Hi, my name is Makayla Bangoura! I am a third-year International Affairs major, and I recently participated in the GLOBIS SPIA a Firenze study abroad program in Florence, Italy. This program was such an amazing experience, and I saw many historical sites and learned many new things about international affairs and political science. During this program, I took a Women in Global Politics class with Dr. Stauffer and a Religion in International Affairs class with Dr. Barber. While in a country where Catholicism plays a major role in Italian history and culture, taking the Religion in International Affairs class was a very eye-opening experience.
My study abroad program started in Rome, where we toured many cathedrals and churches, such as The Pantheon and the sites in the Vatican. Learning about the history of Catholicism and its place in government and culture in Italy was a major theme of this trip, and the religion class I took with Dr. Barber provided me with the necessary knowledge to take into these experiences. In Dr. Barber’s class, we learned about the origins of religious thought and how the theories and ideas of international relations tie into these ideas and concepts. We also discussed how religion may be a factor in inter-state conflict. One week, we learned about the four types of secularism, and how states may adopt a branch of secularism and apply it to government policy or national culture. For example, some states, such as England, may take an Established Religion approach to secularism and may have a state religion, or states like France may take a hard-separatist approach and follow hard-line secularism. This lesson allowed me to analyze my observations and interactions with the culture and history of Italy and see where Italy may fall on the spectrum of ideals and how religion may be reflected in its state policies.
While taking this class, Dr. Barber frequently asked us to question the relationship between Italy and the Vatican and how these two entities’ diplomatic and religious relationships affect each other. One of our assignments in the class was an essay prompt entitled “Does Italy control the Vatican, or is it the other way around?”. I chose to claim that the Vatican controlled Italy because it played an immense role in Italy’s tourist economy. The Vatican holds significant cultural and religious history for many Italians, especially those who still practice Catholicism. When this class ended, I began to believe that religion plays a significant role in international relations, and the religiosity of a state can contribute to how it behaves in a world state and the policy it aligns with.
The SPIA a Firenze program was amazing, and I was incredibly grateful to be a participant in it. Dr. Barber’s class allowed me to think critically about how religion is important to international affairs and state behavior. I recommend that all SPIA students participate in this program and take Religion in International Affairs.
