As part of a year-long program on "Islam Today: New Media and Youth Culture in the Middle East, South Asia, and Southeast Asia," with funding support from the Social Science Research Council, the Center for South Asia Studies, Center for Southeast Asia Studies and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at UC Berkeley hosted a forum on new media and politics in the Muslim world, in Berkeley on Thursday, October 15, 2009.
This forum examined the new forces that have emerged, and transformations that have occurred, following the rapid expansion in the use of technology and new media, particularly by younger people, in talking about political issues and political change in different parts of the Muslim world.
The speakers at this forum represented a diverse range of perspectives and were composed of practitioners and activists as well as journalists and scholars.
List of speakers:
- Mohamed Abdel Dayem from the Committee to Protect Journalists
- Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, a member of Malaysia’s opposition party KeAdilan Rakyat and a recently elected member of Selangor’s State Assembly
- Muhamad Ali, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at UC Riverside whose research looks at contemporary Islam in Indonesia
- Huma Yusuf, a freelance journalist in Pakistan with a special interest in new media and political activism
- Haroon Mughal, a popular U.S.-based blogger about issues concerning South Asia and Muslim Americans (avari.typepad.com).
- Panel moderated by: Wajahat Ali, Associate Editor of altmuslim.com
(Further details on the speakers may be viewed in the "Speakers" section of this event.
Co-sponsors
Asia Society Northern California, Islamic Networks Group, Arab Cultural and Community Center, meedan.net
