The Denison University Goodspeed Lecture Series in conjunction with the sociology and anthropology department will host Juan Cole, professor of modern Middle East and South Asian history at the University of Michigan, to discuss "Contemporary Iraq: Between Democracy and Theocracy." This convocation, set for 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday (Oct. 14) in Slayter Auditorium, is free and open to the public.

This is the first in an upcoming series of Goodspeed lectures at Denison this fall that will address Islam and politics. Also slated are Fawaz Gerges, Sarah Lawrence College, speaking on "Islamic Militancy and Armed Resistance in Iraq" on Oct. 29 and Michael Sells, Haverford College, speaking on "Love, War and Islam" on Nov. 18. Both lectures are set for 7:30 p.m. in Slayter Auditorium.

Cole earned a bachelor's degree (1975) at Northwestern University, a master's degree (1978) at American University in Cairo and a doctorate (1984) at the University of California Los Angeles. Since 1984 he has served on the faculty at the University of Michigan including three years as director of the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies.

Cole is the editor for both theH-Mideast-PoliticsandH-Bahaielectronic forums and journals and has served since 1999 as the editor forThe International Journal of Middle East Studies. His numerous awards include the winter 2003 Hudson Research Professorship, the 1985-86 Fulbright-Hays Islamic Civilization Postdoctoral Award for study in Egypt and the 1982 Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Fellowship for study in India.

Cole has written extensively about modern Islamic movements in Egypt, the Persian Gulf and South Asia and his publications includeSacred Space and the Holy War, Shi'ism and Social ProtestandModernity and the Millennium: the Genesis of the Baha'i Faith in the Nineteenth Century Middle East. His current research concerns focus on a quest to better understand the origins and role of the "jihadi" or "sacred-war" strain of Muslim radicalism, including al-Qaeda and the Taliban among other groups. Cole enjoys learning languages and understands Arabic, Persian and Urdu and has lived all over the Muslim world throughout his life.

Cole's lecture is funded by the Goodspeed Lecture Series, which features scholars whose work is in the field of religion or is related to religious issues. The fund is named in honor of the late Edgar J. Goodspeed, a 1890 Denison graduate, who was one of nine biblical scholars who worked on the Revised Standard Version of the Scriptures, published in 1946, which has superceded the King James Version in official usage in many American denominations.

About Denison:

Denison University, founded in 1831, is an independent, residential liberal arts institution located in Granville, Ohio. A highly selective college enrolling 2,100 full-time undergraduate students from all 50 states and dozens of foreign countries, Denison is a place where innovative faculty and motivated students collaborate in rigorous scholarship, civic engagement and the cultivation of independent thinking.

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