Imagining Unity: Muslim Cultural Diversity in N. America
Since
9/11, public interest in and awareness of Islamic culture and
religious tradition has increased substantially. In our multifaith
and culturally diverse society Muslims are newcomers and least
known to us as Americans. News media regularly feature stories
about the Muslim world and new books are published every week.
But to what extent are we developing a fuller understanding
of Muslims as peoples who hold specific beliefs, live a life
that is full of challenge in our midst? Are they as fellow Americans
still "strangers" among us? How have Muslims changed in recent
years and what cultural and religious traditions continue to
influence their lives in North America and else where? Co-panelists
Mr. Aziz Sachedina and Ms. Farzaneh Milani will discuss the
current and emerging political, cultural, and religious aspects
of Islamic culture.
NOTE:
This talk will be recorded by the University of Virginia
for a future episode of UVa
NewsMakers
Farzaneh
Milani was born and raised in Iran. She received her
B.A. in French Literature from California State University
at Hayward and completed her graduate studies in Comparative
Literature at the University of California in Los Angeles.
She taught Persian Language and Literature at UCLA for four
years before coming to the University of Virginia in 1986.
Past president of the Association of Middle Eastern Women
Studies in America, Milani was the recipient of Alumni Teaching
Award in 1998. She is the author of "Veils and Words:
The Emerging Voices of Iranian Women Writers" (chosen
as one of the "12 most indispensable books written
in English about Iran in the last twenty years"); guest
editor of two special issues of "Nimeye Digar,"
and co-translator (with Kaveh Safa) of "A Cup of Sin:
Selected Poems of Simin Behbahani." Milani has written
over 60 articles, book chapters, introductions, and afterwards
in Persian and English and lectured at over 100 colleges
and universities nationally and internationally. Her poems
have been published in "Nimeye Digar," "Par,"
"Barrayand," "Daneshju," "Omid,"
and "Avaye Portland."
Born
in Tanzania, Abdulaziz Sachedina is professor of
religious studies at the University of Virginia. He has
an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and B.A.
degrees from Aligarh Muslim University in India and Ferdowsi
University in Iran. He has been visiting professor at Wilfrid
Laurier, Waterloo, and McGill Universities in Canada, as
well as Haverford College and the University of Jordan,
Amman. He has lectured widely in East Africa, India, Pakistan,
Europe, and the Middle East. Sachedina is a core member
of the Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism Project in
the CSIS Preventive Diplomacy Program and a key contributor,
along with Rabbi Marc Gopin and the Reverend David Steele,
to the program's efforts to link religion to universal human
needs and values in the service of peacebuilding.
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Professor
Milani's published works include: A Cup of Sin: Selected Poems of Simin Behbahani, Poems
translated with Kaveh Safa. N. Y.: Syracuse University Press.
1999
Veils
and Words: The Emerging Voices of Iranian Women Writers.
N.Y.:Syracuse University Press. 1992. Reissued 1994
Professor
Sachedina's published works include: The
Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism (Oxford University
Press. 2001).
Contributed
to Human Rights and the Conflict of Cultures: Western and
Islamic Perspectives on Religious Liberty (University
of South Carolina Press, 1988)
He
is presently working on a major study: Islamic Law for
Muslim Physicians: The Spiritual Foundations of Biomedical
Ethics in Islam (forthcoming 2002).
Farzaneh
Milani was born and raised in Iran. She received her
B.A. in French Literature from California State University
at Hayward and completed her graduate studies in Comparative
Literature at the University of California in Los Angeles.
She taught Persian Language and Literature at UCLA for four
years before coming to the University of Virginia in 1986.
Past president of the Association of Middle Eastern Women
Studies in America, Milani was the recipient of Alumni Teaching
Award in 1998. She is the author of "Veils and Words:
The Emerging Voices of Iranian Women Writers" (chosen
as one of the "12 most indispensable books written
in English about Iran in the last twenty years"); guest
editor of two special issues of "Nimeye Digar,"
and co-translator (with Kaveh Safa) of "A Cup of Sin:
Selected Poems of Simin Behbahani." Milani has written
over 60 articles, book chapters, introductions, and afterwards
in Persian and English and lectured at over 100 colleges
and universities nationally and internationally. Her poems
have been published in "Nimeye Digar," "Par,"
"Barrayand," "Daneshju," "Omid,"
and "Avaye Portland." 
Born
in Tanzania, Abdulaziz Sachedina is professor of
religious studies at the University of Virginia. He has
an M.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and B.A.
degrees from Aligarh Muslim University in India and Ferdowsi
University in Iran. He has been visiting professor at Wilfrid
Laurier, Waterloo, and McGill Universities in Canada, as
well as Haverford College and the University of Jordan,
Amman. He has lectured widely in East Africa, India, Pakistan,
Europe, and the Middle East. Sachedina is a core member
of the Islamic Roots of Democratic Pluralism Project in
the CSIS Preventive Diplomacy Program and a key contributor,
along with Rabbi Marc Gopin and the Reverend David Steele,
to the program's efforts to link religion to universal human
needs and values in the service of peacebuilding. 
