Speaker: Seyyed Hossein Nasr, University Professor of Islamic Studies and Perennial Philosophy, George Washington University

Starting with the earliest period when Arabic and some Islamic studies began to be taught in America, the talk will concentrate on the more immediate past especially after the Second World War. Some attention will also be paid to theoretical discussions about Islamic studies and its relation to religious studies in general. The lecture will then turn to the present state of Islamic studies in America and the trends that are most likely to affect its course in the future. Throughout the lecture, Professor Nasr will draw much from his own experiences in the field.

Presenting the inaugural Digital Islamic Studies Curriculum (DISC) Distinguished Lecture, which invites preeminent scholars to speak about issues related to global Islamic studies. DISC is an instructional program in global Islamic studies led by the University of Michigan Islamic Studies Program in collaboration with fellow member universities of the Committee on Institutional Cooperation (CIC), which include the Big Ten universities and the University of Chicago. The program is supported with a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.