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Middle East Expert to Discuss the Arab and Muslim American Experience

Posted Feb. 2, 2012

Princeton University professor and author Amaney Jamal has directed a number of major studies focused on understanding the Arab and Muslim American experience. The public will have the opportunity to hear and engage with Jamal at two Northeast Ohio appearances in early February, sponsored by Kent State University and the Northeast Ohio Consortium for Middle East Studies (NOCMES).

Jamal will be a part of a community conversation, “Charting the Arab and Muslim Experience,” on Thursday, Feb. 9, at 6:30 p.m. at the Islamic Center of Cleveland, located at 6055 West 130th St. in Parma, Ohio.

On Friday, Feb. 10, at 12 p.m., Jamal will be the guest speaker at the City Club Forum. The City Club of Cleveland is located at 850 Euclid Ave.

Jamal is an associate professor of politics at Princeton University where she directs the Workshop on Arab Political Development. She is the author of several books on the democratization and the politics of civic engagement in the Arab World, including “Barrier to Democracy: The Other Side of Social Capital in Palestine and the Arab World,” which won the Best Book Award in Comparative Democratization at the American Political Science Association (2008).

Jamal also has written extensively on Arab American patterns of civic engagement and led several major research projects exploring the Arab and Muslim American experience. Her forthcoming book is “Of Empires and Citizens: Pro-American Democracy or No Democracy at All?”

The Feb. 9 community conversation event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. Register at http://newperspectivesinclevelandjamal.eventbrite.com.

Tickets for the City Club Forum on Feb. 10 are $18 for members and $30 for non-members. Reservations must be made 24 hours in advance of the event by calling 1-888-223-6786 or 216-621-0082.

NOCMES was founded in 2010 when higher education institutions in Northeast Ohio - including Kent State, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University and Oberlin College - recognized a need for educational forums to understand the complicated issues affecting the Middle East as well as the cultural, economic, political and social influences that contribute to the dynamics of the region’s problems.

The consortium leaders include Joshua Stacher, department of political science, Kent State University; Pete W. Moore, department of political science, Case Western Reserve University; and Neda A. Zawahri, department of political science, Cleveland State University.

“The consortium is fortunate to again be bringing public intellectuals, academics and award-winning journalists to Northeast Ohio this spring,” Stacher said. “By taking academia into the public sphere, we are learning a tremendous amount about the Arab and Muslim world at this critical juncture. But the project's hidden success has been what our communities are learning about themselves through their participation in these community events.”

The series “New Perspectives on Muslim and Middle Eastern Societies” is presented by NOCMES, with support from the Social Science Research Council and in partnership with Civic Commons, Ideastream and the City Club of Cleveland.

Kent State’s College of Arts and Sciences and the university’s Department of Political Science are event partners for Jamal’s appearances.

For more information, visit http://theciviccommons.com/issues/new-perspectives/?from=newperspectives.

 

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Media Contacts:
Joshua Stacher, jstacher@kent.edu, 330-672-2060
Bob Burford, rburford@kent.edu, 330-672-8516