Browsing Archive: February, 2009
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, February 27, 2009,
I just finished watching a documentary on French television on some French youth of North African origin who emigrated from the economically worn-out suburbs of France to the glitzy Doha, Qatar in search of lucrative economic opportunities. These are talented French-educated architects, photographers, entrepreneurs, engineers, and doctors who faced tremendous racism when they applied for jobs in France. All those featured in the documentary talked about how Qataris were impressed with their q... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Thursday, February 26, 2009,
Senator John Kerry is holding hearings on "Engaging with Muslim Communities around the World" today at the Senate. I wholeheartedly support initiatives like these and I command the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee for taking such an important step. I hope, however, this initiative will be different from the ill-conceived public diplomacy of the Bush administration which produced media fiascos like Radio Sawa in the Arab world, Radio Farda in Iran, Hi Magazine in the Middle East, and th... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, February 20, 2009,
Some rather promising news has been coming from Saudi Arabia these days. First, the replacement of Saleh al-Lihedan, the chief of the Supreme Council of Justice who made headlines last year when he declared it was permissible to kill Muslim satellite television owners if their programs were morally deviant. Then last week, a number of other appointments of moderate Saudis to important posts were announced like the head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, February 20, 2009,
Wiley-Blackwell has recently suspended publication of the Encyclopedia of Christian Civilization and ordered a full revision of the text, allegedly because of historical errors and, at times, extreme evangelical language. George T. Kurian, the editor of the encyclopedia says the publisher caved in to pressures from an "anti-Christian lobby" of academics who wanted the 4-volume publication to be less Christian. According to some scattered reports in the blogosphere (the mainstream press hasn't... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Tuesday, February 17, 2009,
Journalists have to stop covering fatwas as if they were legally binding rules all Muslims must heed. The point is they're simply not. So what if some short-sighted Mufti in Malaysia or Indonesia has decreed that yoga is not halal? Or that some cleric in Saudi Arabia has decided Mickey Mouse was the work of Satan? Or that some British Muslim has declared Valentine roses and candle dinners to be sordid acts of the devil? No legal due process has followed or will ever follow these fatwas. It's ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Sunday, February 8, 2009,
More than 300 young progressive Muslims from 76 countries met in Doha for the third Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow Conference this past month. The point behind this effort is to foster a stronger culture of civic engagement among Muslims globally. These are extremely-committed activists, some of whom have given up their careers to organize their communities around faith-based social, economic, and cultural projects. A short profile of this year's leaders is worth reading. They include comedians, ... Continue reading ...
Posted by Nabil Echchaibi on Friday, February 6, 2009,
I'm always amazed at how superficial the coverage of Muslim Americans is in the U.S. media. Except for some notable journalists like the New York Times' Andrea Elliott who created a new beat called "Muslims in America", much of the coverage remains unoriginal and largely pat. We often hear the persistent question: where are the moderate Muslims? If journalists continually fail to seek out this growing segment of the population or discover them only around topical issues of terrorism and the t... Continue reading ...
I was born and raised in Morocco. My research focuses on the intersections between Islam, Arab popular culture and the media. I'm currently an assistant professor in the School of Journalism at the University of Colorado-Boulder.
