Events Details - Democratic Voices from the Muslim World Series (Spring 2007)
Major public figures and practitioners in the field of religion and world affairs are invited to the University for a three-day visit to work with the faculty and students. In this three-day period, each guest gives a major public lecture, meets with students in Professor Stepan’s classes, and joins key faculty involved in the Luce project for informal discussions.
The Center for the Study of
Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR) at Columbia University presents:
"Islam, Women and Human Rights in Senegal"
A Talk by
Dr. Penda Mbow
Professor, Department of History, Cheikh Anta Diop University and Former
Minister of Culture, Senegal.
Professor Mbow will discuss issues of religion and political development in Senegal with a focus on challenges that women face due to the Citizenship Law and Personal
Status Law. Of particular
interest to her is the relationship between liberalism and individual rights,
on the one hand, and Islamic society regulated by a secular state on the other.
Professor Mbow will close with an evaluation of the role of religious education
reform in strengthening notions of citizenship and gender equality.
Date: Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Time: 4:00 6:00 pm
Location: Room 1512, International Affairs Building
The talk will be followed by a reception.
For more information, visit www.sipa.columbia.edu/cdtr.
The Center for the Study of
Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR) at Columbia University presents
"Sufism in Senegal: The Religion of the Rosary”
a talk by
Souleymane Bachir Diagne
Professor of Philosophy, Department of Religion, Northwestern University
Date: April 5, 2007
Time: 2:10 - 4pm
Location: Room 1101, International Affairs Building
Souleymane Bachir Diagne's work is focused on the history of logic, the
tradition of philosophy in the Islamic world, identity formation, and African
philosophies. He is an alumnus from Ecole Normale
Superieure (rue d'Ulm) in Paris, where he studied with, in particular, Louis
Althusser and Jacques Derrida. His main publications include two books on
George Boole: Boole, l'oiseau de nuit en plein jour (Belin, Paris. 1989.) and a
French translation of Boole's Laws of thought with an introduction on his work
(Vrin, Paris, 1992). His most recent book is an examination of the Indian
poet-philosopher Muhammad Iqbal: Islam et société ouverte. La
fidélité et le mouvement dans la pensée de Muhammad Iqbal (Maisonneuve et
Larose, Paris. 2001). Before joining Northwestern University, Diagne was
the vice-dean of the College of Humanities and a professor in the philosophy
department at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, Senegal.
Akbar Ganji speaks on "Civil
Liberties, Islam and the Nexus between the Struggle for Democracy and Iran's Nuclear Ambitions"
Date: Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Time: 4-6pm
Location: Room 1501, International Affairs Building, Columbia University
Akbar Ganji is Iran's leading investigative journalist. He is the winner of the
2006 World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom Award and of the
2006 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders. Mr Ganji was also awarded
the Canadian Journalists for Free Expression's International Press Freedom
Award in 2000, the Academic Freedom Prize of the Middle East Studies
Association of North America in 2005, the Italian Press Freedom Award in 2005
and the National Press Club John Aubuchon Freedom of the Press Award in 2006.
Mr Ganji's most daring articles appeared in 1998, when he uncovered the
implication of the Ministry of Intelligence under former president Rafsanjani
in a series of killings of regime-critical intellectuals and writers. Mr
Ganji's book, Dungeon of Ghosts, is widely regarded as a major contribution to
the defeat of conservative candidates in Iran's parliamentary elections of 2000
and the victory of Khatami's pro-reform factions. Mr Ganji was arrested in the
spring of 2000 after he took part in an international conference on Iran's future and was imprisoned for nearly six years until his release on March 18, 2006.
In his talk, Akbar Ganji will speak about the relationship between Islam, human
rights & civil liberties, and address the nexus between Iran's internal struggle for democracy and the regime's nuclear ambitions.
A reception, co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration
and Religion (CDTR), and SIPA's Middle East Institute, will follow the lecture.
Dr. Amien Rais speaks on Islam and Democracy in Indonesia: Some Major Problems I faced as a Muslim Democratic Activist and How I Addressed Them
Dr. Amien Rais, former chairman of Indonesia's largest modernist Islamic Organization Muhammadiyah (25 million members) became a leading democratic activist in the 1997 and 1998 demonstrations that brought down Suharto. He later served as Speaker of the People's Consultative Assembly during the round of constitutional reforms that revived and amended Indonesia's democratic 1945 constitution.
In his talk, Amien Rais will discuss his role as the leader of a 25 milllion Muslim constituency during the last years of the New Order and address some of the difficulties he faced in his pro-democratic struggle.
Dr. Rais received a PhD from the University of Chicago in 1984 and an MA from the University of Notre Dame.
Date: Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Time: 4-6pm
Location: 1510 IAB