ILLUME covered last week’s UC Berkeley panel, as well. Check it!
Author: Fatemeh Fakhraie
I’m in The Huffy!
The UC Berkeley panel I was on last week was featured in The Huffington Post last week. The writer, Madhavi Bhasin, attended the event and gives Huffy readers a firsthand account.
In the words of the immortal Wayne Newton….
Danke schoën, Vienna!
I had a wonderful time in Vienna, and felt that the World Diversity Leadership Summit was a fairly successful one, despite the fact that a conference about diversity wasn’t incredibly diverse. This was the first year of the conference, however, and I believe that the next WDLS conferences will be more diverse than the ones that preceded them.
I was also interviewed in Austria’s daily Kürier newspaper. The interview ran in print, but not online. You can check out the PDF version of the Kurier interview here. It’s a bit sensational (the title translates: “USA: Europe is hostile to Islam”), but it’s a great chance to brush up on your German!
Hold on to your lederhosen.
I’m headed to Vienna, Austria!
I’ll be speaking at the World Diversity Leadership Summit 2010 about diversity in audiovisual print media and social networks.
According to the website, the entire thing will be streaming live (which means several hours ahead for people in the U.S.). I’m not sure about the extent of the live coverage, but maybe you’ll see me, maybe you won’t. Just like Carmen Sandiego!
Happy International Women’s Day!
I spoke with Voice of America as part of a focus story on female Muslim activists in honor of International Women’s Day.
I addressed the stereotypes of Muslim women in Western media outlets:
She is the editor of the Muslimah Media Watch website, where Muslim women discuss their image in media and popular culture. Fakhraie points to one disturbing example from Switzerland.
“During the minaret ban campaign, there was a poster that had this scowling Muslim woman and she appeared in front of this field of minarets, that looked like nukes through the Swiss flag, a very menacing image,” she said.
Check out the rest at the Voice of America article.
If you’re going to San Francisco…
…then I’ll see you there!
On March 9, 2010, I’ll be appearing on a panel discussion put on by UC Berkeley, titled Islam, Social Lives and Online Networking. I’ll be in wonderful company; joining me are a list of wonderful friends and inspiring contemporaries:
- Shahed Amanullah, CEO of altmuslim.com
- Wajahat Ali, Associate Editor of altmuslim.com, author of Goatmilk blog, playwright, and lawyer
- Fatemeh Fakhraie, Editor of Muslimah Media Watch
- Zeba Iqbal, VP of Council for American Muslim Professionals
- Zeba Khan, a social media consultant and writer and founder of Muslim-Americans for Obama
- Monis Rahman, CEO of Naseeb.com
- Imam Suhaib Webb, a contemporary American Muslim activist and scholar
Pretty amazing list of people, right?
Here’s the poster:
You can find out more about the panel here, and register to attend the (free) panel here. Come check us out!
Reflections on AMCLI in DC
I’ve been back from D.C. for awhile, but it’s taken me a bit to sit down and wrap my head around all the fantastic-ness that happened at the AMCLI retreat.
There were a lot of big names, and a lot of big ideas. Two of the speakers that really piqued my interest were John Esposito and Dr. Ingrid Mattson.
Professor John Esposito, whose new book The Future of Islam has just been released, discussed his book and touched on themes that play a large role in the Muslim communities, such as the importance of tradition and how it can lead to the deifying of tradition (the idea that tradition is as sacred as the text itself).
Dr. Ingrid Mattson, the head of the Islamic Society of North America, also discussed the importance of interfaith work and having Muslim communities engage with the larger communities that they live in.
Another big event was the constant snowfall on the Saturday before we left. I hadn’t seen snow so deep and crisp since I left Utah, so I enjoyed the pristine flakes even as I worried that my flight the next afternoon may be canceled.
All in all, another wonderful retreat weekend with wonderful people. Our final retreat is in Los Angeles, and I’m looking forward to (hopefully) warmer surroundings!
Have you been to Zahra’s Paradise?
Over at Jezebel, Latoya clues us in to a new online comic that reflects Iran’s current political crisis, called Zahra’s Paradise. It’s in several different languages, and it’s updated three times per week. Make sure to check it out!
Bill Maher = Big bag of FAIL
At Jezebel, Latoya Peterson has a great takedown of Bill Maher’s But I’m Not Wrong, which aired on HBO last weekend. During his show, Maher staged a “Muslim Dior” fashion show, and Latoya quotes yours truly about the ridiculousness of all this (not to mention the horrific copyright infringement–Dior should sue!):
Maher opens his bit by expressing shock over a newspaper article reporting that Saudi Arabia has had its first fashion show. He then bases the rest of his routine on lampooning the abaya, featuring white models in bare feet and shortened coverings who twirl around the stage as Maher lobs barbs at Islam in the style of a fashion announcer, conflating specific regions, Islam at large, and Saudi Arabia into one huge Orientalist mass of fail.
Ms. Fakhraie goes to Washington
I won’t be shaking up Capitol Hill, though. I’m in Washington, D.C., this week to meet up for my second AMCLI fellowship retreat!
The first retreat, held November 2009 in Tarrytown, New York, was absolutely amazing. We were sequestered away at the Rockefeller estate and a bit secluded–this gave us lots of time to get to know each other and work together. However, the D.C. retreat will be more interactive, and I’m incredibly excited to jump in and get started!
Fatemeh Fakhraie 
