I've been listening for the last few months to an extremely interesting series on Islam from Wisconsin Public Radio in Madison. Inside Islam, a collaboration between the University of Wisconsin at Madison and WPR's program, Here on Earth: Radio Without Borders, has featured great guests rarely invited by traditional media, including secular and religious artists, novelists, scholars, comedians, bloggers, journalists, and activists. They have certainly set an excellent example for how the discussion of Islam can go beyond the security issue. This week they're featuring Qantara.de, a dynamic web portal that allows Muslim and non-Muslim Germans to have a frank dialogue about Islam from a diversity of perspectives. The radio series' upcoming broadcasts include a variety of topics: Islam and science, Muslim women artists and writers, images of the Prophet Muhammad, and faith conversion stories. Here at the University of Colorado at Boulder, we're working to emulate this worthy effort by creating a radio series on Muslim issues in the Mountain West. If you can help in any way make this happen, please get in touch with me. The media in the region think the number of Muslims here is not significant enough to warrant such special treatment, but why can't the Denver Post or Colorado Public Radio for instance do a series on Islam in Colorado or the Mountain West? Official estimates put the number of Muslims in the Denver Metropolitan area alone at 20,000, and our research is revealing some interesting historical connections between Islam and the American West. It's simply a matter of will; the compelling material is abundant.
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi
January 24, 2010
For almost six years the Swiss intellectual, Tariq Ramadan, had been barred from entering the United States, but no more. Thanks to a direct order from President Obama and Secretary Clinton, Ramadan will no longer be denied an entry visa. This is a major victory for critical debate. I'm sure requests to speak at conferences are already pouring in. I saw Ramadan speak at the last American Academy of Religion conference in Montreal and you can disagree with his ideas, but he's a great, construc... Continue reading...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi
January 19, 2010
As I watch the devastating pictures of Haiti and read about the horrifying stories of people left to scramble for food, shelter and dignity, I can't help but think of the ritzy extravagance of Dubai and its recent rejoicing over the world's tallest skyscraper which cost more than $1.5 billion (that's the happy story. The sad story is that more than 1,000 workers died while building it). I can't resist asking the obvious question: how much of this money could have been used to help the poor ar... Continue reading...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi
January 18, 2010
A young Muslim businessman in Orange County recently launched onelegacyradio, a 24-hour Muslim radio station in Irvine, Calif. I haven't listened to any of their programs yet, but judging from their schedule and program description online, the topics are quite engaging and very topical, including such issues as youth radicalization, drug use, and many other social problems. One of their live shows is called Objection, a daily talk show hosted by an activist and an attorney specializing in nat... Continue reading...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi
January 15, 2010
It became ever clearer to me after our conference on Islam and the Media that journalists do not work hard to seek out alternative Muslim voices to counteract the extremism of radical Islam. Everywhere you look, the debate on Islam is acrimonious, unidimensional, and excessively security-based. Lots of Muslims have been hard at work creating new spaces for a different kind of debate that is constructive and less polarized. We had many of them here in Boulder during our conference and they cam... Continue reading...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi
January 11, 2010
Yesterday was the last day of our international conference on Islam and the Media organized by our Center for Media, Religion and Culture. Some amazing research is being done in many countries around the world about an interesting and vibrant Muslim media culture (broadcast, print, and digital) that is evolving with its new (mixed with old) production aesthetics, its own political economy, and certainly its own religious authority. We had stimulating discussions about these and many other to... Continue reading...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi
December 25, 2009
For those of you who understand French, you'll find this video of Tariq Ramadan speaking to the parliamentary commission on the burqa quite interesting. He told the 32 members (from both the right and left) of the commission that France was skirting the main problems it has with Muslims by focusing on extreme cases like wearing the burqa. This commission, Ramadan said, would be more productive if it tackled real problems of structural racism and social inequalities in France's suburbs. The ma... Continue reading...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi
December 14, 2009
Here is an interesting take on the implications of the anti-minaret vote in Switzerland. Ian Buruma argues that Muslims painfully remind Europeans of the loss of their own faith. Continue reading...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi
December 2, 2009
I mentioned Christopher Caldwell's book, Reflections on the Revolution in Europe, in a recent post. Here is a very good review by Laila Lalami in The Nation. Continue reading...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi
November 30, 2009
Here is a video from Ta'Leef Collective, an independent Muslim organization in the San Francisco Bay area, which grew out of a Zaytuna Institute outreach program to help converts to Islam and Muslim youth. The video describes their outreach initiatives in California and raises some interesting and rarely-addressed issues regarding the support provided after someone converts to Islam. This is from their mission statement, "Ta’leef Collective primarily serves seekers actively interested in
I... Continue reading...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi
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About Me
| Nabil Echchaibi |
| Boulder-Colorado |
I was born and raised in Morocco. My research focuses on the intersections between Islam, Arab popular culture and the media. I'm currently an assistant professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
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