Category Archives: Conferences and Talks

Amir Hussain at Fordham

Conferences and Talks, Ethics, Islam and Christianity, Islam in America

Loyola Marymount Professor Amir Hussain will be responding to the inaugural lecture of Rev. Patrick J. Ryan at Fordham this coming Thursday. Details below for all those in the New York Metropolitan area.

Annual Fall McGinley Lecture: “Faith and the Possibility of Jewish-Christian-Muslim Trialogue”

Inaugural lecture of Rev. Patrick J. Ryan, S.J., as Fordham’s Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society.

Thursday, 19 November 2009 | 8 p.m.
Keating First Auditorium | Rose Hill Campus

The inaugural lecture of Rev. Patrick J. Ryan, S.J., as Fordham’s Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society, is titled “Faith and the Possibility of Jewish-Christian-Muslim Trialogue.” The lecture will be followed by responses by Professor Amir Hussain of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and Rabbi Daniel F. Polish, spiritual leader of Congregation Shir Chadash in Poughkeepsie, New York. A reception will follow the lecture, which is open to the public without charge.

For more information, contact Sister Anne-Marie Kirmse, O.P., Ph.D., at (718) 817-4746 or kirmse@fordham.edu.

Talal Asad and the Anthropology of Islam

Anthropology/Sociology, Conferences and Talks, Islam and Christianity, Islam in Europe, Scholars


Left to right, Jocelyne Cesari, Dan Varisco, Jens Kreinath, Nadia Fadil, Refika Sarionder at AAR in Montreal

Last Saturday at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion I had the privilege of serving in a “responding” role on one of the first panels on the program. This was a session entitled “Talal Asad and the Anthropology of Islam,” organized by Jens Kreinath (Wichita State University), presided over by Refika Sarionder (University of Bielefeld) and with presentations by Jocelyne Cesari (Harvard University), Nadia Fadil (Katholieke Universiteit, Leuven), Jens Kreinath and Bruce B. Lawrence (Duke University). [Abstracts of the panel and papers are posted at the bottom of my comments.]

Following a typically powerful presentation by Bruce Lawrence and placed in the difficult role of representing Talal Asad (who was not present), I began my remarks by noting that I felt myself between a rock (a solid one at that) and a hard place. Drawing on my anthropological roots, I offered myself in the metaphorical role of Thomas Henry Huxley to Darwin, dubbing my wrapping-up task as akin to Asad’s Bulldog. This is not to say that the papers were overtly critical of Dr. Asad’s work; on the contrary, all expressed appreciation of his work as formative in their own ideas. Yet, in reading over the individual papers I detected several criticisms that stem more from dealing with isolated comments than considering the impressive and expanding corpus of Asad. I decided the best approach was to sum up what I see as some of the reasons the continuing intellectual trajectory of Dr. Asad is useful for those of us interested in something that might be called an “anthropology” of Islam.


Bruce Lawrence at AAR in Montreal

Continue reading Talal Asad and the Anthropology of Islam →

Islam, Sufism and the Heart of Compassion

Conferences and Talks, Ethics, Film and Video, Music and Dance, Sufism


left to right: Michael Sells, John Henry Barrows Professor of Islamic History and Literature in the Divinity School at the University of Chicago; Taoufiq Ben Amor,a Tunisian vocalist, percussionist, oud player and Professor of Arabic at Columbia University; William C. Chittick, Professor of Religious Studies in the Asian and Asian American Studies Dept. at Stony Brook


Islam, Sufism and the Heart of Compassion: Living the Teachings of Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi

The New York Open Center and the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society will co-present a conference titled “Islam, Sufism and the Heart of Compassion: Living the Teachings of Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi” on November 6,7, 2009

This conference will examine the heart of Ibn ‘Arabi’s teachings and in the process seek to deepen understanding of Islam here in the West in the light of one of its most profound, original and universally relevant thinkers.The conference will open with a series of talks on Friday evening and Saturday morning and will be followed by afternoon workshops, ending with a concluding presentation including a music ensemble. The presentations will cover such themes as: Ibn ’Arabi and the Quest for Human Perfection; Suffering and Spiritual Growth in Ibn ‘Arabi’s Futuhat; The Wisdom of the Heart; Ibn ‘Arabi in Dialogue with the Confucian Tradition; and more. The presenters include some of the leading Ibn ‘Arabi scholars in the world from the U.S., Europe and the Middle East. Confirmed speakers include:

• Salman Bashier
• William Chittick
• Sashiko Murata
• Mohamed Haj Yousef
• Stephen Hirtenstein

You can download the symposium brochure here. (This is an Acrobat pdf file, 3.5mb.) Continue reading Islam, Sufism and the Heart of Compassion →

Healing Herbs in Yemen

Anthropology/Sociology, Conferences and Talks, Food and Drink, Islamic Law, Islamic Texts, Scholars, Yemen


Aloe and Opuntia (balas Turkî) in al-Ahjur, central highlands of Yemen

Today I am flying on Lufthansa to Leipzig, and then on to Halle Wittenberg for a conference called “The use of herbs in Yemeni healing practices. An interdisciplinary workshop on traditional knowledge and cultural concepts in scientific perspective.“ The conference takes place September 25-26, 2009 at the Orientwissenschaftliches Zentrum , Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. It has been funded by the Royal Ontario Museum Foundation, Ryerson University (both Toronto/Canada), and Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, Germany. Click here for the order of the program.

The organizers are Dr Hanne Schönig (Orientwissenschaftliches Zentrum
Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, homepage: http://www.owz.uni-halle.de/owz.php?pid=2) and Dr Ingrid Hehmeyer (Department of History, Ryerson University, Toronto, homepage: http://www.ryerson.ca/history/faculty/Hehmeyeri.html) and Dr Anne Regourd, Collaborateur Scientifique, Dept of Islamic arts, Musée du Louvre, Paris – France, homepage: http://www.anne.regourd.org.

The conference participants and papers are noted below: Continue reading Healing Herbs in Yemen →

MECA Study Day at Hofstra

Anthropology/Sociology, Architecture, Central Asia, Conferences and Talks, Egypt, Gender and Sexuality, Iran, Islam in America, Jordan, Literature

Hofstra University Announces Middle Eastern and Central Asian Study Day
A Series of Presentations Focused on Faculty Research

Who: Hofstra faculty who have conducted research on Middle Eastern and Central Asian (MECA) studies
What: MECA Study Day
When: September 16, 2009
Where: 310 C.V. Starr Hall and 117 Berliner Hall, South Campus
Why: To highlight and learn about the research Hofstra faculty have done on MECA studies

Hofstra faculty from a variety of departments such as fine art, art history, anthropology, history, comparative literature, economics, political science and religious studies will give presentations on their research in MECA studies. Topics from their research will include archeology, women’s issues, history and the contemporary Middle Eastern and Central Asian world. These talks are free and open to the public.

MECA Schedule

Western and Central Asia in the Middle Ages
9:30 – 11:15 a.m., C.V. Starr Hall, 310
Moderator: Dr. Stefanie Nanes, Department of Political Science

• Greeting by Dr. Bernard Firestone, Dean of Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Opening remarks by Dr. Daniel Martin Varisco, Department of Anthropology

• Dr. Aleksandr Naymark, Department of Fine Arts/Art History
Amazing Sogdians: Masters and Creatures of the Silk Road

• Dr. Anna Feuerbach, Department of Anthropology
The Damascus Steel Sword

• Dr. Daniel Martin Varisco, Department of Anthropology
The Sultan’s Green Thumb: Yemeni Agriculture in the 14th Century Continue reading MECA Study Day at Hofstra →

Conference on Said’s “Orientalism”

Conferences and Talks, Orientalism

Today I am at the American University of Beirut for a one-day conference looking back on the impact of Edward Said’s seminal and polemical Orientalism, first published in 1978. The conference, “Orientalism and its Critics,” is sponsored by The Center for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies and the Department of Philosophy. Here is the line-up, for those who want to pseudo-twitter the event.

9:30 Basim Musallam (Cambridge University)
A First Reading of Orientalism

10:30 Daniel Varisco (Hofstra university)
Orientalism’s Wake: The Ongoing Politics of a Polemic

12:00 Ahmad Dallal (Georgetown University)
Cultural History and the Persistence of Orientalism: The Case of the 18th Century

1:00 Robert Irwin (University of London)
Pulp Orientalism

4:00 Robert Spencer (University of Manchester)
The War on Terror and the Backlash against Orientalism

5:00 Sadiq Jalal al-Azm (University of Damascus)
Political Said

My talk will be published this fall in a special issue of Viewpoints, an online forum of the Middle East Institute. It is a follow-up to my 2007 book, Reading Orientalism: Said and the Unsaid, published by the University of Washington Press.

Muslims for Progressive Values Conference

Conferences and Talks, Ethics, Islam: Introduction

Muslims for Progressive Values cordially invites you to participate in our Third Annual National Conference, to be held from June 19 – 21, 2009 at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York.

Join us for a spiritually uplifting and engaging weekend as we explore this year’s theme, “Building the Progressive Muslim Community.” The retreat will include a variety of skills-building workshops including media engagement, political advocacy, and discussions on spirituality as well as social activities. To learn more or register to attend the conference, please click here.

The 3rd annual Muslim for Progressive Values retreat “Building a Porgressive Muslim Community” is June 19-21 at Sarah Lawrence College, NY and the deadline for registration is May 31, 2009. Continue reading Muslims for Progressive Values Conference →

Iraq Study Day at Hofstra

Conferences and Talks, Development, Iraq, Iraq War, Obama Administration

The Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies (MECA) Program at Hofstra University is hosting a day-long “Iraq Study Day” on Monday, April 27, 2009. The purpose of the program is to bring several distinguished scholars to campus to speak to the Hofstra community and general public about the making of modern Iraq and the ongoing occupation by American military forces. Although information on the current crisis is widely available in the media, students, faculty and the general public need to understand the historical context for the making of modern Iraq in the 20th century.

A general forum for the public will be held on the theme “Iraq: How the Past Shapes the Future” on Monday, April 27, 3-4:30 p.m., in the Monroe Lecture Center Theater, California Avenue, South Campus of Hofstra University. Directions to Hofstra are available here.

The participants in the panel are:

• Nida al-Ahmad, Political Science, New School for Social Research: “State Power in Ba’thist Iraq”
• Dr. Magnus Bernhardsson, History, Williams College (author of “Reclaiming a Plundered Past: Archaeology and Nation Building in Modern Iraq,” 2006)
• Dr. Eric Davis, Political Science, Rutgers University (author of “Memories of State: Politics, History and Collective Identity in Modern Iraq,” 2005)
• Dr. Reeva Simon, History, Yeshiva University (author of “The Creation of Iraq, 1914-1921,” 2004
• Dr. Bassam Yousif, Economics, Indiana State University (author of “The Paradox of Development under Dictatorship: Iraq 1950-2003,” 2006)

Continue reading Iraq Study Day at Hofstra →