Shifting boundaries: The study of Islam in the humanities

Abstract

In January 2015, two brothers, Saïd and Chérif Kouachi, forced their way into satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo’s offices in Paris. They murdered eleven people, and wounded eleven more inside the offices; upon leaving, they killed a police officer. They identified themselves as Islamicists affiliated with Al-Qaeda, and stated that they attacked to avenge the Prophet Muhammad. The attack brought up issues of freedom of press, of French national identity, of laicite, and (perhaps obviously) terrorism. As we might expect, campuses were quick to respond. The University of Vermont held a panel discussion titled “Free Speech Rights: France as a case in point,” billed as a response to Charlie Hebdo, and sponsored by the French department. As the scholar of Islam in the Religion department, Ilyse was called on to offer parity and balance to a panel of scholars of modern France and French literature-to offer, it seemed, the “Muslim” perspective.