CIBC Hall, McMaster University Student Centre, 3rd floor
** click here to register for the conference (includes links for Zoom attendance)
***If you have any questions, please contact administrator@casim.ca***
May 26-27, 2022
Day 1 (Thursday, May 26)
8:30-9 registration, coffee + pastries
9-9:15 opening comments
- Youcef Soufi, CASIM Chair
- Basit Kareem Iqbal, CASIM Events Officer
9:15-11 Session 1 x 2 panels
Panel A: Textual Genres and Polemic
Chair: Youcef Soufi (Institute of Islamic Studies, University of Toronto)
- Arafat Razzaque (Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto), “Hadith and the Embodiment of Piety at the Dawn of Islamic Ethics”
- Massoud Vahedi (online) (Political Science, York University), “The Early Coffee Wars: Scholarly Debates Concerning the Permissibility of Coffee in the Islamic World”
- Noah H. Taj (Religion & Public Life, Carleton University), “Ibn Kamāl’s Fatwa on Ibn ʿArabī: A Study and Translation”
- Nadir Ansari (Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto), “The Delegitimizing Role of the Beginnings”
Panel B: Ethnography of Authority
Chair: Catherine Larouche (Anthropology, Université Laval)
- Sara Hamed (Study of Religion, University of Toronto), “Alif, ‘Arif, Kalif: Canadian Islamic Organizations, Dawah, and the Paradox of Organizational Intimacy”
- Arwa Hussain (Religions and Cultures, Concordia University), “Religious Teaching Aids for Children: A Case Study of Female Bohra Entrepreneurs”
- Jean-Michel Landry (online) (Sociology/Anthropology, Carleton University), “Ijtihadic Questions”
- Fachrizal Halim (St Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan), “Heretics or Equally Islamic: How the Ismaʿilis, ʿAlawis, and Druze define ‘Islamic’ Rituals and Practices”
11-11:15 coffee break
11:15-1 Session 2 x 2 panels
Panel A: Politicized Identities
Chair: Youcef Soufi (Institute of Islamic Studies, University of Toronto)
- Mehdi Rezania (online) (Music, University of Alberta), “Tarab and/or Toqyān: Music, Politics and [Western] Media in the Context of Contemporary Iranian Society”
- Ehsan Kashfi (online) (Political Science, University of Alberta), “The Discursive and Commemorative Construction of Shia Identity in Post-revolutionary Iran”
- Philippe Sannier (online) (Histoire, Université de Montréal), « Chute et disgrâce des Barmakides (803) : éléments de compréhension et pistes de réflexion »
Panel B: Islamophobic Contexts
Chair: Basit Kareem Iqbal (Anthropology, McMaster University)
- Zeinab Diab (Institut d’études religieuses, Université de Montréal), “Bill 21 in a Conceptual Ecosystem of Otherness: Between Omnipresence and Absence(s)”
- Mahdi Tourage (Religion, Social Justice and Peace Studies, King’s College, Western University), “Wounds as Volatile Sites of Meaning Production: Notes on the Wounded and Injured Canadian Soldiers Portrayed in the Museum London Exhibition”
- Krista Riley (Equity, Accessibility, and Academic Programs, Vanier College) and Leila Bdeir (Humanities and Women and Gender Studies, Vanier College), “Participatory Action Research with Muslim Youth in Quebec”
1-2 Lunch (catered in CIBC Hall)
2-3:30 Roundtable on “Beginnings”
Chair: Jairan Gahan, CASIM Communications Officer
Panelists:
- Elizabeth Alexandrin (Religion, University of Manitoba)
- Colin Mitchell (History, Dalhousie University)
- Armando Salvatore (Religious Studies, McGill University)
- Jennifer Selby (Religious Studies, Memorial University)
3:30-3:45 Coffee break
3:45-5 CASIM General Assembly
Chair: Youcef Soufi, CASIM Chair
dinner (conference presenters)
Day 2 (Friday, May 27)
8:45-9:15 Coffee + pastries
9:15-11 Session 3 x 2 panels
Panel A: Producing Islam(s) in Canada Part I: State of the Field and Future Trends
Chair: Melanie Adrian (Law and Legal Studies, Carleton University)
Panelists:
- Natasha Bakht (online) (Law, University of Ottawa)
- Rehan Sayeed (Anthropology, McGill University)
- Anver Emon (Law; Director, Institute of Islamic Studies, University of Toronto)
- Sahver Kuzucuoglu (online) (Anthropology, Wilfred Laurier University)
- Jennifer Selby (Department of Religious Studies, Memorial University)
Respondents:
- Armando Salvatore (Religious Studies, McGill University)
- Youcef Soufi (Institute of Islamic Studies, University of Toronto)
Panel B: Diasporic and Transnational Relations
Chair: Jairan Gahan (History, University of Alberta)
- Youssef Benzouine (online) (Political Science, Université de Montréal), « Les masculinités des hommes musulmans issus de la diaspora au Québec »
- Zohreh Bayat Rizi (Sociology, University of Alberta), Rezvaneh Erfani (Sociology, University of Alberta), and Samira Torabi (Anthropology, University of Alberta), “Grieving in a Liminal Space: Examining the Impact of Emotional and Spatial In-between-ness on the Grieving Iranian Diaspora in the Aftermath of the Downing of Flight PS752”
- Sharifa Patel (Canadian Studies, Mount Allison University), “Reimagining Kinship”
- Hamid Akbary (Sociology, University of Calgary) and Dr. Abdie Kazemipur (Sociology, University of Calgary), “Muslim Men and the Liberal Gender Norms: The Inadequacy of Jurisprudential Debates and the Relevance of Social Experiences”
11-11:15 Coffee break
11:15-1 Session 4 x 2 panels
Panel A: Producing Islams in Canada Part II: Positionality and Research Methods
Chair: Amélie Barras (Social Science, York University)
Panelists:
- Roshan Arah Jahangeer (Political Science, York University)
- Rachel Brown (online) (Anthropology, University of Victoria)
- Mehmet Ali Basak (online) (Classics/Religious Studies, University of Ottawa)
- Sara Hamed (Religious Studies, University of Toronto)
Respondents:
- Basit Kareem Iqbal (Anthropology, McMaster University)
- Catherine Larouche (Anthropology, Université Laval)
Panel B: Committed but not Pious? Emerging Gendered Ways of Being a “Good Muslim”
Chair: Jairan Gahan (History, University of Alberta)
- Joseph Hill (online) (Anthropology, University of Alberta), “The Pious Sufi Gangster Rapper”
- Samira Torabi (online) (Anthropology, University of Alberta), “It’s Illegal But It’s Halal”
- Hande Gür (online) (Anthropology, University of Alberta), “‘Pious’ but Not ‘Religious’”
- Nazia Binte Mahmud (online) (Anthropology, University of Alberta), “Faithful Stories: Delineating Mazar Culture in Bangladesh”
1-2:15 Lunch (catered in CIBC Hall)
2:15-4 Session 5 x 2 panels
Panel A: Book Talk on Leaving Iberia: Islamic Law and Christian Conquest in North West Africa
Chair: Jairan Gahan (History, University of Alberta)
- Jocelyn Hendrickson (History, University of Alberta) with Anver Emon (Law; Institute of Islamic Studies, University of Toronto)
Panel B: Theory/Analysis/Institutions
Chair: Catherine Larouche (Anthropology, Université Laval)
- M. Shobhana Xavier (Religion, Queen’s University), “Between Islamic Mysticism and Popular Spirituality: Mapping the Beginnings of Sufism in Canada”
- Armando Salvatore (Religious Studies, McGill University) and Kieko Obuse (Kobe City University of Foreign Studies; Religious Studies, McGill University), “Ambivalent Beginnings in Canadian Islamic Studies: Wilfred Cantwell Smith and Toshihiko Izutsu at McGill”
- Emily Hanlon (online) (Classics and Religious Studies, University of Ottawa), “Sufism, Sufi-Adjacent, or Something Else? Gurdjieff’s Legacy in Canada”
- Mohannad Abusarah (Study of Religion, University of Toronto), “New Beginnings in New Formations: A Theoretical Framework to Beginnings”
4-4:30 Closing discussion