from around the world.
February 7, 2012 Leave a comment
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http://www.facebook.com/E.Asummerschool
https://twitter.com/#!/SummerSchool1
October 1, 2011 1 Comment
Ali Asani, professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic religion and cultures and chair of the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, has been named the director of Harvard’s the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program.
Established in 2005, the program aims to foster understanding between the Islamic world and the West through scholarship, teaching, and educational programming. As director, Asani will be responsible for coordinating the activities of the program, proposing outreach efforts to promote informed education about Islam and providing overall direction with the help of the program’s steering committee.
A world-renowned scholar on Islam and Muslim cultures, Asani has worked with students and educators from Texas to Pakistan and served on the American Academy of Religion’s task force on religion in schools. He lectures extensively on various aspects of the Islamic tradition.
via Harvard Gazette.
http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2011/10/3/asani-islam-harvard-program/
September 12, 2011 1 Comment
Ali Asani is Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures, Faculty of Arts & Sciences at Harvard University. He is a renowned specialist in the field of Sindhi literary studies. Michel Boivin interviewed him during his passage to Canada for a conference in May 2011.
How did you come to be interested in Sindhi literature? Did Annemarie Schimmel, who was your academic mentor, play a role?
I developed an interest in Sindhi literature for several reasons. While growing up in Kenya, I was always aware of my family’s ancestral roots in Sindh. My father, in particular, educated me about many aspects of Sindhi culture. I also learnt from him the important cultural and social roles that my grandfather and great-grandfather had played in the history of the Khojah community of Sindh. When I came to Harvard to pursue my studies, my interest in Sindhi was further sparked by Professor Annemarie Schimmel who, as you know, was one of the few western scholars to engage in research on Sindhi literature. The fact that my undergraduate and doctoral theses, both supervised by Professor Schimmel, focused on aspects of the Ismaili ginan literature helped consolidate my interest in Sindhi. Several ginans are regarded as examples of early Sindhi literature. In addition, Khojki, the script used in manuscripts to record the ginans and other literatures of interest to Sindhi Khojahs, is one of several vernacular or local scripts used to write the Sindhi language.
Continue at the source: Interview with Ali S. Asani, 2011 | Sindhi Studies Group.
September 9, 2011 Leave a comment
The webinar “The State of Muslims in America: Reflections on the 10th Anniversary of September 11th, 2001,” featured a presentation by Hussein Rashid of Hofstra University, welcomed participants from Miami, Washington D.C., and California among other location in the United States and beyond. The session was moderated by Outreach Center Curriculum Coordinator Anna Mudd. This webinar was the second in a series of programming on the 10th Anniversary of September 11th, 2001, including webinars for educators, lesson plans, and a campus wide panel discussion.
See a recording of this session here
August 31, 2011 1 Comment
Date: September 1, 2011 – 7:00pm – 8:00pm Speaker: Dr. Hussein Rashid
Join us for a presentation and discussion with scholar Hussein Rashid. As part of our programming surrounding the 10th anniversary of Sept. 11th, 2001, this webinar will explore the issues of Islamophobia with a focus on the progress and challenges that have developed in the ten years since Sept. 11th, 2001.
Register for this webinar here.
Dr. Rashid is an academic, activist, and lecturer. He received his MA and PhD from Harvard’s Near Eastern Languages and Cultures where his dissertation focused on the role of music as a means of integration amongst South Asian immigrants to the US and the UK. His larger research interest is the representation and self-representation of Muslims in America. Learn more about Dr. Rashid’s work here.
Once registered, participants will be given a URL for the virtual classroom location.
March 23, 2011 1 Comment
Richard Nelson Frye is an American scholar of Iranic and Central Asian Studies, and Aga Khan Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at Harvard University. His professional areas of interest are Iranian philology, and the history of Iran and Central Asia.
January 15, 2011 1 Comment
Video at the Source: http://www.generaleducation.fas.harvard.edu
October 22, 2009 1 Comment
Shenila Khoja-Moolji is a Master of Theological Studies (MTS) candidate at the Harvard Divinity School (HDS) and a lay minister for the Ismaili Muslim congregation in New York City. She graduated from Brown University in 2005 with concentrations in International Relations and Business Economics, and worked in investment banking before pursuing graduate work in Islamic Studies. Shenila Khoja-Moolji’s academic research interests lie in women’s studies and Shi’a Islam. She has served as a board member for the Aga Khan Education Board, which seeks to increase the educational achievements of students in the North East region. Most recently, Shenila Khoja-Moolji worked with the Aga Khan Academies on a market study project in the Syrian Arab Republic.
August 10, 2009 1 Comment
Professor Ali Asani has been named as the new Associate Director of the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program at Harvard University beginning June 1, 2009.
Prof. Asani is the Professor of Indo-Muslim and Islamic Religion and Cultures at Harvard with joint appointments in The Committee on the Study of Religion and Departments of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Sanskrit and Indian Studies and African and African-American Studies
Prof. Asani has played an important role in the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Islamic Studies Program since its inception in the Fall of 2006. Not only has he served on the Faculty Steering Committee, but he has also provided valuable insight to staff members involved in programmatic planning as they look at ways to incorporate Islamic culture, history, faith and perspectives into the academic and research activities at Harvard.
February 10, 2009 Leave a comment
Postdoctoral Fellowship Announcement
The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at Harvard University 2009 – 2010 Postdoctoral Fellowship Program for Advanced Historical Research in Islamic Art & Architecture.
The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture is pleased to invite applications for fellowships to conduct advanced historical research in Islamic art and architecture at Harvard University. Grants are intended principally for overseas scholars (preferably, but not exclusively, from Muslim countries) to support research in art and architectural history and archaeology. These fellowships are not intended to sponsor design, conservation, or development projects. We welcome applications both from established scholars and from recent post-doctoral graduates. All applicants must have a Ph.D. degree to be eligible.
September 26, 2008 1 Comment
The Iranian Studies Program of Concordia University is pleased to present:
Richard N. Frye, Agha Khan Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies, Harvard University
Iranian Civilisation Through the Ages
When: Saturday, Oct. 4, 7:30 p.m.
Where: De Seve Cinema, 1400 De Maisonneuve Blvd., West.
Free and open to the public.
Professor Richard Frye, Agha Khan Professor Iranian Studies at Harvard University and founder of the Harvard Center for Middle Eastern Studies, is renowned as a scholar of Iranian civilisation in the broad sense, from ancient to modern times, from the Zoroastrian through the Islamic periods, and from Turkey through Central Asia.
A historian and philologist, Frye has employed his knowledge of Persian and a range of ancient Iranian languages, along with Russian, German, Arabic, French, Pashto, Uzbek and Turkish, to produce ground-breaking scholarship related to the history, culture, and civilisations of Iranic lands.
For more information, visit the Iranian Studies website.
September 6, 2008 Leave a comment
It’s been underestimated that the Ottomans were multicultural, multilingual and multireligious and they have been idealized in a wrong way
Gila BENMAYOR
Professor Gülru Necipoğlu is Aga Khan Chair at the Art and Architecture Dept. in Harvard University. She is the owner of dozens of articles and the author of three in-depth books titled “Architecture, Ceremonial, and Power,” “The Topkapı Palace in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries,” and “The Age Of Sinan: Architectural Culture In The Ottoman Empire”. She educated tens of students at Harvard.
Necipoğlu is now living the happiest time of her life. Last year, she was accepted to the membership of the most prestigious institution in the United States: the American Philosophical Society. This year, Ms. Necipoğlu has been admitted to the American Art and Sciences Academy. She was accepted to the academy together with our Nobel Prize winning author, Orhan Pamuk.
Ottomans were multi-cultured
I had a long conversation with her recently. Ms. Necipoğlu , as a scientist having studies the Ottomans, history and art of Islam for years, is thrilled to be a member of the two prestigious American science foundations
Getting the Ottomans right – Turkish Daily News Sep 06, 2008.
June 24, 2008 Leave a comment
The Dynamics of Collaborative Innovation: Exploring the tension between knowledge novelty and reuse – Ned Gulley and Karim R. Lakhani
Tuesday, June 24, 12:30PM
Berkman Center Conference Room
This event will be webcast live at 12:30 PM ET on 6/24.
The success of open source software communities and Wikipedia have generated much interest in the mechanisms supporting collaborative innovation. These collaborative innovation systems are distinguished by their free revealing of knowledge and the ability of actors to reinterpret and repurpose existing knowledge created by others in making their own new creations. – complete at the source.
Karim R. Lakhani’s Bio.
Karim featured earlier at Ismailimail.
June 14, 2008 1 Comment
AKDN News, more photographs at the source
The honorary degree recipients of the 357th Commencement Exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts June 5, 2008
June 5, 2008 23 Comments
Prince Karim Aga Khan (L) and British author J.K. Rowling hold their honorary degrees during the 357th Commencement Exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts June 5, 2008. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Prince Karim Aga Khan (L) applauds as fellow honorary degree recipient British author J.K. Rowling stands to receive her honorary Doctor of Letters degree during the 357th Commencement Exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts June 5, 2008. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
Prince Karim Aga Khan receives an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Harvard University at commencement ceremonies June 5, 2008, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Photo by Robert Spencer/Getty Images
Boston Herald – The Aga Khan, left, and Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling, received honorary degrees during commencement exercises at harvard University today. The Aga Khan is the spiritual leader of 20 million Ismaili Muslims around the world.
NPR.org – The Aga Khan, left, and author J.K. Rowling, right, clap during Harvard University commencement exercises, Thursday, June 5, 2008 in Cambridge, Mass. Both received honorary degrees during the exercises. The Aga Khan is the spiritual leader of 20 million Ismaili Muslims around the world. Associated Press © 2008
The Aga Khan, left, receives an honorary degree from Marc Goodheart, secretary of the university, during Harvard University commencement exercises, Thursday, June 5, 2008 in Cambridge, Mass. The Aga Khan is the spiritual leader of 20 million Ismaili Muslims around the world. The Harvard-educated businessman and philanthropist is a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad.(AP Photo/Lisa Poole)
The Aga Khan (L) applauds after British author J.K. Rowling (R) received an honorary degree during Commencement exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, 05 June 2008. British author J.K. Rowling received an honorary Doctor of Letters degree during the ceremony. EPA/MATT CAMPBELL
The Aga Khan (L) and British author J.K. Rowling (C) listen as Anthony Christopher Woods (R) delivers the Graduate English Address and speaks about his experience as an Iraqi War veteran during Commencement exercises at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, 05 June 2008. British author J.K. Rowling received an honorary degree during the ceremony. EPA/MATT CAMPBELL
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The cover of Life magazine features a portrait of Aga Khan IV in his Harvard University blazer as he smiles and holds an armful of books, on the Harvard Campus, November 3, 1958. Photo by Hank Walker/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images |
Life Magazine Cover November 3, 1958 |
June 5, 2008 7 Comments
The edited/recorded clip of the event is available here for download. You will need Real Player 11 to watch the video.
Download video (7.62 MB)
Download Real Player
Click here for complete event, posted at Harvard
Watch live event here (not active)
http://livevideo.harvard.edu/
June 4, 2008 1 Comment
Kennedy To Receive Honorary Degree
Ailing senator will not be present tomorrow to accept accolade
Senator Edward M. Kennedy ‘54-’56 will be among 11 honorees receiving degrees from the University, according to a program circulated at Wednesday’s dinner for the distinction’s recipients. But unlike his 10 fellow recipients, he will not receive the degree at today’s Commencement exercises.
Kennedy was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor two weeks ago, and is recovering from surgery at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, N.C., making travel difficult.
In a highly unusual arrangement, Kennedy will be awarded the honor at “an appropriate future occasion,” said a Harvard spokesman, who added that the senator had originally been slated to attend the event.
Also receiving degrees will be spiritual leader, the Aga Khan; Yale developmental psychologist James P. Comer; Princeton art historian Wen C; Fong, Columbia neuroscientist Eric R. Kandel; federal judge Damon J. Keith, women’s historian Gerda Lerner, Stanford computer scientist John McCarthy, University of Chicago biologist Janet D. Rowley, author and commencement speaker J. K. Rowling, and former Harvard Medical School Dean Daniel C. Tosteson.
June 2, 2008 Leave a comment
Excerpts from the article:
Celebrating his 50th year as the Aga Khan last year, the former Leverett House resident has become a bridge between East and West, traditionalism and modernity.
In speeches across the world, he has pressed for more pluralistic attitudes to combat what he dubs the “clash of ignorances”—a retooling of professor Samuel P. Huntington’s “clash of civilizations.”
Asani said the Aga Khan has formalized the traditional Islamic obligation to serve the poor through the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), a group of nine agencies with an annual budget of $330 million that work to empower the poor in Asia and Africa.
In recent years, the Aga Khan has overseen hefty development projects, from a sprawling park in the center of Cairo to a major telephone company in Afghanistan. The Aga Khan’s newest project is a system of 18 high schools called Aga Khan Academies in the developing world that will be based on the International Baccalaureate curriculum.
The Aga Khan is known for his projects that use architecture to promote pluralism. In 1979, The architecture aficionado endowed a joint program between Harvard and MIT called the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture that aims to promote understanding of Islamic architecture in the West.
Complete article at The Harvard Crimson
May 15, 2008 1 Comment
By Ruth Walker
Special to the Harvard News Office
Princess Zahra Aga Khan ’94 came home to Harvard this week (May 13) to present a hopeful vision of what education in the developing world can be like.
The forum was in Askwith Hall in Longfellow Hall, at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The occasion was the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture, which she was there to give.
At a time when the world is grappling with issues of child-centered education, of women’s rights in Muslim societies, and of the loss of authentic local cultures under a wave of globalization, the princess spoke to all of these.
The two great needs for education in the developing world, she stressed, are quality and relevance. “Lacking in either, you will never produce a culturally independent society.”
She shared an overview of her part of her “family business,” so to speak: the social welfare department of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), one of the largest private development networks in the world.
It was founded by her father, Karim Aga Khan, who for over half a century has been the hereditary imam of the Ismaili branch of Shia Islam. Both father and daughter trace their lineage to Ali, cousin of Muhammad, and his wife Fatima, Muhammad’s daughter. And both father and daughter are graduates of Harvard College. He is a member of the Class of 1958.
May 15, 2008 3 Comments
Wednesday, May 14, 2008 By PETER F. ZHU, Crimson Staff Writer
Princess Zahra Aga Khan ’94 speaks about education in developing countries in Africa and Asia. The event took place Tuesday at the Graduate School of Education.
Princess Zahra Aga Khan ’94 said Tuesday evening that her audiences typically expect her to be sporting a hajib, as well a “long frilly dress and tiara.”
But Khan—speaking at the Graduate School of Education about teaching and learning in the developing world—came dressed in a dark suit instead.
Khan, director of the Social Welfare Department at the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), is the eldest child of The Aga Khan ’59, the current Imam of the Shia Ismaili Muslims. AKDN, founded by The Aga Khan, promotes social and economic development of societies in various regions of Africa and Asia, “focusing on the needs of the poor and ultra-poor,” according to Professor Ali S. A. Asani ’77, who studies Indo-Muslim cultures.
While Princess Khan’s responsibilities at AKDN also include coordinating health and building services programs, her talk focused specifically on AKDN’s experience in operating more than 300 schools throughout Africa and Asia.
She spoke about several case studies to provide insight into education in the developing world—including the East African nations of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania, as well as Pakistan, India, and the Central Asian countries of Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan.
According to Khan, post-colonial East Africa often promoted “not education for education’s sake, but for, shall we say, indoctrination and to build nationalism.”
“It is tempting for many people to think that government could provide all the answers,” Khan said, referring to the process of nationalized education in East Africa.
“The urge for mass education…is at once a fantastic thing, but there is a very high risk for a loss of quality,” she added.
In Pakistan, AKDN originally focused on educating women in traditional areas. But not only was the economy in those areas not developed enough to utilize this labor force, but social tension resulted from the marrying of men to more educated women, Khan said.
This experience led the organization to open schools for boys, she said.
Khan also said that India’s rural, isolated communities demonstrated the need to “be sensitive” of the “tension between education for global citizenship and being true to their cultures,” while post-Soviet Central Asian countries showed the importance of providing “relevant education,” including a “large component of technical and vocational education.”
Amyn Pesnani, a student at Harvard Business School, said that Khan “pointed out to me the importance of thinking ahead of any short-term social dislocations that might occur when providing long-term social benefits,” such as education.
Audience member Harris Sussman, who runs the M.N. Adamov Memorial Fund to assist blind people in Russia, said he admired AKDN’s ability to offer such a “wide scope of activities” while still “respecting and operating within these cultures.”
The Harvard Crimson
Related Post: Lecture: “Teaching and Learning in the Developing World” with Princess Zahra Aga Khan
May 13, 2008 Leave a comment
Tue., May 13 – “Teaching and Learning in the Developing World.” (GSE/Dean’s Distinguished Lecture) Princess Zahra Aga Khan, Aga Khan Development Network; with introduction by Ali Asani, Harvard University, and host Kathleen McCartney, GSE. Askwith Lecture Hall, Longfellow Hall, GSE, Appian Way, 5:30 p.m. Free and open to the public. Seating is limited, and reservations are encouraged
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