Specialists on Islam to speak at Vanderbilt
A South Africa Event on 2016-02-03 00:00:00
Four talks on Islam are being held at Vanderbilt University in conjunction with the 2015-2016 Andrew W. Mellon John E. Sawyer Seminar, "Where the Fringe Dwarfs the Center: Vernacular Islam Beyond the Arab World." Faculty members across a wide variety of academic disciplines have been meeting weekly at the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities on the Vanderbilt campus.
Samira Sheikh, associate professor of history and a seminar co-director, said that Vanderbilt has a significant number of scholars who study Islam in many different parts of the world. "We wanted to bring together interested faculty, graduate students and outside experts to think about the relationship between what we call the fringe–the vast majority of Muslims who live outside the Arabic-speaking countries–and the smaller-populated so-called center of Islam, such as Arabia and the holy cities." Sheikh noted that the largest number of Muslims live in India, Pakistan and Indonesia. In addition, Nigeria is the African nation with the largest number of Muslims. "Most Muslims don't speak Arabic and don't live in Arab countries," she said. "One of the issues that we are exploring is the relationship of these Muslims with the so-called 'center,' or at least what some scholars and believers consider the 'center' of Islam to be."
Naveeda Khan, associate professor of anthropology at Johns Hopkins University, will speak at 4:10pm, Feb. 3 in Buttrick Hall, Room 123. She is the author of Muslim Becoming: Aspiration and Skepticism in Pakistan (Duke University Press and Orient Blackswan [India], 2012). She also served as editor for Beyond Crisis: Re-evaluating Pakistan (Routledge India/UK, 2010), a book that brought together 19 rising scholars of Pakistan within the social sciences and humanities to explore what it is to live with or refuse the designation of crisis.
Moses Ochonu, a professor of history at Vanderbilt, will discuss "Boko Haram and Radical Islamism in the West African Sahel: A Biography," at 4:10pm, March 2. His talk will be in the Kissam Center, Room 216. Ochonu is the author of Africa in Fragments: Essays on Nigeria, Africa, and Global Africanity (New York: Diasporic Africa Press, 2014), a collection of analytical essays on a variety of questions relating to Nigeria, Africa and global African communities. Topics include the challenges of democracy in Africa; postcolonial African migration to the West; relations between Africans and African immigrants in the United States; and African Islam and Islamic extremism.
Brian Larkin, the Tow Associate Professor for Distinguished Scholars at Barnard College and an expert on ethnography and history of media in Nigeria, will speak March 16 at 4:10 p.m. The campus location will be announced later. Larkin is the author of Signal and Noise: Media Infrastructure and Urban Culture in Nigeria (Duke University Press, 2008) He is currently working on a book that analyzes the role that media play in the rise of new Islamic movements in Nigeria and explores theoretical questions about technology and religion.
Faisal Devji, the University Reader in Modern South Asian History at the University of Oxford, will speak April 13 on "ISIS: Sincerity and Slaughter." His talk will be at 4:10pm in the Kissam Center, Room 216. Devji, who serves as director of Oxford's St. Antony's College Asian Studies Centre, has strong interests in Indian political thought as well as that of modern Islam. His broader concerns have to do with ethics and violence in a globalized world. His books include Muslim Zion: Pakistan as a Political Idea (Harvard University Press, 2013) and The Impossible Indian: Gandhi and the Temptation of Violence (Harvard University Press, 2012).
Admission Info:
Free Admission
Individual Dates & Times: *
Feb 3, 2016: 4:10 pm – 5:40 pm (Wed)
Mar 2, 2016: 4:10 pm – 5:40 pm (Wed)
Mar 16, 2016: 4:10 pm – 5:40 pm (Wed)
Apr 13, 2016: 4:10 pm – 5:40 pm (Wed)
* Event durations (if noted) are approximate. Please check with the presenting organization or venue to confirm start times and duration.
Phone: (615) 343-6060
Accessibility Information:
at Vanderbilt University
419 21st Ave S
Nashville, United States
Add your South Africa event for free here on MyZA.
