Campus Announcements

Religion seminar

Can the problems that the political ideal of the Islamic state raises be transcended, either in terms of its coherence as an Islamic political project or its difficult fit with international human rights norms? In the second decade of the 21st century, Sudanese intellectuals and average folk alike are asking this question after a lengthy period of experimenting with such a political form. This talk traces two distinct attempts to escape the quagmires of Sudan's Islamic state project: one, Sudanese students who have left Sudan's Islamic state to join ISIS, a political movement that rejects the modern nation-state as a container for Islamic political ambitions; and, two, South Sudan's attempt to escape the human rights challenges of the Islamic state through secession and the establishment of a secular polity. While the first group tries to escape the political form of the state and the compromises to its vision of Islam it requires, the second tries to escape the state’s religious character as a means of fulfilling political equality. Together we will explore the reasons for the difficulties each has experienced in achieving either goal.