I will be at the (virtual)) North American Science Fiction Convention (NASFIC) on Sunday and will be on the following panel. The Sci-Fi Con is virtual and free this year so anyone can attend the Con. Here is the link to the website: NASFIC Sunday August 23 10:00-10:50AM (Eastern DaylightContinue Reading
Amina Inloes has published a fantastic article on Professor MAR Barker in the latest issue of the joural Muslim World, here is the abstract: Muhammad Abd al‐Rahman (Phillip) Barker: Bridging Cultural Divides through Fantasy/Science‐Fiction Role‐Playing Games and Fictional Religion Abstract: “Muslims” and “Dungeons & Dragons” are rarely discussed in theContinue Reading
The transcript of the panel on Science Fiction and the Civic Imagination that I was a part of earlier this year is now online. You can read the whole transcript in Part 1 and Part 2. Here is a relevant excerpt. Mohammed: So, I guess part of reimagining the future isContinue Reading
Last weekend, I remotely gave a talk at the Mecahdemica Conference on Science Fiction Utopias from the Muslim World. The slides for my presentation is at the bottom of this post. Future as the Present: Science Fiction Utopias and Dystopias from the Muslim World Muhammad Aurangzeb Ahmad Abstract: The utopias and dystopiasContinue Reading
I will be presenting a paper on Utopias and Dystopias in Islamicate Science Fiction (i.e., Science Fiction from the Islamic world) at the Mechademia International Conference in Minneapolis. I will be presenting remotely from Seattle. Here is the abstract of my paper: Future as the Present: Science Fiction Utopias and DystopiasContinue Reading
As promised, here is the English translation of our interview with he Tunisian Academic Dr. Ayed Kawthar in English. The French text of the original along with a bio is available here. M. Aurangzeb Ahmad: Please tell us about your background and how did you get interested in Science Fiction inContinue Reading
Ayed Kawthar is a Tunisian academic whose area of research is Arabic Science Fiction. Her PhD dissertation was also in Arabic Science Fiction. Since her primary languages are Arabic and French so we interviewed Dr. Kawthar in French. This also marks the first time that we are posting an interviewContinue Reading
Image: Still from the upcoming Ajwan TV series from UAE Here is another Masters thesis that might be of interest to our readers at Islam and Sci-Fi. Zainab Coovadia, Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations Department at the University of Toronto has a masters thesis on social justice and politics inContinue Reading
Great news for lovers of Urdu Literature, Khurshid Iqbal, a critic and researcher from India, has a masters thesis on Science Fiction in Urdu Literature. The text itself is in the Urdu language but I am hoping that an English translation would be available in the near future. It startsContinue Reading
Bio: Ada Barbaro earned her Phd in Geopolitic and Culture of the Mediterranean Area from the Italian Institute of Human Studies – Naples in 2011. She worked as fellow researcher in Arabic Language and Literature at the Institute of Oriental Studies (ISO) at University of Rome “La Sapienza”. Lecturer inContinue Reading