Title: Being Muslim at the Crossroads of Asia: Exploring the Spaces of Islamic
Community in Ladakh (India) and the Maldives
Alumni Reading Room

Abstract: The region of Ladakh and the nation of the Maldives share very little
at first glance-their mountainous Himalayan and Indian Ocean island geographies are
such extreme opposites that they seem to poised to define disparate cultural worlds.
Yet there are significant shared interests between the two sites; in both places
Muslims struggle to define a notion of religious community in relation to geography,
and find their task complicated by regional histories of participation in now
defunct transnational Asian trade routes. In this talk I will discuss some of my
research in these two regions, and draw upon case studies that highlight the role of
the local in Muslim experiences negotiating the boundaries of Islamic community.
Through a discussion of Muslim festival participation in Ladakh and women's mosque
sites in the Maldives, I am able to consider how "being Muslim" as a community is
constituted through spatial practices informed by national and local concepts of
place. Thinking about these local Muslim spatial relations as part of what
constitutes the global ummah allows us to consider, and yet avoid essentializing
Muslim experiences in relation to, grand narratives of Islam.

Hello All. 

I am pleased to announce that Katie Kelley, visiting instructor in SSCS, has agreed to serve as Coordinator of Student Activities for Critical and Visual Studies. Many of you have met Katie, but for those who haven't, here is a brief bio: Katie Kelley got her undergraduate degree at St. John's College, in philosophy and the history of math and science. She has an MA in philosophy from the New School for Social Research, where she is currently pursuing a PhD. Her dissertation focuses on Stanley Cavell's extended idea of medium specificity as a way of thinking the logic of artworks, as well as a way of rethinking and reconciling modernism and realism. She has written and published on Barthes, W.G. Sebald, Bazin's realism, photography and automatism. 

The Coordinator is a new position in SSCS. In it, Katie will work alongside Ric Brown to enrich the experience of our BA students in the major, the Department, and Pratt more widely. Here is the description of the position: 

*Duties of Coordinator of Student Activities for Critical and Visual Studies . 

*Participate in the new student orientation process. . 

*Integrate new students into the life of the program. . 

*Arrange for regular social gatherings for students and students/faculty

*Facilitate guest speakers and faculty presentations

*Help facilitate reading groups/gatherings for students and/or students and faculty. . 

*Arrange for an end-of-semester party, thesis presentation, and graduation gathering. 

Please join me in wishing Katie good luck with her new responsibilities.

 

"Corinne Rendinaro moved to New York after high school to study Fashion Design. After taking a required course in life drawing, she found her true passion was art. She changed her major to Fashion Illustration where her attention was focused on movement of the body and gesture. Corinne then attended Pratt Institute to study Critical and Visual Studies. She has also studied in Florence, Italy and Copenhagen, Denmark."

Left side of the “Spectrum of Life” exhibit in the Hall of Biodiversity at the American Museum of Natural History Source: Image taken by Molly H. Adams September 2011

View of the Old Field, pond and trails from the deck on the East side of the South Fork Natural History Museum Source: Image taken by the Molly H. Adams, March 2012.

“Dzanga-Sangha Rainforest Diorama” in the Hall of Biodiversity and the American Museum of Natural History Source: (c) AMNH / Denis Finnin <http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/permanent/biodiversity/rainforest/

"The Hall of Biodiversity’s installation labeled the “Spectrum of Life” uses
more than 1,500 specimens and models, organized into 28 living groups to show over 3.5 billion years of evolution and to display the awe-inspiring diversity of life.  The Linnaean taxonomical approach of categorization, which is used in this display, groups all life into three kingdoms that are divided into classes, and then into orders, families, genera and species.  It helps viewers to see an extremely wide variety of different types of organisms by separating microorganisms from mammals and bacteria from birds.  This technique of organization emphasizes the quantitative aspects of biodiversity rather than qualitative ones. Because of this, the visual display of replicas and specimen fails to communicate the importance of each organism in the ecosystem of which they are a part.  In other words, somewhat ironically, the roles of ecosystems themselves are neglected, and rather the emphasis is placed on the range of different species and the diversity of their visual characteristics.  For example, several organisms are shown either in a linear fashion according to size, ranging from smallest to largest, or collected in naturalist boxes, neglecting to visually represent any ecological relationships that add biological meaning and context.  These organisms have been dissected from the communities and ecosystems in which they actually reside in nature, making it impossible to realize the greater context that they are pulled out of."

Curated by a group of interdisciplinary students from Pratt Institute, the 4th Annual Wallabout Film Festival is proud to present the work of innovative student filmmakers from around the world in two programs.  From stories of love gone bad and revenge not going according to plan, to explorations of greed and the pleasures of big butts, this year’s films will entertain, provoke, and inspire.

The Wallabout Film Festival is a student film festival produced and programmed by an interdisciplinary team of students from Pratt Institute. Showcasing films by innovative student filmmakers from around the world, Wallabout is a platform for students to screen their work to a diverse community of peers, artists and industry professionals, initiating conversation and collaboration. Wallabout is an important forum for supporting student filmmaking and for adding to the vibrant creative culture of Brooklyn.

When and where does the festival take place?

The 2012 Wallabout Film Festival will take place on Thursday April 26th at IndieScreen in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

IndieScreen Website

Film by Joshua Sobel (B.A. Critical and Visual Studies '10) to Premiere at Tribeca Film Festival this April

 Joshua Sobel is a Brooklyn-based video director and independent film producer from Miami Beach. While at Pratt Institute, he was one of the founders of the Wallabout Film Festival, an international student film competition  currently in its fourth year. Graceland is his first credit as co-executive producer.