The Middle East Center – Sant Antony’s College OXFORD presents:
You are cordially invited to the book launch for
‘The Arab Awakening: Islam and the New Middle East”
by Tariq Ramadan, Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies
on Wednesday 6th June
at 5pm – 7pm
Location: The Nissan Lecture Theatre,
St Antony’s College,
62 Woodstock Road, Oxford, OX2 6JF
Lecture followed by reception in The Buttery
In The Arab Awakening Tariq Ramadan explores the opportunities and challenges across North Africa and the Middle East, as they look to create new, more open societies. He asks: can Muslim countries bring together Islam, pluralism and democracy without betraying their identity? Will the Arab world be able to reclaim its memory to reinvent education, women’s rights, social justice, economic growth and the fight against corruption? Can this emancipation be envisioned with Islam, experienced not as a straitjacket, but as an ethical and cultural wealth?
Arguing that the debate cannot be reduced to a confrontation between two approaches – the modern and secular versus the traditional and Islamic – Ramadan demonstrates that not only are both of these routes in crisis, but that the Arab world has an historic opportunity: to stop blaming the West, to jettison its victim status and to create a truly new dynamic. Tariq Ramadan offers up a challenge to the Middle East: what enduring legacy will you produce, from the historic moment of the Arab Spring?
