"Directed, positive resistance.

This is what the two most successful groups in America over the past two decades, women and gays, have been so successful at effecting. Not only have they made enormous political, economic, and legal gains, they have radically altered the manner in which society views them as citizens, simultaneously promoting and defending their self-defined identity as women and gays. In these achievement (and whether we agree with the substance thereof is irrelevant) women and gays have exemplified the distinction between "indigenization," that is, carving out a space for oneself in society and "assimilation," that is, accepting the place in society assigned to one by the dominant group. In the case of Blackamerican Muslims, this is a critical distinction, for, as both blacks and as Muslims, experience has suggested that the dominant culture does not have all the answers and that in many instances accepting the invitation to be included in the latter might be tantamount to accepting admission into a burning building.[80]

-Dr. Sherman A. Jackson, Islam and the Blackamerican: Looking toward the Third Resurrection, pg. 168-9

(If you follow this blog and don't have this book by now....): :)

The Domestic Crusaders: A play about cultural scar tissue

http://www.examiner.com/x-17122-SF-Muslim-Examiner~y2010m4d15-The-Domestic-Crusaders-A-play-about-cultural-scar-tissue

Classes for next semester :)

I registered for the fall of 2010 today. These are the classes I'll be taking as of now, God willing:

V18. 0601 - APPROACHES TO METROPOLITAN STUDIES (with Neil Brenner)

A broad and interdisciplinary introduction to the field of urban studies, surveying the major approaches deployed to investigate the urban experience in the social space of the modern city. Explores the historical geography of capitalist urbanization with attention to North American and European cities, to colonial and postcolonial cities, and to the global contexts of urban development. Major topics include urban politics and governance; suburban and regional development; urban social movements; urban planning; the gendering of urban space and racial segregation in urban space.

V18.0230: Intersections: Gender, Race, and Sexuality in U.S. History and Politics

Drawing on the histories of African, Asian, Latino, European, and Native Americans of both genders and many sexualities, explores the complex and important intersection of gender, race, and sexuality in the United States from the 17th century through the 20th, in historically related case studies. Starting in the period of European imperialism in the Americas, it examines the ways that gender, race, and sexuality shaped cultural and political policies and debates surrounding the Salem witch trials; slavery, abolition, and lynching; U.S. imperialism in Puerto Rico and Hawaii; the politics of welfare and reproduction; cultural constructions of manliness, masculinity, and citizenship; and responses to the AIDS pandemic in a global context.

K20.1478: The (Post)Colonial Arabic Novel

Colonialism left indelible marks on the cultures and societies of its colonized subjects. While nation-states have emerged, the colonial legacy and its various effects continue to haunt post-colonial societies and the modes in which they represent their history and subjectivity. The novel is a particularly privileged site to explore this problem. This course will focus on the post-colonial Arabic novel. After a brief historical introduction to the context and specific conditions of its emergence as a genre, we will read a number of representative novels. Discussions will focus on the following questions: How do writers problematize the perceived tension between tradition and modernity? Can form itself become an expression of sociopolitical resistance? How is the imaginary boundary between West and East blurred and/or solidified? How is the nation troped and can novels become sites for rewriting official history? What role do gender and sexuality play in all of the above? In addition to films, readings (all in English) may include Edward Said, Frantz Fanon, Naguib Mahfuz, al-Tayyib Salih, Abdelrahman Munif, Ghassan Kanafani, Elias Khoury, Sun`allah Ibrahim, Huda Barakat, Assia Djebbar, and Muhammad Shukri.

and V45.0001: ELEMENTARY FRENCH LEVEL I

"Europe struggles with Muslim dress code"

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100416/ap_on_re_eu/eu_europe_burqa_ban

Thanks Mahassin

"Drill and Upbringing" from Islam Between East and West

The most striking and wonderful things that old books can offer us are the stories about conversion and moral revival. The worst sinners and tyrants turned overnight into humble martyrs and defenders of justice. It is always a spontaneous event; there is no process of reforming or influencing. The question is one of a move in the depths of the soul, of an experience existing together with an energy of a completely inward nature which by its own force completely changes a man. This transformation belongs to man and that is why there is no process, casualty, conditionality, causes, and consequences, or even a rational explanation. The essence of this drama is freedom and creativity. [...]

Also, this is why drill has no influence on the moral attitude of man. You can drill a solider to be tough, skillful, and strong, but you cannot drill him to be honest, dignified, enthusiastic, and brave. Those are spiritual qualities. It is impossible to impose a belief by means of decree, terror, pleasure, violence, or force. Every pedagogue can give a number of examples of how children resist persistent guidance in one direction and how they can consequently develop an interest in completely opposite behavior. This is due to the "human quality" of man. Man cannot be drilled like an animal. The inefficiency of drill and the uncertainty of education are the "palpable" proof that man is an animal endowed with a soul - that is, with freedom. [6] This is why every true upbringing is essentially self-upbringing and a negation of drill. The aim of true upbringing is not to change a man directly (because, strictly speaking, that is not possible) but to incite an inner stream of experiences and to cause an inner decision to the benefit of good by means of example, advice, sight, or the like. Beyond that, man cannot be changed; only his behavior may be changed, and that could feigned or temporary. Behavior which does not engage our deepest will is not an upbringing but rather a drill. Upbringing includes our participation, our effort. This is why the result of upbringing is always different and cannot be forsaken.

-Islam Between East and West by 'Alija 'Ali Izetbegovic, pg. 113-5

“There’s something reverent about country music”

http://www.altmuslim.com/a/a/n/2472/

Take This Hammer - Video with James Baldwin in San Francisco in the spring of '63

https://diva.sfsu.edu/bundles/187041

poetic vision tour on myspace

http://www.myspace.com/poeticvisiontour

ASUC Senate Still Undecided on Vetoed Divestment Bill

http://www.dailycal.org/article/109089/asuc_senate_still_undecided_on_vetoed_divestment_b

USA Today: Controversy shrouds Muslim women's head coverings

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-04-14-headscarves-muslim_N.htm

via Rika