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Intellect

Islam in Italy and France topic of BYU Kennedy Center lectures March 22

The David M. Kennedy Center for International Studies will host Brigham Young University professors James Toronto and R. John Matthies for a Global Awareness Lecture Wednesday, March 22, at noon in 238 Herald R. Clark Building.

Admission is free and the public is welcome to attend.

Toronto, an associate professor of Arabic and Islamic studies, will address “Challenges of Integrating Muslims in Italy," while Matthies, an assistant professor of French, will present "Kicking the Anthill: The Secularization of French Islam.”

A former faculty member in the Department of Church History and Doctrine, Toronto conducts and publishes research in Islamic education, immigration and integration of Muslim minorities and the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Italy and the Middle East.

Matthies has studied classical Arabic and Islamic law, and is interested in the politics, society and literature of both colonial and contemporary Algeria. Matthies received a master’s degree and doctoral degree in French literature from the University of Washington.

This lecture will be archived online. For more information on Kennedy Center events, visit kennedy.byu.edu.

Writer: Brian Rust

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