WIDEN Winters Graduate Salon –  “Political Conversations”

Tuesday October 30, 2012 – 5:00 p.m.

Winters Senior Common Room (021WC), York University

Attendance is free and no advance registration is required. Refreshments will be provided.

Speakers:

Ali Abbas, M.A. student, Sociology

“Hearing The Voice From The Veil”
I will be discussing how the granddaughter of the Prophet Muhammad, Zaynab, took
on the the political leaders of the Islamic empire only 60 years after the
prophet’s death. Her life, political career and teachings are central to
Toronto’s Shiite community and I will exchange my findings on how she is
revered with my audience, asking questions of why so little is known about her
and why she is essential to our contemporary understanding of Shiite Islam.

Matthew McManus, Ph.D. student, Socio-Legal Studies

“Science and the Development of Modern Theories of the State”
I will be discussing how the shift into modernity, particularly the refinement of
scientific concepts and methodologies, has had a major impact on the development
of western political and legal theory.  Two prominent examples include the
impact of Newtonian physics on Enlightenment thinkers, and the influence of
Darwin’s theory of natural selection on Romantic, Modern and Post-Modern
thought.  I will conclude be briefly assessing the positive and negative
consequences of this dynamic and sketch out how to potentially go beyond its
limitations.