All You Wanted to Know About ISIS & Did Not Know You Should Ask
Town Hall Event at George Mason University
Thursday, October 16, 2014 6:00 PM EDT
Merten Hall, #1201
Join the Global Programs, Middle East Studies, Center for Global Islamic Studies, Political Science and Center for Global Policy (SPGIA) for a town hall event on ISIS.
Featuring...
Bassam Haddad, Director of the Middle East Studies Program and associate professor in the School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs
Maria Dakake, Chair and associate professor of Religious Studies
Peter Mandaville, Director of the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies and associate professor in the School of Policy, Government, and International Affairs
Jack Goldstone, Director of Center for Global Policy and Virginia E. and John T. Hazel Professor of Public Policy
“Everyone has something to say about the Islamic State in Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS). But only now. When ISIS or its predecessor was taking over towns in Syria last year, and when it grew out of Iraq’s chaos and calamity after the US invasion of 2003, it was just another news item. But when more and more interests were threatened, when the identity of the victims began to change, and when ISIS rolled into citiesin Iraq, it became a problem. Everyone (almost literally) started writing about the problem of ISIS. Incessantly! And the more mainstream media accounts one reads, the less one knows.
The challenge of writing or speaking about ISIS is muli-faceted, but rests mainly in the fact that we simply do not have enough corroborated information/knowledge about all aspects of the phenomenon, including how they link up together and to other countries. This state of knowledge on ISIS makes virtually any piece of writing sound somewhat interesting and credible. The outcome, in terms of writings on ISIS, where plausibility becomes synonymous with knowledge production, is important to observe and decipher.”*
Join us so we can raise the right questions!
* Excerpt from the Introduction to Jadaliyya’s “ISIS in the News: Extensive Media Roundup”
Sponsored by Global Programs, Middle East Studies, Center for Global Islamic Studies, Political Science and Center for Global Policy (SPGIA).
