#  2021 Schedule 

 



## The Project on Shi'ism and Global Affairs at Harvard University's Weatherhead Center for International Affairs presents

## A Symposium on Diversity and Unity in Transnational Shi’ism

Monday, April 5th to Thursday, April 8th, 2021 | 20+ Speakers, 4 Panels

A historic symposium bringing together diverse voices from leading scholars of Shi’a thought and communities across Zaydi, Ismaili, Alevi, Alawite, Bektashi, & Twelver Ja'fari Muslim denominations and beyond at Harvard University.

## Monday, April 5th

### **Welcome & Opening Remarks**  
10:45AM – 11:00AM EDT | 7:45AM - 8:00AM PDT 

- [Ali Asani](/people/ali-asani) (Harvard University)
- [Payam Mohseni](/people/payam-mohseni) (Harvard University)

### **Keynote Address**  
11:00AM – 12:15PM EDT | 8:00AM - 9:15AM PDT

- [Seyyed Hossein Nasr](/keynote) (George Washington University) - *Shi'ism: Unity and Diversity*

### **Panel 1 | Approaching Intra-Shi’a Dialogue**  
12:45PM – 2:15PM EDT | 9:45AM - 11:15AM PDT

**Speakers:**

- [Zahra Jamal](/people/zahra-jamal) (Rice University) - *Leading the Knowledge Society Once More: Prospects for Intrafaith Collaboration*
- [Sayed Ali Abbas Razawi](/people/sayed-ali-abbas-razawi) (Scottish Ahlul Bayt Society) - *Pragmatic Lessons in a Dynamic World: A Twelver Ja'fari Perspective on Intra-Shi'a Dialogue*
- [Scott Lucas](/people/scott-lucas) (University of Arizona) - *Four Classical Arabic Books for a Zaydi-Imami Conversation*
- [Eliton Pasaj](/people/eliton-pashaj) & [Huseyin Abiva](/people/huseyin-abiva) (Bektashi Community of America) - *The Bektashi Tekke in America and the Place of Bektashism on the Sunni-Shi'a Spectrum*

**Moderator:**

- [Payam Mohseni](/people/payam-mohseni) (Harvard University)

## **Tuesday, April 6th**

### **Panel 2 | Shi'ism and Sufism: Islamic Traditions of Esotericism**  
1:30PM – 2:45PM EDT | 10:30AM - 11:45AM PDT

**Speakers:**

- [Shafique N. Virani](/people/shafique-virani) (University of Toronto) - *Much Ado About Nothing: Coming to “Terms” with Sufism and Ismailism*
- [Ayfer Karakaya-Stump](/people/ayfer-karakaya-stump) (William & Mary) - *Sufism, Shi’ism and Confessional Ambiguity among Qizilbash/Alevis*
- [Nicholas Boylston](/people/nicholas-boylston) (Harvard University) - *Twelver Shi'ism and Sufism: Their Relationships in History and Today*

**Moderator:**

- [Ali Asani](/people/ali-asani) (Harvard University)

## **Wednesday, April 7th**

### **Panel 3 | Shi'ism and Minority Communal Dynamics in South Asia**  
2:00PM–3:15PM EDT | 11:00AM - 12:15PM PDT

**Speakers:**

- [Juan Cole](/people/juan-cole) (University of Michigan) - *The Shi'ite Heritage in South Asia*
- [Rameez Abbas](/people/rameez-abbas) (NESA) - *The Dawoodi Bohras: Cohesion and Integration Strategies in India and Pakistan*
- [Karen Ruffle](/people/karen-ruffle) (University of Toronto) - *Two Perspectives on the Everyday in South Asia: The Question of Gender and Theorizing Agency in Material Practice*
- [Simon Wolfgang Fuchs](/people/simon-wolfgang-fuchs) (University of Freiburg) - *Reclaiming the Citizen: How Pakistan's Shi'is Have Engaged with the State*

**Moderator:**

- [Hassan Abbas](/people/hassan-abbas) (NESA)

## **Thursday, April 8th**

### **Panel 4 | Shi'a Confessional Identities and Politics in the Middle East**  
12:30PM–2:00PM EDT | 9:30AM - 11:00AM PDT

**Speakers:**

- [Riza Yildirim](/people/riza-yildirim) (Emory University) - *Remarks on Historical and Religious Foundations of the Alevi-Sunni Conflict in Contemporary Turkey*
- [Rose Wellman](/people/rose-wellman) (University of Michigan-Dearborn) - *Shi’i Families in Provincial Iran: Everyday Piety in and Beyond State Power*
- [Alexander Weissenburger](/people/alexander-weissenburger) (OAW, Vienna) - *The Importance of the Concept of the Zaydi Imamate in the Context of the Current War in Yemen*
- [Joshua Landis](/people/joshua-landis) (University of Oklahoma) - *The Alawites of Syria: Diversity and Unity in Transnational Shi'ism*

**Moderator:**

- [Payam Mohseni](/people/payam-mohseni) (Harvard University)

**Closing Remarks**  
2:00PM EDT | 11:00AM PDT



 



 

 See also:- [ 2021 Conference ](/year/2021)