2025 Graduate Student Book Review on Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
Thursday, December 18, 2025 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM EST
Zoom
The AbuSulayman Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University and The Maydan, the Center’s public-facing scholarship platform, present the Eighth Annual Graduate Student Book Review Colloquium on Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, taking place virtually on Thursday, December 18, 2025, from 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM EST.
This colloquium brings together advanced graduate students in the social sciences and humanities to discuss noteworthy books published between January 1, 2024 – June 1, 2025 in the field of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies. Participants will present in 20-minute organized panels and engage in scholarly conversation with leading experts in the field.
Event Schedule
Thursday, December 18 on Zoom
9:45am-10:00am Introduction/Welcome
10:00am- 11:00am Panel 1: Indian Muslims and Belonging | Discussant/Moderator: TBC
- Gungun Islam (Michigan State University), Zara Chowdhary’s The Lucky Ones: A Memoir (2024)
- Saiyid Ashraf Husain Jafri (Ibn Haldun University), Kalyani Devaki Menon, Making Place for Muslims in Contemporary India (Cornell University Press, 2022).
11:15am-12:15pm Panel 2: Violence and Memory in Islamic Societies | Discussant/ Moderator: Dr. Yasemin Ipek, George Mason University
- Rushnae Kabir (University of Pennsylvania), Tanweer Fazal, Practices of the State: Muslims, Law and Violence in India (Three Essays Collective, 2024)
- Thruya Al-Naseri (Ibn Haldun University), Amir Moosavi . Dust That Never Settles: Literary Afterlives of the Iran-Iraq War (Stanford University Press, 2025)
12:15pm-1:00pm Break
1:00pm-2:20pm Panel 3: Social Movements and State Power | Discussant/Moderator: Dr. Cengiz Sisman, University of Houston & Maydan
- Owais Manzoor Dar (Independent Researcher), Sohaira Z. M. Siddiqui, Islamic Law on Trial: Contesting Colonial Power in British India, (University of California Press, 2025)
- Ayah Aboelela (Northeastern University) – Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky, Empire of Refugees: North Caucasian Muslims and the Late Ottoman State (Stanford University Press, 2024).
- Abdullah Eren (Abdullah Eren (University of Essex), Maryam Al-Kuwari, Tribal Reawakening and the Future of State-Building in Kuwait and Qatar (Springer, 2025)).
2:20pm-2:40pm Conclusion/Final Remarks
For additional information, please feel free to reach out to Ahmet Tekelioglu (atekelio@gmu.edu).
