Islam UK Seminar Series 2017

Date: February 1, 2017 @ 19:00 – 21:00

Venue: Committee Rooms 1 & 2, Glamorgan Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff, UK

Speaker: Professor Nasar Meer

Chair: Jonathan Cox, Citizens UK Deputy Director/Citizens Cymru Wales Lead Organizer

The Islam UK Centre runs a free annual public lecture series each spring. Speakers come from across the UK and overseas to give details of the latest research available. The opening event in the Public Seminar Series 2017 is organized in partnership with Citizens Cymru Wales. Following Professor Meer’s talk, Citizens Cymru Wales will lead a discussion of ‘citizenship in action’, looking at the group’s ‘Dignity in Burial’ campaign.

Nasar Meer is Professor of Comparative Citizenship and Social Policy at the University of Strathclyde. His publications include: Islam and Modernity Vol 1-4 (Ed, 2017-Routledge); Interculturalism and Multiculturalism: Debating the Dividing Lines (co-ed, 2016- Edinburgh); Citizenship, Identity and the Politics of Multiculturalism: The Rise of Muslim Consciousness (2015, 2nd Edition-Palgrave). In 2016 he was awarded the Royal Society of Edinburgh’s (RSE) Thomas Reid Medal for Excellence.

This event is held in partnership with Citizens Cymru Wales, a diverse alliance of civil society organizations committed to training local people to improve their communities through collective action for the common good. The Center has worked with Citizens Cymru Wales on several projects since last November, when the Commission on Islam, Participation and Public Life visited Cardiff. Professor Sophie Gilliat-Ray is one of the Commissioners, along with Chair Dominic Grieve QC MP.

The event begins with a talk by Nasar Meer, Professor in Comparative Citizenship and Social Policy at the University of Strathclyde. Following his seminar and a time for questions from assembled guests, we will learn about a practical example from the center’s own locality. Leaders from Citizens Cymru Wales have conducted a ‘community listening exercise’ which has identified grief among Muslim families who are sometimes unable to bury their loved ones according to Islamic teaching. Citizens Cymru Wales has brought people together across the boundaries of race, faith and community to prepare a campaign called “Dignity in Burial”. There will be short presentations from key participants and then an open debate, and all voices are welcome.

More information at: Cardiff University’s Website