Abdul Aziz Said: A Pioneer in Peace, Intercultural Dialogue, and Cooperative Global Politics: With a Foreword by Mohammed Abu-Nimer and Prefaces by Nathan C. Funk and Meena Sharify-Funk

by Nathan C. Funk (Editor), Meena Sharify-Funk (Editor)

Overview

Known to many as American University’s “peace legend,” Abdul Aziz Said (1930–2021)
led an academic career spanning nearly sixty years. Always a forward-looking thinker,
Said consistently sought to be among the first to grapple with the leading-edge issues of
his day, from decolonization and turbulent social change in developing countries to the
influence of multinational corporations, the normative priority of human rights, cultural
aspects of conflict resolution, and the promotion of Islamic-Western understanding.
Taken together, his extensive writings, innovative pedagogy, and practical pursuits offer
a model for engaged scholarship, characterized by dynamic use of the platform provided
by a university career to advance international peace, intercultural dialogue, and social
justice as well as a spiritual ethic emphasizing unity and connectedness among peoplefrom diverse cultural, religious, and racial backgrounds.

• Abdul Aziz Said has been an innovator in international relations and peace
studies;
• Born in Syria, he completed his higher education in the United States and went
on to teach multiple generations of international affairs students;
• He was a leading scholar focusing on global peace as well as Islam and peace;
• His writings address salient global issues from the 1950s to the first decades of
the twenty-first century.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783031139048
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	12/05/2022
Series:	Pioneers in Arts, Humanities, Science, Engineering, Practice , #26
Edition description:	1st ed. 2022
Pages:	485
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Nathan C. Funk (Ph.D., American University, 2000) is Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict Studies at Conrad Grebel University College, the University of Waterloo. A frequent collaborator with Abdul Aziz Said, his publications include Islam and Peacemaking in the Middle East (2009), Ameen Rihani: Bridging East and West (2004), Peace and Conflict Resolution in Islam (2001), “Localizing Peace: An Agenda for Sustainable Peacebuilding (Peace and Conflict Studies, 2010), “Constructing Civic Space: Civil Resistance, Sustainable Citizen Empowerment, and Transitional Justice as Pathways of Change in Contemporary Arab Politics” (in Arab Spring: Modernity, Identity and Change, 2019), “Religion and Peaceful Relations: Negotiating the Sacred” (in The Routledge Companion to the Handbook of Peace and Conflict Studies, 2019), and the “Conclusion” to Middle Power in the Middle East (2022). He has served on the boards of several Canadian peace organizations, and including the Peace andConflict Studies Association of Canada.

Meena Sharify-Funk (Ph.D., American University, 2005) is Associate Professor of Religion and Culture at Wilfrid Laurier University. Her research and writing address topics related to women and Islam, Islamic and Sufi hermeneutics, and the role of cultural and religious factors in peacemaking. She is author of Muslim Women in Contemporary North America: Controversies, Clichés, and Conversations (forthcoming) and Encountering the Transnational: Women, Islam and the Politics of Interpretation (2008). Her co-authored and co-edited books include Contemporary Sufism: Piety, Politics, and Popular Culture (2018), Unveiling Sufism: From Manhattan to Mecca (2017), Contemporary Islam: Dynamic, Not Static (2006), and Cultural Diversity and Islam (2003) and . She has published numerous journal articles and book chapters, and was guest editor of a special issue of the journal Religions on “Contemporary Muslim Thought and Identity” (April 2022).

Table of Contents

Part I. Abdul Aziz Said’s Pioneering Life and Works.- Chapter 1. Abdul Aziz Said’s Journey: A Biographical Overview.- Chapter 2. Photo Essay on Abdul Aziz Said.- Chapter 3. Bibliography of the Works of Abdul Aziz Said.- Part II. Selections from Abdul Aziz Said’s Writings.- Chapter 4. Abdul Aziz Said’s Contributions to Scholarship.- Chapter 5. Toward a Global Perspective on International Politics.- 6. A World in Transition: Rethinking International Relations.- Chapter 7. Human Dignity, Cooperation, and Peace.- Chapter 8. Middle East Politics.- Chapter 9. Making Peace with Islam.- Chapter 10. Dialogue, Spirituality, and Transformation.- Part III. Abdul Aziz Said’s Impact, Influence, and Legacy.- Chapter 11. Reflections from Colleagues, Practitioners, and Former Students.- Index.