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Hello, The following event may be of interest to you: Sufism in North America Tuesday, April 21, 2015 Shobhana XavierPhD Candidate at Wilfrid Laurier-Waterloo University in the Religion and Culture DepartmentSufism in America forms a formative current of Islamic and non-Islamic spirituality and religiosity. In the American context Sufism was present ritually among some early African American indentured slaves of the 17th century, while Sufism’s Persian poetic traditions were influential in the circles of American literary masters, such as the Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson. But the systemic proliferation of Sufism is often cited as emerging with the arrival of Hazrat Inayat Khan (d. 1927) in 1910. Sufi communities have now institutionalized and are seminal manifestations of Islam and spirituality across America. As the demographics of Sufi communities transform in the 21st century in America, these movements are also contending with issues of authority, gender and legitimacy. How are issues of legitimacy of Sufism within Islam or the role of women in Sufi American movements being negotiated? How is the role of the classical Sufi shaykh (master) unfolding in the American context? As a means to explore these questions within the development of Sufism in North America, this talk situates the historical development of Sufism in America and then uses the case study of the Bawa Muhaiyaddeen Fellowship, which is headquartered in Philadelphia with transnational connections to Sri Lanka, to explore how these negotiations are unfolding in one particular Sufi community and what this can tell us about Sufism in America, but also Sufism in contemporary global contexts. Location: Reem-Kayden Center, Room 101 Sponsor: Interdisciplinary Study of Religions Program; Middle Eastern Studies Program Contact: Tehseen Thaver. E-mail: [email protected] Phone: 845-758-7207 If you would like to see more events please visit the following URL: http://inside.bard.edu/religion/events/