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Contact: John Janzen, African Studies Resource Center, (785) 864-3745, or 864-2642

Islamic law expert to speak Sept. 13 on human rights in Africa

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN POSTPONED DUE TO FAA'S RESTRICTIONS ON AIR TRAVEL -- TO BE RESCHEDULED

LAWRENCE -- A distinguished Islamic theologian, who has been called the "Martin Luther of modern Islam," will speak on human rights in Africa at 7 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 13, in the Kansas Union Parlor ABC.

Abdullahi An-Na'im is a professor of law at Emory University in Atlanta. His lecture at KU is sponsored by the African Studies Resource Center and is the second in the semester series of the African Studies Fall 2001 seminar series devoted to the media and human rights.

Trained in an Islamic religious and legal perspective, An-Na'im has explored the basis of universal human rights within Islam in particular, and in general the possibility of broad human rights within particular cultural, religious and national contexts. His work is considered relevant to those concerned with violence against individuals and groups for reasons of state, religion or ethnic identities.

At Emory Law School, Professor An-Na'im is directing three major projects, funded by the Ford Foundation. One focuses on women and land in Africa. Another is a global study of the theory and practice of Islamic family law. The most recent is a three-year project for establishing a new Islam and Human Rights Fellowship Program to bring together scholars and activists from around the world to develop human rights scholarship and strategies for advocacy from an Islamic perspective.

Before coming to Emory University, Professor An-Na'im held teaching, research and administrative positions at numerous institutions, including the University of Khartoum, Sudan, and University of California in Los Angeles. He was a Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center; the Ariel F. Sallows Professor of Human Rights at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada; Olof Palme visiting professor at the Uppsala University, Sweden; scholar-in-residence, Ford Foundation office, Cairo, Egypt; and executive director of Human Rights Watch/Africa.

Recent examples of his many publications include "Universal Rights, Local Remedies: Legal Protection of Human Rights under the Constitutions of African Countries;" "Toward an Islamic Reformation: Civil Liberties, Human Rights and International Law;" and "The Politics of Memory: Truth, Healing and Social Justice."