kyoto Japan Program. He is the author of Freedom’s Edge: Religious Freedom, Sexual Freedom, and the Future of America (Cambridge University Press, 2016) (Nominated for a Prose Award); Marketing Creation: The Law and Intelligent Design (Cambridge University Press 2012), Masters of Illusion: The Supreme Court and the Religion Clauses (NYU Press 2007); Law and Religion: Cases, Materials, and Readings (West 2004)(2nd Ed. 2008) (3rd Ed. 2015 with Larry Cata Backer), School Prayer and Discrimination: The Civil Rights of Religious Minorities and Dissenters (Northeastern University Press, 1999 & paperback edition 2001). He is co-author, with the late Boris Bittker and with Scott Idleman, of the first comprehensive treatise on Law and Religion in more than one hundred years, Religion and the State in American Law (Cambridge University Press 2015) (this project was supported by a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment). He is co-author of Employment Discrimination Law (Prentice Hall, 2005) (with Pamela Sumners and Janis McDonald).

Professor Ravitch's articles, which have appeared in a number of highly regarded journals, have primarily focused on law and religion in the US and Japan. He has also written about civil rights law and disability discrimination. He has authored a number of amicus briefs to the US Supreme Court and has given numerous academic presentations nationally and internationally. In 2001, he was named a Fulbright scholar and served on the law faculty at Doshisha University in Japan. He has also made dozens of public presentations explaining the law to school groups, community groups, and service clubs, and has served as an expert commentator for print and broadcast media.

Professor Ravitch's current projects include a book on the Japanese Legal System (co-authored with Colin Jones), a chapter on law and religious tradition, and a project focusing on Law, Religion, and Authoritarianism. He speaks English and has basic conversational skills in Japanese and Hebrew.

Keynote Presentation (2023) | Ships in the Night: Expansion of the Separation of Politics and Religion in Japan as the U.S. Supreme Court Abandons the Separation of Church and State

Previous Presentations

Keynote Presentation (2022) | Religion and COVID 19 in the U.S.: The Good, the Bad, and the Shocking
Keynote Presentation (2020) | Religious Complicity and LGBTQ Rights
Keynote Presentation (2019) | The Religious and Ethical Void of Trumpism & the Oddity of Trump Support Among Some Evangelical Christians
Keynote Presentation (2018) | Law, Religion and Authoritarianism: From State Shinto to Religio-Trumpism
Featured Presentation (2017) | Freedom’s Edge: Balancing Religious Freedom and Equal Access to Facilities and Services for Transexuals
Featured Panel Presentation (2017) | Free Speech and Hate Speech – History, Story, Narrative
James W. McNally
University of Michigan, USA & NACDA Program on Aging

Biography

Dr James W. McNally is the Director of the NACDA Program on Aging, a data archive containing over 1,500 studies related to health and the aging lifecourse. He currently does methodological research on the improvement and enhancement of secondary research data and has been cited as an expert authority on data imputation. Dr McNally has directed the NACDA Program on Aging since 1998 and has seen the archive significantly increase its holdings with a growing collection of seminal studies on the aging lifecourse, health, retirement and international aspects of aging. He has spent much of his career addressing methodological issues with a specific focus on specialised application of incomplete or deficient data and the enhancement of secondary data for research applications. Dr McNally has also worked extensively on issues related to international aging and changing perspectives on the role of family support in the later stages of the aging lifecourse.

Dr James W. McNally is a Vice-President of IAFOR. He is Chair of the Social Sciences & Sustainability division of the International Academic Advisory Board.

Featured Presentation (2018) | Patterns of Depression Among Elderly Asian Immigrants to the United States Over the Past Decade
Brian Victoria
Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, UK

Biography

Brian Victoria is a native of Omaha, Nebraska and a 1961 graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska. He holds a MA in Buddhist Studies from Sōtō Zen sect-affiliated Komazawa University in Tokyo, and a PhD from the Department of Religious Studies at Temple University.

In addition to a second, enlarged edition of Zen At War (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006), Brian's major writings include Zen War Stories (RoutledgeCurzon, 2003); an autobiographical work in Japanese entitled Gaijin de ari, Zen bozu de ari (As a Foreigner, As a Zen Priest), published by San-ichi Shobo in 1971; Zen Master Dōgen, coauthored with Prof. Yokoi Yūhō of Aichi-gakuin University (Weatherhill, 1976); and a translation of The Zen Life by Sato Koji (Weatherhill, 1972). In addition, Brian has published numerous journal articles, focusing on the relationship of not only Buddhism but religion in general, to violence and warfare.

From 2005 to 2013 Brian was a Professor of Japanese Studies and director of the AEA “Japan and Its Buddhist Traditions Program” at Antioch University in Yellow Springs, OH, USA. From 2013-2015 he was a Visiting Research Fellow at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto, Japan where he is writing a book tentatively entitled: Zen Terror in 1930s Japan. Brian currently continues his research as a Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, and is a fully ordained Buddhist priest in the Sōtō Zen sect.

Previous Presentations

Featured Presentation (2018) | Shinto: Window on Universal Religion
Featured Presentation (2017) | Military Conscription, Slavery and the Modern State
Featured Panel Presentation (2017) | Battles of Ideas: Identity and Alienation
Monty P. Satiadarma
Tarumanagara University, Indonesia

Biography

Dr Satiadarma is a clinical psychologist who has taught psychology at Tarumanagara University since 1994. He was one of the founders of the Department of Psychology at Tarumanagara, as well as the Dean of Psychology, Vice Rector and Rector of the university. He graduated with a degree in Psychology from the University of Indonesia, Art Therapy from Emporia State, Kansas, Family Counselling from Notre Dame de Namur, California, and Clinical Hypnotherapy from Irvine, California. He has published a number of books and has a particular interest in educational psychology and music & art therapy – methods with which he treated survivors of the Indonesian tsunami on behalf of the International Red Cross and the United Nations. He is a board member and area chair of the International Council of Psychology, and a founder and board member of the Asian Psychology Association.

Featured Presentation (2022) | Perceived Stress of Students During Online Learning

Previous Presentations

Featured Panel Presentation (2019) | “The Value of Internationalising Psychology” or “The Value of Indigenous Psychologies”
Featured Panel Presentation (2018) | Psychological Literacy
IAAB Presentation (2017) | Life Changes, Identity Loss and Psychological Problems
Spotlight Presentation (2016) | Fairness and Happiness
Spotlight Presentation (2015) | The Lucifer Effect in Indonesian Educational Settings
Featured Presentation (2014)
Featured Presentation (2013)
Featured Presentation (2012)
Ronald Mellado Miller
Brigham Young University – Hawaii, USA

Biography

Dr Ronald Mellado Miller received his PhD from Purdue University in Experimental Psychology, USA, and is currently a professor at Brigham Young University in Hawaii. Dr Miller’s main interests have been in the area of applied statistical analysis and predictive modelling. As a result, his research and work have been quite eclectic. He has research published in journals ranging from Animal Learning and Behavior, Learning and Motivation, Applied Neuropsychology, TechTrends, and the Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, out of Oxford University Press, where he has also served as a reviewer. He has worked for a number of major airlines (Fedex, United, US Airways, etc.) in the area of safety. His international projects have ranged from India and the Philippines, where he was able to assist NGOs established to aid those in poverty, to China, where he worked with the largest entertainment company in the country. He has led research in Tonga, Fiji, and Samoa, working with governments and NGOs to improve educational and other social outcomes. He has a great love for teaching and mentoring. His students have participated in each of his consulting projects and have been accepted to prestigious schools around the world, including Oxford University, MIT, and Columbia University, among others.

Featured Panel Presentation (2018) | Psychological Literacy: The Most Important Literacy for the 21st Century

Previous Presentations

Featured Presentation (2017) | A Poverty of Hope: Towards a Psychology of Humanitarian Success
Dexter Da Silva
Keisen University, Japan

Biography

Dr Dexter Da Silva is currently Professor of Educational Psychology at Keisen University in Tokyo. He has taught EFL at junior high school, language schools, and universities in Sydney, Australia, and for more than two decades has been living, and teaching at the tertiary level, in Japan. Professor Da Silva was educated at the University of Sydney (BA, Dip. Ed., MA), and the University of Western Sydney (PhD). He has presented and co-presented at conferences in Asia, Australia, Europe and the United States, co-edited two books on Motivation in Foreign Language Learning, and written or co-written articles and book chapters on education-related topics, such as trust, student motivation, autonomy, and content-based language teaching. He is a past editor of On CUE Journal, past president of the Asian Psychological Association, regular reviewer for conferences, proceedings, journal articles and book chapters, and regularly co-chairs and participates in the Organising Committee of conferences on Motivation, Language Learning and Teaching, and Psychology and the Behavioral Sciences.

Featured Panel Presentation (2019) | “The Value of Internationalising Psychology” or “The Value of Indigenous Psychologies”

Previous Presentations

Featured Presentation (2018) | Psychological Literacy: The Most Important Literacy for the 21st Century
Featured Panel Presentation (2017) | Battles of Ideas: Identity and Alienation
Featured Presentation (2015)
Featured Presentation (2014)
Featured Presentation (2012)
Frank S. Ravitch
Michigan State University College of Law, United States

Biography

Frank S. Ravitch is Professor of Law and Walter H. Stowers Chair in Law in Religion at the Michigan State University College of Law. He also directs the MSU College of Law's Kyoto Japan Program. He is the author of Freedom’s Edge: Religious Freedom, Sexual Freedom, and the Future of America (Cambridge University Press, 2016) (Nominated for a Prose Award); Marketing Creation: The Law and Intelligent Design (Cambridge University Press 2012), Masters of Illusion: The Supreme Court and the Religion Clauses (NYU Press 2007); Law and Religion: Cases, Materials, and Readings (West 2004)(2nd Ed. 2008) (3rd Ed. 2015 with Larry Cata Backer), School Prayer and Discrimination: The Civil Rights of Religious Minorities and Dissenters (Northeastern University Press, 1999 & paperback edition 2001). He is co-author, with the late Boris Bittker and with Scott Idleman, of the first comprehensive treatise on Law and Religion in more than one hundred years, Religion and the State in American Law (Cambridge University Press 2015) (this project was supported by a generous grant from the Lilly Endowment). He is co-author of Employment Discrimination Law (Prentice Hall, 2005) (with Pamela Sumners and Janis McDonald).

Professor Ravitch's articles, which have appeared in a number of highly regarded journals, have primarily focused on law and religion in the US and Japan. He has also written about civil rights law and disability discrimination. He has authored a number of amicus briefs to the US Supreme Court and has given numerous academic presentations nationally and internationally. In 2001, he was named a Fulbright scholar and served on the law faculty at Doshisha University in Japan. He has also made dozens of public presentations explaining the law to school groups, community groups, and service clubs, and has served as an expert commentator for print and broadcast media.

Professor Ravitch's current projects include a book on the Japanese Legal System (co-authored with Colin Jones), a chapter on law and religious tradition, and a project focusing on Law, Religion, and Authoritarianism. He speaks English and has basic conversational skills in Japanese and Hebrew.

Keynote Presentation (2023) | Ships in the Night: Expansion of the Separation of Politics and Religion in Japan as the U.S. Supreme Court Abandons the Separation of Church and State

Previous Presentations

Keynote Presentation (2022) | Religion and COVID 19 in the U.S.: The Good, the Bad, and the Shocking
Keynote Presentation (2020) | Religious Complicity and LGBTQ Rights
Keynote Presentation (2019) | The Religious and Ethical Void of Trumpism & the Oddity of Trump Support Among Some Evangelical Christians
Keynote Presentation (2018) | Law, Religion and Authoritarianism: From State Shinto to Religio-Trumpism
Featured Presentation (2017) | Freedom’s Edge: Balancing Religious Freedom and Equal Access to Facilities and Services for Transexuals
Featured Panel Presentation (2017) | Free Speech and Hate Speech – History, Story, Narrative
Joseph Haldane
The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan

Biography

Joseph Haldane is the Chairman and CEO of IAFOR. He is responsible for devising strategy, setting policies, forging institutional partnerships, implementing projects, and overseeing the organisation’s business and academic operations, including research, publications and events.

Dr Haldane holds a PhD from the University of London in 19th-century French Studies, and has had full-time faculty positions at the University of Paris XII Paris-Est Créteil (France), Sciences Po Paris (France), and Nagoya University of Commerce and Business (Japan), as well as visiting positions at the French Press Institute in the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas (France), The School of Journalism at Sciences Po Paris (France), and the School of Journalism at Moscow State University (Russia).

Dr Haldane’s current research concentrates on post-war and contemporary politics and international affairs, and since 2015 he has been a Guest Professor at The Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, where he teaches on the postgraduate Global Governance Course, and Co-Director of the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre, an interdisciplinary think tank situated within Osaka University.

A Member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network for Global Governance, Dr Haldane is also a Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade (Serbia), a Visiting Professor at the School of Business at Doshisha University (Japan), and a Member of the International Advisory Council of the Department of Educational Foundations at the College of Education of the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa (USA).

From 2012 to 2014, Dr Haldane served as Treasurer of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (Chubu Region) and he is currently a Trustee of the HOPE International Development Agency (Japan). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society in 2012, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2015.

Brian Victoria
Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, UK

Biography

Brian Victoria is a native of Omaha, Nebraska and a 1961 graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska. He holds a MA in Buddhist Studies from Sōtō Zen sect-affiliated Komazawa University in Tokyo, and a PhD from the Department of Religious Studies at Temple University.

In addition to a second, enlarged edition of Zen At War (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006), Brian's major writings include Zen War Stories (RoutledgeCurzon, 2003); an autobiographical work in Japanese entitled Gaijin de ari, Zen bozu de ari (As a Foreigner, As a Zen Priest), published by San-ichi Shobo in 1971; Zen Master Dōgen, coauthored with Prof. Yokoi Yūhō of Aichi-gakuin University (Weatherhill, 1976); and a translation of The Zen Life by Sato Koji (Weatherhill, 1972). In addition, Brian has published numerous journal articles, focusing on the relationship of not only Buddhism but religion in general, to violence and warfare.

From 2005 to 2013 Brian was a Professor of Japanese Studies and director of the AEA “Japan and Its Buddhist Traditions Program” at Antioch University in Yellow Springs, OH, USA. From 2013-2015 he was a Visiting Research Fellow at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto, Japan where he is writing a book tentatively entitled: Zen Terror in 1930s Japan. Brian currently continues his research as a Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, and is a fully ordained Buddhist priest in the Sōtō Zen sect.

Previous Presentations

Featured Presentation (2018) | Shinto: Window on Universal Religion
Featured Presentation (2017) | Military Conscription, Slavery and the Modern State
Featured Panel Presentation (2017) | Battles of Ideas: Identity and Alienation
Monty P. Satiadarma
Tarumanagara University, Indonesia

Biography

Dr Satiadarma is a clinical psychologist who has taught psychology at Tarumanagara University since 1994. He was one of the founders of the Department of Psychology at Tarumanagara, as well as the Dean of Psychology, Vice Rector and Rector of the university. He graduated with a degree in Psychology from the University of Indonesia, Art Therapy from Emporia State, Kansas, Family Counselling from Notre Dame de Namur, California, and Clinical Hypnotherapy from Irvine, California. He has published a number of books and has a particular interest in educational psychology and music & art therapy – methods with which he treated survivors of the Indonesian tsunami on behalf of the International Red Cross and the United Nations. He is a board member and area chair of the International Council of Psychology, and a founder and board member of the Asian Psychology Association.

Featured Presentation (2022) | Perceived Stress of Students During Online Learning

Previous Presentations

Featured Panel Presentation (2019) | “The Value of Internationalising Psychology” or “The Value of Indigenous Psychologies”
Featured Panel Presentation (2018) | Psychological Literacy
IAAB Presentation (2017) | Life Changes, Identity Loss and Psychological Problems
Spotlight Presentation (2016) | Fairness and Happiness
Spotlight Presentation (2015) | The Lucifer Effect in Indonesian Educational Settings
Featured Presentation (2014)
Featured Presentation (2013)
Featured Presentation (2012)