The Demonization of Malcolm X, The Sanitization of Dr. Martin Luther King
The CU Mediterranean Studies Group presents a public lecture: “The Demonization of Malcolm X, the Sanitization of Dr. Martin Luther Kingâ€
Dr. Nebil Husayn, Religious Studies, ³Ô¹ÏÍøÌýof Miami
Thursday, September 15, 2022
6:00–7:30, HUMN 250
This lecture challenges the ways in which two icons of the 1960s, Dr. King and Malcolm X, are popularly characterized as rivals. Dr. Nebil Husayn argues that the two icons, in fact, represented a radical black tradition of political action that was subversive to narratives of American exceptionalism. As a consequence of myth-making and a process of collective remembering and forgetting, Dr. King is largely sanitized of this radicalism, which lingers with the legacy of Malcolm. Dr. Husayn argues that such mythmaking is also apparent in how we conceive of our presidents, police officers, and to the detriment of black activists, those who devote themselves to racial justice.
Nebil Husayn teaches in the Department of Religious Studies at the ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Miami. His research explores authoritarianism in the Middle East, debates on the caliphate, and the development of Islamic thought. Dr. Husayn began his work as an undergraduate at the ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Virginia, where he studied Arabic, Persian, Islamic history and Muslim cultures before pursuing study abroad in Syria and Yemen for four years. During his time abroad, he pursued a seminary education with traditionally-trained Sunni and ShiÊ¿i scholars. Dr. Husayn returned to the United States to obtain an M.A. in Arabic and Islamic Studies from Harvard ³Ô¹ÏÍø and a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton ³Ô¹ÏÍø. He is the recipient of a Fulbright award and the ³Ô¹ÏÍø of Miami Fellowship in the Arts and Humanities. The family of the Prophet Muhammad, Ali b. Abi Talib, and their descendants (known as Alids) occupy a central place in his research. Husayn’s first book, Opposing the Imam (2021), published with Cambridge ³Ô¹ÏÍø Press, examines the history of early Muslims who were hostile to Islam's fourth caliph, Ali, and his descendants. Husayn aims to continue interrogating the intellectual and political histories of the Alid family in his future work.
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