Copy
Muslim Studies Program June 1, 2020
View this email in your browser

 
Muslim Studies Program
June 1, 2020 News and Events
Please share with other faculty, students, and community. All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.

Muslim Studies Program Events 2019-20 Recap
Michigan State University Muslim Studies Program Recap 2019-20
Upcoming events
Sponsored by the Muslim Studies Program

Muslim Studies Program 13th Annual Conference
Theme:  Islam, Environmental Science, and Conservation

Postponed until October 15-16, 2020

International Center, Room 303
Please stay tuned for updates.
Book Discussion
What The Eyes Don't See: 
A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City
Postponed 
Here is the inspiring story of how Dr. Mona Hanna-Attisha, alongside a team of researchers, parents, friends, and community leaders, discovered that the children of Flint, Michigan, were being exposed to lead in their tap water—and then battled her own government and a brutal backlash to expose that truth to the world. Paced like a scientific thriller, What the Eyes Don’t See reveals how misguided austerity policies, broken democracy, and callous bureaucratic indifference placed an entire city at risk. And at the center of the story is Dr. Mona herself—an immigrant, doctor, scientist, and mother whose family’s activist roots inspired her pursuit of justice.
Book Discussion with author Nazita Lajevardi
Outsiders at Home:
The Politics of American Islamophobia
Postponed until Fall 2020
Discrimination against Muslim Americans has soared over the last two decades with hostility growing especially acute since 2016 - in no small part due to targeted attacks by policymakers and media. Outsiders at Home offers the first systematic, empirically driven examination of status of Muslim Americans in US democracy, evaluating the topic from a variety of perspectives. To what extent do Muslim Americans face discrimination by legislators, the media, and the general public? What trends do we see over time, and how have conditions shifted? What, if anything, can be done to reverse course? Answering each of these questions, Nazita Lajevardi shows that the rampant, mostly negative discussion of Muslims in media and national discourse has yielded devastating political and social consequences.
Film Showing & Discussion
The Journey Within 
Postponed until Fall 2020
 
The 'Coke Studio' Origin Story - In a post 9/11 Pakistan faced with challenges of war and conflict, a quest for self-identity leads the inspirational journey of a music show to help reclaim the rich and vast musical heritage of this region. In doing so it has become one of the biggest music initiatives from this side of the world, bringing together unique cultural experiences and genres, including but not limited to folk, sufi, rock, pop and rap music. We discover the show from its humble beginnings, living through its spirit to reach the heart of the experience, as artists unify eastern and western sounds to make music that will resonate across the globe; impacting all involved and planting the seeds for an ongoing inward reflection towards who we are as individuals and as a people.
Armenians of Palestine/Israel:
The Rise and the Decline of a Community
lecture by Bedross Der Matossian
Postponed until Fall 2020
Bedross Der Matossian is an Associate Professor of Modern Middle East History in the Department of History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Born and raised in Jerusalem, he is a graduate of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He completed his Ph.D. in Middle East History in the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University in 2008. His areas of interest include ethnic politics in the Middle East, inter-ethnic violence in the Ottoman Empire, Palestinian history, and the history of Armenian Genocide.
Upcoming events
co-sponsored by the Muslim Studies Program
Note: This conference will now be by webinar only. 
Details in future newsletter.
Muslims of the Midwest
Dear Colleagues and Friends,
I’m delighted to announce the launch of Muslims of the Midwest (muslimsofthemidwest.org). This digital archive features numerous interviews and resources that will surely be of interest to scholars and students alike. The archive is housed at Michigan State University and was largely funded by a University of Illinois Humanities Without Walls grant.
Our team of Big Ten Academic Alliance researchers include the following scholars: Su’ad Abdul Khabeer, Asma Afsaruddin, Emine Evered, Stephen Gasteyer, Salah D. Hassan, Mara Leichtman, Nadine Naber, Junaid Rana, Leila Tarakji, and Chantal Tetreault. For more information about the project and the various individuals involved, please see http://muslimsofthemidwest.org/about.
With warm regards,
Mohammad
 
Mohammad Hassan Khalil
Professor of Religious Studies
Adjunct Professor of Law
Director of the Muslim Studies Program
Michigan State University
Upcoming events
(not organized by the Muslim Studies Program)
that might be of interest
NOTE: The dates for Session 2 of the pre-teen classes needs to be July 13-August 10th and not June 8-July 6.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Awards/Research Funding/Grant/Job Opportunities

Dr. Delia Koo Endowment Awards

The Asian Studies Center is entrusted with the management of the Dr. Delia Koo Endowment. Center-affiliated faculty are eligible to submit applications for teaching, research, or outreach. Applications will be accepted on a quarterly basis. The deadlines are January 15, April 15, July 15, and October 15. Conference funding is also available for faculty. These applications will be accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis.

The goals of the Koo Endowment are:

  • To facilitate the incorporation of international and global studies, especially of Asia, in the areas of teaching, research, or outreach at Michigan State University.
  • To develop the capability of Michigan State University faculty members to conduct activities related to goal one.
  • To enhance the standing of the colleges, departments, and the Asian Studies Center and affiliated units at Michigan State University in the area of Asian Studies.

Conference travel funding will be capped at $1,000 per award. Several awards will be made every fiscal year (July to June). Submissions for conference funding will be accepted on a rolling basis.

Faculty teaching/research/outreach funding will be capped at $5,000 per award. Proposals will be reviewed and awarded on a quarterly basis. The deadlines are January 15, April 15, July 15, and October 15.

If you have received Koo Teaching/Research/Outreach funding in the past, you must submit a document detailing the outcomes of your project along with your application.

Application Materials

Conference Funding Application (PDF)
Teaching/Research/Outreach Application (PDF)
DoS: Supporting Transitional Justice in Burma
 
The U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) announces an open competition for projects supporting civil society efforts to investigate and document allegations of gross violations of human rights committed in Burma, particularly in areas of conflict, for the purposes of pursuing justice for victims and accountability for crimes committed in violation of international human rights and humanitarian law.

Award Size: $750,000
Deadline: July 10, 2020
SI: Steven's Initiative Coronavirus Response Fund
 
The coronavirus pandemic has affected nearly every aspect of daily life around the world, including education and exchange activities. Schools, colleges and universities, and other organizations worldwide have cancelled in-person classes, meetings, and exchange programs. Young people are working to adapt to learning from home, travel is severely curtailed for the foreseeable future, and exchange programs for tens of thousands of young people this summer have been cancelled. These difficult times mean we need to find innovative ways to sustain learning and connections among young people who are isolated.

The Stevens Initiative is providing resources to help education, exchange, and non-profit organizations in the United States and the Middle East and North Africa conduct virtual exchange programs to engage young people and educators affected by the coronavirus crisis. Applicants can review the competition rules below and apply on a rolling basis until a final deadline on June 12. The maximum grant period of performance window is June 1 to August 31, 2020. The Initiative strongly recommends applicants propose their period of performance begins no sooner than 30 days after proposal submission.

The Initiative views virtual exchange as programs that: use online technology to connect individuals and small groups between countries; are based on a curriculum or activity plan; involve qualified facilitators (such as educators or others); and involve sustained communication and collaboration synchronously (in real-time) or asynchronously over a period of time.

Activities must be conducted in the United States and in one or more of the following countries: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, the Palestinian Territories, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Programs involving refugees from these countries who are currently in countries not listed above are also eligible.

Award Size: $20,000 up to $100,000
Deadline: June 12, 2020

DoS: U.S. Embassy Cairo PAS Annual Program Statement


The U.S. Embassy Cairo Public Affairs Section (PAS) of the U.S. Department of State announces that funding is available through its Public Diplomacy Small Grants Program. This is an Annual Program Statement (APS), outlining funding priorities, strategic themes of focus, and the procedures for submitting requests for funding for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2020, which runs from October 1, 2019 through September 30, 2020.

PAS Cairo invites proposals from civil society organizations, think tanks, cultural and arts organizations, government institutions, and academic institutions for programs that strengthen the cultural ties between the U.S. and Egypt through cultural and exchange programming that highlights shared values and promotes bilateral cooperation. All programs must include an American cultural element, or connection with American expert/s, organization/s, or institution/s in a specific field that will promote increased understanding of U.S. policy and perspectives.

Examples of the kinds of activities that can be funded under the PAS Small Grants Program programs include, but are not limited to:

  • Academic and professional lectures, seminars and speaker programs;
  • Artistic and cultural workshops, performances, exhibitions, or activities to develop the creative economy in Egypt;
  • Workshops, training, and competitions to strengthen the entrepreneurship ecosystem in Egypt;
  • Sports workshops, joint athletic competitions, or sports management training;
  • Training activities and programs that support science and technology education or STEAM skills;
  • Cultural heritage conservation and preservation programs;
  • Professional and academic exchanges and programs; 
  • Professional development workshops and training;
  • Civic engagement 

Priority Program Areas: Priority will be given to proposals that address one or more of the following program areas:

  1. U.S.–Egypt Bilateral relationship 
  2. Regional Security  
  3. Economic Growth  
  4. Social Issues  
  5. Education 

Award Size: $1,000 up to $25,000
Deadline: August 14, 2020
Faculty News

How ‘Social Distancing’ Can Get Lost in Translation

Governments around the world grapple with how to deliver important guidelines on minimizing the spread of COVID-19

The Smithsonian Magazine has an interesting article on the Corona virus, from a cultural-linguistics point of view. In it, Muslim Studies Core Faculty member and Arabic professor, Camelia Sulaiman, is quoted. 

Read the full story here.

Applying Computer Analytics
to Poetic Culture

Sean Pue focuses on strengthening connections between data science and the humanities. Lately, the College of Arts & Letters researcher has been using digital technologies to interpret and annotate the poetics of Indian literature circulated online through texts, manuscripts, sound, and video.

“Poetry is a very vibrant mode of expression in South Asia,” said Pue, Associate Professor of Hindi Language and South Asian Literature and Culture. “People across social classes exchange poems on a daily basis through apps as well as at large festivals and other public gatherings.”

Read the full story here.
How Islamophobia Changed Politics for Muslim America
Nazita Lajevardi grew up in Southern California’s Iranian American community, where her encounters with bigotry shaped her interest in the myriad ways in which Islamophobia manifests itself and how it affects those touched by it. Now a professor of political science at Michigan State University, Lajevardi examines these two issues in a new book, “Outsiders at Home: The Politics of American Islamophobia.” 

Professor Lajevardi is also a core faculty member of the Muslim Studies Program. Read the full story here.
New Books 
Journal Articles by Muslim Studies Core Faculty




 
Facebook
Website
Flickr
Email
Featured headline photo: Mosque near Ahmetbayli, Turkey
Photo Credit:  MF
. 
Copyright © 2020 MSU Muslim Studies Program, All rights reserved.


Our mailing address is:
Muslim Studies Program
International Center
427 N. Shaw Lane, Room 304
East Lansing, MI 48824
Phone: (517) 884-6636
Email: muslimst@msu.edu
Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp