5 March: Lecture: The Knowledge and Practice of Democracy in the Middle East

Date: Wednesday 5 March, 8 pm
Location: Aula Minderbroedersberg 4-6
Entrance: € 5,- / Students free

One consequence of mass higher education, the greater ease of travel, and the increasing accessibility of the new media is that Middle Easterners (Arab states, Iran, and Turkey) get in contact with (Western) democracy and argue over its meaning.

Democracy is an essentially contested concept, capable of many different interpretations and practices.

The recent experiences of how “democracy” figures – or is absent from – the voiced public imagination in various countries of the Arab world, Iran, and Turkey show how the struggle over people’s political imaginations has shifted over the past few decades to encompass more people, even if the voices of many are sidelined or silenced.

Speaker:
Dale Eickelman has conducted extensive research in the Middle East and North Africa since 1968. He published several books, e.g. Muslim Politics (2nd ed., 2004). He formerly served on the International Advisory Board of the Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World, and currently is senior advisor to the American University of Kuwait.

Source: Studium Generale