Powerpoint resource on learning about culture through cinema and documentary.

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Downloadable powerpoint resource on Islamic art.

Global Security Matrix Tool What makes us feel safe?  Is the definition of security universal or does it differ from country to country?  These are some of the questions the new online Global Security Matrix tries to answer. Developed by the well-respected Choices Program, an education program about history and current issues based at Brown University, the Global [...]
A Podcast Master of Persian Music: Hossein Alizadeh with tar and sitar. Listen to a podcast from the Freer Gallery at the Smithsonian featuring the ancient improvisational tradition of Persian classical music played masterfully by one of Iran's greatest musical legends. Hossein Alizadeh is a two-time Grammy nominee, once for his solo album Endless Vision and again as a member of [...]
Though born in Lebanon, Marcel Khalife is a cultural icon throughout the Arab world. Perhaps no other contemporary artist has so changed the face of Arab music. Classically trained on the Oud (lute) at the National Academy of Music in Beirut, Khalife refused to be limited by the rigidity of tradition, thus significantly expanding the [...]
An example of religious plurualism in Lebanon, this Youtube video features Lebanese diva Tania Kassis singing an inspired arrangement of the Christian Ave Maria accompanied by the Islamic call to prayer, or adhan, performed by Mhammad Shaar and Maen Zakaria. Tania Kassis is very interested in religious and cultural dialogue, and in this song celebrates both [...]
Caravan Kingdoms: Yemen and the Ancient Incense Trade This online exhibition provides an intriguing and informative look at some of the most fascinating kingdoms of ancient Yemen, including the country’s ancient incense trade. Caravan Kingdoms Interactive provides an intriguing and informative look at some of the most fascinating kingdoms of ancient Yemen, including the country’s ancient [...]

In 2006, Keith Ellison became the first Muslim elected to Congress. He took the oath of office on a Qu’ran from Thomas Jefferson’s personal library. This prompted Denise A. Spellburg to write a book on the subject titled Thomas Jefferson’s Qu’ran: Islam and the Founders, published in 2013. In a podcast hosted by Joan Neuberg at the University of Texas at Austin, Neuberg and Spellburg delve into how Thomas Jefferson’s interest in the Qu’ran began and the different ways in which it influenced him.

Anti-extremist activist Maajid Nawaz was once, in fact, an Islamist extremist himself. This TED talk looks at why transnational extremist organizations succeed where democratic movements have a harder time taking hold. He calls for new grassroots stories and global social activism to spread democracy in the face of nationalism and xenophobia.