Description:

Come join PAS for our weekly lunch and lecture. Lunch provided by PAS.

Speaker: Steve Howard, Director, Center for International Studies and Professor, School of Media Arts and Studies, Ohio University

Title: Why “Modern” Muslims? Talking about Modern Muslims: A Sudan Memoir

Abstract: Steve Howard wrote his book, Modern Muslims: A Sudan Memoir, in order to contribute to the conversation from within progressive, democratic Islamic reform movements, in this case, the Republican Brotherhood of Sudan. The movement had its origins as a small political party promoting Sudan’s independence from Egypt in the 1940s, founded by Mahmoud Mohammed Taha, an engineer. When his party did not succeed in the pre-independence period, Taha sought a Sufi retreat in his home town, and emerged with an understanding of the Qur’an that formed the basis of a social reform movement which in turn generated much controversy in Sudan. The movement remained small throughout its history, but it tried to make an impact on the role of Sudan’s women in Islamic society, on education, and on human rights issues. Taha was executed for the arcane crime of apostasy in 1985.

Howard will discuss this movement and his experience living with the Republican brothers and sisters. He explains why he felt “memoir” was the appropriate genre to capture his experience, and the role of memoir in the social science study of Africa.

Bio: Steve Howard is Director of the Center for International Studies at Ohio University and Professor in the School of Media Studies. He has a PhD in sociology and African Studies from Michigan State University and directed Ohio University’s African Studies Program for 25 years. His academic work includes several published articles on the Republican Brotherhood, as well as on children and childhood in Africa.