Modernity; Violence – Nonviolence

March 25-25, 2011

Nonviolence Initiative for Democracy Inc. and Iranian Student Organization at Boston University present a series lectures on:

Roots of Violence and Conflict Resolution

Spring 2011

This course closely examines the roots and sources of violence in Persian specking  countries by focusing on history of violence, modernity and conflict, religion and ethnics minorities, culture and pluralism, and state and politics. Each of these spheres constitutes one of the segments of the course and we will begin our scrutiny of each by examining the roots and structures of violence in them. In the first section, Aram Hessami has discussed on the notion of politic, structure of power and its relations to violence on March 11 & 12. In the second section, Farzin Vahdat will discuss on modernity; violence – nonviolence.

Section 2: Modernity; Violence – Nonviolence

Farzin Vahdat

Conducting Research at Vassar Collage

March 25 at 5-7pm, @ Boston University , SAR Room 102

March 26 at 3-5pm, @ Boston University, Room GSU Conf Aud.

In these lectures Farzin Vahdat will discuss the notion of modernity and its relations to violence and non-violence.   The foundation of modernity can be thought of in terms of a critical mass of ind ividuals in a society acquiring a sense of agency and empowerment.  Only with this societal transformation, the institutions of the modern world such as legally sanctioned political and social freedoms, a democratic parliamentary system, and a free press, can function properly.  Yet, the process of formation of agency, so far, has always been accompanied by violence in many different dimensions of social and political life.  On the other hand, once a large number of individuals in a given society have acquired a sense of agency and is willing to share it with everyone else, then the foundations of democratic and enduring forms of non-violent existence are laid.

The language of the classes is Persian and its location is:

SAR: SARGENT COLLEGE (SAR), Room 102, Boston University,

635 Commonwealth Avenue;

GSU: George Sherman Union, Boston University, 775 Commonwealth Avenue;

For more information click here.

October 2, 2010

The Nonviolent Initiative for Democracy (NID) and Agora Philosophical Forum will present a lecture on October 2, 2010. In this lecture Dr. Farzin Vahdat, of Vassar College, will talk about “Modernity and Nonviolence in Iran”.
Time: Saturday October 2, 3:00-5:00 pm
Place: University of Toronto, OISE, room 4414, 225 Bloor Street
This event is free and open to public

Dr. Farzin Vahdat is the chief research officer of the Nonviolent Initiative for Democracy (NID). Dr. Vahdat holds a Ph.D. in sociology from Brandeis University and is an authority in the analysis of the concepts and conditions of modernity and their application to Iran, Islam and the Muslim world. Vahdat is the author of God and Juggernaut: Iran’s Intellectual Encounter with Modernity (Syracuse University Press, 2002), of the forthcoming Islamic Ethos and the Specter of Modernity, and of numerous articles in English and Persian, a number of which have been translated into various languages, including Swedish, Italian, and Spanish. Dr. Vahdat has taught at Tufts, Harvard and Yale Universities and Vassar College and is currently conducting research at Vassar.