-------- Original Message --------
Subject: @GMU::Dr. Riem Spielhaus-Thursday 11/4 3pm::Dr. Robert Crews-Tuesday 11/9 3pm
Date: Wed, 03 Nov 2010 22:38:53 -0400
From: Golnesa Asheghali <[log in to unmask]>
Reply-To: Golnesa Asheghali <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]


2010 FALL LECTURE SERIES
Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies
George Mason University

The Emergence of a Muslim Community in Germany: Between Ascription and Self-Identification
Dr. Riem Spielhaus (University of Copenhagen)

Thursday, November 4, 2010
3:00 pm
George Mason University
Mason Hall
Conference Room D3AB

Refreshments Served
(flyer attached)

While the German public imagines a homogenuous Muslim community, it consists of many different and competing voices. A shared sense of community among Muslims of different national, linguistic and political backgrounds is only slowly emerging. This development is marked by several nationwide media debates which have led Muslim journalists, intellectuals and public personalities to self-identify as such. This lecture will offer a closer look at how prominent individuals of Muslim background and Islamic communalists have drawn on their Muslim identity to raise/answer the urgent question: "Who can speak for Muslims?"


Riem Spielhaus is a Research Fellow at the Centre for European Islamic Thought, University of Copenhagen. She obtained her MA and PhD in Islamic Studies from Humboldt University in Berlin. Her research focuses on the religious practice of Muslims and the institutionalization of Islam in Germany and Europe.  Her dissertation on the emergence of a Muslim community in Germany between ascription and self-identification was awarded the Augsburg Science Award for Intercultural Studies in 2010.

Cosmopolitanism & Religious Politics in Afghanistan
Dr. Robert Crews (Stanford University)

Tuesday, November 9, 2010
3:00 pm
George Mason University
Mason Hall
Edwin Meese Room

Refreshments Served
(flyer attached)

This lecture will situate the religious politics of Afghanistan in a global framework. Reflecting on the theme of cosmopolitanism, the talk will trace the expansive horizons of religious debate in Afghanistan from the late nineteenth century. It will explore the Taliban and other actors within this broader context and suggest alternative readings of the contemporary Afghan religious landscape.


Robert Crews is associate professor of History and director of the Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies at Stanford. He received his BA from UNC-Chapel Hill, an MA from Columbia, and PhD from Princeton. He is the author of For Prophet and Tsar: Islam and Empire in Russia and Central Asia and co-editor of The Taliban and the Crisis of Afghanistan. In 2009 he was named a Carnegie Scholar.

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Golnesa Asheghali
Program Coordinator
Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies
George Mason University
10517 Braddock Road, Suite 1700, MSN 1H3
Fairfax, VA 22030
Phone: 703-993-5404   |   Fax: 703-993-5410