DISC NEWS ARCHIVE 2009:

Professor Jen'nan Read discusses American Muslim networking and diversity in an interview in Delaware Online (Aug 21, 2009).

 

Duke senior and Islamic Studies Certificate student Andrew Simon wins a Durden Prize for his paper "Rescuing the Mizrahi Jew: A story of heroes, victims, villains and consequences."

Professor Bruce Lawrence radio interviews, August 17-21 available at www.wptf.com at the "on demand" tab.

Professor Bruce Lawrence publishes a critical review of Reflections on the Revolution in Europe, a recent book on Muslim immigration in Europe, in the 8/13/09 edition of Religion Dispatches.

Read Professor Ebrahim Moosa's essay in Religion Dispatches (8/4/09) on ethical and political challenges confronting Ahmadinejad and the Iranian government.

SherAli Tareen, a Ph.D. candidate in religion, guest-edited the July 2009 issue of The Muslim World abnd has an article, "Normativity, Heresy, and the Politics of Authenticity in South Asian Islam" in the volume.

Professor Bruce Jentleson (Public Policy) named U.S. State Department advisor (7/16/09) and will be consulting on a range of foreign policy issues, including the Middle East. Read more

Professor Mohsen Kadivar discussed the elections in Iran in a short Duke News vidoe (see the interview here.

Professor Jen'nan Read responds to Obama's Cairo speech: Read the President's speech. In an interview on radio 680-WPTF Professor Jen'nan Ghazal Read analyzes President Obama's June 4 speech in Cairo, Egypt. Read Professor Read's blog posting about the "distinctly different approach [the Obama] administration plans to take in handling U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East."

Read Professor Timur Kuran's essay about collective processes, context and opportunities shape human behavior, "More than Imagination," in Cato Unbound.

During visit to Turkey, President Obama presented with novel translated by Duke professor Erdağ Göknar. Read more.

Professor Negar Mottahedeh's "Introduction to Film" class embraces social networking and hosts Twitter Film Festival, April 4-5, 2009.

Professor Negar Mottahedeh, who studies the Iranian cinema, was interviewed on CNN about the state of Iranian filmmaking.

Listen to WUNC/NPR interviews with Muslim Chaplain Abdullah Antepli and Dawa Drolma, a Duke student from Tibet.

Congratulations to Professor Erdağ Göknar for receiving a prestigious Stanford Humanities Center Fellowship. Professor Göknar is one of 8 Stanford Fellows selected from a pool of over 300 applicants. Professor Göknar's project, "'Turning Turk' and Other Betrayals of the Modern Turkish Novel," examines the intersection of literature, state violence, and the adjudication of identity in Turkey.

Duke Muslim Student Association hosts Islamic Awareness Month, which runs from Monday, March 16 - Thursday, April 16, 2009.

World Premiere of Simon Shaheen with Aswat Orchestra, Aswat (Voices): Celebrating the Golden Age of Arab Music to be performed at Duke University. Click here to read more about this concert and Simon Shaheen.

Duke Professor Mohamed Noor's editorial describes being treated with suspicion by the US government: My name is Mohamed. I’m a professor at a prestigious American university and I’m internationally recognized for my work in evolutionary biology. . . . Yet, the U.S. Department of Commerce has a list of names for people who should be treated with suspicion, and one similar to mine is among them [read more] .

Muslim Chaplain interviewed by Chronicle columnist: Chaplain Abdullah Antepli is the featured subject of Stephanie Butnick's February 25 2009 column et religio?

Three international journalists discuss covering news in the Middle East. Journalists Nasim Fekrat, Yazeed Kamaldien and Michel Moutot are Media Fellows at the DeWitt Wallace Center for Media and Democracy. On February 19, they discussed their experiences reporting on Afghanistan, Gaza, and Al Qaeda. Listen to their discussion on iTunesU

Can Islam Save the Economy? In a January 2009 interview Timur Kuran encourages caution in evaluating how Sharia-compliant practices fare in economic crisis. Read more about Sharia-compliant practices and the current economic crisis.

Professor Bruce Jentleson met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in January 2009. Listen to his DukeonCamera reflections on US-Syrian relatins.

Syrian Ambassador to the U.S. Imad Moustapha speaks at Duke: Moustapha's January 14 lecture, "Syria-USA Relations: A Thaw or a False Start," drew an audience of over 50. Read more

The Arab Student Association sponsored a "Vigil for Gaza" Friday, January 9, which drew approximately 100 people. Read more about the vigil. The Chronicle has published several articles about Gaza conflict and community responses to it. Read the Chronicle articles:

Gaza conflict hits home for some (1/9/09);  Continuous Cycle (1/9/09); Duke Friends of Israel responds to "Vigil for Gaza'" (1/13/09)

Timur Kuran's theory of preference falsification inspires Economic Notes from Underground symposium in May 2009. Symposium papers will be published in Econ Journal Watch in Septermer 2009. Read more about the sumposium and the call for papers.

 

DISC NEWS ARCHIVE 2008:

Duke Speech Specialists Help Palestinian Children: Clinical speech pathologist Christine Beagle and clinical associate Daniel King of the Department of Surgery visited the West Bank of Palestine as part of a cleft lip/palate medical mission group in late November, early December of 2008 [read more].

Professor miriam cooke traveled in the Gulf in Nov-Dec 2008. She gave three lectures in Arabic at the University of Kuwait: "Modern Arabic Literature from Yahya Haqqi to Women War Writers"; "Meetings with Arab Writers over 30 Years"; "Nazira Zayn al-Din: Pioneer of Islamic Feminism." She is also visiting the United Arab Emirates in December to interview Emirati women writers.

Center for Muslim Life opens at Duke: The Center, which had its unofficial opening December 5, will be a space for Duke's Muslim community to gather for academic, religious, and social events. Read more

Professor Bruce Hall presented a paper, "Slave Letters Across the Sahara: The Writngs of Leterate Slaves in the Ghadames-Based Commerical Diaspora in the Niger Bend, 1857-1900," at the African Studies Association meeting in November 2008. Hewas also a chief organizer of "Historical Constructions of 'Race' and Social Hierarchy in Muslim West and North Africa / Constructions historiques de la notion de 'race' et hierarchies sociales en Afrique septentriolale et occidentale musulmanes." The conference was held in December 2008 at University Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal. Professor Hall presented a paper entitled: "Reading the Black-ness of the 'Sudan': Southern Saharan Literary Productions of 'Race.'"

Professors Bruce Lawrence and miriam cooke attended the November 22, 2008 opening of the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar. The museum was designed by IM Pei, and the inaugural exhibition will include masterpieces from 25 countries. The musuem's opening was a week-long affair attracting art lovers and VIPs from around the world. Professors cooke and Lawrence attended the opening as guests of the Chair of the Qatar Museums Authority, Sheikha Mayassa Al Thani, a Duke alumna and a member of the Duke Islamic Studies Center Advisory Board.

Raleigh News & Observer's distribution of "Obsession" video sparks controversy. Click here to find more information about this controversy and responses by Jen'nan Read (Duke) and Carl Ernst and Omid Safi (UNC).

Professor Jen'nan Read has followed American Muslim participation in the 2008 election. Since the election, she has been interviewd in many national newspapers and magazines. A panel on the 2008 Election and the Muslim Vote held on campus prior to the election was covered in the Durham Herald-Sun and The Chronicle. Listen to an interview.  Read the articles. 

Professor Ebrahim Moosa, who holds a joint appointment at the law school, participated in an October 20, 2009 discussion of the foundations of Shariah and the complex comingling of societal mores and textual interpretation that form the basis for Islamic jurisprudence [read more about the talk] and an October 29 panel discussion about "The International Impact of the U.S. Presidential Election," speaking on  the election's impact on relations with the Islamic world. The October 29 talk was part of the Law School's International Week.

Professor Ellen McLarney (Asian and Middle Eastern Studies) is a Fellow in the 2008-09 Franklin Humanities Seminar. The seminar, "Alternative Political Imaginaries," is led by Professors Michael Hardt and Robyn Wiegman and explores the relationship of culture to politics and the role of humanities scholars in mediating this relationship.

Islamic Studies items of interest in Sept-Oct 2008 issue of Duke Magazine: This issue of Duke Magazine included two items about Islamic Studies at Duke. "In Focus" features literature professor Negar Mottahedeh and the Biblio-File column features an 18th-century Qur'an manuscript from Harar, Ethiopia.

Campus Wide Fast and Iftar Mark Ramadan at Duke [Sept 10, 2008]: The MuslimStudent Association sponsored a campus-wide fast and iftar dinner. Chaplain Abdullah Antepli was the keynote speaker for the evening, which also featured Qu'ran recitation by Sheikh Muhammad Jebril. DISC was one of the event cosponsors.

Professor Ebrahim Moosa is featured in the September 2008 issue of Jeune Afrique.

Ramadan to Coincide with Interfaith Programs, Jin Noh, Duke Chronicle [Sept 5, 2008]

To increase collaboration between Duke's Muslim community and other student groups, chaplain Abdullah Antepli has initiated interfaith iftars during Ramadan . . . . [read more]

Professor Jen'nan Ghazal Read awarded $25,000 from Carnegie Corporation in New York for strategic outreach and communication on her research on Muslim American political incorporation.

Jen'nan Ghazal Read op-ed: Despite Media Image, U.S. Muslims Diverse [June 27, 2008]: Stereotypes create hostility and ignore the ways Islamic America is like the rest of the country. Read complete op-ed.

David Schanzer published op-ed supporting National Counterterrorism Center suggestion that government officials stop linking extreme terrorist groups to Islam and avoid using offensive terminology like "Islamofascists." [ Read more]

Professor Negar Mottahedeh receives Latifeh Yarshater Award for her recent book, Representing the Unpresentable: (Syracuse University Press, 2007). The award recognizes scholarship in Iranian Studies focused on the condition of women in Persian speaking societies and to promote women's rights in these societies.

Professor Bruce Lawrence spoke about DISC programs to Carnegie Corporation staff, and program officers from several foundations. The talk focused on the innovative Duke-Saudi student exchange program DISC coordinated in conjnction with the 2008 Jeddah Economic Forume [July 2008].

Duke alumni Jeffrey E. Stern chronicles life in Afghanistan in The Ghosts of Kabul [Duke Magazine, July-August 2008].

Duke hires Muslim chaplain: Abdullah Antepli joins staff as Duke University's first Muslim chaplain [read more].

Professor Bruce Lawrence has been named one of 20 new Carnegie Scholars for his compelling ideas and commitment to enriching the quality of the public dialogue on Islam [April 2008, read more].

DISC NEWS ARCHIVE 2007::

Professor Ebrahim Moosa delivers lecture to King of Morocco. Professor Moosa's lecture, "Ethical Challenges in Contemporary Islamic Thought," was hosted by His Majesty King Muhammad VI of Morocco in the historic city of Fez. [Oct 2007, read more]