How Islamist Intellectuals, Activists and Militants Have Responded Differently to the West
Islamist activists in the Middle East have been fundamentally shaped by the political, intellectual and religious challenges that Western influence has posed to their societies over the past century. Starting with Muslim Brotherhood founder Hasan al-Banna’s mobilization against Western missionaries and colonialism, and the more radical Sayyid Qutb’s framing of secular, Western-backed governments as apostates, and tracing the influence of the U.S. role in Saudi Arabia and Iraq on the emergence of Al-Qaeda, and later Islamic State, this lecture explains how Western policy has been viewed through the lens of local religious politics to mobilize Islamist militancy over three generations. Sumita Pahwa teaches Middle East politics and religious politics at Scripps, and her research focuses on the evolution of Islamist movements in Egypt and Morocco.
Sumita Pahwa, Assistant Professor of Politics, Scripps College, works on the comparative evolution of religiopolitical movements in the Middle East and South Asia and have done field research in Egypt and India. She is currently focusing on how Islamist movements in Egypt and other parts of North Africa have adapted to new political environments after the Arab Spring, and on comparative political transitions in Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. Professor Pahwa has lived and worked in Cairo for the past three years. Her academic interests also include the politics of identity and religion in India and Pakistan and comparative secularisms in the Middle East, South Asia, Europe and North America.
This program is co- sponsored by the Scripps Humanities Institute and the Office of Public Events and Community Programs.