Author: Nassef Manabilang Adiong, PhD

Below is an excerpt from Inside Higher Ed‘s piece written by Elizabeth Redden.

Another scholar from overseas had a difficult time entering the U.S. for the conference. Nassef Manabilang Adiong, the founder of the Philippine International Studies Organization, came from Manila to Baltimore via Tokyo and Detroit. He said he was about to board his flight for the Tokyo-Detroit leg when he was taken from the line and questioned by a U.S. official about his address in Manila, his family, his background and the foreign countries he had visited.

“I thought that after this situation had happened to me, I would not have any difficulty at the port of entry in Detroit,” Adiong said. But upon arrival in the U.S., Adiong said, he was brought into a room for secondary screening and questioned for two hours by two immigration officials whose questions kept circling around issues of Islam and terrorism. They let him go about five minutes before his connecting flight to Baltimore was scheduled to leave. “It was just a random check, that’s what they said,” Adiong said.

Adiong, whose research is about Islam and international relations in the pre-modern era, described the experience as exasperating, exhausting and embarrassing. “I’m having second thoughts of coming back for future ISA conferences under the current USA administration,” he said. “Probably after this administration I may attend.”

Full article is available here.

School Harvard Divinity School

Position Description

Harvard University’s Faculty of Divinity seeks to make a full-time, tenured appointment to the Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Chair in Contemporary Islam. We seek a scholar whose work engages the social, intellectual, political, artistic, economic, or any other aspect of contemporary Islamic life with specialization in Southeast Asia. The candidate should demonstrate a deep understanding of the historical, social, and cultural contexts of Islamic institutions, movements, and ideas in Southeast Asia with emphasis on the 18th-century to the present. The candidate should be also conversant with the broader, global history of Islamic religion and culture.

Basic Qualifications

Applicants should be competent in the appropriate research languages and be able to teach and advise at the doctoral and master’s levels. Applicants should also be able to contribute to the Divinity School’s degree programs, including its multi-religious Master of Divinity program, and be familiar with forms of analysis that address race, gender, and social location. The successful candidate will be expected to engage in the intellectual life of the Divinity School. The candidate will also teach undergraduates and doctoral students in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

Special Instructions

Letters of nomination should be sent to: Islamic Search Committee, c/o Matthew B. Turner, Harvard Divinity School, 45 Francis Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, or via email to:mturner@hds.harvard.edu. A letter of application and current curriculum vitae are required of all candidates. Preference is given to online applications made at:http://academicpositions.harvard.edu. Applications may also be submitted via postal or electronic mail to the addresses above. Review of applications will begin in December and continue throughout February 2015.

Contact Information

Islamic Search Committee
C/o Matthew B. Turner
Harvard Divinity School
45 Francis Ave
Cambridge, MA 02138

Contact Email mturner@hds.harvard.edu

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