"Democracy and the Middle East" subject of BYU lecture April 9
Many of speaker Sadik J. Al-Azm’s books banned in Arab worldSadik J. Al-Azm will present “Democracy and the Middle East: A View from Damascus” during a Middle East Studies Arabic Lecture on Wednesday, April 9, at 3 p.m. in 238 Herald R. Clark Building at Brigham Young University.
A visiting professor at Princeton University, Al-Azm is an emeritus professor of modern European philosophy at the University of Damascus. His research is focused on the Islamic world and its relationship to the West. He is well-known for being a human rights advocate and a champion of intellectual freedom.
Many of Al-Azm’s books are banned in the Arab world, and he was jailed by the Lebanese government after publishing his book, “Critique of Religious Thought “ (1970). Previously, he was known for his book, “Self-Criticism After the Defeat” (1968), in which he gave an analysis of the Arab disillusionment after the Six Days War. Several of his books have been translated from Arabic to English, Dutch, German, Italian and Norwegian.
During his career, he taught not only in Damascus and Beirut but also at Harvard, Princeton and the University of Hamburg.
This lecture will be archived online. For more information on David M. Kennedy Center events, see the calendar online at kennedy.byu.edu.
