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Dr. An-An-Na’im is Charles Howard Candler Professor of
Law at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. He holds
an LLB (Honours) University of Khartoum, Sudan; LLB (Honours)
and Diploma in Criminology, University of Cambridge,
England; and PhD in Law, University of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Professor An-Na’im is the author of Toward an Islamic
Reformation: Civil liberties, human rights and international
law (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1990) (translated
into Arabic, Indonesian, Russian and Farsi). He is the
editor of Human Rights and Religious Values: An uneasy
relationship?, with Jerald D. Gort, Henry Jansen & Hendrik
M. Vroom (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Publishing, 1995); Human
Rights in Cross-Cultural Perspectives: Quest for consensus
(Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1992);
Human Rights in Africa: Cross-cultural perspectives, with
Francis M. Deng (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution,
1990); The Cultural Dimensions of Human Rights in the Arab
World (in Arabic) (Cairo: Ibn Khaldun Center for
Developmental Studies, 1994); Universal Rights, Local
Remedies: Legal protection of human rights under the
constitutions of African countries (London, Interights,
1999); Proselytization and Communal Self-Determination in
Africa (Maryknoll, NY: Oribis Books, 2000), Islamic Family
Law in a Changing World: A Global Resource Book s. ( London,
UK: Zed Books, 2002); and Cultural Transformation and
Human Rights in Africa. London, UK: Zed Books, 2002.
He has also published some fifty articles and book chapters
on human rights, constitutionalism, Islamic law and
politics.
He is currently working on a book manuscript on the
Future of Shari`ah, in support of pluralism, human rights
and equal citizenship by ensuring separation of Islam and
the state, while recognizing and regulating the role of
Islam in politics.
Sam Abaidoo is currently serving as chair of the
Department of Sociology, Geography, Anthropology and
Criminal Justice, Kennesaw State University. He holds B.A
(Honors) in Sociology/Economics and Diploma in Education, M.
Sc. in Sociology (1993) from the University of Cape Coast,
Ghana. He also holds M.A (1994) and Ph.D. (1997), in
Sociology from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada. His
Ph.D. dissertation was judged the best graduate thesis in
social sciences for 1997/98. In 1998/99 he won the Junior
Scholar Award from the Canadian Department of
Multiculturalism, and served part of that award as a fellow
at the University of Calgary, Alberta. He served as one of
the social science representatives for the creation of the
“Virtual College of Biotechnology”, University of
Saskatchewan. He developed a course for this college, as
well as several resources for social science-based teaching
and research in biotechnology as part of the emerging
knowledge-based economy.
His teaching, research, and publication have focused on
environmental sociology, social change, technology and
society (with particular emphasis on the sociology of
biotechnology), and urban/suburban sociology.
He joined the faculty of Kennesaw State University in
2000. He has since devoted significant attention to African
and African Diasporan questions, as well as urban/suburban
sociological issues. In the latter regard he initiated and
has directed two national suburban conferences at Kennesaw
State University. Over the last four years he has directed
three Summer Study Abroad programs to Ghana. He was a
principal contributor to the development of an African and
African Diaspora Studies (AADS) major at Kennesaw State
University. He developed a required course for this major,
titled “Emerging Social Issues in Africa”. He has
co-authored a funded grant proposal, which is looking at
sustainability of tropical rainforest in Ghana. This is in
collaboration with the Departments of Geography and Tourism
and Sociology, University of Cape Coast. This involves the
use of GPS and satellite images to monitor changes in
rainforests. It also involves the investigation of
indigenous cultural practices, their impacts on the forests,
and rainforest-based communities can maintain their
viability and vibrancy.
He has served as vice-president of Georgia Sociological
Association (GSA) in 2002-2003, and president in
2003-2004. He is married with three children.
Soumaya is the founder and Executive Director of the
Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta (www.isbatlanta.org)*.
She found the bureau in August 2001. Her dream was to have
a non-profit, educational organization in the Atlanta area
dedicated to sharing information about Islam and Muslims
with the wider community. Today – in its fourth year of
operation, the ISB has presented to thousands of Atlantans.
The audience ranges from youth groups, to seniors’ groups,
to civic organizations, to religious establishments, to
schools, to universities, to law enforcement agencies, to
corporations, and hospitals. Thirty trained and certified
speakers work with Soumaya to deliver the presentations.
Soumaya was born in Egypt and moved to Texas as a
pre-teen with her parents. She holds an undergraduate
degree in Chemistry from the University of Houston and an
MBA in Human Resources from Georgia State University. She
is a Human Resources Manager for an Atlanta Fortune 100
company.
Traveling, and entertaining is what Soumaya enjoys doing
in her spare time. Meeting new people energizes Soumaya.
She feels that the world would be a better place if human
beings took the time to know each other and concentrate on
what they have in common.
The ISB and Soumaya have been featured numerous times in
the Atlanta Journal Constitution, Georgia Trend Magazine,
The Jewish Times of Atlanta, The Henry Herald and other
newspapers. She has also appeared on many occasions on TV.
She was a Judge for the Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasting (AIB)
Allen Awards. In addition, Soumaya spearheaded the “Not in
the Name Islam” ad campaign which appeared in the Atlanta
Journal Constitution on 9/11/04. She is also the recipient
of several awards from the Atlanta Community including the
“Unsung Hero Award” from the Anti-Defamation League for the
work she has done with a local synagogue.
Soumaya is a member of the Faith Alliance of Metro
Atlanta’s Board of Directors. Soumaya co-founded the
Jewish/Muslim Baking group, which has been meeting on a
quarterly basis for over 2 years. She also co-founded the
Fayette Interfaith Network.
Soumaya and her husband Mohamed live in Peachtree City,
GA with their teenage daughter. They also have 2 grown
sons, a daughter-in-law and a grand daughter.
*ISB Atlanta is an affiliate of the Islamic Network Group,
www.ing.org
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Born in Kentucky, raised in Zimbabwe, to
missionary parents, Ruth O'Toole spent all of her formative
and school years in that country, during its tumultuous years
of civil war as it sought to gain independence.
Ms. O'Toole
holds a B.A. in English and a minor in communications
from Carson-Newman College. She has served in various
communication and education development roles, including
directing the education services for software development
corporations and director of Christian Education in the
local church setting.
A Reinhardt senior from Guinea in western Africa, Mohamed
has lived in the United States for about 10 years. His
topic of interest is ethnocentrism, defined in the dictionary as the habitual
disposition to judge foreign people(s) accordingly to one's
own culture. "I believe that the average American views the
world in the very ethnocentric way. The reason I choose to
talk about the American being ethnocentric is because I've
been exposed to this the most during my young adulthood."
Camara planned to discuss experiences he had had. He will
also briefly touch on the perspective of
an outsider looking and hopefully present some persuasive
idea and advice to encourage people to support and
embrace diversity and not promote prejudice. |
