S.06-92

SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

S

Senate Committee on University Priorities

Memorandum

TO: Senate

FROM:

John Water

Chair, SCU

Vice Presid

RE:

Centre for the Comparative Study of

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DATE: ?

August 28,

Muslim Societies & Cultures (SCUP 06- 33)

At its July 12, 2006 meeting SCUP reviewed and approved the proposal for the creation

of the Centre for the Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures. This Centre

will be a Schedule A Centre based in the Department of History, under the Dean of the

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Motion

That Senate approve and recommend to the Board of Governors the creation of

the Centre for the Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures as a

Schedule A Centre.

end.

C:

D. MacLean

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SCUP 06-33

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SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

MEMORANDUM

OFFICE OF VICE-PRESIDENT, RESEARCH

TO: Sarah Dench, Secretary

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FROM: B. Mario Pinto

Senate Committee on University

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Vice-President, Research

Planning (SCUP)

RE: Centre for the Comparative Study of DATE: June 19; 2006

Muslim Societies and Cultures

Attached is a proposal from Dr. Derryl MacLean, Department of History for the

establishment of the Centre for Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures as

a Schedule A Centre.

The Governing Committee for Centres and Institutes recommends that the

Centre be granted approval by SCUP. Once approved by SCUP, the proposal is to be

forwarded to Senate, followed by submission to the Board of Governors.

Governing Committee:

D4'OhIi H. Waterhouse

we-President, Academic and Provost

Dr. B. Mario Pinto

Vice-President, Research

Attachment

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C: ?

Dr. John Pierce, Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Dr. John

Craig

,Chair, Department of History

Dr. Derryl MacLean, Department of History

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SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY?

Office of the Dean, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

MEMORANDUM

To: ?

John Waterhouse ?

From:

John T. Pierce

VP Academic ?

Dean, FASS

Subject:

Schedule A Centre for the ?

Date:

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April 10, 2006

Comparative Study of Muslim

Societies and Cultures

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John, I am writing in strong support for the creation of a new Centre dedicated to the

"Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures."

I believe that there are four reasons why the University should support this proposal:

1)

It builds upon teaching and research strengths in History, Sociology!

Anthropology, Women's Studies and Contemporary Arts.

2)

It is innovative and socially important because its focal point is Muslim societies,

not Islamic, and it is geographically diverse.

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3)

It is comparative in nature, facilitating a broadening of our own understanding

of the diversity of social/ cultural landscapes beyond the Middle East.

4)

It furthers SFU's internationalization objectives and places the study of

society

/

culture as a legitimate centerpiece for international studies, broadly

defined.

Derryl MacLean has done an excellent job in conceptualizing the mandate for the

Centre and its program of research/ activities. I believe that the creation of the

Centre will be an important catalyst for fund raising opportunities and ultimately the

development of a highly visible and internationally recognized centre of excellence.

JTP ,' rt

Attachment

Cc: D. MacLean, Department of History

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SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY

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8888 UNIVERSITY DRIVE

BURNABY, BRITISH COLUMBIA

CANADA V5A 1S6

Telephone: (604) 291-3521

30 March 2006

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Fax: (604) 291-5837

CE OF THE DEAN

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S C C AL S C!E

Professor John Pierce

Dean of Arts and Social Sciences

Simon Fraser University

Burnaby, BC V5A 1S6

Dear Dean Pierce:

Attached please find an application for a Schedule A Centre for the

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Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures. It will be located in

the Department of History under the Dean of Arts and Social Sciences.

The Centre's application has been approved by the Department of History

and by the Advisory Committee of the Centre. The Committee further

recomiTiended that I be appointed the Director of the new Centre, with a

term of three years.

Yours sincerely,

C5 'KJ

Derryl MacLean

Associate Professor

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I.

Application for the Creation of a Schedule A Centre

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Centre for the Comparative Study of

Muslim Societies and Cultures

1. Introduction to the Centre

Muslim societies and cultures increasingly have become the focus of

public and academic attention since 9/11. Unfortunately, much of

the coverage has focused narrowly on a juristic Arab Islam as

normative and ignored more flexible and variable practices and

experiences in the wider Muslim world. The proposed Centre for the

Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures would work to

redress this imbalance by broadening academic discourse to include

more comparison and complexity in the analysis of Muslim societies

and cultures from Africa through the Middle East to Asia and the

West.

By focusing attention on Muslim (not Islamic) societies and cultures,

the Centre will encourage the shift in analysis from the notion of a

single unitary religious ideascape defined by Islam to that of

Muslims as agents in the construction of their societies and cultures

within specific contexts. By incorporating the cultural experiences of

diverse Muslim societies, the Centre will expand the possibilities of

academic comparison and collaboration of critical consequence.

The proposed Centre will further Simon Fraser University's strategic

objective to expand opportunities for students to be exposed to

global societies and cultures. The Centre will raise the profile of

existing courses and programs on the history of Muslim peoples and

provide a foundation for the expansion of a field in which SFU has,

and should maintain, a comparative national advantage.

Simon Fraser University is particularly well situated for this study of

Muslim societies and cultures. The Department of History is the

location of a nationally recognized Middle East and Islamic

Concentration, which is at present the largest such undergraduate

program within Canada, offering eleven undergraduate courses

ranging from Islamic India through the Arab, Persian, and Turkish

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Middle East, and on into Muslim Africa, and western Islams. It has

the largest graduate program on Muslim history in western Canada,

with three graduate courses and eight current graduate students. At

present, there are six History faculty members within History

teaching and researching related subjects (see attached list).

The Concentration has been and continues to be committed to the

comparative study of Muslim societies and cultures. Its current

course offerings and research orientation geographically include the

Muslim populations of Turkey, Arab Middle East, Iran and Central

Asia, Africa, Asia, and the West. Comparative courses have been

designed at the undergraduate and graduate levels to meet the

Department's concern expressed in Its Three Year Plan for increased

comparative content. For these reasons, it makes sense to locate the

proposed Centre in the Department of History.

There are additional faculty members in Sociology and Anthropology,

Women's Studies, and Contemporary Arts teaching Muslim societies

and cultures (see below).

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Additional existing SFU international initiatives that involve Muslim

societies and cultures are student exchange programs in Turkey,

Egypt, Morocco, India, and Iran; Persian language courses through

the Language Training Institute; W.A.C. Bennett Library Farsi

Language Collection, numbering around 1000 volumes; and the Drs.

Fereidoun and Katharine Mirhady Endowed Lecture in Iranian and

Persianate Studies.

2. Activities of the Centre

This section consists of three parts: existing elements that will be

coordinated and encouraged by the Centre; existing elements that

will be expanded, as funding is located; new activities which require

new funding.

The Centre will support and encourage the following existing

activities: the Concentration in Middle East and Islamic History; the

Drs. Fereidoun and Katharine Mirhady Endowment in Iranian and

Persianate Studies; Farsi language instruction; the Bennett Library

Farsi Collection; exchange programs with universities in Muslim

regions (currently in Istanbul, Cairo, and Tehran); and a public

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lecture program.

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The Centre will encourage the expansion of existing programs and

activities: adding instruction in other languages of Muslim peoples

such as Arabic, Turkish, Urdu, and Swahili; expanding exchange

programs to universities in Asia and Africa; expanding the library

holdings in primary languages relevant to the Centre's mandate

(Arabic, Urdu, Turkish), to make it a major research Center.

The Centre will work closely with the University Advancement Office

to raise funds for programs related to its mandate: a Visiting

Professorship which would bring to campus an internationally

renowned academic; an annual Workshop that would draw together

major scholars to address a comparative theme in the analysis of

Muslim societies and cultures; graduate and undergraduate funding

for study abroad.

3. Constitution of the Centre

The purpose of the Centre for the Comparative Study of Muslim

Societies and Cultures and its activities and programs is the

promotion of the teaching, research, and academic and community

programming in the study of Muslim societies and cultures. The

Centre supports research, publications, colloquia, conferences,

workshops, visiting speakers, library resources in the languages of

Muslim peoples, and international exchange relationships in the

areas of its mandate. The Centre encourages cross-disciplinary and

comparative activities at the University and beneficial and mutually

supportive links between the University and local communities.

The Centre for the Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and

Cultures will be a Schedule A Centre and come under the direct

authority of the Dean of Arts and Social Sciences.

The administration of the Centre and its programs will be governed

in accordance with University policies, including R.40.01: Centres and

Institutes. If this document and University policy differ on any

issue, University policy shall prevail.

The Centre will be located in the Department of History.

The Centre will be administered by a Director who will be appointed

by the Dean of Arts and Social Sciences on the recommendation of

the Advisory Committee of the Centre. The term of office of the

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director normally will be three (3) years. In the absence of the

Director, an Acting Director may be appointed from the Advisory

Committee.

The activities of the Centre will be guided by an Advisory Committee

made up of five (5) Simon Fraser University faculty members, at

least two (2) of whom will be from the Department of History and its

Concentration in Middle East and Islamic History. Members of the

Advisory Committee will be appointed by the Dean of Arts and Social

Sciences on the recommendation of the Director.

The Advisory Committee of the Centre will be chaired by the

Director. Meetings normally will take place once a semester.

Associate Membership in the Centre will consist of individuals with

an academic interest in some aspect of the study of Muslim societies

and cultures. Associate Member status will be proposed by the

Director and approved by the Advisory Committee.

4.

Library resources

There are no additional library costs associated with starting the

Centre. Current resources associated with the University's

Concentration in Middle East and Islamic History are substantial. The

Centre will raise funds for the augmentation of the collection in areas

and languages concerned with its mandate.

5.

Financial implications

There are no initial budgeting implications on SFU. Space and

resources will be supplied initially by the Department of History and

its Concentration in Middle East and Islamic History. External funds

will be raised in support of the expansion of the Centre's activities.

6.

University faculty with Centre interests

Felicitas Becker, Assistant Professor, History, East Africa and

the western Indian Ocean, with a special interest in the spread of

Islam.

William L. Cleveland, Professor, History, political and

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intellectual history of the modern Middle East, Arab nationalism.

Andre Gero1vmatos Professor, History, contemporary

international political history, including the Middle East.

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Thomas Kuhn, Assistant Professor, History, late Ottoman

empire, comparative imperialisms, and non-western modernities.

Derrvl MacLean, Associate Professor, History, Islamics, Muslim

Asia, conversion and millennialism.

Paul Sedra, Assistant Professor, History, Middle Eastern

modernisms and education.

Yildiz Atasoy, Assistant Professor, Sociology and Anthropology,

Turkey, religion, and globalization.

Parin Dossa, Assistant Professor, Sociology and Anthropology,

gender and globalization, Iranian diaspora.

Laura Marks, Dena Wosk Endowed Fellow, School of

Contemporary Arts, visual art and culture of the Middle East.

Habiba Zaman, Associate Professor, Women's Studies, women

and work in comparative perspective, including Muslim communities.

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Megan L. Crouch, 6/16/06 4:18 PM -0700, Library report -- Centre for the Comparative St

Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 16:18:05 -0700

To: murdoch@sfu.ca

• From: 'Megan L. Crouch" <mcrouch@sfu.ca

>

Subject: Library report - Centre for the Comparative Study of Muslim

Societies and Cultures

Cc: gbirdsfu.ca

Hi Valerie,

SFU Library ?

06/19/2006 03:27

SFU Librar y

Home> About the SFU Library> Collections> LibraLy Course Assessments> centre_msc.htm

Library Assessment for the

Centre for the Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures

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June 15, 2006

This is the Library's report on the proposed Centre for the Comparative Study of Muslim Societies and Cultures.

The SFU Library supports the establishment of this Centre as outlined in the proposal. Our English Language holdings

have been reviewed and will be adequate to support this Centre. However, the proposal indicates that the Centre is

interested in "expanding the library holdings in primary languages relevant to the Centre's mandate (Arabic, Urdu,

Turkish) .. . "These languages are currently outside of our collecting scope. Developing collections in these languages

will not only require funds for the collection of actual materials, but will also require funding for cataloguing the

material, as the requisite language skills are not available in-house.

Currently there are no existing funds to support this type of collection development. Section 4 of the proposal states

"The Centre will raise funds for the augmentation of the collection in areas and languages concerned with its mandate."

The Library would welcome partnering with the Centre in this endeavor.