CMES, in partnership with the Davis Center and Asia Center, was recently awarded a Social Science Research Council (SSRC) grant to work on expanding media understanding of "Islam in Context." The project focuses on encouraging academics and journalists to share information on the diverse historical, geographic, and social contexts in which Islam and Muslim communities exist.
The grant will involve convening a two-day workshop for academics and journalists, publishing an Islam in Context manual for use by the media, and establishing a resource website of expert voices at Harvard on Islam.
“This award presents an exciting opportunity,” says CMES Director, Steven C. Caton, Professor of Contemporary Arab Studies, “as it involves several centers on campus and makes specialist knowledge about Muslim communities more accessible to the media.”
Harvard University's Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, and Asia Center are all U.S. Department of Education Title VI National Resource Centers.
The Social Science Research Council is an independent, not-for-profit research organization founded in 1923. Based in New York City, it mobilizes researchers, policy makers, professionals, activists, and other experts from the private and public sectors to develop innovative approaches to issues of critical social importance.
April 18, 2008