Muslim Studies Program August 1, 2021 News and Events Please share with other faculty, students, and community. All events are free and open to the public unless otherwise noted.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Muslim Studies Program 15th Annual Conference
Muslim Studies Program 15th Annual Conference
Michigan State University, International Center, East Lansing, MI, USA
February 24-25, 2022
“Belong Nowhere”: States of Statelessness in the Muslim World
Michigan State University is hosting an international conference entitled “‘Belonging Nowhere’: States of Statelessness in the Muslim World.” This conference recognizes that Muslims comprise a significant portion of the over 36 million refugee and stateless persons worldwide and seeks to understand the drivers of conflicts that lead to displacement in the Muslim world and the effects it has on Muslim communities. Further, we hope to explore avenues for advocacy for such communities, at local, regional and global scales.
Significance of theme: Several international conventions frame our understanding of and responses to statelessness and refugees. These include the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, the Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless Persons (1954) and the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness (1961). Under these conventions, contracting states must afford displaced individuals protections and rights as any lawful alien in that country. Various other conventions and organizations have been created over the years to establish rights for stateless persons and refugees under international law. Despite these efforts, stateless individuals and refugees continue to be denied basic human rights and protections such as identity documents, employment, education, and access to health services. Stateless people continue to have no legal protection and no right to political participation, or even to advocate on their own behalf. They often lack access to education, employment, health care, registration of birth, marriage or death, and property rights. Refugees and stateless people may also encounter travel restrictions, social exclusion, and heightened vulnerability to poverty, poor health outcomes, social exclusion, sexual and physical violence, exploitation, human trafficking, forcible displacement, and an increased risk of radicalization.
According to the UNHCR, statelessness and refugee status have devastating effects on the lives of at least 36 million people around the world. Of these, nearly 75% have effectively become minority groups in new lands, as is the case with, for example, Palestinians Kurds, Syrians, and Rohingya Muslims. Whole generations of Muslims are growing up disenfranchised with little to no legal protections and long-lasting political, social and psychological consequences. Panelists will be invited to discuss the causes of displacement and the consequences for individuals, states, and our increasingly global Muslim communities
Conference format: The two-day conference will take place on February 24-25, 2022, and will include a networking dinner, panels, and a keynote. The precise format will be announced at a later date.
Call for papers: The organizers welcome abstracts for previously unpublished research on the conference theme conceived broadly; and hope to include scholarship reflecting a range of disciplinary and interdisciplinary backgrounds—including (but not limited to) refugee studies, sociology, history, anthropology, psychology, political studies, law, and religious studies. Junior scholars and post-doctoral researchers are encouraged to submit abstracts for consideration. The deadline to apply is August 31, 2021, and accepted papers will be announced by September 30, 2021.
Recap of events
Sponsored by the Muslim Studies Program
The People's Patriarch Documentary Screening and Panel Discussion Film Synopsis: Patriarch Michel Sabbah: An Arab, Palestinian, and Christian believer from Nazareth. In 1987, Pope John Paul II appointed him as the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem in 1987, to be the first Arab Patriarch to hold the office in the Catholic Church's history. The film is a humble contribution to honor the Patriarch and shed light on some crucial moments in his life, his thought, and his constant obsession with the consolidation of love, justice, and peace.
Moderator, Brahim Chakrani, MSU Department of Linguistics and Languages Film Producer, Lily Habash Panelist, Stephen Gasteyer, MSU Department of Sociology
Additional videos from the Muslim Studies Program may be viewed on our YouTube Channel.
Muslim Studies Core Faculty Achievements
Camelia Suleiman Associate Professor of Arabic Language
Many of us in the MSU community have been following the news from Israel/Palestine with much concern. I had just arrived in Nazareth at my parents’ house when everything started. I was scheduled to co-teach a course at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem with Dr. Chiara Caradonna, a faculty member from there. The course “Women Novelists: (Re)Writing the Nation Across the Mediterranean” had been in the making for more than a year.
Young Palestinian students from East Jerusalem have been joining Hebrew University for the past 2-3 years. My presence, as a Palestinian from Nazareth, was to reassure these students, help support them and give them a sense of relevance.
Our course asks students to read women’s literature from France, Italy, Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Palestine and Israel. Half the students who enrolled are Jewish and the other half Palestinian. As all students and faculty have been vaccinated, we were supposed to meet on campus. But, all of this got disrupted due to the recent developments.
Read the full story here.
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
Upcoming Classes
that might be of interest
Awards/Research Funding/Grants/Job Opportunities
Muslim Mental Health Consortium Social Media Intern
We are looking for a **Social Media Intern** to create, launch and publish throughout our various social channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube. Our **Social Media Intern’s** responsibilities include promoting our content on social media. To be successful in this role, you should have experience with digital publishing and generating traffic. Please share samples of your work (portfolio or links to published articles) along with your application. Ultimately, you will help us reach our target audience by delivering both useful and appealing online information about our consortium, specifically through social media.
• *Responsibilities**: - Work alongside the team to create a plan for social media strategies - Assist in the growth of the brand by raising awareness through various social media platforms - Monitor postings to ensure brand message is constant from the terminology used to images posted. Send resume and cover letter to msummhconference@gmail.com.
Global IDEAS Funding Opportunities Update
Funding opportunities with international dimensions curated by Global IDEAS in the weekly Funding Opportunities Update are now also available online as a searchable database. Anyone with an msu.edu email address has access to this new database.
New funding opportunities will continue to be disseminated through the weekly Global IDEAS Funding Opportunities Update email. Faculty, staff, and students can sign up to receive these emails on the Global IDEAS website.
Here are a few listings:
The Global Challenges University Alliance (GCUA 2030) is proud to announce the GCUA 2030 award. The award is established to encourage high quality research of relevance for sustainable global development. The Global Challenges University Alliance is a network of university partners from across the globe with a common vision of contributing to sustainable, global development. MSU participation in GCUA2030 is coordinated via the Center for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (CERES).
Eligible candidates for this award are current PhD students or those who will have defended their PhD theses in 2020 at a GCUA2030 member university. An expert panel will choose three candidates to represent MSU in the next stage of the competition. Those interested in applying should send their applications to ceres@isp.msu.edu (“GCUA2030” in the subject line) with the following materials:
An abstract of their PhD thesis (published or in preparation). The abstract should be 400 words maximum;
A motivation statement describing how their research contributes to sustainable development including potential for impact (250 words), and
A video presentation (two minutes max.) summarizing the thesis in a popular scientific way focusing on how the research contributes to sustainable global development (see https://sdgs.un.org/goals).
For questions, please contact GCUA2030 coordinator, Ms. Elisabeth Rajala (elisabeth.rajala@slu.se).
Award Size: 4000 EURO (first prize); 1000 EURO (second prize) Deadline: September 1, 2021
Muslim Studies Core Faculty Achievement Submissions
To Muslim Studies core faculty:
As the new spring semester begins and despite the challenging times we are in, we wish you the best and hope that you are positioned to put your best foot forward.
The Muslim Studies Program seeks to continue to support your work in research, teaching, and outreach. One form of support we would like to provide is by showcasing your recent achievements.
We invite you to share your latest achievements (e.g. publication, external funding and awards, promotion, etc.) through the Faculty Achievements Submission page (or by clicking below). With your permission, we will promote and highlight these successes in our social media and bi-weekly e-newsletter, circulated among MSU Mulsim Studies faculty, MSU administrators, as well as academic and professional colleagues outside of MSU with interest in Muslim studies.
The submission portal is permanently open, and submissions are accepted at any time. Thank you and have a great semester.
The rise of Hindu nationalism in historical perspective
India Review Journal
Mohammad Ayoob
(The article is based on a talk Professor Ayoob gave under the Asian Studies Center and Muslim Studies Center auspices last Fall to commemorate Mahatma Gandhi's 150th birthday.)
