Twenty Years after the Invasion of Iraq: Assessing Its Impact on the Nation, the Middle East, and US Foreign Policy

Thursday, April 20 at 7pm
SDSU Campus, Arts and Letters 101

A Talk by Dr. Ibrahim al-Marashi

Ibrahim al-Marashi is a professor of history at CSU San Marcos. He will talk about the legacy of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.

 

The Nakba in the Age of Catastrophe

Thursday, March 16 at 7 pm
SDSU Campus, Arts and Letters 101

A talk by Dr. Sherene Seikaly

Sherene Seikaly is a professor of history at UCSB. She will give a public talk about the 75th anniversary of the Nakba, or the Palestinian Catastrophe, which refers to the destruction of Palestinian Arabs' homeland in 1948.

Co-sponsored by CAL Instructionally Related Activities

Pakistan: The Supreme Court and the Protection of Fundamental Rights

Friday, November 11 at 8 am Pakistan
Thursday, November 10 at 7 pm US PST

Watch the 11/10 event video

Mansoor Ali Shah, a judge of Pakistan's Supreme Court, will talk about the protection of fundamental rights in this open online event. After Shah's presentation, the audience will be able to ask written questions.

Q&A will be moderated by Prof. Ahmet T. Kuru.

 

The Shah Lecture

Islam, Causality, and Freedom: From the Medieval to the Modern Era

Thursday, October 20 at 7 pm
SDSU Campus, Arts and Letters 101

A book talk by Dr. Özgür Koca

Dr. Koca will talk about his recent book "Islam, Causality, and Freedom: From the Medieval to the Modern Era" (Cambridge University Press). The book examines how Muslim theologians, philosophers, and Sufis have understood the relations between God’s divine will and human free will. It discusses destiny (qadar) among many other related issues.

 

Coast to Coast: Reflections from Al Andalus to Los Angeles

In-person Music Event

Thursday, March 24, 2022, 5.30-7.00 pm
SDSU Campus - J. Dayton Smith Recital Hall

Syrian American Rapper and Poet Omar Offendum & Palestinian American Multi-Instrumentalist maestro Ronnie Malley weave stories of the past, present and future as they trace the influence of Al Andalus and Arabic-speaking peoples on music and culture from New York City's Little Syria to the birth of California Surf Rock.

Co-sponsored with CAL, School of Music and Dance, Students for Justice in Palestine, and Associated Students

The War on the Uyghurs: China's Internal Campaign against a Muslim Minority

Open Webinar
Tuesday, March 8, 2022, 10 a.m. (PST)
Watch the 3/8 event video.

An open webinar by Prof. Sean R. Roberts on his recent book "The War on the Uyghurs: China's Internal Campaign against a Muslim Minority" which analyzes how the Chinese government's settler colonialism has tried to eradicate 12 million Uyghurs' religion, culture, and language.

Prof. Ahmet Kuru will moderate the Q & A.

Co-sponsored by Bruce E. Porteous Endowed Professor in Political Science and CAL Instructionally Related Activities.

In Memoriam: Celebrating the Life of Dr. Khaleel Mohammed

Wednesday February 2, 2022 at 7pm 
Watch the 2/2 video

The Center for Islamic & Arabic Studies and the Department for the Study of Religion at SDSU invite you to join us for this celebration of Dr. Khaleel Mohammed, Professor of Islamic Studies.  

Dr. Mohammed, born in Guyana, studied Islamic law at Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. After completing a Master’s degree in Judaism and Islam at Concordia University, Montreal, he obtained a Ph.D. in Islamic law at McGill University. He then moved to Brandeis University where he completed a two-year Kraft-Hiatt postdoctoral fellowship about the imagery of the Jew in Hadith literature. Dr. Mohammed came to SDSU in 2003 to teach courses related to Islam, Quran, World Religions, and the Abrahamic faiths.

He also served as Director of the Center for Islamic and Arabic Studies at SDSU and was associate faculty in SDSU’s LGBTQ+ Studies program. His research interests included Islamic and Arabic studies, Islamic law (classical and modern), comparative religion, Jewish/Christian/Islamic encounter, Qur’anic exegesis (classical and modern), hadith, gender/sex issues and sexuality in Islam, terrorism, antisemitism in Islam, Arab-Israeli relations, and reform in Islam. He was a strong proponent of interfaith marriage between Muslim women and non-Muslim men, without the traditionally required conversion of the non-Muslim spouse, and was a registered marriage-officiant. 

Khaleel considered working at SDSU to be one of the greatest accomplishments of his career. SDSU was his pride and joy, and he loved his students.

Donate to Professor Khaleel Mohammed Scholarship (for students pursuing a degree in the Study of Religion OR Islamic and Arabic Studies) 

Unfinished Indonesia: Film Screening and Discussion on Islam & Democracy with Profs. Robert Hefner & Zainal Bagir

Open Webinar
Wednesday, Jan 26, 2022, 5 p.m. (PST)
Watch the 1/26 event video

"Unfinished Indonesia" (46 min.) is part of a film series, "Indonesian Pluralities," co-produced by Prof. Robert Hefner & Prof. Zainal Bagir. It analyses Islam & democracy in Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim-majority country. This webinar will start with Prof. Hefner, continue with film screening, and end with Prof. Bagir.

The audience will be able to ask questions.

The discussion will be moderated by Prof. Ahmet Kuru.

Co-sponsored by Bruce E. Porteous Endowed Professor in Political Science.

Building Solidarity with Afghan Women

Open Webinar
October 6, 2021, 3.00pm (WST)

In the 20th year anniversary of US and NATO intervention in Afghanistan, the evacuation of US ground troops, and the take-over of the Taliban, how do we support the vision and activism of Afghan women? Join this virtual conversation with Halima Zazem-Stojanovic, Safia Amiry, and Aarozo Farhad about how to build solidarity.

Prof. Huma Ahmed-Ghosh will moderate.

Co-sponsored with the Department of Women's Studies.

 

CIAS 20th Anniversary Celebration

Celebrate the Past & Focus on the Future

Wednesday, April 7 at 6 PM

Opening remarks by SDSU President Adela de la Torre and College of Arts and Letters Dean Monica J. Casper.

Featuring conversations with CIAS faculty, the Middle Eastern Students Union and alumnus Mustafa Alemi.

Watch the video from the 4/7 event

Inclusive Movements and Islamic Reform

March 9, 2021, 5-7 p.m (PST)

Featuring Dr. amina wadud
Moderated by Huma Ahmed-Ghosh, Center for Islamic and Arabic Studies and professor, Department of Women’s Studies, SDSU

Dr. amina wadud is a world-renowned scholar and activist with a focus on Islam, justice, gender and sexuality. After achieving Full Professor, she retired from US academia, except as Visiting Researcher to Starr King School for the Ministry, California, USA. Dr. wadud has recently returned to academia as Visiting Professor to the National Islamic University in Jogjakarta, Indonesia. Author of Qur’an and Woman: Rereading the Sacred Text from a Woman’s Perspective, is a classic that helped towards the development of epistemology and methodology in Islamic feminism. Dr. wadud’s second manuscript, Inside the Gender Jihad: Women’s Reform in Islam, moved the discussion further by aligning it with a mandate for ethics and activism in collaboration with scholarship and spirituality. After completing a 3-year research grant investigating 500 years of Islamic classical discourse on sexual diversity and human dignity, funded by the Arcus Foundation, Dr. wadud is organizing an International Center for Queer Islamic Studies and Theology: (QIST) the first of its kind in the world.

This event is hosted by SDSU’s Center for Islamic and Arabic Studies and co-sponsored by Women's Resource Center, LGBTQ+ Studies, Department of Women's Studies

Watch the video from the 3/9 event.

A Conversation Reza Aslan on God: A Human History

Monday, Oct. 26, 2020 at 4 p.m. 

Join us during this discussion as we continue the 20th anniversary celebration of the Center for Islamic and Arabic Studies.

Reza Aslan is an Iranian-American scholar of religious studies, writer, and television host. He has written four books on religion: No God but God: The Origins, Evolution, and Future of Islam; Beyond Fundamentalism: Confronting Religious Extremism in the Age of Globalization; Zealot: The Life and Times of Jesus of Nazareth; and God: A Human History. Aslan has worked in a variety of television productions, including a documentary series exploring world religions on CNN called “Believer,” and served as an executive producer on the HBO drama series “The Leftovers.” Aslan is a member of the American Academy of Religion, the Society of Biblical Literature, and the International Qur’anic Studies Association. He is a professor of creative writing at University of California, Riverside and a board member of the National Iranian American Council (NIAC).

Moderated by Huma Ahmed-Ghosh, director, Center for Islamic and Arabic Studies and professor, Department of Women’s Studies, SDSU.

Watch the video from the 10/26 event

Islamophobia, Racism, and Imperialist Feminism in an Age of Forgetfulness

Wednesday, September 9, 2020 at 4 p.m.

Join us during this lecture and discussion to kickoff the 20th anniversary of the Center for Islamic and Arabic Studies.

Dr. Nazia Kazi is an anthropologist and author of the book Islamophobia, Race, and Global Politics. At Stockton University, she teaches classes on American racism, empire, and ethnography. She has written for Truth-Out, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and Jacobin. She currently lives in Philadelphia and is editing a book on anti-Muslim racism.

Co-sponsored with the Department of Women's Studies

Watch the video from the 9/8 event.

Fleeing Genocide: Insights from the Rohingya Refugee Camps in Bangladesh

a presentation by 
Karen Jungblut, Director of Global Initiatives at USC Shoah Foundation

Thursday October 10 at 7 PM
AL-101 on the SDSU Campus

Co-sponsored by CAL Interdisciplinary Human Rights Initiative, Department of Political Science, and ISCOR.

New Book Discussion: Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment    

Thursday, September 26, 2019      
7:00 PM-9:00 PM        
Location: Behner & Stiefel Auditorium (Storm Hall West 011)  

We invite all members of SDSU and the San Diego Community to a discussion by Professor Ahmet Kuru for his new book: Islam, Authoritarianism, and Underdevelopment.

Co-sponsored with the Department of Political Science

Contextualizing Modern Iran

March 19, Tuesday, 7.00pm 
C. Hostler Auditorium (Storm Hall West 012) 

A panel discussion with

• Prof. Bahar Davary (USD)
• Prof. Ali Gheissari (USD)
• Prof. Kevan Harris (UCLA)
• chaired by Prof. Ranin Kazemi (SDSU)

Co-sponsored by the Department of Economics, Language Acquisition Resource Center, and Instructionally Related Activities (IRA) fund.

Islam and Democracy in Indonesia: Citizenship and Populist Challenge

February 28, Thursday, 7.00pm
Behner & Stiefel Auditorium (Storm Hall West 011)

A talk by Dr. Robert W. Hefner
Professor of Anthropology at Boston University
Editor of Shari‘a Law and Modern Muslim Ethics
 
Co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science and Instructionally Related Activities (IRA) fund.

A film screening of 1948: CREATION AND CATASTROPHE (A documentary about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict)
April 12, Thursday, 7.00pm
Little Theater (LT 161)

Q&A to follow with Producers Andy Trimlett and Dr. Ahlam Muhtaseb

Unsettling the Revolutionary Subject: The Feminist Implications of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011
March 22, Thursday, 2.00pm
Love Library 430/431

A Talk by Dr. Nadine Naber

Co-sponsored with Women’s Studies Department

Central Asia's Golden Age: What Caused it? What Killed It?
February 1, Thursday, 7.00pm
J.K. Behner & C. M. Stiefel Auditorium (Storm Hall West 011)

A Talk by Dr. S. Frederick Starr

Co-sponsored with the Department of Political Science and the Language Acquisition Resource Center

Making the Desert Bloom: Historical Lineages of Dispossession in Palestine
November 16, Thursday, 7.00pm
Arts and Letters (AL 101)

A Talk by Dr. Gary Fields

Professor in the Communication Department, University of California, San Diego The author of Enclosure: Palestinian Landscapes in a Historical Mirror

Rethinking Muslim Ethics: Tensions and Dilemmas
April 20, Thursday, 7.00PM
Storm Hall West (SHW 011), SDSU Campus

A Talk by Dr. Ebrahim Moosa

Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Notre Dame
The author of Ghazali and the Poetics of Imagination, and What Is a Madrasa?

Co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science

Women PeaceMakers Panel
Wednesday, November 2nd, 2-3:30pm in AH (Adams Humanities) 2108.

Women PeaceMakers program documents the stories and best practices of women leaders and grassroots activists who bravely challenge extremism, violence and inequality on the frontlines of conflict around the world.

Speakers:

• Hamsatu Allamin (Nigeria)
• Jane Anyango (Kenya)
• Khurshid Bano (Pakistan)
• Fatma Mehdi Hassam (Western Sahara)

Cosponsored by Department of Political Science International Security and Conflict Resolution Women’s Studies, Africana Studies, Islamic Studies

Roundtable: The Art of Migration: Challenges and Opportunities
October 20, 2016, 6-8pm Templo Mayor, Student Union 

Featuring keynote presentations by Italian Algerian writer Amara Lakhous and Syrian American artist Kinda Hibrawi.

Respondents: Dr. Norma Bouchard, Dean of the College of Arts and Letters and Dr. Nancy Marlin, Provost Emerita and Professor of Psychology.

The discussion will address the contested issue of migration in Europe, the Mediterranean and the U.S./Mexico Border as well as the current Syrian refugee crisis through the lens of art and activism.

Organizers: Mounah Abdel-Samad (Public Administration and Policy), Clarissa Clò (Italian Studies), Kellie Quinn (Communication)

Sponsors: The Common Experience, The College of Arts and Letters, The Circolo italiano, The School of Public Affairs, SDSU Arts Alive.

Co-sponsors: The Center for Arabic and Islamic Studies, The Department of European Studies, ISCOR, The Italian Studies Program

Keynote Speakers’ bios:

Amara Lakhous is the author of the award-winning novel Clash of Civilization for an Elevator in Piazza Vittorio (2008) and several other books, including Divorce Islamic Style (2012) and Dispute over a very Italian Piglet (2014). After receiving death threats, he left Algeria for Italy in 1995 where he with immigrants and refugees for several years. He writes in Arabic and Italian and his novels have been translated in many languages.

Kinda Hibrawi is an acclaimed Syrian American artist, creative strategist and program director. She has worked on various art projects with the U.S. State Department, Children’s Hospital of Orange County, UNRWA and UNICEF. She co-founded and helped develop Karam Foundation’s Innovative Education programs, which she jointly ran every six months for displaced Syrian refugees on the Syrian-Turkish border from 2013 until December 2015.

Lessons from the Arab Spring
Thursday, April 28, at 7.00pm
West Commons (WC) 220
With Dr. Tarek Masoud

Tarek Masoud is the Sultan of Oman Associate Professor of International Relations at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. His research focuses on the role of religion in the Muslim world's political development. He is the author of Counting Islam: Religion, Class, and Elections in Egypt (Cambridge University Press, 2014).

Co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science

Mizrahi Political Alternatives to Mainstream Zionism in Early 20th Century Palestine/Land of Israel
Monday, April 25, at 5.00pm
Location: Arts and Letters 101, SDSU Campus
Speaker: Yuval Evri 

Dr. Yuval Evri is a faculty member at the Mandel School for Educational Leadership in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is a sociologist and culture researcher who focuses on the intellectual and political history of the Land of Israel/Palestine. Among his interests are the unique dissenting perspective of Israel's Jewish population from Northern Africa and the Middle East.

Co-sponsored by Fred. J. Hansen Institute of World Peace

Islam and the Challenge of Pluralism in the 21st Century
March 2, Wednesday at 7.00pm
Storm Hall West (SHW) 012

A talk by Dr. John Esposito

Dr. Esposito is Professor of International Affairs and Islamic Studies, and the Founding Director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, as well as the author or editor of about 45 books and encyclopedias.

His talk will ask questions including:

Why and how has fear of Islam become normalized in popular culture?  

What role have mass/social media and political elections played?

Who are American Muslims?

What are American attitudes towards Islam?

Co-sponsored by College of Arts and Letters, Fred J. Hansen Chair for World Peace, Department of Political Science, Department of Religious Studies, Department of Economics, Language Acquisition Resource Center, and School of Public Affairs

View the pictures from the event on flickr

Refugee Crisis: The Middle East, Europe, and the United States
7.00-8.50PM, Thursday, October 22nd, SHW 012

A Panel Discussion with:

• Dr. Annika Frieberg
• Dr. Roberto Hernandez
• Dr. Michael Provence

Annika Frieberg is an assistant professor of History at SDSU. She studies war and genocide, gender, conflict resolution, media, national, and transnational questions in Central Europe. Roberto Hernandez is an assistant professor of Chicana/o Studies at SDSU. He studies comparative border studies, decolonial theory, social movements, cultural production, violence, urban studies, and relational race/ethnicity studies. Michael Provence is an associate professor of History at UCSD. His research focuses on the colonial and post-colonial Arab world. He lived and studied in several Middle Eastern countries, particularly Syria and Lebanon. 

Co-sponsored by Department of Political Science, Department of Chicana/o Studies, Department of European Studies, and International Security and Conflict Resolution

The Challenges of the U.S. Higher Education Model in a Dynamic, Contentious Middle East
October 27, 7-8.30 PM
Peterson Gym 153
With Peter Dorman

Currently Professor of History and Archaeology at the American University of Beirut (AUB), Dr. Peter Dorman is a humanist and an international leader in the study of the ancient Near East, in particular the field of Egyptology, in which he is a noted historiographer, epigrapher and philologist. He is the author and editor of several major books and many articles on the study of ancient Egypt and is probably best known for his historical work on the reign of Hatshepsut and the Amarna period. 

He completed his undergraduate studies at Amherst (BA, 1970) and his graduate work at the University of Chicago (PhD, 1985). An accomplished academic leader and administrator, before coming to AUB he chaired with great success the distinguished Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago. Previously, he spent nine years (1988-1997) heading the epigraphic efforts at Chicago House in Luxor, Egypt. From 1977 to 1988, he worked in curatorial positions in the Department of Egyptian Art at the Metropolitan Museum in New York.

In July 2008, Peter Dorman became the 15th president of AUB and for seven years led the university in a major expansion of its medical center, invigorated interdisciplinary research across the institution, and initiated the university’s most ambitious fundraising campaign. Founded in 1866, AUB is a private, independent, non-sectarian, non-profit institution of higher learning located in Lebanon’s capital city under a charter from the State of New York. AUB bases its educational philosophy, standards, and practices on the American liberal arts model of higher education. A teaching-centered research university, AUB has around 700 instructional faculty, a student body of around 8,000 students, and currently offers more than 120 programs leading to the bachelor's, master's, MD, and PhD degrees.

Co-sponsored by Charles W. Hostler Institute on World Affairs

Avoiding War and Nuclear Armageddon in the Middle East: Iran, Israel, and Regional Unrest
November 17, 7-8.30 PM
Arts and Letters 101
With By Trita Parsi 

Trita Parsi is the 2010 recipient of the $200,000 Grawemeyer Award for Ideas Improving World Order. He is an award-wining author of two books, Treacherous Alliance - The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran and the US (Yale University Press, 2007) and A Single Roll of the Dice - Obama's Diplomacy with Iran (Yale University Press, 2012). Treacherous Alliance won the Grawemeyer award and Council of Foreign Relations Arthur Ross Award in 2008 (Silver medallion). A Single Roll of the Dice was selected as The Best Book on The Middle East in 2012 by Foreign Affairs. Dr. Parsi is the President of the largest Iranian-American grassroots organization in the US, the National Iranian American Council and has taught at Johns Hopkins University and George Washington University. He currently teaches at the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington DC.

Co-sponsored by Charles W. Hostler Institute on World Affairs

Arab America: A Discussion of Gender, Politics, and Activism
7PM Wednesday, February 11th
Storm Hall West 011
Presented by Nadine Naber, University of Illinois-Chicago

Dr. Nadine Naber received her Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from the University of California-Davis in 2002. She is currently Associate Professor in the Departments of Gender and Women’s Studies and Asian-American Studies at the University of Illinois, Chicago. Prior to this, she co-founded the Arab American Studies program at the University of Michigan. Dr. Naber has written extensively on the experiences of Arab Americans in her book Arab America: Gender, Cultural Politics, and Activism (2012) and has co-edited Race and Arab Americans(2008) and Arab and Arab American Feminisms (2010).

A Feminist Perspective on Gaza
7PM, Thursday, October 16th
Hepner Hall 130

Presented by Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi and Dr. Simona Sharoni. Dr. Abdulhadi is an Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies/Race and Resistance Studies and the Senior Scholar of the Arab and Muslim Ethnicities and Diasporas Initiative, at the College of Ethnic Studies, San Francisco State University. She is a contributor to Jadaliyya and the co-editor of Arab and Arab American Feminisms: Gender, Violence and Belonging.

Dr. Sharoni is Professor of Gender & Women's Study at State University of New York (Plattsburgh). An internationally known feminist scholar, researcher, and activist, she the author of Gender and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Politics of Women's Resistance. Other publications can be found on her website: www.simonasharoni.com

US-Iran Relations and the Nuclear Issue
Thursday, September 18th, 7PM- 9PM
West Commons 220
Nader Hashemi, University of Denver

Dr. Hashemi is an Associate Professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies and the Director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Denver. He is an expert on the Middle East and Islamic affairs.

Dr. Hashemi is the author of Islam, Secularism, and Liberal Democracy: The Syria Dilemma (with Danny Postel, MIT Press, 2013), Toward a Democratic Theory for Muslim Societies (Oxford University Press, 2012) and The People Reloaded: The Green Movement and the Struggle for Iran's Future (with Danny Postel, Melville House, 2011).

The Prospects for Peace in the Holy Land
November 19, 6-8 PM
Physical Sciences 130

Presented by Dr. William B. Quandt: Dr. Quandt served on the National Security Council for the Nixon and Carter Administrations. He actively participated in the 1978-79 Israel-Egypt Camp David accords. Dr. Quandt was also a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brookings Institution. He is presently professor emeritus at University of Virginia. Dr. Quandt has authored multiple books, including the landmark diplomatic study, Peace Process: American Diplomacy and the Arab-Israeli Conflict Since 1967 (Brookings Institution Press, multiple editions).

Co-sponsored by Charles W. Hostler Institute on World Affairs, ISCOR, and the Olive Tree Initiative

Racial Identity in the Arab American Community
Thursday, October 24th, 7-9pm
West Commons 220 

“What’s in a Name? ‘Arabs’ and Race in the American Diaspora” 

Dr. Sarah Gualtieri, Director of the USC Middle East Studies Program

We are thrilled to have renowned expert Dr. Sarah Gualtieri in town for this special guest lecture. Dr.Gualtieri is professor of History and the director of the Middle East Studies program at USC. She has also recently published the well received book: Between Arab and White: Race and Ethnicity in the Early Syrian American Diaspora. This discussion promises to look not only at the history of racial identity in the Arab American community, but also at more recent developments as well as the cultural and political significance of Arab racial identity in the United States. We should have ample time for questions for what promises to be a very interesting discussion. We do hope that you will be able to join us.

A Forum on Syria and Intervention
October 8, 7-9 PM
Hepner Hall 130 

Featuring:

Dr. Michael Provence Department of History, University of California-San Diego (UCSD) "Historical and Contemporary Developments in Syria"

Dr. Ibrahim Al-Marashin Department of History, California State University-San Marcos "Weapons Proliferation in the Middle East"

Dr. Jonathan Graubart Director of ISCOR and Hostler Institute for World Affairs, SDSU "Legal and Normative Assessment of Intervening in Syria"

Co-sponsored by Charles W. Hostler Institute on World Affairs and ISCOR

Understanding the Turmoil in Egypt
Tuesday, September 10th, 7-9pm
Hepner Hall 130

A panel discussion with SDSU professors Farid Abdel-Nour, Hisham Foad, Ahmet Kuru, and Ghada Osman.