Coming up: The Muslim and Arab experience in the US
Princeton University professor Amaney Jamal has directed a number of major studies focused on understanding the Arab and Muslim American experience. She comes to Northeast Ohio February 9th and 10th for a panel conversation and City Club forum. We are designing a community conversation bridging Jamal’s broad perspective with the local community’s experience. A goal for this series has always been to explore the diversity in the Middle East and broader Muslim world, and now, we turn the lens on our own community and examine the diversity of the Muslim and Arab experience in the US and Northeast Ohio.
Jamal will speak at the Islamic Center of Cleveland on February 9th at 6:30 p.m. and at a City Club of Cleveland Friday Forum on February 10th. Her forthcoming book is titled Of Empires and Citizens: Pro-American Democracy or No Democracy at All.
Answering some basic questions about Islam and sharia
Every now and then, in our work with the Northeast Ohio Consortium for Middle East Studies, we notice there some really basic things that we just don't know about Islam and the Middle East. One of those questions is what, exactly, the word sharia actually refers to. Usually when you hear it in the West, it's in terms that really aren't so favorable. The state of Oklahoma tried to outlaw it. Newt Gingrich called it a threat to our existence. So, we sat down with a local imam, Ramez Islambouli, and we asked him.
What exactly is Sharia? by The Civic CommonsFind out more about the speakers.
Read the press release on the New Perspectives series.
Northeast Ohioans on U.S. involvement in the Middle East
When he came to Northeast Ohio, historian Toby Craig Jones made a case that U.S. involvement in the Middle East and its ongoing support of the Saudi royal family fails to advance our actual national interest in spreading democracy. His work generally analyzes the intersection of technology, science, and politics. His most recent book,Desert Kingdom: How Oil and Water Forged Modern Saudi Arabia(Harvard University Press, 2010), explains the critical role engineers, scientists, consultants, and Western corporations played in consolidating and legitimizing the power of the Al Saud family. Here, community members respond to his message during an evening event at the Cathedral Hall at Trinity Commons in December 2011.
You can find other content from Dr. Jones' visit to Northeast Ohio, including his provocative City Club Forum, in our archives.
Bringing New Perspectives to Northeast Ohio
New Perspectives is a project dedicated to bringing voices and scholars from the Muslim world and the Middle East to Northeast Ohio with the explicit goal of fostering dialogue and a greater understanding of the local and global Muslim community. It is a project that is run by the Northeast Ohio Consortium for Middle East Studies, a collaboration of several local educational institutions.
Throughout the 2011-2012 season, scholars, writers and artists with deeply informed perspectives on the Middle East and the Muslim world will engage a variety of Northeast Ohio audiences throughout the community on three different themes: Muslim voices and publics, women in the Muslim world, and Muslim societies in transition. Conversation here and in the community will continue between speaker visits.
Who is organizing this? The Northeast Ohio Consortium for Middle East Studies is led by a group of leading local university professors.
- Dr. Pete W. Moore, Department of Political Science, Case Western Reserve University
- Dr. Zeinab Abul-Magd, Department of History, Oberlin College
- Dr. Joshua Stacher, Department of Political Science, Kent State University
- Dr. Neda A Zawahri, Department of Political Science, Cleveland State University
Listen to the Civic Commons podcast with Pete Moore and Neda Zawahri
Show #30 Arab Spring, Cleveland Autumn by The Civic Commons
Events in the Middle East are tough to unpack, whether centuries ago or just this spring. Most of us tend to pack our bags and quickly leave the conversation anyway, heads dizzy with byzantine history and convoluted political tribalism. In this Civic Commons Radio program, Dan and Noelle sit down with Neda Zawarhi of Cleveland State University and Pete Moore of Case Western University, both members of the consortium, to discuss events in the Middle East. We also hear from Case Western Professor Dr. Ramez Islambouli about how his students perceive the Islamic world.
It's your Civic Commons, so you get to start the conversation you think is important.
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Upcoming Events
Due to the death of Anthony Shadid, this event has been cancelled.
Homes and Homelands: An Evening with Anthony Shadid in conversation with David Giffels
Friday, March 23, 2012, 7:00pm
The Cleveland Museum of Art
Gartner Auditorium
11150 East Boulevard
Cleveland, Ohio 44106
Sponsored by The Cleveland Museum of Art and ideastream
Information
News about the Muslim world and the Middle East
Yemen Votes to Remove Ali Abdullah Saleh
February 21, 2012 http://www.nytimes.com/
The election comes after a year of antigovernment protests and conflict that broke the government of this already impoverished nation. In reality, it is meant to be more symbolic than democratic: the only candidate is Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour al-Hadi. "We want change.
Syrian Protesters Fill Streets of Damascus
February 19, 2012 http://www.nytimes.com/
BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hundreds and hundreds of antigovernment protesters braved scattered gunfire from Syrian soldiers and a cold winter snowstorm to march through a middle-class neighborhood in Damascus on Saturday, the biggest such march witnessed close to the heart of the capital since the country's uprising started 11 months ago.
Anthony Shadid, a New York Times Reporter, Dies in Syria
February 17, 2012 http://www.nytimes.com/
Ed Ou for The New York Times Anthony Shadid, a gifted foreign correspondent whose graceful dispatches for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and The Associated Press covered nearly two decades of Middle East conflict and turmoil, died, apparently of an asthma attack, on Thursday while on a reporting assignment in Syria.
Bloom is off Arab Spring: Tony George
February 17, 2012 http://www.cleveland.com/
After a year of bloodshed, the so-called Arab Spring is veering dangerously off course. The revolutions are seemingly more Khomeini and less Jefferson; theocracy is trumping democracy. U.S. policy appears to be more about wishful thinking than Islamic realism.
Basketball Great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar On Diplomacy : NPR
February 16, 2012 http://www.npr.org
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is perhaps one of the greatest basketball players of all time. He recently added another chapter to his storied career when he was named U.S. Cultural Ambassador by the State Department. Host Michel Martin speaks with the author and hall-of-famer.
Resources for a new perspective
The Muslim world and Middle East have just undergone some of the most dramatic changes in centuries. We've gathered some of the best resources on the web to help you (and us) make sense of it all.
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