Our speaker this month is Tamara Albertini, professor of Renaissance and Islamic philosophy in the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa’s department of philosophy. Growing up in Tunisia, Tamara absorbed the culture, Arabic language, and history of this vibrant Islamic country. She has built her academic career on the study of the great philosophers and philosophical traditions that for centuries have shaped the development of Islam. She also specializes in the interrelationship of Islamic and European Renaissance philosophy, an exchange from which the West gained enormously.
Tamara’s presentation will help explain the difference between today’s purist salafiyya (Arabic for “getting back to the roots”) thinking and the original 19th century salafiyya, which was about rejuvenating, reforming Muslim societies, and bridging differences between Islam and Christianity as well as Sunni and Shi’a Islam. Tamara travelled to Tunisia last summer, and has posted her travel journals in a blog. She shares her reflections at www.travelofadiasporicself.com.
This fall, four Tunisians won the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize for their roles in guiding that country’s 2011 Jasmine Revolution to a peaceful conclusion. This peace is always fragile; Tunisia has experienced violent acts recently but continues to hold together with democratic institutions in place and functioning.
Exploring Boundaries begins at 6:00 pm in Isenberg Hall and ends in time for Evening Prayer at 7:30.