"Islam, Mobilization, and Social Change" Conference

Richard Bulliet KeynoteThe Arab Uprisings that started in 2010—and the rapidly evolving political fortunes of Islamic political actors that followed in their wake—have prompted a renewed interest in questions relating to religion and social mobilization in the Muslim world. The "Islam, Mobilization, and Social Change: Historical and Comparative Perspectives" conference, organized by the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies in October 2013, brought together historians, political scientists, sociologists, and anthropologists to collectively explore the broader historical and cross-regional contexts in which previous and contemporary intersections of Islam and mass mobilization for social change occur.

Watch videos from "Islam, Mobilization, and Social Change" here

Panel 1, "Islam, Mobilization and Social Change: Themes & Theories" (Closed session)

Peter Mandaville (George Mason University), "Islam & Social Inquiry"

Paul Lubeck (University of California-Santa Cruz), "Theorizing the Problem Muslim Agency within Globalization Processes: Explaining the Intersection of the Global and Local in the Boko Haram Insurgency"

Ziad Munson (Lehigh University), "Looking for Islam: Religion and Popular Mobilization in the Muslim World"

Panel 2, "Islam and Mass Mobilization in the Premodern World" (Closed session)

Mohammed Bamyeh (University of Pittsburgh), "Anarchy, Civic Order and Mobilization in Islamic History"

Sumaiya Hamdani (George Mason University), "Da`wa and Dawla: Understanding "Revolution" in Pre-modern Islamic Thought"

Hayrettin Yucesoy (Washington University in St. Louis), "Al-Tabari on the Zanj Rebellion and the Abbasids"

Panel 3, "Islam, Empire and Social Mobilization in a Changing World Order" (Closed session)

Edmund Burke III (University of California-Santa Cruz), "Collective Action and Discursive Shifts: A Comparative Historical Perspective"

Ahmet Karamustafa (University of Maryland), “'The Nexus of Sufism and Society' in the Early Modern Period, 1400-1800"

Huseyin Yilmaz (George Mason University), "The Ottoman Discourse on Rebellion"

Keynote Speech: Richard Bulliet (Columbia University), "An Islamic Historian’s View of Social Mobilization" (Open to the public) 

Panel 4, "Islam and Mass Movements in the 20th Century: Comparative Experiences" (Closed session)

Robert Hefner (Boston University), "Sharia Ideals and Nationalist Mobilizations in Post-Reformasi Indonesia"

Neil Ketchley (London School of Economics), "Political Islam, Social Movements and the Global Repertoire of Contention (1912-1945): Sarekat Islam, Khilafat Movement and the Society of the Muslim Brothers"

James Pickett (Princeton University), "Persianate Islam in Central Asia as a Precursor to Soviet and Post-Soviet Social Movements"

Panel 5, "Islam and Mobilization in the Contemporary Arab World" (Open to the public)

Abdullah Al-Arian (Georgetown University-SFS Qatar), "The Muslim Brotherhood’s New Ordeal: Lessons from Egypt’s Revolutionary Moment"

Abdeslam Maghraoui (Duke University), "Allah Made Me Liberal: Experimental Evidence from Norm Violations Among Moroccan Youths"

Bassam Haddad (George Mason University), "The Arab Uprisings: Causes and Dynamics"