This talk examines the configuration of discourses of Arabness in two comparative geopolitical contexts, discerning and juxtaposing the differences and ironies between the demise of narratives of Arabness in the Arab world and the proliferation of homogenizing discourses of Arabness in Europe and North America, where Muslim and Arab Americans are exposed firsthand to their devastating effects.

This talk interrogates the development of the spaces and locales of authority in early Islam as arenas for the negotiation of religio-political authority. This includes the early mosque and the Meccan House of Assembly (dār al-imāra), as well as other locales related to the promotion of authority, specifically the sacred precincts (ḥarams) of Mecca, Madina and Jerusalem.

International Symposium on the Arab Spring in Istanbul, Turkey | May 24, 2012