Month: April 2010

Film Intra-faith

The My Name is (Not) Khan Saga Continues

islamoyankee

I recently published a criticism of the film “My Name is Khan,” and of MPAC for honoring the film. I was negligent in providing MPAC’s response. In the interests of being complete, attached are three documents. The original letter criticizing MPAC; MPAC’s response; and the response to MPAC. To be clear, I have not seen the movie, so cannot comment intelligently on this debate. However, it is important for me to show the diversity of thought in the Muslim-American community and the fact that we do have debates. I applaud both groups for having the courage to discuss this publicly…

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Conferences

ACLU Event: Face to Face: Confronting the Torturers #torture

islamoyankee

This week, the ACLU will be co-hosting an event at the annual PEN World Voices Festival. “Face to Face: Confronting the Torturers” will take place on Thursday April 29 at 9:30 p.m. at Joe’s Pub in Manhattan. The program will include dramatic readings meant to provoke reflection on what it means to “confront” torturers, both figuratively and literally (more information below). Tickets can be purchased online here or at the door.

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Conferences

Yosef Tobi at Hofstra

islamoyankee

Professor Yosef Tobi of Haifa University will be presenting a talk entitled “The Legal Status of the Jews in Muslim Yemen, 897-1948″ at Hofstra University on Tuesday, April 27 at 9:35 am in 201 Barnard Hall. This lecture is sponsored by the Middle Eastern and Central Asian Studies Program and the program in Jewish Studies at Hofstra. Dr. Tobi is one of the leading experts on the history of Yemenite Jews and has written several important books on the topic, including The Jews of Yemen: Studies in their History and Culture (1999). For a review of Dr. Tobi’s The Jews…

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Intra-faith

Contact MPAC to Express Your Concern about their Awarding of “My Name Is Khan”

islamoyankee

Updated call from the original, incorrect one I had posted earlier: Dear Concerned Muslim American Community Member: As Salaamu Alaykum. In February of this year, a new Bollywood film, My Name is Khan, opened in U.S. theaters. Although it is claimed that the film promotes tolerance and understanding, My Name is Khan presents our diverse and dynamic American Muslim community through a “Good Muslim/Bad Muslim” lens that does an injustice to our community and reproduces racist stereotypes about African Americans. For a cogent review of the film, please read Su’ad Abdul Khabeer’s article “Khan Breaks New Stereotypes (but Reinforces Old…

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