Research Initiatives

Faith and Freedom Project

The project explores the role of faith-based actors, especially the Catholic Church, in creating and sustaining economic, political, and religious freedoms in Central and Eastern Europe after 1989.

The project intends to answer three questions:

1. What is the role of religious faith in resisting the restrictions on freedoms through communist regimes?
2. What is the role of faith in shaping the transition from communism to a free market system?
3. What is the role of faith in developing sustainable entrepreneurship in three post-communist countries?

These conversations are part of a wider discussion about the relationship between the Church and capitalism, the different interpretations of “freedom” (both in a religious and in a non-religious context), and the contribution of religions to building vibrant civic societies.

The research would include a review of relevant literature and media analysis, possibly in cooperation with our partner Universities in Poland, Slovakia, and Ukraine.

Humanities and Policy Initiative

There are many ways questions of policy and topics in the humanities intersect: the ethics and politics of memory, for instance. How should we deal with monuments of the past? How should we remember the Holocaust? There was a huge debate in Berlin about the Holocaust Memorial, its site, its design, its dedication, its budget—where should the monument be—in a concentration camp site or in Berlin? Should it be an abstract monument or something more graphic? Should it be dedicated to all the victims of the holocaust or the Jewish people who were murdered? What should be the budget for the monument?

These are policy questions where policymakers have to make decisions. But these decisions cannot be made without engaging with history, philosophy, art and design, cultural studies, religious studies and other disciplines in the humanities

The Nanovic Institute will start a new initiative to explore the role of the humanities in the realm of policy and politics. Language matters in diplomacy, culture matters in lockdown decisions, history matters in inter-state relations. In this way, the Institute makes its primary contribution to the Keough School for Global Affairs.

The research would involve working with appropriate case studies (toppling of statutes, for instance) and a review of the relevant literature.

Contact Us

For information about how faculty members can contribute to these research priorities, please contact:

Clemens Sedmak
Director
574-631-5253
csedmak1@nd.edu

For information about how graduate and undergraduate students can contribute to these research priorities, please contact:

Abby Lewis
Director of Undergraduate Studies
574-631-5123
alewis26@nd.edu