Announcement: Trajectories of Dissent

On 29 February 2012, the European Institute at University College London will be hosting a panel discussion investigating the consequences of the so-called Arab Spring by contrasting its features in political and intellectual leadership with the end of communism in Europe some twenty years ago.

For more details click here

Muslim Cosmopolitanism or Heresy? Lessons for the Aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring

On 6 February, I gave a talk at the Middle East Centre of the London School of Economics (LSE), in which I discussed how three contemporary Muslim intellectuals from Algeria, Egypt and Indonesia have given new relevance to religion in the post-secular and post-Islamist Muslim world of the early 21st century.
 Their ideas appear to provide an alternative to both the hard secularism represented by either authoritarian or more benign regimes and the advocacy of an Islamic state. It appears that this third way resonates with the ambitions and expectations of those involved in the Arab uprisings of 2011.

This talk is based on my book Cosmopolitans and Heretics which has been nominated for the AAR Prize in the category for Best First Book in the History of Religions and the Asia Society's Bernard Schwartz Book Award. 

Click here to listen to a podcast of this presentation