Muslim Studies Program
October 2016 News and Events
Please share with other faculty, students, and community. All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.

Upcoming Lecture
The Civilization of Clashes: Managing Moral Conflict
October 7, 2016
4:00 p.m. - 5:30 p.m.
303 International Center

Moral conflicts involve sacred values that are particularly resistant to resolution. Professor Don Ellis from the University of Hartford makes the argument that we are failing to address difficult conflicts such as Israel-Palestine in the most propitious manner because theory and research is still too dependent on rational models of decision-making and cognition. This is typically because scholars ignore exclusivist principles rooted in ethnicity and religion. Moreover, one or both parties tend to hold “sacred values” that are not subject to market-based rational decision-making. These values are typically rooted in religion and ethnicity with fixed beliefs contrary to the goals of democracy, pluralism, debate, and tolerance.

The lecture includes discussions of “difficult conversations” that result from narrative particularity and proposes various strategies for intervening in these difficult conversations that promise to unfreeze or close up gaps of incommensurability. Some of these strategies include dialogue, feet-first approaches, counter attitudinal advocacy, reframing, re-categorization, identity widening, and others.

Sponsored by the Asian Studies Center, Global Studies in the Arts & Humanities, Department of Communications, Department of Linguistics & Languages, Muslim Studies Program, and Jewish Studies Program.

For more information, contact Russell Lucas of Global Studies in the Arts & Humanities at relucas@msu.edu.

As a first generation Indian-American, Hasan Minhaj tells his experiences through comedy. From his arrival in the United States to navigating between two worlds, Hasan Minhaj’s story is more than just a story — it embodies his family’s quest for the American Dream.

Hasan Minhaj is a comedian, actor, and writer in New York. He is a correspondent on the Emmy and Peabody award-winning program, “The Daily Show.” His critically acclaimed one-man show, Homecoming King, recently returned Off-Broadway after a sold-out run in 2015. A 2014 Just For Laughs ‘New Face,’ he was selected by the Sundance Institute to develop his solo show and feature film at the prestigious New Frontier Storytelling Lab. He has been seen on a variety of other television programs including “Arrested Development” on Netflix, HBO’s “Getting On,” and “@Midnight” on Comedy Central.

To purchase tickets or to get more information, please visit the Wharton Center's website.

Featuring "Transgressing Religious Boundaries in Women's Empowerment: Lessons from Gujarat" by Soma Chaudhuri from the Department of Sociology, "Womanhood and Power in Afghanistan and the United States: A Comparative Perspection" by M. Jamil Hanifi from the Department of Anthropology, and "Ethnography of a Harem: Gender, Power, and Aesthetics in 16th-17th-Century Mughal India" by Jyotsna Singh from the Department of English.

This panel was organized by the MSU Muslim Studies Program in collaboration with the Center for Gender in Global Context. Cosponsors include the Asian Studies Center; College of Arts & Letters; College of Social Science; Department of Anthropology; Department of English; Department of Linguistics & Languages; Department of Religious Studies; Department of Sociology; Global Studies in the Arts & Humanities; Honors College; James Madison College; Office for International Students & Scholars; Residential College in the Arts & Humanities.

Arabic Diwan is a gathering of Arabic students who are in the Arabic program, where they speak the language and learn about the culture in a relaxed environment with our Fulbright teaching assistant. Students from all Arabic language levels are encouraged to attend. We extend the invitation to Arabic-speaking students from the English Center as well.

For more information, please email cheikh.sheibe@gmail.com.