People have a lot to say about “terrorists” but few people talk to them. In her studies, Cynthia Mahmood has interviewed Muslim combatants in Pakistan and Afghanistan, Sikh militants in India, and “freedom fighters” in Kasmir. In this talk, she explores some of the reasons people choose to take up arms in the name of religion. She also examines the US-led “war on terror” and explains why it may swell the ranks of such groups. As part of the Teresa Dease Lecture Sponsored by the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (the Loretto Sisters), Professor Mahmood will deliver the same lecture in Toronto on Wednesday, November 12, at 7:30 p.m. in Madden Hall, University of St. Michael’s College.
Cynthia Mahmood, Ph.D.
Social anthropologist at Notre Dame University, and Senior Fellow at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Cynthia Mahmood has served as a consultant to the American, Canadian, and British governments on religious conflict. She is the author of three books, the best known being Fighting for Faith and Nation: Dialogues With Sikh Militants (University of Pennsylvania, 1996). She is frequently featured on American television as a commentator on the aftermath of 9/11 and the war on terrorism.