Gasson Professor of Political Science Pierre de Charentenay, S.J., will present “What the Islamic Veil Reveals” on Feb. 25 at noon at the Boisi Center at noon. RSVP required. Fr. de Charentenay, who was born in France, has been a member of the college of writers for the Civiltà Cattolica, the magazine of the Roman Jesuits overseen by Vatican authorities. He is a former president of the Centre Sèvres, the Paris Institute of Higher Education of the Society of Jesus, and was the chief editor of the monthly journal of the Jesuits of France, Études, from 2004 to 2012. He is the author of nine books including Les Philippines, Archipel Asiatique et Catholique, Regagner L’Europe and Les Nouvelles Frontières de Laïcité and over 500 essays featured in French and foreign journals and newspapers. The abstract for his talk is as follows: The veil that Muslim women wear is an instrument of cultural and religious identity and has no extreme connotation within Islam. However, the veil has become a hot-button issue in France, which has suffered from attacks by Muslim extremists. The choice to wear the Islamic veil in France is seen by some as a rejection of French identity. Should the French appropriate and welcome Muslim women who wear the veil? Should the Muslim women reject the veil in order to show their allegiance to France? Can their identity come both from France and Islam? Sponsor: Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life
Research Professor Philip G. Altbach, founding director of the 
Communication Professor 
Madison’s Hand: Revising the Constitutional Convention by Boston College Law School Professor and Lee Distinguished Scholar Mary Sarah Bilder has been named a finalist for the 2016 
Award-winning journalist and longtime host and special correspondent for National Public Radio 
School of Theology and Ministry Assistant Professor O. Ernesto Valiente taps into his experiences in his native El Salvador for his new book, 
Assistant Professor of Sociology Gustavo Morello SJ, will discuss his new book, The Catholic Church and Argentina’s Dirty War, on Feb. 9 at noon in McGuinn 334. The book discussion is sponsored by the Center for Human Rights and International Justice. An RSVP is requested. In his book, Fr. Morello looks at the kidnapping of American Fr. James Week and five seminarians in Argentina as a case study into the relationship between Catholicism and state terrorism during Argentina’s Dirty War. Read more about the book in the 9/8/15 BC Bookmarks.
Lynch School of Education Professor Maria Estela Brisk‘s book 
