Lecture
Book Launch: Provocative Images in Contemporary Islam
- Margaretha van Es, Jim Hoesterey, Carla Jones, Maryam Kashani, Kirsten Scheid, Karen Strassler, Pooyan Tamimi Arab. Editors: Bart Barendregt, David Kloos, Mark Westmoreland, and Leonie Schmidt
- Date
- Wednesday 15 May 2024
- Time
- Explanation
- Start and end times are CET (Central European Time).
- Address
- Online via Zoom
Images provoke! In this online book launch we will celebrate and discuss Provocative Images in Contemporary Islam, an edited volume published recently by Leiden University Press (2023).
A result of a LUCIS conference on Islam and visuality, the volume explores the role of images in contemporary Islam by turning to the act of provocation. Moving beyond a common focus within the study of religious visuality on art, aesthetic value, and perceptions of beauty or coherence, the book shows how, when, and why images dare, shock, terrorize, confront, challenge, mock, shame, taunt, and offend, either intentionally or unintentionally, and as such lead to both confrontation and affective religious engagement.
The launch will start with an introduction of the volume and the bumpy yet instructive search for a cover image. We will continue with four stimulating conversations between some of our authors about their respective chapters. Kirsten Scheid and Mark Westmoreland will talk about the tension between visualizing Muslims and Islamic visuality; Jim Hoesterey and Margaretha van Es will talk about intended and unintended provocation; Carla Jones and Maryam Kashani will ponder the power and ambiguities of publicity and (public) space; Pooyan Tamimi Arab and Karen Strassler will discuss images in activism and subversion. And of course, there will be room for questions.