Influential scholar, blogger to speak on Pakistan’s increasing instability
Juan Cole, director of the Center for South Asian Studies at the University of Michigan, historian of the Middle East and South Asia, and an influential political blogger will speak at SMU Oct. 17 on "Pakistan: Between Democracy and Radicalization."
Cole made national news this summer when a former CIA officer told The New York Times that the White House had asked intelligence officials in 2005 to gather sensitive information about Cole, whose postings to his "Informed Comment" blog were frequently critical of the Iraq war. Other intelligence officials have disputed the claim.
The lecture is scheduled for 5:15 p.m. in McCord Auditorium in Dallas Hall on the SMU main campus. The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required by e-mailing tower@smu.edu or by calling 214-768-3954.
Cole’s most recent books are Engaging the Muslim World (Palgrave Macmillan, 2009) and Napoleon’s Egypt: Invading the Middle East (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007). He has appeared on the Lehrer News Hour, ABC Nightly News, Nightline and Anderson Cooper 360.
The event is a Scott-Hawkins endowed lecture sponsored by Asian Studies, the Tower Center for Political Studies, and the Departments of History and Religious Studies.
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