The Majlis The Majlis

🎙️ Dive into the heart of the Middle East's dynamic landscape with our Host Dr. Adnan Husain and special guest Dr. Juan Cole in Episode 35 of "The Majlis Podcast"! 🌍

In this episode, our host Dr. Adnan Husain embarks on a riveting exploration of the latest developments shaping the Middle East and the Islamic world. From bustling city streets to the corridors of power, Dr. Husain and Dr. Cole unpack the complex tapestry of politics, culture, and society that defines the region.

In this episode, we'll confront the stark realities of the ongoing situation in Palestine head-on. Amidst the tumultuous geopolitical climate, we'll explore the responses reverberating across North America to the harrowing genocide unfolding in the region. Dr. Husain and Dr. Cole provide a compassionate yet incisive examination of these crucial issues, shedding light on the urgent need for solidarity and action.

About our Guest

Dr. Juan Ricardo Cole is a public intellectual, prominent blogger and essayist, and the Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. Dr. Cole is very active on social media and uploads his insightful comments regularly on his website https://www.juancole.com/

You can find his latest book here "Peace Movements in IslamHistory, Religion, and Politics" Juan Cole, Editor and contributor. (London: I. B. Tauris/ Bloomsbury Academic, 2021).

In this episode, our host Dr. Adnan Husain and Queen's Professor Dr. Ardi Imseis, explore the complexities of international law, human rights and the urgent imperative of addressing the current situation of Palestine.

From the halls of academia to the corridors of power, "The Majlis" invites listeners to engage with pressing global issues through the lens of informed analysis and compassionate dialogue. Join us for a compelling conversation that transcends borders and amplifies the voices of those seeking truth, justice, and dignity for Palestinians.

Through meticulous research and unwavering dedication to justice, Imseis's scholarship offers invaluable insights into the legal frameworks that underpin the Palestinian struggle. As we unpack the historical narratives and contemporary realities shaping the question of Palestine, Imseis's work serves as a guiding beacon, challenging prevailing norms and advocating for a rights-based approach to peace and justice.

About Dr. Ardi Imseis (LLB, LLM, PhD):

Dr. Imseis joined the Queen’s Faculty of Law in 2018, following a 12-year career as a UN official in the Middle East, first with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), and then with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Full Bio Here⁠

Dr. Imseis' Latest Book: The United Nations and the Question of Palestine: Rule by Law and the Structure of International Legal Subalternity (Cambridge University Press, 2023).

In this special episode of both "the Majlis podcast" of the Muslim Societies-Global Perspectives project at Queen’s University in Kingston, ON and "Guerrilla Radio", an activist companion podcast to "Guerrilla History podcast", Adnan Husain and Matt Deitsch, part of the "Guerrilla Radio activist network", discuss campus organizing, the repression of Palestinian solidarity at universities, and how faculty and students have responded. A diverse group of students and faculty from Syracuse University joined the program to discuss the range of issues about academic freedom, the denial of expertise, the persecution of racialized communities, and repression of pro-Palestinian solidarity. They issued a call and petition making concrete demands that has articulated the shape of the intersectional struggle for freedom and justice in the neoliberal university and for Palestine.

Statement of Solidarity in Opposition to the Repressive Climate on US Campuses (Faculty for Justice in Palestine-Syracuse University)

USACBI, BDS call for Faculty of Palestine chapters: https://usacbi.org/faculty-for-justice-in-palestine/

Co-Host: 

Matt Deitsch is a filmmaker, writer, educator and organizer w/NNOC (National Network on Cuba), Friends of Swazi Freedom, Progressive International and in Democratic Socialists of America’s International Committee.  He has a political economy background through work at the IDEAs Institute, a development economics institute located in India.

Guests:

Sophie Clinton is from Syracuse, NY, and is currently studying to get their MPA at Syracuse University. Their research focuses on the study of global atrocities, historical memory, and genocidal patterns with a focus on contemporary Latin America. Their current project is on the ways in which family planning policies under the authoritarian regime of Augusto Pinochet played a role in queer erasure and heightened violence against the queer community. Their other research interests include historical atrocities in the Middle East and South Asia.

MoAde M. J. is a recent alum of Syracuse University and the University of Illinois at Chicago with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science. They are a poet, essayist, and creative nonfiction writer who pays special attention to the fields of regenerative agriculture and afrofuturism. They founded the @blackatcuse Instagram account to provide a platform for radical honesty about the experiences that Black and Indigenous students have at Syracuse University. 

Biko Mandela Gray is a writer and ethicist concerned about life, liberation, and freedom. He is also an associate professor of religion at Syracuse university, where he teaches on politics, ethics, and race. He is the author/co-author/co-editor of three books, all of which interrogate the religious and/or philosophical dimensions of antiblackness in the west.

Carol Fadda grew up in Beirut, Lebanon and is currently faculty member at Syracuse University. Her teaching and scholarship lie at the intersections of American Studies, transnational SWANA studies, and women’s and gender studies. She focuses in her work on critical engagements with race, gender, war trauma, carcerality, cross-racial solidarities, and transnational belonging across the US and the SWANA region.

Dana Olwan teaches in the Women’s and Gender Studies Department at Syracuse University. She is a core member of Faculty for Palestine-Syracuse University chapter.

In this episode, our host Dr. Adnan Husain talks with award-winning writer, multi-instrumentalist, composer and Professor of Intercultural Performing Arts, Dr. Rachel Beckles Willson. In this episode, Dr. Husain and Dr. Beckles Willson explore her latest book, 'The Oud: an illustrated history' while discussing the beauty and significance of this musical instrument, one of the most relevant in music cultures of the Middle East/North Africa and increasingly around the globe.
About...
Rachel Beckles Willson, https://om.rachelbeckleswillson.com
'The Oud: an illustrated history' : https://www.interlinkbooks.com/product/the-oud/
Hamza El Din: Greetings, Oud Duo

On this episode, Dr. Adnan Husain invites back Dr. Arial Salzmann, Associate Professor of Islamic and World History at Queen’s University, to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the 2003 Invasion of Iraq by the US military and its allies. With almost 500,000 Iraqis dead, the Iraq War continues to shape the modern Middle East. Together with Dr. Husain, Dr. Salzmann offers an in-depth analysis of the devastation of the Iraq war and reflects upon the war’s history, the contemporary social and political ramifications, and the continued lack of accountability for anyone responsible for the mass casualties in Iraq.

In this episode, Dr. Adnan Husain speaks with writer, photographer and M.A Student, Shahroz Khan, regarding his upcoming master's thesis on the Kafala system and the migrant labour regimes under neoliberalism. For the last two years, Shahroz has been working behind the scenes as the main producer of the Majlis and now Dr. Husain invites him to shed light on the Kafala system and help our audience historicize its emergence and understand how it became such a prominent part of labour system in the Middle East.  During the recent 2022 Fifa World Cup in Qatar, the Kafala system was a common topic in the media cycle, highlighting the constant abuse migrant workers experienced in the Gulf countries. Building on that, Dr. Husain and Shahroz discuss how the system is connected to the global neoliberal economy and connect it to other exploitative systems around the world. To follow more of Shahroz's work, you can connect with him on instagram.