Reimagine Resilience: Storytelling as a Portal to Prevention

11 November, 2024

We are deeply honoured to welcome Professor Amra Sabic-El-Rayess, award-winning author, professor at Columbia University, and the Executive Director of the International Interfaith Research Lab at Teachers College, Columbia University, USA, to lead the Peacebuilding in Interfaith Contexts Reading Group session.

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Here are the details of this fascinating event.

Photo credit: Ingrid Skousgard

Topic: Reimagine Resilience: Storytelling as a Portal to Prevention

Abstract: Prof Sabic-El-Rayess was awarded a 2021 Finalist Medal for Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction by the American Library Association and Best Book recognition by School Library Journal, Malala Fund, Capitol Choices, and Children’s Center for Literature for her memoir, The Cat I Never Named — a defining text on resilience to hate and empowerment through education. Dr. Sabic-El-Rayess released her second nonfiction contribution, Three Summers to critical acclaim. Three Summers is a story of resilience, belonging, and sisterhood in the three years leading up to the Bosnian Genocide. In this session, Dr. Sabic-El-Rayess will spotlight the power of storytelling in nurturing interfaith solidarity and belonging and offer insights on why she chooses – among her scholarly, research, and pedagogical endeavors – to continue writing stories as a way to sustainably build resilience to hate.

Speaker: Professor Amra Sabic-El-Rayess – an award-winning author, scholar, and professor at Columbia University – is the Executive Director of the International Interfaith Research Lab at Teachers College, Columbia University, USA.

Speaker’s biography: Professor Amra Sabic-El-Rayess has taught, researched, and published on a range of issues in education, including Educational Displacement, targeted violence, hate prevention, interfaith collaboration, anti-Muslim racism, storytelling, radicalization, othering, transitional justice, corruption, social cohesion, social mobility, and social transformation. She has delivered 100+ invited lectures in the USA, South Korea, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Australia, Qatar, Germany, Austria, Indonesia, China, Mongolia, Azerbaijan, Jordan, Turkey, Morocco, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Italy, the United Kingdom, and India. She is a recipient of research grants from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Prevention Programs and Partnerships; the Muslim World League; Smith Richardson Foundation; the U.S. State Department; Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and Kennan Institute; International Research and Exchange Board; Harriman Institute for Russian, Eurasian, and Eastern European Studies; and Women’s World Banking. She was awarded a 2021 Finalist Medal for Excellence in Young Adult Nonfiction by the American Library Association and Best Book recognition by School Library Journal, Malala Fund, Capitol Choices, and Children’s Center for Literature for her biographical exploration of resilience to targeted violence and hate. The Cat I Never Named (Bloomsbury, 2020) has been integrated into the K-12 curricula and higher education institutions throughout the United States as one of the defining texts on resilience to hate and empowerment through education. Three Summers (Macmillan Publishers-FSG, 2024), is a story of sisterhood and resilience in the three years leading up to the Bosnian Genocide. In her students’ feedback, Amra is consistently praised as one of the most inspiring professors they have encountered.

Chair: Professor Yehezkel Landau, Emeritus Professor of Interfaith Relations and Emeritus Chair in Abrahamic Partnerships at Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, USA.

Date: 11 November, 2024

Time: 18:00-19:00 GMT| 19:00-20:00 CEST | 10:00-11:00 PST | 13:00-14:00 EST

Venue: online

PLEASE REGISTER HERE

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