Events > Archive > Fall 2008 Religion, Ethnicity, and Politics Lecture Series
Talk: “Turkey's Alevi Enigma: A Historical Perspective”
A talk by
Riza Yildirim
Postdoctoral Scholar, Harvard University
Discussed by
Ahmet T. Kuru
Postdoctoral Scholar, Columbia University
Followed by a reception.
Date: Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Time: 4:15-5:45 pm
Location: International Affairs Building, Room 801 (420 West 118th Street)
Dr. Yildirim received his PhD from Bilkent University, Department of History.
The talk is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR), Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP), Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life (IRCPL), and Middle East Institute.
Talk: “Self-Orientalization or Revitalization: The Decline Discourses in Egypt and Turkey”
A talk by
Akif Kireççi
Assistant Professor of History,
Bilkent University
Discussed by
Richard Bulliet
Professor of History,
Columbia University
A reception will follow.
Date: November 20, 2008
Time: 12:15-1:45 pm
Location: International Affairs Building, Room 801(420 West 118th Street)
This talk is part of the Religion and Politics Lecture Series, which is co-sponsored by
the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration, and Religion (CDTR),
Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP),
Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life (IRCPL), and
The Middle East Institute (MEI).
For more information, please contact Ahmet Kuru at ak2840@columbia.edu.
Talk: “Funny Jihad: Islamophobia and Muslim Ethnic Comedy”
A talk by
Mucahit Bilici
Assistant Professor of Sociology, John Jay College
Discussant:
Taylor Carman
Professor of Philosophy, Barnard College
Abstract:
Since the tragic events of 9/11, there has been an upsurge in ethnic comedy by Muslims in America. More and more Muslim individuals (among them Azhar Usman, Ahmed Ahmed, and Maz Jobrani) and groups such as Allah Made Me Funny and Axis of Evil are appearing on stage with comic routines-and attracting larger and larger non-Muslim audiences. Paradoxically, a tragedy that triggered widespread Islamophobia in American society seems also to have opened the field for Muslim comedy. This talk will explore the landscape of Muslim ethnic comedy in the United States and its intricate relationship with Islamophobia.
Prof. Bilici received his PhD from the University of Michigan with the dissertation entitled "Finding Mecca in America: American Muslims and Cultural Citizenship." A cultural sociologist, he has done ethnographic research on various aspects of the cultural settlement of Islam in the United States. He is currently at work on a book that explores previously unexamined dimensions of Muslim cultural citizenship in America, including questions of how America is made Muslim (e.g., qibla codification,
Islamizing English, and the appropriation of America as a Muslim homeland) and how Muslims are made American through various citizenship practices (among them civil rights advocacy, interfaith activism and ethnic comedy).
Date: November 18, 2008
Time: 4:15-5:45 pm
Place: Room 801, IAB
A reception will follow the talk.
The talk is co-sponsored by the Center for the Study of Democracy, Toleration and Religion (CDTR), Institute for Social and Economic Research and Policy (ISERP), and the Institute for Religion, Culture and Public Life (IRCPL).
For more information: Ahmet Kuru: ak2840@columbia.edu