Islamic superheroes come to Superman's hometown

Kuwaiti psychologist Naif Al-Mutawa is on a mission to change the way Islam is understood by Muslims and by outsiders, and he's doing it with comic books. The 99 are Islamic superheroes from 99 different nations, now fighting evil alongside The Justice League. Their origin story dates back to 1258, a particularly important historical moment for Islam and world knowledge, and involves no small number of heroic librarians. While this may seem trite to some, Al-Mutawa believes this is exactly what the world needs to combat extremist ideology that has warped the popular and individual understanding of Islam.

Al-Mutawa comes to Cleveland May 2 for two events, one at The City Club of Cleveland and another at Baldwin-Wallace College.

Continuity over change: What's really happening in Egypt and Syria

Josh Stacher's new book about Egypt and Syria--pre-and post-uprisings--offers an unexpected take on the so-called Arab Spring. His argument, essentially, is that, in spite of the energy and enthusiasm of the uprisings and demonstrations, in spite of the ouster of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, in spite of the 2011 parliamentary elections in Egypt, little has actually changed in terms of where power lies and how it is exercised.

Based on a decade of research and interviews with Egyptian and Syrian leaders and insiders Adaptable Autocrats: Regime Power in Egypt and Syria (Stanford, 2012) examines why the authoritarian regimes remain so intractable, despite the changes and unrest surrounding them. Stacher argues that what the uprisings reveal is that Egypt’s elites are far more capable of adaptable and changing themselves to stay in power than is evident in Syria’s political establishment. Hence, the rapid ruling coalition change (and dumping Mubarak) in Egypt and the protracted and bloody conflict between the state and society in Syria.

Joshua Stacher is one of the co-founders of the Northeast Ohio Consortium for Middle East Studies, which created the New Perspectives project.

Community Reacts to Discussions on 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 visited Northeast Ohio on February 9th and 10th for a panel conversation and City Club forum. The community conversation bridged 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 here, we turn the lens on our own community and examined the diversity of the Muslim and Arab experience in the US and Northeast Ohio. This video includes community members reactions to both the panel discussion at the Islamic Center and Jamal's talk at The City Club of Cleveland.

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.

Find 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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