The Canadians have declared October “Islamic History Month.” I don’t know how I feel about this. No other religion gets this treatment, and I don’t think they should. I would argue against a similar move here in the US because I think it would further emphasize that Muslims are different. Multiculturalism in Canada is an odd duck, so maybe it makes more sense there.
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Iraqi Voices
Maybe instead of talking about them, we should be listening to them. This is a great project by a great group, and some really wonderful people whom I am privileged to know. Part of what happens when you bring a group of artists to speak to refugees (or really to speak to anyone), is that the subject of art comes up. When people hear that we are artists, they tend to start telling us about the art that they know and love. There stories begin to be told on the level of music and dance, picture and sound.
MLT – Extremism and New Media, the Imam’s Circle
Sorry folks. I was on the extremism panel (not as an extremist) and I ditched the Imam’s Circle. For various reasons, I actually didn’t say much on the panel, but the main presenter, Aftab Malik, was quite good. I’ll develop some of the thoughts I had in a separate post. I didn’t attend the Imam’s Circle because I thought its composition reflected the tendency to construct, however inadvertently, a homogeneous face of Islam, particularly in its lack of Shi’ah representation. Technorati Tags: MLT