"Anti-Muslim Bigotry in America: Where it Comes From and What to Do About It"
by Professor Kecia Ali, Boston University (title tbc)
- Tuesday, October 6, 2026, 4pm (followed by Q&A and reception)
- Alumni Lounge, Pyle center
- To faciliate planning, please register online by September 30, 2026 (we welcome walk-ins too)
About the speaker:
Kecia Ali is Professor of Religion and Director of the Muslim Studies Program at Boston University. Her research ranges from Islam’s formative period to the present. In addition to Sexual Ethics and Islam, her books include Marriage and Slavery in Early Islam and The Lives of Muhammad as well as two open-access readers on American Muslim marriage and divorce. Her most recent book, The Woman Question in Islamic Studies, is a study of gender politics and academic sexism. She is currently working on an introductory survey of women in Muslim religious traditions.
Past lectures
2019-2025 Lectures
2025 - "The Resistible Threat of Semiauthoritarianism"
by Dr Marina Ottaway
Monday, October 13, 2025
Alumni Lounge, Pyle Center
Meet and greet with reception: 4:00-4:30pm
Soffa lecture, comments by Professor Flavia Piovesan and Q&A: 4:30-6:00pm
Moderated by retired Chief Justice of WI Supreme Court, Ann Walsh Bradley with welcome remarks by Vice Provost and Dean Francine Vavrus, International Division
Comments by: Professor Flavia Piovesan, Professor of Constitutional Law and Human Rights, Catholic University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, Former Commissioner, Inter-American Commission of Human Rights
Moderator: Retired Chief Justice, WI Supreme Court, Anne Walsh Bradley
Sponsored by: Human Rights Program, The International Division, Global Legal Studies Center, 4W Initiative, Institute for Regional and International Studies (IRIS), and Department of Political Science
Read interview with Dr Ottaway
2024 - "Ending Gender Apartheid: Lessons from Afghanistan"
by Professor Karima Bennoune
Lewis M. Simes Professor of Law, University of Michigan &
Former UN Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights.
Monday, October 14, 2024 at 4pm
Alumni Lounge, Pyle Center
Reception to follow
Register here by October 11, 2024 to facilitate planning: https://forms.gle/iMGryUTShJZt6PEcA.
On Oct. 14, Karima Bennoune will deliver a lecture on "Ending Gender Apartheid: Lessons from Afghanistan" as speaker for the 2024 J. Jobe and Marguerite Jacqmin Soffa Lecture. A renowned scholar of international law and human rights, Bennoune will explore the ongoing struggle for gender equality in Afghanistan, where oppressive regimes have institutionalized gender-based discrimination. Drawing on her extensive research and advocacy, she will analyze the impact of these policies and highlight the resilience of Afghan women.
2023 - "Accountability for Crimes against Humanity: From Pinochet to the Present"
By Antonia Urrejola
Lawyer and Former Foreign Minister of Chile
Former President, Inter-American Commission of Human Rights
Details
4:00pm, Tuesday, October 17, 2023 - Alumni Lounge, Pyle Center
2022 - "Back to the Road to Democracy: Getting out of the Maze or Getting Rid of Walls?"
By Dr. Ma Thida
Martin Roth Institute, Berlin
Details
4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 26, 2022, at the Alumni Lounge, Pyle Center
A surgeon, writer and political commentator, Dr. Ma Thida spent more than five years in prison in the 1990s for her activism. Since her release in 1999, she has monitored and written on events in Burma. In 1995-96, Thida was the recipient of numerous awards, including the PEN/Barbara Goldsmith Freedom to Write Award and Reebok Human Rights Award. She was the fellow of the International Writing program at the University of Iowa in 2005, of the International Writers project at Brown University in 2008-09, and of the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University in 2009-10.
With the lifting of the military regime, Thida and colleagues founded PEN Myanmar in 2013. Thida served as the first president of the organization until 2016, and she was elected as board member of PEN International in 2016 and 2019. In 2016, Thida was awarded the first annual "Disturbing the Peace" award by the Vaclav Havel Library Foundation in New York. She was elected chair of the Writer in Prison Committee of PEN International in 2021. She was at the South East Asia Studies of McMillan Center of Yale University as research associate in 2021-22. She is currently in Europe for her writing.
2021 - "As Women Rise, So Does the Nation"
By Dr. Sakena Yacoobi
Oct. 12, 2021
Dr. Sakena Yacoobi is the president and executive director of the Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL), an organization she founded in 1995 in response to the lack of education and health care that the Afghan people faced after decades of war and strife. Dr. Yacoobi is also the president and executive director of Creating Hope International (CHI). Dr. Yacoobi has established 352 Learning Centers, four schools, a hospital and a radio station and TV station in Afghanistan and is the recipient of six honorary doctorates including from Princeton University. Each year, Dr. Yacoobi speaks at numerous events, conferences and at institutions such as the UN, Stanford University and Oxford University. Dr. Yacoobi particularly enjoys engaging with youth at schools, inspiring them to be globally minded citizens.
2020-2021 - "Shifting the Center of Gravity: Women's Movement and Constitution-Making in Kenya"
By Professor Wanjiku Kabira of Nairobi University
Professor Wanjiku Mukabi Kabira is the leader of the Women's Economic Empowerment (WEE) Hub and the director of African Women Studies Centre (AWSC), University of Nairobi. She is a professor of literature and a writer, a literary critique and a gender and policy analyst. She has taught oral literature for many years, carried out field work in many parts of the country and published widely. Her first publication in 1984 has been translated into many languages and set the pace in the field of oral literature in our schools and in the region. Her latest publication in oral literature was in 2010, titled "Re-Claiming My Dreams."
2019 - "The Dance of Feminism with Human Rights: Reflections on Three Decades of Global Women's Human Rights Organizing"
Oct. 3, 2019
Charlotte Bunch, founding director and senior scholar at the Center for Women's Global Leadership, Rutgers University, has been an activist, author and organizer in the women's, civil and human rights movements for four decades. Her work focuses on the application of feminist theory to public policy questions, particularly at the global level. Her current investigations center on developing an analysis and understanding of human rights that incorporates women's lives more fully and utilizes the question of violence against women as a way of exploring the parameters of their issues both theoretically and practically. Her other public policy work has focused on issues of gender and international development.
About the Soffa Lecture
"Women and children are oppressed all over the world. If we can shine a light on issues that matter to them, we can take steps to make their lives better."
Marguerite Jacqmin Soffa '46 BA L&S established an annual public lecture series in 2001 to be given by a distinguished woman in international public life about contemporary issues of global significance. Presenters have included renowned and well-known "grassroots" leaders in the struggle for human rights and international understanding. The lecture was coordinated by the Office of International Studies and Programs until the Human Rights Program was created in 2013.
Remembering Marguerite Jacqmin Soffa (1924-2023)
It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Marguerite Soffa, the founder of the Soffa lecture series. We are indebted to her vision and generosity.
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