The Majlis

20 years on, the so-called "War on Terror" has had major consequences on geopolitics but also on domestic politics. In this episode, Dr. Adnan Husain speaks with Dr. Arun Kundnani, author of The Muslims are Coming!: Islamophobia, Extremism, and the Domestic War on Terror (Verso, 2014) about the intersections between imperialism and military invasion abroad, and their effect on the security and surveillance of Muslims to understand how Islamophobia underwrote both foreign and domestic policies in the US, UK, Canada and beyond. Dr. Kundnani in particular explains the connections between programs of "de-radicalization" and their racial and Islamophobic underpinnings, and implementation as "liberal" alternatives to Bush's War on Terror.  On Jan. 25, Dr. Kundnani will be speaking at the MSGP lecture titled 'What was the War on Terror'. The link to register for the event can be found here. For more updates from Dr. Kundnani, you can follow him on twitter. 

In this special episode, Binish Ahmed (she/her), an Asian Indigenous Kashmiri Muslim cis-woman, reflects on her identity and the formation of her activism and politics on Turtle Island through spoken word poetry. Currently, a Policy Studies Ph.D. candidate at X University, formerly Ryerson, her academic and community organizing work has focused on human rights, Indigenous rights, decolonizing governance, anti-imperialism, and social movement resistance at the intersections of racialization, migration, gender, labor, and solidarity with Indigenous movements for self-determination and resurgence. Her first book, ‘The Alchemy of Making Soft Landings on Sharp Places’ s a collection of poetry that deals with subjects of racism, trauma healing, and decolonization; some spoken-word poems are performed in the podcast. Reach her via Instagram @BinishAhmedArt, Twitter @BinishAhmed or mail@binishahmed.com.  More on in embedded links:  - Azaadi Now  - Kashmir Gulposh As Binish Ahmed discussed during the podcast, it's imperative we credit, cite, and attribute Indigenous people for their ideas, analysis, and knowledge. Please cite and credit Binish Ahmed from the knowledge she shared during this podcast as a reference, especially given some of the work she shared is her original work from her Ph.D. Dissertation research. Here is the reference: "A Kashmiri Fire-Pot Speaking": Poetry and Politics - In Conversation with Binish Ahmed." The Majlis Podcast With Shahroze Khan, Muslim Societies, Global Perspectives, Queen's University. Recorded Nov 18, 2021. Citation format: Binish Ahmed said... (The Majlis Podcast With Shahroze Khan, 2021)

Dr. Shobhana Xavier, Queen’s School of Religion, reflects on the course of her explorations of contemporary Islamic mysticism transnationally and ethnographically.  Beginning with her first project, Sacred Spaces and Transnational Networks in American Sufism: Bawa Muhaiyaddeen and Contemporary Shrine Cultures (2018), which connected the career and teachings of Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, a Sufi master, from his multi-religious native Sri Lanka to an equally diverse community in Philadelphia.  Dr. Adnan Husain and Dr. Xavier discussed her current research interests and experiences using the prism of Rumi to examine Sufism in Canada. You can follow her on Twitter, and listen to her podcast: New Books in Islamic Studies.

Dr. Adnan Husain discusses the fascinating dissertation research of Golam Rabbani, a PhD candidate in Cultural Studies at Queen's University. Golam sketches the unique spiritual practices of the Baul, a syncretic Sufi Muslim orientation in rural Bengal, that employ musical training and performance in an integrated mysticism and pious devotional program. These amazing traditions are being transformed in contemporary Bangladesh, especially under the global regimes of the capitalist music industry.

Dr. Ariel Salzmann from Queens University discusses the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, the implications for the country's future under the Taliban, the costs and crimes of the GWOT, and the missed opportunities over the past 40 years.

Dr. Adnan Husain sits down with author, journalist, and community leader Murray Hogben to discuss his exciting new book Minarets on the Horizon: Muslim Pioneers in Canada. For the first time ever, Hogben has compiled the stories and oral histories of some of the earliest Muslims in Canada. The pioneering work takes a journey across Canada and paints a portrait of stories seldom told and rarely presented in such a holistic perspective. This is especially timely given the growth of Islamophobia in Canada – Hogben’s work demonstrates decisively that there has been a lively Muslim community all over the country for many decades. This represents the first invaluable contribution to the growing study of Muslims and Islam in Canada. Get your copy of Minarets from the publisher Mawenzi House (link below) or call your local bookstore and request a copy! https://www.mawenzihouse.com/product/minarets-on-the-horizon/ Find MSGP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/MSGPQU  and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSGPQU Support us here: https://www.queensu.ca/msgp/ Follow our host Dr. Adnan Husain on Twitter: https://twitter.com/adnanahusain

Dr. Adnan Husain -Director of MSGP- is joined by co host Amel Bensalim, a Libyan-Canadian SSHRC-funded Master's student at Queen's University and Member of MSGP. Dr. Husain and Amel welcomed two guests: Azeezah Kanji, a legal academic and writer, whose has appeared in the Al Jazeera English, Haaretz, Toronto Star, TruthOut, National Post, Ottawa Citizen, OpenDemocracy, Roar Magazine, iPolitics, Policy Options, Rabble, and various academic anthologies and journals. And Dr. Yasmine Djerbal, a recent PhD graduate from Queen's University whose work revolves around Islamophobia and the French and Canadian states. Her research investigates how radicalization & terrorist narratives are used to erode citizenship rights of Muslims in Canada and France. Specifically, she looks at how the two countries oversee, read, and manage Muslims in relation to secularism and 'war on terror' legislation.  In this episode, the panelists addressed the implications and impact of the horrific murder of four members of the Afzaal family in London, Ontario, which was motivated by white supremacy and hate. Three generations of a Muslim Canadian family killed, leaving a 9-year-old child orphaned. The motive was horrific: Nathaniel Veltman, the pickup driver who mowed into them targeted them because of their faith.  Thus far, Federal and provincial Crown attorneys have laid terror charges against Veltman while Police allege the incident was a planned and premeditated attack targeting Muslims However, Canadian Society continues to address the tragic killing of the Afzaal family as an "isolated incident"; yet Canada simultaneously faces virulent anti-Muslim hate and a brand of exceptionalism that promotes apathy and even denial towards the very existence of islamophobia in the country.   Find MSGP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/MSGPQU  and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSGPQU Support us here: https://www.queensu.ca/msgp/ Follow our host Dr. Adnan Husain on Twitter: https://twitter.com/adnanahusain

What do literary studies have to do with politics? How and why was Edward Said able to emphasize this connection, and revolutionize the way the West looked at the Middle East, and the way the Middle East looked back? Dr. Husain is joined by guest co-host Dr. David Schmid, professor of English at the University at Buffalo, for this discussion on the life and work of famed scholar and activist, Edward Said. The University of Minnesota’s Dr. Timothy Brennan, who was a student, colleague, and friend of Said, speaks about the scholar and his new biography “Places of Mind: A Life of Edward Said.” The fascinating discussion covers not only his work, but also Said’s remarkable life, personality, and world view, and how all of those came together to shape his writing. Get the book here: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/places-of-mind-a-life/9780374714710-item.html https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780374146535 Professor David Schmid is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York (SUNY). The recipient of the Milton Plesur Excellence in Teaching Award and the SUNY Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Teaching, he teaches courses in British and American fiction, cultural studies, and popular culture. Dr. Schmid has published on a variety of subjects, including the nonfiction novel, celebrity, film adaptation, Dracula, and crime fiction. Timothy Brennan works on the relationship between comparative literature, world literature, and global English. He is a member of both the departments of Cultural Studies & Comparative Literature, and English, and is a member of the graduate faculty of American Studies at the University of Minnesota. As someone who studied under Edward Said and remained a friend until his death in 2003, Timothy Brennan had unprecedented access to his thesis adviser’s ideas and legacy. In this authoritative work, Said, the pioneer of postcolonial studies, a tireless champion for his native Palestine, and an erudite literary critic, emerges as a self-doubting, tender, eloquent advocate of literature’s dramatic effects on politics and civic life. Charting the intertwined routes of Said’s intellectual development, Places of Mind reveals him as a study in opposites: a cajoler and strategist, a New York intellectual with a foot in Beirut, an orchestra impresario in Weimar and Ramallah, a raconteur on national television, a Palestinian negotiator at the State Department, and an actor in films in which he played himself. Brennan traces the Arab influences on Said’s thinking along with his tutelage under Lebanese statesmen, off-beat modernist auteurs, and New York literati, as Said grew into a scholar whose influential writings changed the face of university life forever. With both intimidating brilliance and charm, Said melded these resources into a groundbreaking and influential countertradition of radical humanism, set against the backdrop of techno-scientific dominance and religious war. With unparalleled clarity, Said gave the humanities a new authority in the age of Reaganism, one that continues today. Find MSGP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/MSGPQU and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSGPQU Support us here: https://www.queensu.ca/msgp/ Follow our host Dr. Adnan Husain on Twitter: https://twitter.com/adnanahusain

When one thinks of African enslavement in history, the Ottoman Empire is rarely the first thing to come to mind. On this episode, Dr. Michael Ferguson (Concordia University) illuminates and discusses the facets of this little known aspect of global slavery history. Dr. Ferguson and Majlis host Dr. Adnan Husain delve into the relatively unknown social and cultural history of enslaved and emancipated Africans and their descendants in Izmir in the late Ottoman Empire. Dr. Michael Ferguson is an Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Concordia University. Michael’s research focuses on questions of identity, marginalization, and minorities in the late Ottoman Empire and early republican Turkey.  Learn more about Dr. Ferguson and his work: http://www.michaelfergusonhistorian.net/ Find MSGP on Facebook: www.facebook.com/MSGPQU and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MSGPQU Support us here: https://www.queensu.ca/msgp/ Follow our host Dr. Adnan Husain on Twitter: https://twitter.com/adnanahusain

Soleiman Faqiri was killed while in federal custody in 2016. To this day, questions remain about the circumstances of his death at the hands of correctional officers, and the lack of transparency and justice for his murder. In this episode of The Majlis, host Dr. Adnan Husain sits down with his brother Yusuf Faqiri and with Yusuf Zine, who hosts and produced an upcoming investigative podcast series called "Unascertained," which delves into the case. Yusuf Faqiri not only outlines the details of his brother's murder, but remembers his life and how important it is for all Canadians to seek #JusticeForSoli.  Tune in to the Unascertained pre-launch event tomorrow (March 31st) at 7pm EDT https://fb.me/e/49XLsf452 Listen to Unascertained, launching April 7th on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/66piID0CN1nXbel6NxxZj2?si=P3ITj6HNRdmYUkGKg061KA  and Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/unascertained/id1559615719 To get involved and stay informed, follow JusticeForSoli on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Justice4Soli Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/justiceforsoli Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justiceforsoli/ Follow Yusuf Zine on twitter https://twitter.com/yusufzine and Kevin Young https://twitter.com/theyoungkevin13 And check out more of their work on https://www.innerspeak.co/