Publication – English
Climbing the Virtual Minbar of Cyberspace
MESA Review of Middle East Studies, 2011
Abstract:
This article by Daniel M. Varisco appears in a Special Section of the MESA Review of Middle East Studies edited by Shafique N. Virani entitled “Speaking Truth Beyond the Tower: Academics of Islam Engaging in the Public Sphere.” In his deliciously pungent and punning style, Varisco continues the previous articles about the journey in the digital realm by leaving behind the Ivory Tower for a spell, to write on “Climbing the Virtual Minbar of Cyberspace.” Addressing the digitally initiated, he wonders who will hear our scholarly khutba, and whether those who do will simply dismiss what we say as elitist “khutzpah.” He cautions that, particularly in our current political and intellectual climate, scholarly neutrality must not be allowed to degenerate into a naïve form of cultural relativism that divorces critical review from moral engagement.
In narrating his own adventures in cyberspace, he tells of how, in the late 1990s, he began requiring his students to conduct “webservations,” assigned reviews of websites, thus echoing the pedagogical impetus that spurred Godlas in his article. Later, in 2002, he jointly conducted an online virtual seminar on the Qur’an, which resulted in a permanent website of resources, accessible to the general public. A few years later, exasperated with the challenges of publishing through standard news media, he launched “Tabsir: Insight on Islam and the Middle East,” an academic blog that became an important and influential forum for informed commentary. In 2006, he created the internet journal, CyberOrient, on behalf of the Middle East Section of the American Anthropological Association. His article keenly reflects on the successes and challenges of these endeavors, and raises new issues. He ponders, “an even larger problem is the endemic start-up challenge: marketing…how does one get the word out?”
Cite this publication:
Varisco, Daniel M. “Climbing the Virtual Minbar of Cyberspace.” Special Section, “Speaking Truth Beyond the Tower: Academics of Islam Engaging in the Public Sphere.” Edited by Shafique N. Virani. In MESA Review of Middle East Studies 45, no. 2 (2011): 182-191.
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