Past Events

Persian Mystical Sufi Trance and Sema

On November 10, 2009, MEIS was proud to co-sponsor the mystical, musical event "Sufism: A Muslim's Mystic Journey," with the World Music and Dance Program. Thanks to the collaboration of MEIS Professors Mehdi Rajabzadeh and Hafez Modirzadeh, the performance brought to campus acclaimed artists Shirzad Sharif, Pezham Akhavass, and Aziz Abatiello. This event was featured in the November 19 issue of the Golden Gate [X]press. >>read the full article here

Second Annual California State University

Middle East and Islamic Studies Conference (2009)

at San Francisco State University

Middle East and Islamic Studies at San Francisco State University was proud to host the second annual California State University Middle East and Islamic Studies Conference on October 16-17, 2009. The main objective of the 2009 conference was to bring scholars in the field of Middle East and Islamic Studies, broadly defined to include North Africa, South Asia, the Middle East, and Islamic civilizations and communities more generally, to share and collaborate in their research interests (i.e. by working on edited collections, collective grant proposals, or future conference panels and workshops, for instance for MESA), as well as working on ways—electronically and otherwise—to disseminate teaching ideas. With this in

mind, the conference format consisted of workshops designed to facilitate collaborative work and the building of formal or informal research teams.

Workshops varied to include "The Other (Non-Muslim) Middle East," "Iran:Thirty Years after the Revolution," "Teaching the Middle East through the Humanities: Representing the Region through Literature, Art, and Film," "Human Rights in the Middle East and Muslim World," and "State-Society Relations in the Middle East and North Africa." The Conference featured keynote speaker Dr. Reşat Kasaba, who spoke about teaching the Middle East and Islam, and a roundtable panel on Iran to discuss the implications of the recent elections and human rights issues. >>more

Countering Myths, Searching Knowledge: How to Study Middle East and Islam in the 21st Century

By Dr. Reşat Kasaba

Dr. Reşat Kasaba is a prolific scholar of International Studies, the Middle East, and Political Economy. On October 17, 2009, he presented his own observations and strategies about teaching the Middle East at the second annual Middle East and Islamic Studies Conference (2009). His research, which focuses on the Ottoman Empire and contemporary Turkey, enriches the field both inside the classroom and beyond. He has written several books and numerous articles on these topics, and his most recent work focuses on empire, state, and migration in Anatolia. Dr. Kasaba has co-authored books that include

Rethinking Modernity and National Identity in Turkey, Rules and Rights in the Middle East: Democracy, Law, and Society. He also authored The Ottoman Empire and the World Economy: The Nineteenth Century, and the edited collection of Cities in the World System. In addition to his scholarly publications, Dr. Kasaba is an award-winning and accomplished professor who has taught classes on topics that range from State-Society Relations in the Third World, to Political Development and Economy in the Middle East, Comparative Studies in Ethnicity and Nationalism, the Middle East and the World-Economy, Mediterranean in History and Today, World Cities, and Globalization and Its Discontents. His scholarship and teachings continue to bolster the field of Middle East and Islamic Studies with valuable knowledge and techniques.

Roundtable on Iran: Analyzing the Islamic Republic and Beyond

	On October 16, 2009, Dr. Mahmood Monshipouri moderated a panel on Iran as part of the 2009 Middle East and Islamic Studies Conference. Panelists, Dr. Manochehr Dorraj, Barbara Ann Flanagan, Shahla Talebi, Nader Entessar, Maziar Behrooz, and Mr. Ali Assareh, discussed the June 2009 presidential election in Iran and the causes and implications of

the protests. Additionally the panelists addressed a range of issues that included the economic and political changes in the last decade, human rights, the development of nuclear power, and gender relations in Iran.

Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California Field Trip

On Sept. 10th and 12th of 2009, students of the Islam: Interpretation and Practice course (MEIS301 / ANTH318.01) with Professor Mehdi Rajabzadeh participated in a field trip to an Islamic Center in Oakland, CA. A number of students brought their friends and family members along to the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California (ICCNC). >>more

Lecture Series

"Competing Notions of Justice: Shari'ah, Human Rights, and Family Code Reform in Contemporary Morocco" by Prof. Amy Young

Monday April 26, 2010: 4:10, Thornton Hall 325

"What We Talk about When We Talk about War: War Narratives in Contemporary Arab Women's Writings" by Prof. Nadine Sinno

Tuesday April 6, 2010: 4:10pm, HSS 246

"Concubines, Princesses and Teachers: The Ottoman Imperial Harem in Modern Times" by Dr. Douglas Brookes

Wednesday March 24, 2010: 7pm, HUM 408

"The Making of Arab Dubai: Culture and Politics at the Crossroads of the Gulf and Indian Ocean" by Prof. Ahmed Kanna

Monday March 8, 2010: 2:10pm, HSS 317

"Themes, Challenges, and Conceptions: US Middle East Policy under the Obama Administration" by Dr. Barry Rubin

Tuesday November 3, 2009: 3:30pm, HUM 415 (co-sponsored with Jewish Studies Department)

"The Historian, the Believer and the Qur'an" by Dr. Fred Donner (Univ. of Chicago)

Wednesday September 16, 2009: 12:30-2:00pm, HUM 219

"Turkey's 2009 Local Elections: A Crossroad in Local and National Politics" by Dr. Elise Massicard (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris)

Monday May 4, 2009: 4:10-5:50pm, HSS 285

"Palestine and Israel: Can there be justice and peace in the Middle East?" A debate by Dr. Jess Ghannam (SFSU Adjunct Professor of Ethnic Studies Dept) and Dr. Uri Bar-Joseph (Visiting Professor of Israeli Studies, and Professor at Haifa University)

Thursday April 23, 2009: 7pm, Rosa Parks Room D

"How did Islam make it into Hegel's Philosophy of World History?" by Dr. Mohammad Salama (SFSU)

Thursday April 16, 2009: 3:10-4:00pm, HUM 473

"A Collective Memory: Cultural Identity of Persian Speakers" by Dr. Mitra Ara (SFSU)

Thursday April 16, 2009: 10:10-12:00pm, HUM 587

"When Memory Must Take Place: Pilgrimage and Commemorationin Lebanon and Turkey" by Dr. Carel Bertram and Dr. Lucia Volk (SFSU)

Monday April 21, 2008: 12:35-2:00pm

"The Normative-Narrative Clash in the Palestinian-Jewish Conflict" by Dr. Uriel Abulof (Visiting Fulbright Scholar at NYU Taub Center for Israeli Studies and Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of International Affairs)

Middle East and Islamic Studies {College of Behavioral & Social Sciences and College of Humanities}

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