Media
The 4rd Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Monthly Meeting
Mediating Feeling: Muslims, Gender, and Change in the Age of Social Media
When: Wednesday March 27, 2024 | 5:00 PM - 7:00 PM (MST)
Where: Tory Building, Room 14-28
The 3rd Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Monthly Meeting
Echoes of Resilience: Stories and Poetry from the Middle East
When: Monday, January 29, 2024, 4:00 PM — 6:00 PM (MST)
Where: Tory Building, Room 12-15, University of Alberta
The 2nd Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Monthly Meeting
Knowledge on Sale: The Privatization of Sociological Teaching in Iran
When: Monday January 29, 2024, 4:00 PM — 6:00 PM (MST)
Where: Tory Building, Room 12-15, University of Alberta
The 1st Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Monthly Meeting
Music and Conflict
When: Tuesday November 28, 4:00-6:00 PM
Where: Tory Building 12-15
Please read the report of ‘The First MEIS Monthly Meetings: Music and Conflict’ by Uthman Khan and Hajar Ghorbani here.
Calligraphy in the Islamic Tradition
Workshop on Islamic Calligraphy and Islamic Illumination
November 22, 9:30 AM – 03:30 PM
Public Talk by Ferhat Kurlu
November 23, 4:30 PM – 6:50 PM
Teach-In: “GAZA; Centering Palestinian Experiences”
When: Wed. October 25, 2023 — 4:30 PM- 6:00 PM (MST)
Where: Zoom Webinar.
Islamic History Month’s Special Event
Book Talk: Under Siege: Islamophobia and the 9/11 Generation
When: Tuesday, October 3, 2023, 6:00 PM — 8:00 PM (MST)
Where: Telus Centre, Room 150, University of Alberta.
Music Performance:
One Year On: Assessing The 2022 Protest Movement in Iran
When: Friday, September 15, 2023 — 6:00 PM- 7:00 PM (MST)
Where: Virtual via Zoom.
Islam and Human Rights: A 50-Year Retrospective
When: Wednesday, March 15, 2023 — 6:30 PM- 8:00 PM (MST)
Where: Telus Centre, University of Alberta, Room 134
Resistance, Social Movements, Democracy: Myth of Middle East Exceptionalism
Book launch and scholarly discussion of Middle Eastern social movements of the past, present and future.
When: Tuesday, February 7, 2023 — 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
Where: Telus Centre, Room 150
The Islamic History Month’s Special Virtual Panel
Multiple Manifestations of Being Muslim
When: Wednesday, October 19, 2022, 6:00 PM — 8:00 PM (MDT)
Where: Zoom webinar
What’s Happening in Iran? “Women, Life, Freedom” (Zan, Zendegi, Azadi)
When: Friday October 14, 2022, 4:30 PM – 6:00 PM (MST)
Where: Online Zoom Webinar.
Speakers:
Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet Walter H. Annenberg Professor of History, University of Pennsylvania, President-Elect of Association for Iranian Studies
Nader Hashemi Associate Professor; Director of the Centre for Middle Studies, the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver
In conversation with, and moderated by Mojtaba Mahdavi Professor of Political Science; ECMC Chair in Islamic Studies, University of Alberta
The Geostrategic Curse in the Middle East: Regional Rivalries and Western Powers
Public Talk by Fawaz A. Gerges Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics
When: Monday September 26, 2022, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM (Edmonton time)
Where: Online Zoom Webinar.
Rethinking China, the Middle East and Asia in a ‘Multiplex World’
Speaker:
Manochehr Dorraj, Professor of Political Science, Texas Christian University, USA
Habibul Khondker, Professor of Social Sciences at Zayed University, Abu Dhabi, UAE
Mojtaba Mahdavi, Professor of Political Science and the ECMC Chair in Islamic Studies, University of Alberta
Commentator:
Ashley Esarey, Associate Professor of Political Science and Director of the interdisciplinary program in Taiwan Studies, University of Alberta
When: Thursday, May 26th, 2022, 10:00 am (Edmonton Time)
Where: Online Zoom Webinar.
Putin’s Invasion of Ukraine: Implications for the Middle East and the Muslim world
Public talk by Juan Cole
Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan, USA
When: Wednesday, Mar 23 at 6:00 PM (MST)
Where: Zoom webinar.
Upholding White Supremacy through Anti-Muslim Racism
Public Talk by Sherene H. Razack Distinguished Professor and the Penny Kanner Endowed Chair in Women’s Studies in the Department of Gender Studies, UCLA
When: Thursday, January 27, 2022, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM (Edmonton time)
Where: Online Zoom Webinar.
Muslim Feminisms: In and Against the Islam/Secular Dichotomy
Public Talk by Amina Jamal, Associate Professor of Sociology at Ryerson University
When: Thursday, October 21, 2021, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM (Edmonton time)
Where: Online Zoom Webinar
The U.S. War on Terror: Lessons Learned Twenty Years After 9/11
Public Talk by Fawaz A. Gerges
Professor of International Relations at the London School of Economics
When: Wednesday, September 8, 2021 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM (Edmonton time)
Where: Online Zoom Webinar.
Islam and the Experience of Toleration: The Past and the Future
Public Talk by Arash Naraghi, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion; Chair, Department of Philosophy, Moravian College, USA
When: Saturday, March 27, 2021, 10 AM-12 noon (Edmonton time)
Where: Online Zoom Webinar.
Book launch on International Women’s Day | A White Lie: Women’s Voices from Gaza Series
Speaker: Dr. Ghada Ageel, Department of Political Science, University of Alberta
When: Monday, March 8, 2021, 12 noon-1:00 pm (Edmonton Time)
Where: Online Zoom Webinar.
U.S. Middle East Policy in the Post-Trump Era Public
Online Talk by Mehrzad Boroujerdi, Professor and Director of School of Public and International Affairs, Virginia Tech, USA
When: Wednesday, February 24, 2021, 6:00-7:30 PM (Edmonton time)
Where: Online Zoom Webinar.
In Memory of Mohammad Reza Shajarian
Talk by:
Professor Rob Simms, University of York
Majid Derakhshani
Performance by:
Barbad Ensemble: Mehdi Rezania (Santur) and Abtin Ghaffari (Tombak)
Islamic Liberation Theology as Critique: Critical Islamic Political Thought in the Age of Systemic Racism and Exclusion Public
A Talk by Farid Esack, Professor in the Study of Islam at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa
When: Saturday, November 28, 2020, 1:00-2:30 PM (MST)
Where: Zoom Webinar
Can Islam Provide The Antidote To Racism in North America?
A Public Talk by Dr. Muqtedar Khan, Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Delaware, USA
When: Wednesday, October 7, 2020, 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM (MDT)
Where: Zoom Webinar
Iran’s Post-Islamist Democracy? Challenges and Opportunities: A Public Talk by Mojtaba Mahdavi
When: Thursday, 12 March 2020, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Where: Room 1-5, Business Building, University of Alberta
Understanding Islam in an Age of Polarization and Misinformation: A Public Talk by Ali S. Asani
When: Thursday, 5 March 2020, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM
Where: Room 1-5, Business Building, University of Alberta
Muslims' Actions and Contributions to Humanity: Then and Now
Keynote address by Professor Mojtaba Mahdavi at “Islamic History Month of Edmonton Council of Muslim Communities”
Were: Edmonton City Hall
When: October 22, 2019, 5:00 pm – 6:30 pm
Tweets and ‘Deals of the Century’: Trump & Chaos in the Middle East: A Public Talk by Robert Fisk
When: Tuesday, November 12, 2019 — 7:00 PM
Where: Centennial Centre for Interdisciplinary Science, University of Alberta
Imagining “Indigenous” and “Glocal” Democratic Socialism: Can Freedom, Social Justice, and Civil Spirituality Coexist in Muslim Societies?
When: Saturday and Sunday, 27-28 April 2019, 8:30 AM- 5:00 PM
Where: Room 134, Telus Centre, University of Alberta
Three-Minute Thesis Competition
Warm Congratulations to the Recipients of the ECMC Chair in Islamic Studies Three Minute Thesis Prizes:
* Banafsheh Mohammadi, PhD student, Art & Design, (First place Prize: $500)
* Sajad Soleymani Yazdi, PhD student, Modern Languague and Cultural Studies (Second place Prize: $300)
Reading Edward Said and Saba Mahmood in Today’s Context
When: Thursday, 01 November 2018, 5:00 PM -7:00 PM
Where: Room 2-5, Business Building, University of Alberta
Boustan: In a Fragrant Garden Contemporary Music of Middle Eastern and Muslim Societies
Habib Hoseini (Vocal), Ahmad al-Badr (Ud), Mehdi Rezania (Santur), Abtin Ghaffari (Tombak, Darabukah), Jenny Boutros (Vocal), Michael Frishkopf (Nay), Etelka Nyilasi (Violin), Roy Abdalnour (Violin), Ahmed Al-Auqaily (Riqq).
Many Faces of Islamic Reform: Islamic Reform and Emancipatory Politics in the Age of Extremism and Neoliberalism
Siavash Saffari | Assistant Professor of West Asian Studies, Seoul National University, South Korea
Mojtaba Mahdavi | ECMC Chair in Islamic Studies, Department of Political Science, University of Alberta
The “Muslim Extremist” ’s Invisible Relative: How to Trace the Silent Violence that Informs Our Lives?
Peyman Vahabzadeh | Professor of Sociology at the University of Victoria
Who Are We? Populism, Citizenship, Religion
Amyn B. Sajoo | Lecturer in history and global politics at Simon Fraser University
Talk: Islam, Gender and Feminist Hermeneutics
Asma Afsaruddin | Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures in the School of Global and International Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington
Muslims and the Middle East in a Post-Trump Era
Mojtaba Mahdavi | ECMC Chair in Islamic Studies and Associate Professor of Political Science, Department of Political Science, University of Alberta
Creating Thriving Societies in Troubling Times
Tariq Ramadan | Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies, Oxford University
The Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Monthly Meetings
When: Tuesday November 28, 4:00-6:00 PM
Where: Tory Building 12-15
Please read the report of ‘The First MEIS Monthly Meetings: Music and Conflict’ by Uthman Khan and Hajar Ghorbani here.
Can Non-Europeans Think?
Hamid Dabashi | The Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in the City of New York, USA
In Defence of the Arab Spring Uprisings: How Al Qaeda and ISIS Proponents and Detractors Misappropriate the Narrative?
Fawaz Gerges | Professor of International Relations at The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), UK
Language of Rights and Language of Obligations: An Islamic Perspective
Abdulkarim Soroush | Leading Muslim reformist public intellectual, a Rumi scholar, and a former professor of philosophy at the University of Tehran, Iran.
International Conference: The Unfinished Project of the Arab Spring:Why “Middle East Exceptionalism” is Still Wrong
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada – September 25-27, 2015
‣ Opening Remarks
‣ Keynote Address: Recolonizing the Arab World – Tariq Ali
‣ Special Panel: Middle East Today: What is Missing in the Media?
‣ Panel 1 – Beyond ‘Middle East Exceptionalism’: “What the Middle East Offers to World History”
‣ Panel 2 – Critique From Within: Intellectual Discourses and the MENA Uprisings
‣ Keynote Address: The Struggle against Fundamentalism after the Revolutions of 2011: Your Fatwa Still Does Not Apply Here – Karima Bennoune
‣ Panel 4 – Geopolitics of the Arab Uprisings: Oil, Foreign Intervention and Military Coup
‣ Panel 5 – What Happened to “Songs of the New Arab Revolutions”?
‣ Panel 6 – Gendering the MENA Uprisings: Women and Politics of the Body
‣ Keynote Address: Reformist Islam, Gender and the Questions of Authority – Amina Wadud
‣ Panel 7 – Finished or Unfinished Social Movements? Is the Return of the Repressed Possible?
‣ Panel 8 – Online Activism in the MENA Uprisings: Media and Politics of Representation
‣ Panel 9 – Five Years After the Uprisings: “A Tale of High Hopes and Dashed Expectations”?
‣ Panel 10 – “Why They Joined” Extremist Groups: ISIS, Boko Haram and al-Shabaab
‣ Panel 11 – Arts and Literature: Diaries and Performance of the MENA Uprisings
‣ Panel 12 – Gendering the Uprisings: Women’s Movements
‣ Closing Remarks