Cultural Events invites campus community for lecture Sept. 26

North Central College’s Cultural Events welcomes Deepa Kumar, associate professor of media studies and Middle East studies at Rutgers University, to give a free talk titled “Constructing the ‘Muslim Enemy’: From the Crusades to the ‘War on Terror.’” She will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 26, in Smith Hall at Old Main. Her talk will examine anti-Muslim racism and its impact on domestic politics and is based on her 2012 book, “Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire.”

Kumar has been active in various social movements for peace and justice and has written numerous articles in both scholarly journals and alternative media. She has spoken at university and community forums on a range of topics—from Islamophobia, political Islam, U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and South Asia, the Arab Spring, women and Islam—and has been interviewed by various media outlets. She maintains a blog at EmpireBytes.com.

Her first book, “Outside the Box: Corporate Media, Globalization and the UPS Strike,” was published by the University of Illinois Press in 2007 and is about the power of collective struggle in effectively challenging the priorities of neoliberalism. Kumar is currently working on a third book about political Islam, U.S. foreign policy and the media.

For more information about this event contact Steve Macek, associate professor of speech communication and coordinator of urban and suburban studies, at 630-637-5369 or shmacek@noctrl.edu.