Zahra Institute

Graduate School

Critical Muslim Studies Launch Event


On May 4, 2024, we celebrated the launch of our new MA program in Critical Muslim Studies with a lecture and reception at Fulton Street Collective in Chicago. After a warm welcome from Shahreena Shahrani, our Outreach Coordinator, Executive Director Ibrahim Demir introduced the new program by answering the question, "What is Critical Muslim Studies?" Mucahit Bilici then offered a keynote address on "Post-Islamism and the Flight from Religion: Turkey's New Secularization."

Bilici, Associate Professor of Sociology at John Jay College, CUNY, began his lecture by noting that there is a mass departure from religion in Turkey today, with atheism possibly the fastest growing "religion." As previously-religious individuals become increasingly secular, observers on all sides ask: Why are so many people leaving Islam? What are their reasons, and why now? The analysis of the phenomenon of the "death of God" among Muslims in Turkey was followed by a lively audience discussion. 

Watch the Lecture

MA in Critical Muslim Studies

Critical Muslim Studies is an interdisciplinary field that focuses on Muslim experience in a global context. Unlike more textually based Islamic Studies, Critical Muslim Studies approaches Islam and Muslims in the context of lived experience and history. It takes Muslim life as its primary object of study and thus underlines the relevance of the humanities and social sciences. It also sees critique not as a luxury, but rather as a necessity for both Muslim life and the understanding of it. Critical Muslim Studies places the study of Islam and Muslims in conversation with various philosophical and intellectual traditions, understanding Muslim experience in truly global terms.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

  • Contemporary focus
  • Global character: Brings together the experiences of Muslim majorities and Muslim minorities, especially Muslims in America and Europe
  • Gives voice to the missing Kurdish strand in Islamic Studies
  • Offers the convenience of an online synchronous program with the highest American academic standards
MORE INFORMATION

ANNUAL LECTURE 2024

Sabri Ates Explores the Origins of Kurdish Nationalism


On March 2, Zahra Institute hosted its Fourth Annual Lecture on the campus of Loyola University Chicago. Kurdish community members and academics from neighboring institutions gathered on a beautiful early Spring day to hear Sabri Ates, professor of history at Southern Methodist University, speak on "The Emergence of Kurdish Nationalism: The Sheikh Ubeidullah Uprising of 1880." In a talk illustrated with excerpts of recently discovered letters and a rare image of the Kurdish leader, Ates, a historian of the Ottoman-Iranian borderlands, gave a preview of his forthcoming book. His discussion of the rise of Kurdish national consciousness and agency in a context of two empires led to a lively Q and A and spirited discussion at a reception following the lecture.

Event Video

Showcasing Fall 2024 MA Courses

KRD 500: Approaches to Kurdish Studies

Provides an introduction to Kurdish society and surveys major disciplinary approaches to key topics in Kurdish Studies.

KRD 506: Introduction to Linguistics and Kurdish Language

Presents core structural properties of the Kurdish language, describes its geographical variations, and explores its genetic affiliation with other languages of the region.

KRD 502: History and Literature of the Kurds

This graduate-level overview examines the history and literary development of the Kurds from the seventeenth century to the modern era.

MUS 500: Approaches to Critical Muslim Studies

Provides an introduction to Critical Muslim Studies and surveys major disciplinary approaches to key topics in the study of Islam and Muslims.

MUS 501: Muslim Societies

Surveys key issues and various contexts of contemporary Muslim life in comparative perspective including demographic changes, shift in authority structures, emerging popular culture, trends in secularization.

MA in Kurdish Studies

The Master of Arts in Kurdish Studies at Zahra Institute is the first of its kind in the United States. It examines the lives and culture of the Kurds, a Middle Eastern people living in Kurdistan and beyond, spread across the borders of several modern states and linguistic and cultural zones.

The MA Program provides excellent background preparation for a doctoral degree in any field related to the Middle East and for those interested in pursuing careers in media, government, and international organizations. Our liberal arts approach to Kurdish Studies is based on rigorous academic standards and a strong commitment to scholarly freedom.

PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS

  • The first MA Program in Kurdish Studies in the US
  • A unique focus on the humanities aspects of Kurdish Studies including literature, music, visual arts, and cinema
  • Covers a topic area long overlooked by traditional Middle Eastern Studies programs
  • Gain access to the language and culture of approximately forty million people
  • Offers the convenience of an online synchronous program with the highest American academic standards
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The MA program’s interdisciplinary approach bodes very well for the promising two-year journey that lies ahead.

MARWAN

MA Program Student

Being at Zahra Institute is a unique experience for me because I can learn about the history of my nation and share this knowledge with others.

NEDA

MA Program Student

The level of instruction, the level of professionalism of the professors was top of the line. I am very grateful that I was able to complete the Certificate in Kurdish Studies.

VIERELINA

Certificate Program Student

ZI Apex Fellowship


Zahra Institute's Apex Fellows are junior scholars who receive mentoring from ZI Faculty as they develop their research agendas and prepare work for publication. To express interest, please email info@zahrainstitute.org.

 Current Fellows


Zahra Institute welcomes two inaugural Apex Fellows for 2023-24. Fatma Kaya-Muguc studied psychology in Istanbul. Her current research interests include "the effects of the ISIS genocide and captivity on Kurdish and Yezidi women” and "the need for culturally-appropriate intervention strategies that might help these women process their trauma."Ahmet Ciftcioglu is a doctoral student in sociology at Loyola University in Chicago and is interested in social movements, the sociology of religion, and critical Muslim studies.

Fatma Kaya-Muguc

Kurdish Studies

Ahmet Ciftcioglu

Critical Muslim Studies




Artist Talk with Serhad Bapir

A Kurdish Visual Artist Tells His Story

WATCH THE TALK





When the Walnut Leaves Turn Yellow


Zahra Institute is proud to be among the sponsors of Mehmet Ali Konar’s forthcoming film, Dema Ko Pelên Dara Guzê Zer Dibin [When the Walnut Leaves Turn Yellow]. The award-winning Kurdish filmmaker’s recent work includes Hewno Bêreng (Colorless Dreams, 2018) and Govenda Ali û Dayka Zîn (The Dance of Ali and Mother Zin, 2021). 

Vierelina Fernández

Zahra Institute Certificate Program 2021 alumnus and graduate student at Florida International University

Our Kurdish Studies Certificate Program connects students with highly-trained, responsive faculty in a small-class setting that enables them to expand on their existing knowledge while exploring Kurdish language, culture, and civilization. For application information visit our Certificate Program page.

Certificate in Kurdish Studies


QWX Blog is an initiative of Zahra Institute. It provides a platform for researchers to share with a wider audience brief reports, timely observations, and commentary in their areas of expertise.

LEARN MORE

Participants in the 2018 Kurdish
Studies Summer School

Midya Khudhur speaks on “Collective
Memory of Kurds in Diaspora”
at 2019 International Kurdish Studies
Conference

Lukman Ahmad, Kurdish artist
and musician, plays saz at 2019
Summer School’s musical evening

Jeanine Ntihirageza, Director of
World Languages Program at NEIU,
addresses participants at the
opening of the 2019 Conference

Panel on “Kurdish Language in
Context” at 2019 IKSC

Bahadin Kerborani leads a discussion
on the Kurdish press in the late
Ottoman Empire

Mucahit Bilici teaches about
Ehmedê Xanî in his “Kurdish
Intellectual Profiles” course

Matthew Cancian (MIT), Aynur Unal
(University of Leicester), and Ekrem
Karakoc (Binghamton University)
presenting at a panel on “Conflict,
Politics and Identity”

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