The 2009 Campus Read will begin Fall Semester and the Campus Read Committee has decided that this year’s book will relate to the Muslim world.Why? Because BSC is hosting a visiting Fulbright Scholar, Dr. Indu Anand, Principal at Janki Devi Memorial College in New Delhi, India, through the Fulbright Visiting Specialists Program: Direct Access to the Muslim World. Dr. Indu Anand will be on our campus from September 20 through October 31, 2009.
What should we read? Please post your suggestions on the blog. The rules are few:
- The book must be in print and in a paperback edition to ensure that it is available and affordable.
- The book should be reasonably short…about 200-350 pages.
- The Campus Read selection should be an engaging read that will generate lively discussion.
These titles have already been suggested:
- Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Available at BSC Library: DJ 292. H57 A3 2007)
- Now They Call Me Infidel by Nonie Darwish (On order for the BSC Library)
- Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi (Available at BSC Library: PN 6747 .S245 P4713 2007; also available in DVD: Media PN 1997.2 .P47 2008)
- The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid (Available at BSC Library: PS 3558 .A42169 R45 2007)
We want to hear from you!
14 comments:
"Reading Lolita in Tehran" by Iranian author and professor, Azar Nafisi.
Posted on behalf of Vicki Voskuil and Erin Price, who suggested:
"Reading Lolita in Tehran" by Iranian author and professor, Azar Nafisi
I think the better question is: "WHY should students be made subject to read about the Muslim world?"
Sherman Alieie's book was universally intelligent because of the obvious racial bias in America. However, "Muslim" is not a racial issue - it is a religion.
Therefore, in my opinion, it is wrong to make any such book a required read, study, or endorsement to students attending BSC, or any state funded, public institute of education.
Posted on behalf of Kitty Netzer:
This website has information about The Reluctant Fundamentalist and includes an interview with the author about the book.
http://www.harcourtbooks.com/reluctant_fundamentalist
The Fulbright Scholar who will be on our campus is coming as part of a "Visiting Specialists Program: Direct Access to the Muslim World." The program aims to promote Americans’ understanding of Islamic civilization and the history, politics, and culture of today’s Muslim world. The program further aims to strengthen resources for enriching understanding of relevant global issues.
Our reading a book that pertains to the Muslim world for the 2009 Campus Read aims to do the same thing.
Posted on behalf of Susan Dingle:
It looks like we have a theme going! These are all great suggestions.
I've read reviews and heard author interviews of 3 of the 5. The Reading Lolita author talks of the dangers of living and affirming a life in the past. Everything is frozen and it leads to other difficulties. The Persepolis author is feisty, compelling, living as an artist who preserves the child's eye while melding the adult perspective. The Reluctant Fundamentalist is by an originally Pakistani, U.S.-educated
(Princeton) with Muslim affiliations that he did not think seriously about until the aftermath of 9/11. He says it's a love story as well as a story about identity.
Some thought-provoking choices and great stories are here.
And great artists.
Marlene: After I've completed 6 years of college to be titled: "scholar", should I then go to Pakistan, India, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, or Egypt on the pretense of teaching American "culture and history" while introducing Christianity, Satanism, or Jehovah's Witness beliefs? Dare I, lest I be stoned or beheaded!
"Muslim" blankets several countries as a religion. It may be a big part of their culture but cannot be made a mandatory read to any student who chooses not to major in religion.
Who is the "campus read committee" and when do they meet?
I would like to attend the next meeting and have it on record for my attorney's benefit.
Over the christmas break I read The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini. This was a great novel about growing up in Afghanistan. It was very interesting to read about a place so foriegn to me. Although this novel is not directly related to the muslim world, it showed the ethics and values held by a country whose primary religion is Islam.
Posted on behalf of Riquel Red Horse:
Hi,
I have read Infidel By Ayan Hirsi Ali and it is very enlightening. I learned a lot from it and think others would, as well.
Thanks,
Ricquel Red Horse
Posted on behalf of Earl Torgerson:
I have read “Now They Call Me Infidel” . I found it very insightful. I would recommend it for next year’s book.
Another Book I would like to suggest for the following year 2010-11, is written by Monica Hannan, local news anchor, “The Dream Maker”. It is the story of Bismarck-native Patrick Atkinson’s founding of international charities and working on the issues of world poverty, health, orphan’s and widows. I have attached a short bio on Atkinson and think the potential for the book read by a local, about a Bismarck-native would be great potential to have them both speak and lead discussions on a variety of issues.
"Muslim world" as the CampusRead theme choice does NOT mean "instruction in the religion of Islam." Some identify the US as a Christian nation or a Judeo-Christian one. Others might call the US a nation of many religious affiliations coexisting in a state-decreed separation of church and state.
To use our Greco-Roman/Age of Enlightenment, Western-derived love of dichotomies, there often is a secular side and a religious side to one's identity as a Christian, a Jew, a Muslim, a Buddhist, a Hindu, etc.
Many of these books continue another theme of recent Campus Reads: the memoir. These are personal accounts of what it was/is like to be a male or female of a given age or condition, living in a nation where Islam is the predominant religion and where the state has become tightly bound to the rule of mullahs and others who base their reasoning and rulings more on their interpretation of religion than almost anything else. The closest thing the US had to this was perhaps the time of the Pilgrims.
As some others have noted, in these countries religion and the state, law, and daily rituals are strongly linked. The current regimes in the countries where these books take place are not upholding church/state separation. What the authors detail is going from relative freedom and a somewhat secular existence to one where "church law" or "Islamic Law" [as interpreted by certain power brokers] has a position on everything. Or discovering that because of something that happened to you by a stroke of fate, you are now going to be judged and found guilty by a religious court. There may be occasional quotes here from scripture (less than 1% of the text), but mostly it's about people, lives, loves,choices, changes, the things you can control and the things you cannot.
Though I have not read either of these books, I have heard from several intelligent, reputable sources that both "The Kite Runner" and "Three Cups of Tea" would be excellent choices.
The reason we choose to read about topics outside our realm of experience and/or comfort level is the same reasons we choose to attend college in the first place. We aspire to become educated and thoughtful individuals. We can not count ourselves as true citizens of the world if we never acknowledge the rest of the world's existence.
Hello Dawn! :)
I sure appreciate people who are not afraid to use their REAL names! Thank you!
You and I know that we tend to disagree on most things, but you know I love you dearly.
One thing you should understand is that we totally agree that to encourage the read or study of another culture or religion is quite healthy. Where we disagree is that when it is made MANDATORY, a border is then crossed.
I have already learned what I "choose" to know of the Muslim world. I (or any other student) should not be required to study any further if we choose not to do so.
There are roughly 155 attendance days in a school year.
Therefore, may I suggest we set aside one full day wherein we REQUIRE all BSC students to read/study only one chapter from one book of the NKJ version of the New Testament.
After all, is is only one chapter of one book. One day is less than 1% of the school year, so it should not be offensive.
~ Audrey Cody
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