Dickinson College to Host Talk on Racism and Religious Freedom
Sahar Aziz
The Wesley Lecture
by Amanda Sowah '22
Middle East and legal studies scholar Sahar Aziz will deliver the annual Wesley Lecture at Dickinson. The talk, “The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashed Religious Freedom,” will take place Thursday, Feb. 24, at 7 p.m. in the Anita Tuvin Schlechter (ATS) Auditorium. It is free and open to the public. Well-fitting masks are required, and N95 or KN95 masks are strongly recommended. The lecture will also be available on a YouTube livestream.
Aziz is a professor of law, chancellor’s social justice scholar and Middle East and legal studies scholar at Rutgers University Law School. Her lecture takes its name from her forthcoming book, in which she compares the experiences of the Muslim immigrant to the discriminatory treatment faced by Jews, Mormons and African American Muslims. In her talk, she will explore what it means to have religious freedom in the United States’ current multiracial and multireligious society.
Aziz is the founding director of the Rutgers Center for Security, Race and Rights as well as a faculty affiliate of the African American Studies Department at Rutgers University-Newark. She teaches courses on national security, Islamophobia and Middle East law. She also serves on the editorial board of Arab Law Quarterly and the International Journal of Middle East Studies. Aziz has published more than 30 articles in academic journals and news publications. She also has provided commentary on CNN and the BBC.
The Wesley Lecture grew out of the historical relationship between Dickinson and the Methodist Church, which has its roots in the 19th century. The lectures highlight contemporary conversations and controversies in faith communities and in higher education about the importance and role of community, commitment and service for the education of the citizen-scholar.
This event is sponsored by the Clarke Forum for Contemporary Issues and the Center for Spirituality & Social Justice. It is co-sponsored by the Popel Shaw Center for Race & Ethnicity, the Asbell Center for Jewish Life, and the departments of sociology, religion and Middle East studies.
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Published February 4, 2022