THE ARAB SPRING: A Year that Changed the World Portland State University Saturday, February 25th, 2012 10 AM to 10 PM

Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights
invites you to attend the conference

THE ARAB SPRING:
A Year that Changed the World

Portland State University
Saturday, February 25th, 2012
10 AM to 10 PM

— Registration begins at 9:00 AM —

The events of the Arab Spring have been awesome and inspiring, opening up the possibility of a regional landscape that is almost unfathomably different from what would have been predicted just one year ago. Students United For Palestinian Equal Rights (SUPER, of Portland State University) has organized a wide-ranging conference that is designed to analyze the events of the Arab Spring, its regional and international implications, and its effects on the future of Palestine. The following speakers will be featured:

As'ad AbuKhalil, Professor of Political Science at California State University, speaking on the role(s) of the United States in the Arab Spring;
Deepa Kumar, Associate Professor of Media Studies and Middle East Studies at Rutgers University and author ofIslamophobia and the Politics of Empire, speaking on Islamophobia and the Arab Spring;
Joel Beinin, Professor of History and Middle East History at Stanford University, speaking on workers' rights in the Arab Spring;
Nora Barrows-Friedman, a reporter for the Electronic Intifada as well as correspondent for Al Jazeera, speaking on human rights in Palestine;
William Parry, journalist and photographer, will present his recently published book, Against the Wall: The Art of Resistance in Palestine;
Mokhtar Alkhanshali, Yemeni activist, and Wael Elasady, local activist and co-host of the KBOO radio program "One Land, Many Voices," will be speaking on the revolutions in Yemen and Syria;
Jesse Hagiopan, social justice activist, and Tasha Triplett, PSU student and local activist, will speak about the Black Liberation movement and Palestine.

Light lunch will be served. The speaker portion of the conference will wrap up with an evening plenary panel, "The Challenges and Prospects of the Arab Spring."

The conference will conclude with a Cultural Night Celebration from 7:30 to 10:00 pm in the Smith Memorial Student Union Multicultural Center (room 228).

We hope you will join us for this day of revolutionary learning!
Please visit our facebook page for more information and a detailed schedule.

In solidarity,

Students United for Palestinian Equal Rights (SUPER)
super@pdx.edu

Cosponsored by:
Arab Persian Student Union
International Socialist Organization
Americans United for Palestinian Human Rights
Friends of Sabeel
Jewish Voice for Peace
Portland BDS Coalition
Sociology of Islam
Lutherans for Justice in the Holy Land
Peace Action Committee of the First Unitarian Church

ISLAMIC MOVEMENTS - WINTER 2012

ISLAMIC MOVEMENTS WINTER 2012 MONDAY AND WEDNESDAY 2:00-3:50 PM REQUIRED BOOKS: Augustus Richard Norton. 2007. Hezbollah: A Short History. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Khaled Hroub. 2006. Hamas: A Beginner's Guide. Pluto Press. Humeira Iqtidar. 2011. Secularizing Islamists? Jama'at-e-Islami and Jama'at-ud-Da'wa in Urban Pakistan. The University of Chicago Press. Asef Bayat. 2007. Making Islam Democratic: Social Movements and the Post-Islamist Turn. Stanford University Press. Tugrul Keskin, 2011. The Sociology of Islam: Secularism, Economy and Politics. Ithaca Press, 2011.

A New book: Secular State and Religious Society Two Forces in Play in Turkey, edited by Berna Turam

Secular State and Religious Society Two Forces in Play in Turkey Edited by Berna Turam January 2012 Palgrave Macmillan Introduction: Secular State and Pious Muslims: Neither Rivals nor Allies for Life; B.Turam The Dynamic Nature of Educational Policies and Turkish Nation-Building: Where Does Religion Fit In?; Y.Bayar Islam, Nation-State, and the Military: A Discussion of Secularism in Turkey; S.Gurbey Secularists as the Saviors of Islam: Rearticulation of Secularism and the Freedom of Conscience in Turkey (1950); U.Azak Does Secularism Face a Serious Threat in Turkey?; M.Heper Christian and Turkish: Secularist Fears of a Converted Nation; E.Ozyurek Market Oriented Post-Islamism in Turkey; Tugrul Keskin Conflict, Democratic Reform and Big Business: Factors Shaping the Economic Elite's Position for Change; D.Yavuz Toward Conceptual Integration of Religious Actors in Democracy and Civil Society; A.Rubin Afterword; M.G.Tezcur

Study Abroad Course to Qatar: March 24 — April 1, 2012

Qatar: Society, Religion and Economy International Field Experience Led by: Tugrul Keskin, PSU—International Studies, Ctr. for Turkish Studies Spring Term 2012 Travel: March 24 — April 1, 2012

Manuscript of Sughrat (Socrates) belongs to a 13th century Seljuk illustrator. It is currently kept at Topkapi Palace Library, Istanbul, Turkey.

A New Book: Sociology and Human Rights A Bill of Rights for the Twenty-First Century

Sociology and Human Rights A Bill of Rights for the Twenty-First Century Judith Blau The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Mark Frezzo University of Mississippi May 2011 Pine Forge Press Series: Sociology for a New Century Series ISBN: 9781412991384 A unique volume designed to provoke an ongoing dialogue about fundamental human rights in our society Edited by renowned scholars, Judith Blau and Mark Frezzo, this groundbreaking anthology examines the implications that human rights have for the social sciences. The book provides readers with a wide-ranging collection of articles, each written by experts in their fields who argue for an expansion of fundamental human rights in the United States. To provide an international context, the volume covers the human rights treaties that have been incorporated into the constitutions of many countries throughout the world, including wealthy nations such as Spain and Sweden and impoverished countries such as Bolivia and Croatia.

Contents: Part I. What Are Universal Human Rights? Chapter 1. Introduction Mark Frezzo Chapter 2. Deepening Civil and Political Rights Mark Frezzo Chapter 3. Ensuring Economic and Social Rights Louis Edgar Esparza Chapter 4. Promoting Cultural Rights Laura Toussaint Chapter 5. Globalizing the Human Rights Perspective Bruce K. Friesen Chapter 6. Cooperating Around Environmental Rights Rebecca Clausen Chapter 7. Comparing Constitutions Judith Blau Part II. Citizenship, Identity, and Human Rights Chapter 8. Arizona’s SB 1070: Setting Conditions for Violations of Human Rights Here and Beyond 8. Rogelio Sáenz, Cecilia Menjívar, San Juanita Edilia Garcia Chapter 9. Beyond Two Identities: Turkish Immigrants in Germany Tugrul Keskin Part III. Vulnerability and Human Rights Chapter 10: The Rights of Age: On Human Vulnerability Bryan S. Turner Chapter 11. Children’s Rights Brian Gran and Rachel Bryant Part IV. The Global and the Local Chapter 12. Growing and Learning Human Rights Judith Blau Chapter 13. Going Forward Judith Blau Promoting Cultural Rights Globalizing the Human Rights Perspective Linking Human Rights and the Environment Arizona's SB 1070: Setting Conditions for Violations of Human Rights Here and Beyond Beyond Two Identities: Turkish Immigrants in Germany The Rights of Age Children's Rights Ensuring Economic and Social Rights Foreword Shulamith Koenig Reviews: “The high level of scholarship is evident in the prospectus. I was impressed by both scope and its detailed examples. This text has pedagogical value. It can be used to teach critical thinking.” Jonathan Reader Drew University "It has an explicit sociological approach that is lacking in so many of the books that address some of these issues." Elizabeth D. Scheel Saint Cloud State University

Libya: Democracy Promotion for Oil

The Sociology of Islam: Secularism, Economy and Politics Edited by Tugrul Keskin

The Sociology of Islam: Secularism, Economy and Politics

Edited by Tugrul Keskin

Hardback, 520pp, 235 x 155mm
Ithaca Press
ISBN: 978-0-86372-371-1

June 2011



About this book

The contribution of Islam to world civilization is undeniable, however in the last one hundred years, Muslims have been faced with all the effects and ramifications of modernity, caused by the emergence of global capitalism. What does modernity ultimately mean for Muslims, and how will the historical precepts of Islam meet with changes in our globalized world?

To date, most scholars on Islam have tried to understand Muslim societies from historical observation alone; however, this simplistic academic approach does not allow us to understand the entire transformation that has taken place in Muslim societies. Sociological scholarship, on the other hand, argues that it would be difficult to understand Islam without first understanding the theoretical and practical underpinnings of the social structure of Muslim societies which are embedded in the relationship between religion, the economy, politics and society.

This book, therefore, will attempt to make a connection between the economic system and its social and political consequences within Muslim societies. To do this, it will examine the role of Islam within Muslim societies in the context of ongoing and increasingly powerful neoliberal economic processes in a globalized world. The Muslim understanding of secularism, modernity, the state, collective identity, immigration, and Islamic political thought and economic life are all shaped by forces of globalization and new market conditions. However, this is a mutually constitutive process, as Islam also influences the West and its perceptions of Islam because of the interdependent relations brought about by the global economy. These interdependencies create social and political transformation on both sides.

REVIEWS

Tugrul Keskin brings wisdom and a deep cosmopolitan commitment to his scholarship. This may be the first book ever published that clarifies the social, political and economic context of Islam and the complex relations between Muslim and predominately non-Muslim societies. The Sociology of Islam will open up new inquires. It is an important book.
Judith Blau
Department of Sociology - University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

In recent years the sociological study of Islam has emerged as a distinct forum. In this collection, Tugrul Keskin and his contributors exemplify some of the most useful approaches in this vibrant field. They explore how Islam is employed in several contemporary areas of sociological concern, including globalization, economic conditions, immigration, civic cultures, diversity, and public philosophy. As such, this volume should be of great interest to the students and scholars of Islam alike.
Mohammed Bamyeh
Department of Sociology - University of Pittsburgh

This book is a must read for individuals in the policy and academic worlds who want to gain insight into complexities of Muslim societies. Contributors cover a large geographic area and provide profound analysis of relations between economics and socio-political development in several Muslim societies.
Birol Yesilada
Contemporary Turkish Studies Endowed Chair - Hatfield School of Government, Portland State University

Middle East Studies - FALL 2011

Middle East Studies

INTL 247C (CRN: 11691) and
Global Perspectives (Mid East) UNST 233 (CRN: 14144)

FALL 2010

INSTRUCTOR: TUGRUL KESKIN

Monday and Wednesday -17:30 - 18:45 PM

This course provides a foundation for upper level Islam and Middle East Studies courses at Portland State University. The “Middle East” as a region did not exist as such according to “Middle Easterners” such as Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Jews, Iranians, and other groups native to the area. The term “Middle East” is an artificial and fabricated concept, which was created by European and American imperialist powers in order to divide, conquer and exploit natural resources in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The objective of this course is to understand the basic social and political aspects of the Modern “Middle East” from the insider perspective, using the Non-Orientalist Approach. It is difficult to understand Middle Eastern societies and political actors without first exploring the fundamental principles and facts regarding the history of the region because events today are a continuation of the past. I will therefore introduce you to topics such as Orientalism, economic underdevelopment, the emergence of the nation-state, European and American occupations, and the revitalization of religious fundamentalism in the Middle East. The destruction of religious and ethnic harmony between the Jews, Muslims and Christians in the Middle East as a consequence of imperialist policies and occupations will also be explored.

Required Reading:
Mehran Kamrava. The Modern Middle East: A Political History since the First World War. University of California Press, 2011. ISBN: 9780520241503
Tugrul Keskin, The Sociology of Islam: Secularism, Economy and Politics.
Ithaca Press, 2011. ISBN: 978-0-86372-371-1

For more information: tugrulkeskin@pdx.edu
or visit the Sociology of Islam and Muslim Societies http://www.pdx.edu/sociologyofislam

Sociology of the Middle East - Fall 2011 Portland State University

Sociology of the Middle East

FALL 2011
INTL/SOC 483U
CRN: 13440

INSTRUCTOR: TUGRUL KESKIN

Monday, Wednesday - 2:00 - 3:50 PM – CH 221

Sociology of the Middle East seeks to understand the transformation of society, politics and the economy in the modern Middle East. It is divided into three sections; the goal of the first section is to critically analyze Middle Eastern societies and cultures in the context of nationalism, and the concepts of tradition/modernity, ethnicity, religion and gender/sexuality. Section two covers the State and politics, and examines the formation and structure of the nation-state, the military, political parties and religious groups, bureaucracy, and the consequences of colonialism and imperialism. The last section looks at economic development – or under-development across the region, as the source of major current social and political changes. In this course, we examine these changes based upon sociological observation in the context of four societies; Turkish, Iranian, Arab, and Israeli.

Required Readings:

1.Ali Gheissari, Contemporary Iran: Economy, Society, Politics. Oxford University Press, 2009.
2.Ersin Kalaycioglu, Turkish Dynamics: Bridge Across Troubled Lands. Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.
3.Colin Shindler, A History of Modern Israel. Cambridge University Press, 2008.
4.Ibrahim Albadawi and Samir Makdisi (Eds.), Democracy in the Arab World. Routledge, 2011.
5.Tugrul Keskin, The Sociology of Islam: Secularism, Economy and Politics. Ithaca Press, 2011.

For more information: tugrulkeskin@pdx.edu
or The Sociology of Islam and Muslim Societies

Study Abroad in Istanbul: Politics, Religion and Globalization in Modern Turkish Society - July 4-29 Portland State University

CALL FOR PAPERS Panel – Middle East Studies in the Post September 11 Era

CALL FOR PAPERS

Panel – Middle East Studies in the Post September 11 Era

45th Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association Conference
MESA 2011

December 1-4, 2011 Washington DC
http://www.mesa.arizona.edu/

Dear all,

We are in the process of organizing a panel entitled: Middle East Studies in
the Post September 11 Era. The panel is intended as a contemporary
exploration of Edward Said’s thesis, first laid out in Orientalism, that
Middle Eastern Studies produces not value-free knowledge but policy-oriented
knowledge and, moreover, is tied to the culture of colonialism. In the post
September 11 era, we have witnessed an increasing tendency to build closer,
more explicit and more multifaceted relationship between universities and
the state, which in the case of Middle East Studies may be approached as
“Neo-Orientalism.” Several examples may be identified within US academic
study of the Middle East and Islam, especially where the field is most
connected to the work of think-tanks, governmental and non-governmental
organizations.

We are seeking submissions related to Neo-Orientalism and Middle East
Studies in the Post-September 11 Era. Possible areas of research and study
include but are not limited to:

Orientalism, Neo-Orientalism and Middle East Studies
Middle East Studies, Think-Tanks and NGOs
"Moderate" Islam and Neo-Orientalism
Orientalism, Neo-Orientalism, and C. Wright Mills’ conception of the
sociological imagination
The Role of Semi-governmental organizations such as NED, NDI, the Woodrow
Wilson Center and others in financing Middle East and Islamic Studies
Comparisons of Orientalism and Neo-Orientalism across US and European
Academic cultures, or elsewhere
The Role of the State in Middle East Studies in the Post-September 11 era,

Deadline: January 30, 2011

Please send abstract to: tugrulkeskin@pdx.edu and mab205@pitt.edu

Organizers:
Mohammed Bamyeh, University of Pittsburg
Tugrul Keskin, Portland State University

Samih Farsoun (1937-2005) A Palestinian Sociologist

Islamophobia: A different face of racism

An Islamic woman goes to the Al-Farooq Islamic Center on Fourth Avenue South to pray. Vandals had inscribed “Muslims Go Home” on the wall near the entrance.
JOHN PARTIPILO / FILE / THE TENNESSEAN

Call for papers: Social Transformations in South/Southeast Asia: Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh

Mirza Sultan-Galiev: One of the first representative of the Socialism in the Global South

Happy Workers Day!

Sponsor of the World Islamic Economic Forum: Islamic Way of Capitalism

6th World Islamic Economic Forum

The 6th World Islamic Economic Forum is back in Kuala Lumpur and is scheduled to be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre on 18-20 May 2010. Purportedly one of the most important business forums scheduled for the year 2010, at least one that focuses on a niche market of the emerging economies of the Muslim world, the 6th WIEF is expected to attract an estimated 2000 participants based on the past record of 1728 participants at the 5th WIEF in Jakarta in March 2009. The Forum, a platform where world leaders in government and business converge to discuss trade and economic issues affecting the globe, is poised to be the ultimate meeting place for investors, fund managers, entrepreneurs, bankers, and other stakeholders of the business community.

Market (Pazaryeri) in Istanbul

Sociology of Islam and Muslim Societies at Portland State University

Dear all,

We have created the Sociology of Islam and Muslim Societies homepage at Portland State University and this has been transferred from Virginia Tech. You will find detailed information at the following web address: http://www.pdx.edu/sociologyofislam/

We have also updated our academic advisory and editorial board.

Academic Advisory Board:
http://www.pdx.edu/sociologyofislam/advisory-board

Editorial Board:
http://www.pdx.edu/sociologyofislam/editorial-board

We would like to post your Islam and Muslim Societies related syllabi on our website, if you would like to send them to us as a word document. You will see other syllabi in the syllabus section of the homepage. This homepage will also help our students to select Islam and Muslim Societies related courses.

Please also visit the new Religious Studies website at Portland State University:
http://www.pdx.edu/religiousstudies/

Dr. Jennifer Schubert from the Religious Studies program is presenting the Religious Studies Program's first public event. You will find this lecture information on our website: http://www.pdx.edu/sociologyofislam/lectures

Peace and salaam to all,

--
Tugrul Keskin

Assistant Professor of International and Middle Eastern Studies
And Center for Turkish Studies
Portland State University
International Studies-INTL
East Hall 309
632 SW Hall Street
Portland, OR 97201 - USA
Office: 503-725-3495

Editor of Sociology of Islam and Muslim Societies
Book Editor of Societies Without Borders

Civilized us, uncivilized them: The Dichotomoy of Imperialism

Turkish Immigrant Cruelly Beaten by the Norway Police As His Mother was Left to Die by the Norway Doctors.