“The Traffic In Policy: Religion, Sexuality and the State” was a day-long symposium that sought to examine the ways in which religious discourses and public policy positions are crossing national borders and shaping debates, legislation, and policy outcomes in the different locations in the Hemisphere. Participants included Faye Ginsburg (NYU), Carol Mason (Oklahoma State University), María Consuelo Mejía (Catholics for the Right to Decide, Mexico), Ann Pellegrini (NYU), Diana Taylor (NYU) Juan Marco Vaggione (National University of Córdoba, Argentina), and David Harrington Watt (Temple University) and Roberto J. Blancarte (El Colegio de México), who delivered the keynote address. The event offered a valuable opportunity for dialogue between researchers, students and representatives from non-governmental organizations working on questions of sexuality and reproductive health in Mexico, the United States and Argentina.

The Symposium was co-organized by NYU’s Hemispheric Institute of Performance & Politics and Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality and made possible through generous funding by The Henry Luce Foundation as part of the Religion and Politics in the Americas Initiative.

SCHEDULE

Welcome by Ann Pellegrini and Diana Taylor (NYU)

Fundamentalism in Motion

Who Invented Fundamentalism? Why Did They Invent It?
David Watt (Temple University)

The Reactive Politicization of the Religious: Experiences from Latin America
Juan Vaggione (Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina)

Discussant: Marcial Godoy-Anativia (NYU)

Social Movements and Reproductive Rights Policy

Guerilla Legislation and the Return of Killing for Life
Carol Mason (Oklahoma State University)

The Current Context of Abortion in Mexico: Between Human Rights and Religious Fundamentalisms
María Consuelo Mejía (Catholics for the Right to Decide, Mexico)

Discussants: Faye Ginsburg (NYU) and Gabriela Rodríguez (Afluentes, Mexico)

Plenary Discussion led by Ann Pellegrini (NYU)

Keynote

The Role of the Secular State in Sexual and Reproductive Rights in Latin America
Roberto Blancarte (Colegio de México)