In 1991, Tajikistan, a primarily Sunni Muslim Central Asian state, gained independence from the Soviet Union. The isolated mountain community of minority Shia Muslims living in the high reaches of the Pamir mountains retained their Islamic faith during the 70 year period of Soviet atheism through specific cultural features and practices--namely literature, domestic architecture, and ritual. In particular, the symbolic architecture of the traditional house, called cheed, was a covert asset that doubled as a marker of sacred space, history, and practice, illegible to the state’s gaze and policies of atheism enforced by the purges during the Soviet period. The cheed resurfaces in renewed and sometimes contested form in post-Soviet life amidst shifting constellations of religion, identity, law and politics.
Dr. Zahra N. Jamal is a Rice alumna and a Senior Research Associate at the Center for the Study of Gender and Sexuality and the Dept. of Political Science at the University of Chicago, where she directs the Civil Islam Initiative. She is also Assistant Director of the Center for the Study of American Muslims at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, and Scholar on the Isma'ili Tariqah and Religious Education Board USA. She was previously on the faculty at Harvard, MIT, and Michigan State University (MSU), and was also the Program Director of Central Asia and International Development at MSU.
Event Details
Tuesday, December 2nd, 2014
Lecture 12:15-1:15, Lunch reception at 11:30 (Registration Required) Fondren Library (3rd Floor, Kyle Morrow Room)
Rice University
6100 Main St.
Houston, TX 77005
Parking and Directions to Fondren Library
Please click here to view a map of Rice's campus. On the map, Fondren Library is building #27, a larger building toward the center of campus. Paid parking is available in the Founder's Court, Central Garage, and West Lot 1 which are all noted in yellow on the map. Please note that you must access the library through the front (East) entrance and you will be asked to present your ID (driver's license).
Detailed directions will be posted on the event website.
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