The International Studies Public Forum, Department of Political Science, and Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies present

“Islamism, Humiliation and the Mobilization of Masculinity”
with Roxanne L. Euben, Wellesley College

Thursday, May 2, 2013
5:00-6:15 p.m.
Social Science Plaza A, Room 1100

What does the rhetoric of "humiliation" mean and do when Islamists invoke it in connection with provocations such as the "Innocence of Muslims" video (the one that precipitated widespread protests across Muslim-majority societies in September of last year)? This talk aims to analyze this question through exploring the meaning and significance of humiliation in Islamist discourse. It explores why humiliation has become such a powerful rallying cry for Islamists at this particular moment in time and has resonated so widely among Muslims in general. The talk also covers how analyzing these arguments and resonances help explain the dynamics of several recent international flashpoints between Muslims and non-Muslims, such as the protests that erupted over the "Innocence of Muslims" video. Finally, it looks at potential commonalities in the way "humiliation" is used across cultures, i.e. not just in Muslim-majority societies, but also in the U.S.

Roxanne L. Euben is the Ralph Emerson and Alice Freeman Palmer Professor of Political Science at Wellesley College. She holds a Ph.D. from Princeton University in politics and near eastern studies and a B.A. from Wesleyan University. Her research is in an emerging field called comparative political theory, with a specific focus on the relationship between Islamic and Euro-American political thought. Euben is the author of Enemy in the Mirror: Islamic Fundamentalism and the Limits of Modern Rationalism (Princeton University Press, 1999), Journeys to the Other Shore: Muslim and Western Travelers in Search of Knowledge (Princeton University Press, 2006) and, with Muhammad Qasim Zaman, Princeton Readings in Islamist Thought: Texts and Contexts from al-Banna to Bin Laden (Princeton University Press, 2009). She is currently working on a book on humiliation.

For further information, please contact Sandy Cushman, scushman@uci.edu or 949-824-3344.