UNC Andrew W. Mellon Sawyer Seminar Diversity and Conformity in
Muslim Societies
Gender, Minorities, Constitutions Workshop
December 4-5, 2009, FedEx Global Education Center 4th Floor
Description
Although historically Muslim societies have been both tolerant of outsiders and
internally diverse, the ways in which dominant groups have dealt with outliers
has changed across time and space. Through this workshop, we seek to broaden
our understanding of how minorities—be they ethnic, racial, religious, sexual, or
otherwise—have been positioned within Muslim societies and how Muslims
have been positioned as minorities within non-Muslim, primarily European,
societies. We are interested in fundamental questions of identity formations and
reconstructions, both as minorities constitute themselves and as they are
defined by others. Alongside historical and contemporary arrangements of
tolerance and coexistence, we will focus our discussions on attempts by
dominant populations to impose uniformity on minority groups—and the
struggles of marginalized populations to resist them. To the extent that both
internal and external forces shape the ways in which minorities are incorporated
or marginalized within societies, we will explore, at varying scales, a broad range
of topics related to gender, sexuality, race, religion, law, and politics. Our
geographical journey will take us from Africa, to the Middle East, to South Asia,
to Europe, and our discussions will allow us to consider a deep array of
questions surrounding the broader theme of the Sawyer Seminar, “Diversity and
Conformity in Muslim Societies.”
Tentative Schedule
Friday
Session I- The Sexual and Sexual Minorities in Muslim Societies
1:00 Katherine Ewing, Professor, Department of Cultural Anthropology, Director
of South Asia Studies, Duke University & Ali Mian, Ph.D. Candidate, Department
of Religion, Duke University. The Sexual in Muslim Social Imaginaries
1:45 Scott Kugle, Research Fellow at Henry Matryn Institute for Inter-Religious
Dialogue and Conflict Resolution in Hyderabad, India. Sexuality Minorities at Risk
in Muslim Communities: A Case Study of Yusuf Qaradawi’s Media Fatwas
2:30 Discussant miriam cooke, Q&A
3:00 Coffee Break
Session II- Constitutions and ‘Minorities’
3:15 Andrew Reynolds, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science,
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The Political Representation and
Inclusion of Minorities and Marginalized Communities in Historically Muslim
Societies.
4:00 Sarah Shields, Associate Professor, Department of History, University of
North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Consolidating Divided Societies: Constitutionwriting and the Representation of 'Minorities.'
4:45 Discussant and Q&A
5:30 Reception
7:00 Film: “Jihad for Love,” followed by discussion with Sahar Amer (FedEx
Global Education Center Auditorium 1015)
Saturday
Session III-Naming and Passing: Sexualities Past, Present
9:30 Sahar Amer, Professor, Department of Asian Studies, University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill. What is in a Name? Lesbianism and the Politics of Naming
10:15 Jared McCormick, Ph.D. Candidate, Social Anthropology, Harvard
University. Masculinity in the Levant: Bears, Passing, and Commercialization
11:00 Discussant Marko Dumancic, Q & A
11:30 Coffee Break
Session IV- Muslims as Minorities
11:45 Claire Dwyer, Lecturer, Department of Geography, University College
London. British Muslims, Citizenship and Religious Differences: Negotiations in the
Public Sphere
12:30 Lunch
1:30 Murat Es, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Geography, University of North
Carolina at Chapel Hill. Becoming ‘Minority,’ Negotiating Difference: Cemevis and
the Alevist Politics of Representation in Turkey
2:15 Discussant Sarah Vierra, Q & A
2:45 Coffee break
Session V- Ethnic, Religious, and Racial Minorities in Muslim Societies
3:00 Amy Mills, Assistant Professor, Department of Geography, University of
South Carolina. Paradoxical Space in Urban Life: Negotiating Ethnic, Religious,
and Gendered Identity in Istanbul
3:45 Chouki El Hamel, Associate Professor, Department of History, Arizona State
University. The Construction of Race in Morocco
4:30 Discussant Zeynep Turkyilmaz, Q&A
5:00 Conclusions
UPCOMING SAWYER SEMINAR WORKSHOPS
February 5-6, 2010: Nationalists and Salafis
April 23-24, 2010: Sacred Spaces, Sacred Sounds
Sawyer Seminar website: http://cgi.unc.edu/muslimdiversity
Sponsors
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
Center for Global Initiatives at UNC-Chapel Hill
The Carolina Center for the Study of the Middle East and Muslim Civilizations at
UNC-Chapel Hill
The African Studies Center at UNC-Chapel Hill