Dartmouth Events

The unexpected abolition of the Caliphate in 1924 caught the Arab world off guard, leaving it ill-prepared to assume the metaphysical and spiritual burden of the highest office in Islam. While this sudden traumatic loss led to a pervasive sense of collective anxiety and disorientation, the Arab world responded to the demise of the caliphate in diverse ways, ranging from ad-hoc projects focused on communal moral reconstruction to the emergence of political Islam through the establishment of the Muslim Brotherhood. Additionally, the violent resurgence of the Caliphate by ISIS exemplified the most extreme response. In this discussion, we will explore both immediate and long-term consequences of the historic Turkish decision to close the doors on the thirteen centuries old institution of the Caliphate. 

Register for the livestream here. 

Yoav Di-Capua is a Professor of History at the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches modern Arab intellectual history. He is the author of Gatekeepers of the Arab Past: Historians and History.

Jonathan Laurence is Director of the Clough Center for the Study of Constitutional Democracy at Boston College. He is the author of Coping with Defeat: Sunni Islam, Roman Catholicism, and the Modern State.

Atifete Jahjaga served as the fourth, and the first woman, president of the Republic of Kosovo. She is founder of the Jahjaga Foundation.

Sponsored by Middle Eastern Studies, Jewish Studies, The Dickey Center for International Understanding, and the Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences at Dartmouth

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Dartmouth’s interdisciplinary programs in Jewish Studies and Middle Eastern Studies have a longstanding commitment to fostering dialogue, community, and joint academic inquiry. Building on this decades-long partnership and recent campus forums on the current conflict, the Middle East Dialogues foster learning and an open exchange of ideas to bridge what can appear to be an impenetrable divide.

The Middle East Dialogues represent the Dialogue Project's first special topic series, encompassing courses and events related to timely challenging topics.