Southern Oregon University’s United Nations Club, in coordination with the Ashland Peace House and many other campus organizations, will be hosting a two-day event next week discussing Islam, Islamophobia, and the current state of affairs in the Middle East.
The event, co-sponsored by Amnesty International, will take place on Feb. 13 and 14 in the Meese Room of the Hannon Library.
The first day will feature a number of lectures discussing the religion of Islam and how to address Islamophobia in modern society:
- At 9 a.m. Robert Harrison, a professor of History and Political Science at SOU, will open the day’s events at with a welcome address.
- At 9:15 a.m. Maqsood Chaudhary will give attendees an overview of the religion of Islam.
- At 10:15 a.m. Harrison will take the stage again to discuss the Arab Spring.
- At 10:45 a.m. Flamur Vehapi, an SOU alumnus and survivor of the War in the Balkans, will talk about Islamophobia.
- At 11:15 a.m. there will be a showing of “Hawo’s Dinner Party,” a film that follows the experience of several Somali residents in Shelbyville, Tenn.
- At 12:30 p.m. Shamsul Alam, a professor of Social Sciences, Policy, and Culture at SOU, will give the closing address.
The second day of the event focuses on understanding the contemporary Middle East:
- At 9 a.m. Harrison will give an opening address.
- At 9:15 a.m. Jon Mandaville, a history professor at Portland State University, will give a lecture entitled the “Colonial Background to the Arab Spring.”
- At 10:15 a.m. Harrison will speak again about the Arab Spring
- At 11 a.m. Herbert Rothschild, chair of the Board of Directors at Peace House, and Michael Niemann, a local Ashland author, will be speaking about nuclear tensions between Iran and Israel.
- There will be an hour-long intermission between noon and 1 p.m. for lunch, catered by SOU Dining Services. Non-students are requested to donate $10 toward lunch costs.
- At 1 p.m. Reza Mohajerinejad will be speaking about the importance of Iran in the Middle East and the Green Revolution.
- At 1:50 p.m. Mandaville will be presenting again about the Arab Spring
- At 2:45 p.m. Ashour Abdulaziz will present a lecture entitled “Libya and the Arab Spring.”
- At 3:30 p.m. Kanaan Kanaan will be presenting
- At 5 p.m. there will be a panel discussion
All events are free and open to the public. For more information, contact Kathleen Gamer at gamerk@sou.edu.
