In this lecture hosted by our neighbors at Zaytuna College, CIS Director Dr. Munir Jiwa will discuss the national frames through which Islam and Muslims enter discussions and debates in the public sphere, what he refers to as the “five media pillars of Islam,” and the particular ways these impact the study of Islam and Muslims in academia. Different academic institutions, public and private universities, divinity and theological schools, disciplines and fields, present different challenges and opportunities, raising questions about research, scholarship and teaching, scholarly “objectivity,” insider/outsider boundaries, identity politics, and questions of translation. He will offer a critique of the “particular” secular and liberal norms that we accept as a given and as “universal,” and how both the Euro-American left and right, inside and outside academia, selectively create and reproduce an index of “good” and “bad” Islam, Muslims, and Islamic Studies.
