Oct. 5 Common Reading event to discuss women and the Qur’an

The Washington State University Common Reading Program hosts a lecture Wed. Oct. 5, at 7 p.m. in Todd 216, presented by Lipi Turner-Rahmen, a professor of history and member of the WSU Libraries Staff, will speak on the Qur’an and female education.

Turner-Rahmen said the limitations on girls’ education in the Islamic world have their roots in cultural perspectives rather than religious ones. She will discuss how what the Qur’an advocates regarding female education and how Muslim women today study the Qur’an.

This event is one in a series of events centered on this year’s common reading book I Am Malala. The book and events fit the program’s two year them of leadership and social justice. Recent events discuss education in the Muslim world. Khalida Brohi, this year’s common reading invited lecturer, runs the Sughar Center which helps educate men and women in rural and tribal areas of Pakistan. Julie Kmec and Nehal Abu-Lail will speak on Oct. 11 on women in the STEM fields in predominantly Muslim countries.

The Common Reading Program began in Pullman in 2007 to help students, their teachers, and the community better engage in academically centered critical thinking, communication, research, and learning around a body of shared information presented in a single, specially selected book.

Nominations for the 2017-18 Common Reading book are open through November 1. Nominated books should fit with the program’s new two year theme of “Frontiers of Technology, Health, and Society.” To nominate a book go to: https://commonreading.wsu.edu/nominations/

Contact:

Karen Weathermon, WSU Common Reading Program co-director, WSU Undergraduate Education, 509-335-5488, weathermon@wsu.edu

Emma Epperly, Communications and Marketing Junior Assistant, WSU Undergraduate Education, 509-335-9458, UCHCCommMar.5@wsu.edu