Collage

The Nature Of Human Being And The Question Of Their Ultimate Origin

2012-02-24T17:19:00.001-08:00

Picture Credit: Reuters/Andrew Winning

A discussion between Richard Dawkins and the Archbishop of Canterbury

The Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford, Thursday, 23 Feburary 2012 4.00-5.30pm

Archived video: HERE

Mohsen Namjoo talks about his career

2012-02-17T10:12:00.000-08:00

Mohsen Namjoo, (Persian: محسن نامجو‎), is an Iranian musician, singer-songwriter. born in 1976 in Torbat-e Jam, a small town in northeastern Iran.

Click HERE to listen to his talk about his career (in Persian).

This speech took place on Saturday February 11th 2012, at the University of Ottawa at 5pm in Room DMS-1160.

Death of Yazdgerd - مرگ یزد گرد

2012-02-17T08:46:00.000-08:00

Masterpiece of Iranian playwright and director Bahram Beyzaie. Death of Yazdgerd is an an unusual, poetic drama that traces contemporary themes in a historical setting. Yazdgerd III was the last of the Sassanid kings of Iran. His death in 651 AD, during the Arab invasions that brought Islam to this Zoroastrian realm, was mysterious. His corpse was discovered in a mill ...

Love InshAllah

2012-02-13T09:43:00.000-08:00

If you think good Muslim women wait for marriage to have sex, think again.

"I'm an unmarried, Muslim non-virgin," declares Insiya Ansari, a writer in the San Francisco Bay Area. "I've said it aloud."

"And no, I wasn't married or engaged to be married, or even in an exclusive relationship," says Zahra Noorbakhsh, a comedian and the daughter of Iranian immigrants.

"'Ohhhh,' I think to myself, 'this is what sex is like for most people,'" writes Najva Sol, recalling her first sexual encounter with a woman, when she was 18, after several mostly ho-hum sexual encounters with men.

Those are some of the revelations in "Love InshAllah: The Secret Love Lives of American Muslim Women," a new collection of stories about flirting, dating, lust, sex, marriage, and divorce by a diverse array of 25 Muslim women ...

Reference and more: HERE

Muslims for Progressive Values

2012-02-07T20:00:00.000-08:00

Muslims for Progressive Values is guided by the following ten principles. Each branch of the tree in our logo represents MPV's ten principles rooted in Islam.

1. Identity: We accept as Muslim anyone who identifies as such. The veracity and integrity of that claim is between the individual and God, and is not a matter for the state nor an issue which other individuals can or should judge.

2. Equality: We affirm the equal worth of all human beings, regardless of race, sex, gender, ethnicity, nationality, creed, sexual orientation, or ability. We are committed to work toward societies that ensure social, political, educational, and economic opportunities for all.

3. Separation of Religious and State Authorities: We believe that freedom of conscience is not only essential to all human societies but integral to the Qur'anic view of humanity. We believe that secular government is the only way to achieve the Islamic ideal of freedom from compulsion in matters of faith.

4. Freedom of Speech: We support freedom of expression and freedom of dissent, whether political, artistic, social or religious, even when that expression may be offensive and that dissent may be considered blasphemous. No one should be legally prosecuted, imprisoned or detained for declaring or promoting unpopular opinions.

5. Universal Human Rights: We affirm our commitment to social, economic and environmental justice. We believe that the full self-realization of all people, in a safe and sustainable world, is a prerequisite for freedom, civility, and peace. We support efforts for universal health care, universal public education, the protection of our environment, and the eradication of poverty.

6. Women’s Rights: We support women’s agency and self-determination in every aspect of their lives. We believe in women’s full participation in society at every level. We affirm our commitment to reproductive justice and empowering women to make healthy decisions regarding their bodies, sexuality and reproduction.

7. LGBTQ Rights: We endorse the human and civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ) individuals. We support full equality and inclusion of all individuals, regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity, in society and in the Muslim community. We affirm our commitment to ending discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

8. Critical Analysis and Interpretation: We call for critical engagement with Islamic scripture, traditional jurisprudence, and current Muslim discourses. We believe that critical thinking is essential to spiritual development. We promote interpretations that reflect basic Qur'anic principles of tolerance, inclusiveness, mercy, compassion, and fairness.

9. Compassion: We affirm that justice and compassion should be the guiding principles for all aspects of human conduct. We repudiate militarism and violence, whether on an individual, organizational, or national level.

10. Diversity: We embrace religious pluralism and the diversity of inspirations that motivate people to embrace social justice. We believe that one's religion is not the exclusive source of truth. As such, we will engage with a diversity of philosophical and spiritual traditions in pursuit of a more just, peaceful and sustainable world.

Links: USA · Canada

Ballad of Tara - چریکه تارا

2012-01-03T23:05:00.000-08:00

A 1979 Persian film directed by Bahram Bayzai. Bayzai is part of a generation of filmmakers in the Iranian New Wave, a Persian cinema movement that started in the late 1960s and includes other pioneering directors such as Abbas Kiarostami, Forough Farrokhzad, Sohrab Shahid Sales, and Parviz Kimiavi. The filmmakers share many common techniques including the use of poetic dialog, references to traditional Persian art and culture and allegorical story-telling often dealing with political and philosophical issues.

1971. Les fastes du Shah d'Iran à Persépolis - شکوه شاه ایران در تخت جمشید

2012-01-03T03:53:00.000-08:00

Below is a documentary about the 2,500 year celebration of the Persian Empire from arte channel - in French with Persian subtitles:

video info HERE

The only democracy in the Middle East: what went wrong?

2011-12-18T15:23:00.000-08:00

The talk will examine closely the claim that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. Ilan Pappé is a professor with the College of Social Sciences and International Studies at the University of Exeter in the UK, director of the university's European Centre for Palestine Studies, co-director of the Exeter Centre for Ethno-Political Studies, and political activist.

CSD Seminar: The only democracy in the Middle East: what went wrong?’ from Uni of Westminster on Vimeo.

Archaeological Translation, Cyrus the Great's Cylinder

2011-12-10T01:38:00.000-08:00

Archaeological Translation, Cyrus the Great's Cylinder from 3Cultures on Vimeo.

Over the past several decades in Iran there has been a renewed interest in ancient Persia, particularly in the most glorious and innovative period: the Achaemenid dynasty (550-330 BC. J.-C). From this vast empire that stretched across the Iranian plateau only vestiges remain, including a set of cuneiform inscriptions engraved on rock walls or on the monuments of that time. Written simultaneously in several languages (Old Persian, Elamite and Babylonian), these inscriptions have attracted the attention of European diplomats and later archaeologist-translators and have piqued the curiosity of European philologists since the eighteenth century and, most notably, in the nineteenth century.

Until recently, they remained obscure to Iranians, the heirs of this brilliant Persian Empire. Since the 1970s, at the instigation of the last Shah of Iran, these inscriptions began to be systematically translated into modern Persian. In recent years, private publishers have brought out an abundance of books on the Achaemenid, most of the latter having originally been written and published in Europe.

One of the most controversial inscriptions is Cyrus ‘Cylinder, known as the Human Being Chart. Today we have many translations of this Cylinder to different languages (Europeans and Persian). Therefore, first of all, we have to answer the questions like: Who is Cyrus the Great? What is the content of the Cylinder? How important is this inscription? And what is the role of this translation in our identity? In this research, I resort to National Library and Archives of IR of Iran to show that these translations (especially the Persian ones) fulfill a function of identity and political power by supporting the nationalist and reformist movement against the theocratic regime that attempts to conceal Iran’s pre-Islamic past.

Nazila Khalkhali
Master of Translation Studies
University of Ottawa

Time: Thursday, December 8 · 6:30pm - 8:30pm
Location: SITE 5084, University of Ottawa
Language: Persian · Admission: Free

Useful Links: in Encyclopædia Iranica · at The British Museum · Persian Translation

Glimpses into the Infrastructure of the Iranian Art World

2011-11-27T18:12:00.001-08:00

Hamid Severi

This talk by Hamid Severi, a Tehran-based curator, art historian, and critic, and the University of Ottawa's Distinguished Visiting Professor with the Department of Visual Arts for 2011, will address his professional experiences in the contemporary Iranian art world.

Time: Thursday, March 24, 2011 · 17:00pm - 18:00pm
Location: Ottawa Art Gallery public lecture
Arts Court, 2 Daly Avenue (corner of Nicholas St)

~ Funding for Prof. Severi's talk was generously provided by the University of Ottawa Faculty of Arts and the office of Dr. Mona Nemer, Vice President of Research.

Challenges and Opportunities, Snapshots of Contemporary Iranian Art

2011-11-27T18:12:00.000-08:00

From Me, as the Other prefers series by Azadeh Akhlaghi

Iranian contemporary art is facing many challenges and at the same time,
has opportunities that it never had before. Fascinating responses by a new generation of artists in different media will be the focus of this lecture.

Time: Wednesday, March 16, 2011 · 12:00pm - 13:00pm
Location: Room 114, Dept. of Visual Arts
100 Laurier Ave. East, University of Ottawa

Hamid Severi is a Tehran-based art history professor, curator of
contemporary art, art critic and essayist, conference organizer, and juror
of biennials. He has been a central figure in the recent success of the
Iranian visual arts scene, which has flourished and gained international
recognition over the past fifteen years, despite on-going challenges due
to political situation in Iran.

Mr. Severi completed his M.A. in Art History from the University of
California at Santa Barbara. For five years Mr. Severi was head of the
research department at the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art. He has
taught many courses in art history at the largest universities in Tehran
(Tehran University, Azad Islamic University, University of Art). Over the
years, Mr. Severi has been an important contributor to the arts scene all
over Iran, and has delivered lectures, contributed essays in exhibition
catalogues, and taken part in juries in cities throughout Iran, as well as
internationally. Most of the arts festivals to which he has contributed
are new initiatives (Tehran Sculpture Bienniale, Tehran Painting
Bienniale, New Art Exhibition, Tehran Photo Bienniale), which demonstrate
the desire for progress and development in the visual arts.

Sylvie Boivin, Secretary
Department of Visual Arts
University of Ottawa

Hajj and the Journey of Self-Revitalization

2011-11-27T16:16:00.000-08:00

Sayyed Mohsen Fatemi (PhD, University of British Columbia, 2003) is a post doctoral fellow in the department of psychology at Harvard University and works in areas of social and cross cultural psychology.

Time: Friday, November 4, 2011 · 6:00pm - 7:30pm
Location: Loeb Building (LA) C264 · Carleton University

Picture: direction of the Tawaf around the Kaaba © wikipedia

Radical women, embracing tradition

2011-11-22T02:18:00.000-08:00

Investing in women can unlock infinite potential around the globe. But how can women walk the line between Western-style empowerment and traditional culture? Kavita Ramdas of the Global Fund for Women talks about three encounters with powerful women who fight to make the world better -- while preserving the traditions that sustain them ...

Who Speaks for Islam? a brief summary

2011-11-22T01:43:00.000-08:00

Who Speaks for Islam?
What a billion Muslims really think

Based on Gallup's World Poll
The largest study of its kind
JOHN L. ESPOSITO & DALIA MOGAHED

Introduction: Islam's Silenced Majority

Who Speaks for Islam? is about this silenced majority. This book is the product of the Gallup World Poll's massive, multiyear research study. As part of this groundbreaking project, Gallup conducted tens of thousands of interviews with residents of more than 35 nations that are predominantly Muslim or have significant Muslim populations ...

Chapter 1: Who Are Muslims?
___________________________
KEY POINTS:

* The many languages, customs, and ethnicities of the Muslim world illustrate its vast diversity. There are 57 countries around the world that are majority Muslim or have significant Muslim minorities - Arabs make up only roughly 20% of the global Muslim population.
* Faith and family are core values in Muslims' lives, and Muslims regard them as their societies' greatest assets.
* Muslims, like Christians and Jews, believe in the God of Abraham and recognize biblical prophets such as Abraham, Moses, and Jesus.
* Jihad has many meanings. It is a "struggle for God," which includes a struggle of the soul as well as the sword. The Islamic war ethic prohibits attacking civilians.

Chapter 2: Democracy or Theocracy?
___________________________
KEY POINTS:

* Although democracies are rare in Muslm countries, many Muslims value a number of democratic principles.
* In general, Muslims see no contradiction between democratic values and religious principles.
* Overall, Muslims want neither a theocracy nor a secular democracy and would opt for a third model in which religious principles and democratic values coexist.
* Men and women support a role for Sharia as a source of legislation, and at the same time, most do not want religious leaders directly in charge of drafting legislation.

Chapter 3: What Makes a Radical?
___________________________
KEY POINTS:

* The majority of respondents in predominantly Muslim countries condemn the events of Sept. 11, 2011.
* The minority (7%) who condone the attacks and view the United States unfavorably are no more religious than the general population.
* What does distinguish the politically radicalized from others is their perception of the West's politics, not its culture.

Chapter 4: What Do Women Want?
___________________________
KEY POINTS:

* Muslim women cherish their religion and their rights.
* While Muslim women admire aspects of the West, they do not endorse wholesale adoption of Western values.
* Majorities of Muslim women believe that their most urgent needs are not gender issues, but greater political and economic development.
* Western advocacy of women's issues is often eyed suspiciously because feminism was used historically to justify colonialism.

Chapter 5: Clash or Coexistence?

NA

Useful links: Who Speaks for Islam? · Islam and Democracy · On Link TV

Tehran Has No More Pomegranates - تهران انار ندارد

2011-11-17T16:13:00.000-08:00

A multi-award winning, post-modern documentary film offering a sarcastic and comic portrait of Iran’s capital city, Tehran. Made over the span of five years, the film uses never-before-seen archival footage from the past 120 years, modern images of Tehran, and an amazing soundtrack to show the transformation of the city from a small village into a huge modern megapolis.

Watch it HERE

The Lovers' Wind - باد صبا and The Red Balloon

2011-11-17T15:48:00.000-08:00

The Shah Mosque in Esfahan, Iran by Georg Gerster

A well-known French filmmaker, Albert Lamorisse, under the auspices of Iran's Ministry of Culture and Art, produced the poetic film The Lovers' Wind (1969). Eighty-five percent of this dramatically visual film is shot from a helicopter, providing a kaleidoscopic view of the vast expanses, natural beauty, historical monuments, cities and villages of Iran. The "narrators" of the film are the various winds (the warm, crimson, evil and lovers' winds), which according to folklore, inhabit Iran. They sweep the viewers from place to place across the Iranian landscape, introducing the incredible variety of life and scenery in Iran. The camera, defying gravity, with smoothness and agility, provides a bird's eye view, caressing minarets and domes, peeking over mountain tops beyond, gliding over remote villages to reveal the life enclosed within the high mud-brick walls, bouncing along with the local wildlife, following the rhythmic, sinuous flow of the oil pipelines and train tracks, and hovering over the mirror-like mosaic of the rice paddies that reflect the clouds and sky. The film is a testimonial to the Iranian landscape and people over which so many dynasties and kings have ruled and have, in turn, passed away. Ironically, on the tenth anniversary of the completion of the film, yet another seemingly powerful dynasty (Pahlavi) has fallen, leaving, as the film points out, the land and the migrating tribal nomads who have survived more or less intact for centuries.
Upon completion of the film, the Ministry of Culture and Art decided that Lamorisse had not sufficiently emphasized the industrialization of Iran. So he was called back to film additional sequences documenting that progress. This task was never completed, because the helicopter crashed while filming the Karaj Dam near Tehran, plunging Lamorisse and his crew to their deaths. This film, whose storybrook style of narration is often contrived, does not purport to be a social document on Iran; nevertheless, it has never been shown publicly in theaters in Iran. ~ Hamid Naficy

Duration: 70 Minutes
35mm, Color
English Version: HERE
Farsi Version: HERE
Extra Scenes (scroll all the way down): HERE

The Red Balloon (another wonderful film by Albert Lamorisse): HERE

Architecture Forum Lecture Series 2011 - 2012

2011-11-06T13:02:00.000-08:00

The Carleton University Forum Lecture Series was established in 1968 to bring local, national and international architects to Ottawa, to educate students, faculty and the general public about the profession and the impact that architecture has on design. Unique in Ottawa the annual lectures take place at the National Gallery and in the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism.

The full schedule can be seen by clicking on the poster on the left or you may check it out HERE.

Seven Wonders of the Muslim World

2011-10-17T05:56:00.000-07:00

Starting from six historic mosques in various parts of the Muslim world, a half-dozen pilgrims travel to Mecca in this gorgeously filmed PBS documentary. The journey sheds light on their beliefs and their lives as well as the beautiful worship sites. The seven wonders are Mecca's Grand Mosque, Jerusalem's al-Aqsa Mosque, Granada's Alhambra, Istanbul's Blue Mosque, Mali's Great Mosque of Djenné, Iran's Imam Mosque and Pakistan's Badshahi Mosque. © FindInternet TV

Watch it HERE.

Artists and immigration - Art, a language without words

2011-09-17T15:23:00.000-07:00

Aydin Aghdashloo

Below are two lectures recorded at Tirgan Festival, Toronto, July 2008 (in Persian):

1. Artists and immigration by Aydin Aghdashloo

A great contributor to Iran’s cultural heritage on many fronts, Aydin Aghdashloo is a celebrated painter, author, art critic, art historian, and a graphic designer. He graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from Tehran University. Early influences by Renaissance and Sandro Botticelli's paintings led to the creation of his most famous series, Memories of Destruction. Later on, Islamic art became his main inspiration, and Memories of Destruction went through a transformation where Aydin combined Islamic and Renaissance paintings as his inspiration simultaneously. He also used Persian miniatures extensively in post-1979 paintings, the best examples of which are Crumpled Miniatures series. His works have been exhibited internationally at numerous venues, including the Barbican Art Center in London, Arta Gallery in Toronto and the Christies’ auction in London and Dubai. Aghdashloo’s contribution to promotion of Iranian art and culture include his extensive lectures in many countries around the world and his publications of eight books and many articles on painting and Iranian art history. He is also a world expert in Iranian pre-Islamic and Islamic art history and artifacts.

Gholamhossein Nami

2. Art, a language without words by Gholamhossein Nami

With over forty solo and group exhibitions in Europe, Asia, Canada, and the US, numerous lectures and publications, and many international awards and recognitions, Nami has established himself as an undisputed master of visual arts. Nami’s commitment to education in visual arts has gone beyond academia (he has over thirty-five years experience in teaching art at various art universities in Tehran) and outreached the members of the community through many public lectures and workshops. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree from the School of Fine Arts in Iran and continued his education in the US and obtained his Master of Fine Arts from University of Wisconsin. Some of his paintings are part of the permanent collection of museums in Iran and the US, and his awards include "Golden Palm of Europe" award, "Oscar d'Italia 1985," "Statue of Golden Flame," International Parliament USA, The "Encyclopedia Iranica" Award (Columbia University, U.S.A. 2005), and "European Banner of the Arts."

Science and Islam

2011-09-15T16:23:00.000-07:00

Ehsan Masood's latest book is Science and Islam: A History. This tells the story of how science developed during Islam's imperial period from 800 to 1500. It is the official tie-in to a three-part documentary series on BBC Television presented by Jim Al-Khalili, Professor of Physics at the University of Surrey. Here you can watch the documentary:

1. The Language of Science
2. The Empire of Reason
3. The Power of Doubt

Iranian film opposing regimes of voyeurism

2011-09-10T23:32:00.000-07:00

A nice review by Jyotika Virdi on Negar Mottahedeh's book titled Displaced Allegories: Post-Revolutionary Iranian Cinema published in year 2008.

Three decades after the 1979 Iranian revolution and two decades since the start of global fascination with Iranian cinema, which is often compared to Italian neo-realism and Italy’s mid-twentieth century reinvigoration of world cinema, Negar Mottahedeh’s exegesis of post-revolutionary Iranian film underscores the dynamic alternative it presents to dominant Hollywood cinema, which is famously centered on a voyeuristic gaze ...

Click HERE for the link.

The Life of Muhammad

2011-08-24T04:03:00.000-07:00

HERE is a new fine documentary about The Life of Muhammad. Among the interviewed i can identify three types: critical, traditional, and intellectual views gathered under the same umbrella as i hadn't seen before. My respect for BBC! (Commenting is also very hot)

Wachtel on the Arts. CBC radio

2011-08-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

CBC radio presents a weekly feature with celebrated arts journalist Eleanor Wachtel. It presents hour-long in-depth interviews with artists, architects, composers, filmmakers, theater and opera directors and choreographers from Canada and around the world. Artists talk about their latest work as well as their personal lives and the events and ideas that shaped them as creative people.

http://www.cbc.ca/wachtelonthearts

Art Tomorrow. contemporary art magazine

2011-08-13T16:23:00.000-07:00

Art Tomorrow is an elegant magazine about contemporary non-western (particularly Iranian) art. Domestic and International authors contribute in this bilingual magazine. Each volume includes an artist profile, essays on a selected contemporary topic (such as contemporaneity in art: characteristics and representations; art and collective memory; contemporary art and trans-locality; etc), domestic and international exhibition and event review, art market news, etc. Here is the website:

http://www.artomorrow.com

The Qur'an on Channel 4

2011-08-04T12:39:00.000-07:00

Part of a groundbreaking documentary by Emmy and BAFTA award-winning English documentary film maker Antony Thomas. The full version is not available online at the moment due to copyright issues.

How to Architect. videos about architecture

2011-07-15T18:04:00.000-07:00

A visual and neat introduction to architecture and different aspects of it by Doug Patt. Useful information are provided on YT in very short time sluts and in a quite generous manner in my opinion.

What is missing is some kind of chronological order though and sometimes the viewer may feel s/he is facing with scrambled pieces of information. What i appreciate the most is its quickness which makes it effective in introducing architecture to general public.

Doug’s new book with the same title will also be published by MIT Press in the near future. At last, for even more videos you may want to look into his YT channel directly.

Website: http://howtoarchitect.com/

Modern Art Movement in Iran

2011-07-11T22:42:00.000-07:00

Javad Mojabi

Below is an interesting lecture (in Persian) by Javad Mojabi about Modern Art Movement in Iran. Tirgan Festival, Toronto, July 2008

Javad Mojabi was born in 1939, in Qazvin , Iran . He completed his bachelor degree in Law and obtained his PHD in Economy, from Tehran University . Mojabi has published more than 100s of critical works and essays on art and culture in journals and magazines. He is well known for his poems, collections of short stories, children stories, satire, satirical sketches, essays, research, and plays.
He started his poetry from the 60's along with short story writing and research on modern painting in Iran. Mostly focusing on social themes, he is a poet of philosophy and thought, which he sweetens with a blend of satire.
In one of his speeches at Pen, New York , October 30, 1999 Mr. Mojabi says: "…When writing, we, poets and writers, are the explorers of our solitude and individuality; and the others and the world discover them in us and reveal themselves through our writing. We begin with ourselves and reach the others. We start from our own culture, and through a deep recognition of our own identity, recognize the cultures of other people, our world relatives. Thus, world cultures are united through the language of art. This is a world that had been unified in the beginning; and now, after many centuries, it is moving in the direction of an ineluctable unity..."

Main article (in Persian) HERE

Representations of the intellectual

2011-06-29T23:45:00.000-07:00

Edward Said

Below is the link to Edward Said original lectures on BBC Radio 4 made in year 1993 which later turned into a book with the same title. Topics include definition and role of intellectuals, their problems of loyalty and nationalism, exile opportunities, the notion of the non-academic or amateur intellectual, how to speak the truth to power, and how far an intellectual should participate in the public sphere:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00gmx4c/episodes/player

Photo credit: Brigitte Lacombe

Simon Schama's Power of Art

2011-02-23T21:13:00.000-08:00

This is not a series about things that hang on walls, it is not about decor or prettiness. It is a series about the force, the need, the passion of art... the power of art.

Van Gogh
Picasso
Caravaggio
Bernini
Rembrandt
David
Turner
Rothko

A BBC Production

Omar Khayyam, The Poet of Uncertainty

2011-02-23T20:52:00.000-08:00

Omar Khayyam (Persian: عمر خیام), (born 1048 AD, Neyshapur, Iran—1131 AD, Neyshapur, Iran), was a Persian polymath, mathematician, philosopher, astronomer, physician, and poet. He also wrote treatises on mechanics, geography, and music. More info HERE.

BBC Documentary by Sadegh Saba here:

Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

Picture: Tomb of Omar Khayyám Neishapuri in Neishapur, Iran

The Future of Secularism and the Public Role of Religion in Iran

2011-02-22T18:42:00.000-08:00

Lake Forest's College Islamic World Studies Program presents:

The Future of Secularism and the Public Role of Religion in Iran

An International Conference

March 27th - 28th, 2010

Lake Forest College

All six panels can be found HERE

Views from Iran with Laura Secor

2011-02-22T00:36:00.000-08:00

Below is a fair view about reform movements in contemporary Iran by Laura Secor.

The original link HERE

Agora Philosophical Forum

2011-02-13T22:06:00.000-08:00

Here is Agora lecture series (in Persian) about Liberty, Modernism(s), Democracy, etc with focus on Iran - and comparatively neighbor countries - hosted by Ramin Jahanbegloo and his guests at the University of Toronto.

http://vimeo.com/agora

Ramin Jahanbegloo is a well-known Iranian-Canadian philosopher. He received his B.A. and M.A. in Philosophy, History and Political Science and later his Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Sorbonne University. In 1993 he taught at the Academy of Philosophy in Tehran. He has been a researcher at the French Institute for Iranian Studies and a fellow at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University ...

UPDATE:

Documents (in English/Persian)

CaféLitt. Not a place, but a culture

2011-02-12T20:48:00.000-08:00

CaféLitt is a cultural group based in Montreal. They are a well-stablished group with Persian and Francophone events.

About: CaféLitt is not a place; it is a gathering of minds. We are a group of mostly Persian young students, scholars and professionals who gather every Thursday evening around 19h00 to discuss various subjects and share different ideas, ranging vastly from history to science, from literature to fine arts. We started these gatherings on Jan 17th, 2006 with 5 people and have reached an average weekly audience of about 40 people. Each week, one of us takes the responsibility of presenting a topic for about an hour in a subject s/he is intimately familiar with or has an expertise in. Afterwards, the evening turns into a discussion forum and all members of the audience will have an opportunity to ask their question(s) and share their points of view ...

Their other activities in summary include: CaféCinema, BookClub, CaféTheatre, CaféScience, and CaféPhilo.

Website: http://cafelitt.ca

Religious Modernists and the Woman Question

2011-02-10T10:55:00.000-08:00

Ziba Mir-Hosseini

This is an interesting article titled Religious Modernists and the Woman Question: Challenges and Complicities by Ziba Mir-Hosseini. She is an anthropologist who specializes in Islamic law, gender, and development.

Ziba has been a Hauser Global Law Visiting Professor at New York University School of Law since 2002. She has also been a senior research associate at the Middle East Institute and at the Centre of Islamic and Middle Eastern Law (CIMEL) at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London.

Read the article HERE

Eric Hooglund (ed.) Twenty Years of Islamic Revolution: Political and Social Transition in Iran since 1979, Syracuse University Press, 2002, pp 74-95.

Photo Credit: Nora Feller/ASMA

Iranian Languages

2011-02-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

Below is an interesting lecture about Iranian Languages and Language Policy and Rights in Iran presented by Dr Jaffar Sheyholislami in Ottawa in November 2010.

Jaffer Sheyholislami took his PhD from the School of Linguistics and Language Studies at Carleton University. He is presently an Assistant Professor in Applied Linguistics and Discourse Studies at Carleton University. His research interests include: Critical Discourse Analysis, Language and Media, Language and Identity, Writing in Academic Settings, Language Policy and Planning and Kurdish Language and Linguistics.
Picture: Linguistic Composition of Iran, S. Bruk and V. Apenchenko, Atlas Narodov Mira (Moscow, 1964)

Ways of Seeing

2011-02-10T02:46:00.000-08:00

Ways of Seeing is a 1972 BBC four-part television series of 30 minute films created chiefly by writer John Berger and producer Mike Dibb. Berger's scripts were adapted into a book of the same name (see the picture).

The series and book criticize traditional Western cultural aesthetics by raising questions about hidden ideologies in visual images. The series is partially a response to Kenneth Clark's Civilisation series, which represents a more traditionalist view of the Western artistic and cultural canon.

Episode 1
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

Episode 2, Female Nude
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4

Episode 3, Oil Painting
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Episode 4, Advertising
Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3

Islamic Architecture and Art

2011-02-09T23:42:00.000-08:00

In this post you can listen to a lecture titled Islamic Architecture, Science, Art and Spirituality made by Seyyed Hossein Nasr in Ottawa in October 2007 Islamic History Month Canada.

Dr Nasr (born April 7, 1933 in Tehran) is an Iranian University Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University. In the picture you see the cover page of his related book titled Islamic Art and Spirituality.

Note: The lecture starts at min 12:00.

Men of Ideas

2011-02-09T23:06:00.000-08:00

HERE is the link to the YT channel presenting the television series Men of Ideas hosted by Bryan Magee. Bryan Edgar Magee (born 12 April 1930) is a noted British broadcasting personality, politician, and author, best known as a popularizer of philosophy.

His book, The Story of Philosophy, also covers the history of Western philosophy. In the picture you see the cover page of the book.

Architecture Forum Lecture Series 2010 - 2011

2011-02-09T13:09:00.000-08:00

Carleton University
Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism
Forum Lecture Series 2010 - 2011

The Forum Lecture Series was established in 1968 to bring local, national and international architects to Ottawa, to educate students, faculty and the general public about the profession and the impact that architecture has on design. Unique in Ottawa the six annual lectures take place at the National Gallery and in the Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism.

More info HERE

Chomsky visiting Ottawa

2011-02-07T22:47:00.000-08:00

Noam Chomsky

World-renowned speaker Noam Chomsky will be the guest of the Institute of Cognitive Science at Carleton University this April.

More info HERE

Photo Credit: John Soares

UPDATE:
April 8, 2011

[1:00pm] Language and the Cognitive Science Revolution(s)

[4:00pm] Democracy and the Public University: A Conversation with Noam Chomsky

The Rise of Intellectual Reform in the Islamic World

2011-01-29T11:53:00.000-08:00

GREAT ISSUES FORUM
Public Programs for the Public Mind
The Graduate Center
The City University of New York
April 2010

Iran, Seven Faces of a Civilization

2011-01-28T23:24:00.000-08:00

About the film: Drawing on historical and archeological evidence, this fascinating documentary by Dr. Farzin Rezaeian reconstructs 7,000 years of Iranian history. The film’s advance animation techniques bring ancient wonders to life, giving an unprecedented look at Iran’s historical and cultural achievements.

Watch it HERE
More info HERE

Shi'ism in Need of Reform

2011-01-28T15:35:00.000-08:00

Abdolkarim Soroush

Lecture | January 20 | 6:30-9 p.m. | Martin Luther King Jr. Student Union, Tilden Room

Abdolkarim Soroush is an Iranian thinker, reformer and Rumi scholar. He is a well-known figure in religious intellectual movement in Iran. Professor Soroush is currently a visiting scholar at George Washington University in Washington D.C. He was also affiliated with other prestigious institutions, including Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Columbia, the Leiden based International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World (ISIM) and the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin.
Some of Soroush's honors include:

* 2004 Erasmus Prize
* 2005 Time 100 most influential people
* 2008 Prospect magazine's 7 of 100 most influential intellectuals in the world
* 2009 Foreign Policy magazine's 45 of 100 world's elite intellectuals
* 2010 Foreign Policy magazine's 40 of 100 top global thinkers
Watch the video here: Part 1 - Part 2 - Part 3 - Part 4 - Part 5

Photo Credit: http://www.drsoroush.com

Celebrating Tirgan, an ancient Iranian festival

2011-01-12T21:28:00.000-08:00

Tirgan festival is arriving again and i encourage everybody to participate!
This year they have a call for artists too.
Here you can find more information:
http://www.tirgan.ca

Third biennial Summer festival, July 21-24, 2011 in Toronto, Canada