Anyone needing special arrangements to accommodate a disability is encouraged to contact the Interim Events Coordinator  at (858) 822-5297 or iicastemp@ad.ucsd.edu two weeks in advance.

Sponsored by UCSD Center for the Humanities, the Dean of Arts and Humanities, the Middle East Studies Program, the Department of History, the Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies (IICAS), and the Burke Lectureship in Religion and Society.

For questions regarding the event please contact the Events Coordinator at (858) 822-5297 or iicastemp@ad.ucsd.edu.

Biography: Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl, the Omar and Azmeralda Alfi Professor of Law at UCLA Law School, is the leading authority on Islamic law in the U. S. and a major contemporary Islamic thinker.  At UCLA he teaches Islamic law, National Security law, Law and Terrorism, Immigration, Human Rights, and International law.  He previously taught Islamic law at the University of Texas at Austin Law School, Yale Law School and Princeton University. He holds degrees from Yale University (B.A.), University of Pennsylvania Law School (J.D.) and Princeton University (M.A./Ph.D. in Islamic Studies).  Dr. Abou El Fadl received formal training in Islamic jurisprudence in Egypt and Kuwait, earning the highest rank of mastery among jurists.

In 2007, in recognition of his contributions to the field of human rights, Dr. Abou El Fadl received the prestigious University of Oslo Human Rights Award, the Lisl and Leo Eitinger Prize.  He was also awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Oslo.  In 2005, Dr. Abou El Fadl was named a Carnegie Scholar in Islamic law.

As a seasoned expert in both Islamic and American law, Dr. Abou El Fadl provides a unique and unusual perspective on the current state of Islam and the West. He regularly provides expert testimony in a wide variety of cases ranging from human rights and political asylum to terrorism, national security, and international and commercial law.  He is a strong proponent of human rights, serving on the Advisory Board of Middle East Watch, and previously on the Board of Directors of Human Rights Watch. He was also previously appointed by President George W. Bush as a commissioner to the U. S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Dr. Abou El Fadl is noted for his scholarly approach to Islam from a moral point of view. He writes extensively on universal themes of morality and humanity, and the notion of beauty as a moral value.  Dr. Abou El Fadl is a staunch advocate and defender of women's rights, and has written extensively on issues related to women. As a critical and powerful voice against puritan and Wahhabi Islam today, he regularly appears on national and international television and radio including CNN, NBC, PBS, NPR, and Voice of America (broadcast throughout the Middle East). His most recent work focuses on issues of authority, terrorism, tolerance, Islam and Islamic law.

He is the author of ten books and over fifty articles on Islamic law and Islam. His recent books include: The Search for Beauty in Islam: A Conference of the Books (Rowman and Littlefield, 2006); The Great Theft: Wrestling Islam from the Extremists (HarperSanFrancisco, 2005); Islam and the Challenge of Democracy (Princeton University Press, 2004); The Place of Tolerance in Islam (Beacon Press, 2002); And God Knows the Soldiers: The Authoritative and Authoritarian in Islamic Discourses (UPA/Rowman and Littlefield, 2001); Speaking in God's Name: Islamic Law, Authority and Women (Oneworld Press, Oxford, 2001) and Rebellion and Violence in Islamic Law (Cambridge University Press, 2001).

His personal library contains over 6500 Islamic books and manuscripts, some dating from the thirteenth century.

"Violence and Votes in India: The 2002 Riots and Elections and After"
With Professor Steven Wilkinson
University of Chicago

Thursday, May 8, 2008
4:00 PM - 5:30 PM
Social Sciences Building (SSB) Room 107
This event is free and open to the public.

Paper Abstract: This paper tries to understand why communal riots broke out in Gujarat in the spring of 2002, and their effect on the subsequent 2002 election in the state, when the BJP won a decisive victory over the Congress. Why did violence break out in 2002, but not before the 2007 elections in the state? And more generally why does violence take place in Indian states at some times and not others?

Biography: Steven Wilkinson is an Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Chicago, where he is also Chair of the Committee on Southern Asian Studies. He has worked on ethnic conflict and violence, and on clientelist politics, and he is currently working on a broad comparative book on colonial institution building and its legacies for democracy, governance and conflict. His books include Votes and Violence: Electoral Competition and Ethnic Riots in India (Cambridge, 2004), and an edited book with Herbert Kitschelt on Patrons, Clients or Policies (Cambridge, 2007).

Directions and parking information are available here.

Anyone needing special arrangements to accommodate a disability is encouraged to contact the Events Coordinator  at (858) 822-5297 or iicastemp@ad.ucsd.edu two weeks in advance.

Sponsored by the Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies (IICAS).