Juan R.I. Cole

"Can Ayatollah Sistani's Alternative to Khomeinism Survive?"

Wednesday, October 8, 2008
3:30 p.m.
Mershon Center for International Security Studies
1501 Neil Ave., Columbus, OH 43201

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Co-sponsored by the Middle East Studies Center, Department of Political Science, and Department of History.

Juan R.I. Cole is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University of Michigan. He has written extensively about Egypt, Iran, Iraq, and South Asia.

For three decades, Cole has sought to put the relationship of the West and the Muslim world in historical context, and his most recent book is Engaging the Muslim World (Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming) and he recently authored Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).

Cole continues to study and write about contemporary Islamic movements, whether mainstream or radical, whether Sunni and Salafi or Shi'ite. He commands Arabic, Persian and Urdu and reads some Turkish, knows both Middle Eastern and South Asian Islam, and lived in a number of places in the Muslim world for extended periods of time.

Cole has given numerous media and press interviews on the War on Terrorism since September 11, 2001. He has also commented extensively on the Iraq War, the politics of Pakistan and Afghanistan, and the increasing conflict with Iran.

He has been a regular guest on PBS's Lehrer News Hour, and has appeared on ABC Nightly News, Nightline, the Today Show, Charlie Rose, Anderson Cooper 360, Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Democracy Now!, and many others. He also has a regular column at Salon.com.

Juan R.I. Cole
Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History
University of Michigan