Irvin C. Schick, a professor and researcher of Islamic studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) will provide the next instalment of the York-Noor Lecture Series. Schick will present a lecture titled “Islamic Calligraphy and Figurative Representation” on Sunday, April 3, at the Noor Cultural Centre in Toronto, and “The Fair Circassian: Race, Gender, and Orientalism” on Monday, April 4, at York University. Admission to both lectures is free.
Right: A 9th- or 10th-century leaf of the Qur’an in Kufic script from the William J. Trezise Collection of Arabic Calligraphy which is housed at Princeton University, NJ.
Schick was born in Istanbul, Turkey. He obtained his PhD from MIT in 1989. He has taught at Harvard University and MIT, where he is currently a research scientist. He is the author of The Erotic Margin (1999) and The Fair Circassian (in Turkish, 2004), and is the editor or co-editor of several books including the Ugur Derman 65th Birthday Festschrift, a volume dedicated to the Islamic arts of the book such as calligraphy.
His anthology of European women’s narratives of Turkish captivity will be published later this year. Schick’s current research interests include women in Islam and the representation of Muslim women; the Islamic arts of the book, especially calligraphy; and questions of identity and modernity, particularly in the context of Turkey.
Details of the upcoming session of the York-Noor Lecture Series
Sunday, April 3, 3-5pm
“Islamic Calligraphy and Figurative Representation”
Noor Cultural Centre
123 Wynford Drive, Toronto (DVP/Wynford Drive)
Monday, April 4, 1-3pm
“The Fair Circassian: Race, Gender, and Orientalism”
Room 010, Vanier College
Keele campus, York University