Wednesday, October 05, 2011

The return of Shiite Islam as a dynamic and revolutionary force and the growing tensions between Sunnis and Shiites has been at the fore of Middle Eastern politics since the Iranian Revolution of 1979. That tension has become even more volatile since the American intervention in Iraq.

Ibrahim Kaya Sahin, assistant professor of Ottoman History at Tulane University in New Orleans, will speak on "Sunnis and Shiites: A Rivalry that Transformed the Middle East" at 7:30 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 20 in the University of North Carolina Wilmington's Burney Center. Free and open to the public, the lecture will be followed by a reception with Sahin.

Sahin has been selected as the 10th annual Sherman Emerging Scholar by UNCW's Department of History. The award, named for donors Virginia and Derrick Sherman, is given each year to a young scholar in the social sciences or humanities who promises to be an influential force in his or her field. For this 10th anniversary, past recipients of the award have been invited back to campus to share their current scholarship with UNCW faculty and students.

Sahin's discussion will illuminate the historically constructed nature of the Sunni-Shiite rivalry to help the audience better understand the politicization of religion in Middle Eastern history.

"Today, a large-scale Shiite resurgence is occurring, as witnessed by developments in Iraq, Lebanon and even in previously quite stable Middle East countries such as Bahrain and Qatar," Sahin explained. "Sunni and Shiite identities are too easily misunderstood by both involved individuals and communities as well as by interested third parties such as media and academia. Without discussion of their historical and cultural aspects, understanding is only further obscured."

A native of Turkey, Sahin received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 2007.

For more information, go to www.uncw.edu/sherman.

Media contact:
Dana Fischetti, media relations manager, 910.508.3127 or fischettid@uncw.edu