"The Reed Laments: Ecology and Capitalism in Muslim Poetics"

Dr. Nosheen Ali
New York University
Friday, February 21, 3:00 pm
201 International Center

In this talk, I re-read poetic knowledge in Islam, and excavate its emancipatory possibilities in relation to ecology and social justice. My desire is to raise a set of interconnected concerns: What lies beyond the spiritual in Sufi poetics? How did Sufi word and practice introduce a radical rethinking of social-ecological relations of production? Is there space to imagine a radical politics that believes, i.e. does not shun the "sacred" as understood through a normative, cynical lens? By articulating and engaging with a poetic-historical understanding of ecology and society within Sufi imaginaries, I wish to shed light on broader concerns within the fields of environmental humanities, political ecology and Marxist thought. 

Dr. Ali is the author of Delusional States:Feeling Rule and Development in Pakistan's Northern Frontier. She received her PhD from Cornell University.  Her research interests include Environmental Education, Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage, Anthropology of Islam and Muslim Societies, Postcolonial and Cultural Studies, and Social Studies Education.

Muslim Journeys Book Club: The Unquiet Dead 
Tuesday, March 10th, from 7-9 pm
MSU Library, 4th Floor, Green Room
Discussion with the author
Ausma Zehanat Khan, Ph.D.
Ausma Zehanat Khan is a Canadian novelist and author of crime and fantasy novels. Khan holds a Ph.D. in International Human Rights Law with a research specialization in military intervention and war crimes in the Balkans. She received her LL.B. and LL.M. from the University of Ottawa, and her B.A. in English Literature and Sociology from the University of Toronto. Khan was the editor-in-chief of Muslim Girl magazine from 2007 until the magazine's closure. Khan published her first novel The Unquiet Dead in 2015; the book received "best first novel" accolades from both the Arthur Ellis Awards and the Barry Awards in 2016.

Book Discussion with author Nazita Lajevardi
Outsiders at Home:
The Politics of American Islamophobia
Thursday, March 12th, 12:00 pm
303 International Center

Film Showing & Discussion of The Albanian Code

Documentary by Yael Katzir

Armenians of Palestine/Israel: The Rise and the Decline of a Community

lecture by Bedross Der Matossian (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)

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, where he began his graduate studies in the Department of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies. 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. From 2008 to 2010, he was a Lecturer of Middle East History in the Faculty of History at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. For the Spring quarter 2014 he was appointed as the Dumanian Visiting Professor in the University of Chicago. 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.

What The Eyes Don't See: A Story of Crisis, Resistance, and Hope in an American City
Book Discussion

Wednesday, April 15, 7-9 pm
MSU Main Library, Green Room (4th floor)

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.

Michigan State University is hosting an international conference on Islam, Environmental Science and Conservation. This conference aims to foster understanding of the nexus between Islam, environmental science, and conservation. The conference will take place on April 16-17, 2020, in East Lansing, Michigan.

Michigan State University is hosting an international conference on Islam, Environmental Science and Conservation. This conference aims to foster understanding of the nexus between Islam, environmental science, and conservation. The conference will take place on April 16-17, 2020, in East Lansing, Michigan.

Muslim Studies Program Student Research Showcase