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Muslim Culture Series

Lectures curated around Islamic culture and heritage.

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Culture & Identity | History

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Rabih Alameddine: The Hakawati

Rabih Alameddine

October 7, 2009

Novelist Rabih Alameddine reads from The Hakawati, a framed narrative in the tradition of A Thousand and One Nights and The Canterbury Tales.

Future of Islam

Ali Allawi, former Minister of Defense and Minister of Finance in the Iraqi Transitional Government, discusses his new book, The Crisis of Islamic Civilization, with National Public Radio correspondent Corey Flintoff.

Mosque in Morgantown

Barbara Feinman Todd

Georgetown University's School of Journalism hosts a preview screening of The Mosque in Morgantown, a film in the PBS America at a Crossroads series, followed by a panel discussion about advocacy journalism between Asra Nomani, featured subject from the film, author and co-director

Behind the Scenes of Towelhead

Alan Ball and Ted Hope discuss the making of Towelhead, an adaptation of Alicia Erian's novel about a Lebanese-American girl's experience growing up in Texas during the Gulf War. Steven Raphael moderates.

Alicia Erian: Towelhead

Alicia Erian reads from her new novel, Towelhead, which explores a Lebanese-American girl's experience growing up in Texas during the Gulf War. A tender meditation on race, adolescence and alienation, Towelhead is a redemptive and painfully funny work. The year is 1991.

Love in a Torn Land: Flight from Iraqi Vengeance

Jean Sasson discusses his book Love in a Torn Land: The True Story of a Freedom Fighter's Flight from Iraqi Vengeance, which tells the story of Joanna Al-Askari Hussain and describes the plight of the Kurdish people, who have been suppressed by the Iraqis, Turks, Iranians, and Syrians.

Kabul Beauty School

Deborah Rodriguez

Deborah Rodriguez tells the story of how she gave up her job in Detroit to open a salon and cosmetology school in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Voices from the Moderate Muslim Majority

Ali Asani and Mona Eltahawy explore the tensions within modern Islam and how we can better understand them.

European Muslim Identity in the New Millennium

Mustafa Ceric, Grand Mufti of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, addresses some of the issues and challenges resulting from the presence of several million Muslims in Europe.

Islam and Open Societies

Vincent J. Cornell

September 23, 2005

Georgia Perimeter College presents Vincent Cornell, an ASA Griggs Candler professor of Middle East and Islamic studies at Emory University, shares his knowledge of Islam.

Ethnic and Community Media: Dealing with Difference

Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan

Ragini Tharoor Srinivasan, Carolyn Ji Jong Goossen, and Shruti Swamy examine the history, purpose, and politics of ethnic and community media outlets.

PRI's The World: Invisible Nation

Quil Lawrence discusses the Iraq War's seldom-told success story, the rise of the Kurds of northern Iraq. Lawrence has recently released a new book Invisible Nation: How the Kurds' Quest for Statehood Is Shaping Iraq and the Middle East, based on his experiences as a reporter in Iraq.

Iran: Grand Bargain, Grand Ambition

Ted Galen Carpenter

Ted Galen Carpenter of the Cato Institute analyzes the costs and benefits of the five policies available to the United States given Iran's nuclear ambitions.

Rebuilding Afghanistan

September 25, 2006

Former National Public Radio correspondent Sarah Chayes, who has been living in the former Taliban stronghold of Kandahar, and award-winning journalist Sebastian Junger, who has covered Afghanistan for ABC News and other publications, discuss efforts to help reconstruct Afghanistan after 9/11.

Inside Afghanistan: President Karzai Post Taliban

September 11, 2006

Sarah Chayes discusses the future of Afghanistan.

Iron Cage: The Palestinian Struggle for Statehood

Rhashid Khalidi

October 4, 2006

Rhashid Khalidi, one of the foremost US historians of the Middle East, uses history to provide a clear-eyed view of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, and assesses the alternatives for peace in the Middle East.

Artists As Activists: Muslim Women Artists

February 11, 2003

Munir Jiwa discusses his current research, entitled: Toward an Anthropology of Islam: Visual Arts and the Construction of Muslim Identities in the USA.

Zainab Salbi: Between Two Worlds

October 17, 2005

Zainab Salbi reveals the tyrant Saddam Hussein through the eyes of a child, a secretly rebellious teenager, an abused wife, and ultimately a professional woman coming to terms with the horror of her family story. Salbi was 11 when her father was chosen to serve as Saddam Hussein's personal pilot.

Israel/Palestine: Voices and Visions for Peace

November 12, 2003

Editors Robert and Maurine Tobin discusses a new collection of essays, How Long O Lord?: Voices From the Ground and Visions for the Future in Israel/Palestine.

Anouar Majid: Piracy, Terrorism and the Question of Islam

Dr. Anouar Majid, professor and chair of English at the University of New England, discusses the United States' first major contact with the Muslim World in the Barbary War and the parallels to our own time.

Unholy War: Terror In the Name of Islam

Considered "the most influential Islamic Scholar in the United States" by the International Herald Tribune, John Esposito discusses his latest book, Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam, which sketches the activities and influence of Osama bin Laden, surveys the doctrines and practice of j

Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation-Building

November 19, 2003

ABC News Iraq expert Toby Dodge discusses his new book, Inventing Iraq: The Failure of Nation-Building and a History Denied, on the formation of modern Iraq, and the troubling parallels between the policies of a declining British empire and those of the current American government.

Answering Only to God: Faith and Freedom in Iran

Jonathan Lyons discusses his book Answering Only to God: Faith and Freedom in Twenty-First-Century Iran.

Irani and Sidhwa on the Song of Kahunsha

Bapsi Sidhwa and Anosh Irani, two of the most highly praised contemporary Indian authors, discuss their new work.