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Islam awareness over airwaves
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by Alex Brousseau
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
The University of Wisconsin will launch a 12-month project early this fall titled “Inside Islam: Dialogues and Debates,” an interactive program to provide information and discussion about Islam around the world.
Spearheaded by the global studies department, the program will be hosted by nine area study centers as well as the Wisconsin Public Radio and the UW-Madison Division of Information Technology.
“First, through this project, we aim to promote peaceful knowledge about Islam by discussing it historically and in contemporary contexts with new media,” said B. Venkat Mani, associate professor of German and interim director of global studies. “Second, we want to disseminate academics’ expertise on Islam to communities outside the university.”
This multi-faceted program will provide several mediums through which people can discuss and debate topics of Islam.
“There are two major components,” said Steve Smith, associate director of global studies. “One is a series of radio shows through WPR’s “Here on Earth.” Second is the creation of a website that will have some stuff from the show, as well as a series of podcasts and debates about Islam. There will also be a lot of dissemination of results from research.”
WPR’s “Here on Earth” is hosted by Jean Feraca, a 25-year talk radio host. She has won multiple awards for her show “Conversations with Jean Feraca” and has also published several poetry and fiction anthologies.
“It was natural for us to work with her, because public dissemination of knowledge has to happen through the media,” Mani said. “[‘Here on Earth’] has been one of the best programs in discussing contemporary issues such as these.”
Feraca’s show “Here on Earth” aims “to decrease xenophobia and cultural parochialism by replacing fear of the other with fascination for the other” and to explore what it is like to be a global citizen, according to her blog.
DoIT will be participating through the creation and maintenance of the website, which will correlate with Feraca’s website as well, with special blogs and online chats, according to Mani.
“[This program] is very much tied into the rich history the university has in international studies and also the Wisconsin Idea,” Smith said. “The borders of the university are the borders of the world. It’s the idea that the research that goes on here is to be shared with the whole community.”
While the program will be run from here on campus, the program aims to hit a bigger audience through the radio and internet.
“This is not just for the UW community, but for constituents in Wisconsin and beyond,” Mani said. “It is designed as a worldwide discussion.”
Funding for this program is available through a grant received from the Social Science Research Council, under a program called “Academia in the Public Sphere: Islam and Muslims in World Contexts,” a program established to deepen the public’s understanding of Muslim peoples and their cultures.
The SSRC hopes to give out 35 grants over two years at $50,000 each, pooling from over 100 National Resource Centers and about 50 universities.
Anonymous (April 30, 2008 @ 10:58am):
So will the reasons for the riots, arson and murders over cartoons be discussed?
Anonymous (April 30, 2008 @ 12:40pm):
Interesting promotion of the upcoming program. I hope that the program attracts many. The more people who engage the issue the better. We must all "promote peaceful knowledge about Islam" because while we are doing so, the professed desire of the radical Islamists is to kill many more than can become involved. Maybe we can keep a running count of people killed in the name of Islam (through bombings, shootings, "Honor" killings, hangings, mutilations, beheadings, beatings, torture, and other means)with a count of the people participating in the program and listening to Ms. Feraca. Then we can learn whether efforts to "promote peaceful knowledge about Islam" attracts more people than we lose in the name of Islam during the same time period. I hope to hear long discussions between Ms. Feraca and Robert Spencer, Hirsi Ali, Geert Wilders, Andrew Bostom, Bridgette Gabriel and Steve Emerson. Too bad Ms. Feraca does not have a television show. She could discuss and analyze Palestinian TV programming for children and the Islamic sermons broadcast on Arab television stations (as shown on the MEMRI website) to demonstrate exactly how it is we can "promote peaceful knowledge about Islam" while the Arab nations and broadcasters are glorifying the killing and subjugation of infidels (us). P.S. Out of "respect" for Islam, will Ms. Feraca be wearing a burka?
Anonymous (April 30, 2008 @ 1:02pm):
Can we start with Muhammad personally beheading 600-900 members of the Qurayza tribe? Promote some "peaceful knowledge" about that one, Professor Mani.
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