Suzanne Schneider on The Apocalypse & the End of History w Spencer Ackerman, Asad Dandia
20 years after 9/11, Suzanne Schneider discusses how the political violence of modern jihad echoes the crises of western liberalism; in conversation with Spencer Ackerman and Asad Dandia. This event is co-presented with the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research.
In this authoritative, accessible study, historian Suzanne Schneider looks at the politics and ideology of the Islamic State (better known as ISIS). Presenting her book with a short talk and a panel discussion, Schneider argues that today’s jihad is not the residue from a less enlightened time, nor does it have much in common with its classical or medieval form, but it does bear a striking resemblance to the reactionary political formations and acts of spectacular violence that are upending life in Western democracies. From authoritarian populism to mass shootings, xenophobic nationalism, and the allure of conspiratorial thinking, Schneider argues that modern jihad is not the antithesis to western neoliberalism, but rather a dark reflection of its inner logic.
Written with the sensibility of a political theorist and based on extensive research into a wide range of sources, from Islamic jurisprudence to popular recruitment videos, contemporary apocalyptic literature and the Islamic State's Arabic-language publications, the book explores modern jihad as an image of a potential dark future already heralded by neoliberal modes of life. Surveying ideas of the state, violence, identity, and political community, Schneider argues that modern jihad and neoliberalism are two versions of a politics of failure: the inability to imagine a better life here on earth. Dr. Schneider will be in conversation with Spencer Ackerman and Asad Dandia.
Spencer Ackerman is a journalist and author of Reign of Terror: How The 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump. Ackerman has been a national-security correspondent for outlets like The New Republic, WIRED, The Guardian, and The Daily Beast for nearly the entire War on Terror. He has reported from the frontlines of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay. He shared in the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service Journalism for Edward Snowden's NSA leaks to The Guardian, a series of stories that also yielded him other awards, including the Scripps Howard Foundation's 2014 Roy W. Howard Award for Public Service Reporting and the 2013 IRE medal for investigative reporting. Ackerman's WIRED series on Islamophobic counterterrorism training at the FBI won the 2012 online National Magazine Award for reporting. Ackerman is the publisher of the Forever Wars newsletter on Substack, where he tracks the ongoing course of the War on Terror. He lives in his native Brooklyn with his wife and children.
Asad Dandia is a Brooklyn-born writer, organizer, and grad student. As an undergraduate, he was cofounder of the mutual aid organization Muslims Giving Back, which was targeted by NYPD informants, pushing Asad to join the historic Raza v. City of New York lawsuit as a plaintiff to challenge the NYPD's anti-Muslim surveillance, propelling him into advocacy and organizing. He writes on politics, culture, and religion, and has worked locally for Muslim Community Network, the Cordoba House, and currently teaches at the Islamic Learning Center of NYC. He is a co-host of New Books in Middle East Studies podcast at the New Books Network, and a book reviewer for Publishers Weekly's Middle East and Islam sections. He holds an MA in Islamic Studies from Columbia University and is currently an MA student in Urban Studies with a focus on the urban workforce at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies. A Brooklyn native and nationalist, he is passionate about his city's history, culture, and politics, and is studying for his NYC tour guide license so he can further spread the gospel of Gotham.
Suzanne Schneider is Deputy Director and Core Faculty at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, specializing in the political and social history of the modern Middle East. Her books include Mandatory Separation: Religion, Education, and Mass Politics in Palestine (Stanford University Press, 2018) and The Apocalypse and the End of History: Modern Jihad and the Crisis of Liberalism (Verso, 2021). Her writing about political violence, religion, militancy, and American foreign policy has appeared in The Washington Post, n+1, Foreign Policy, Religion Dispatches, Mother Jones, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among other publications.
Greenlight Bookstore is our bookseller for this event. You can purchase/preorder the book here.
Co-presented by the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research
20 years after 9/11, Suzanne Schneider discusses how the political violence of modern jihad echoes the crises of western liberalism; in conversation with Spencer Ackerman and Asad Dandia. This event is co-presented with the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research.
In this authoritative, accessible study, historian Suzanne Schneider looks at the politics and ideology of the Islamic State (better known as ISIS). Presenting her book with a short talk and a panel discussion, Schneider argues that today’s jihad is not the residue from a less enlightened time, nor does it have much in common with its classical or medieval form, but it does bear a striking resemblance to the reactionary political formations and acts of spectacular violence that are upending life in Western democracies. From authoritarian populism to mass shootings, xenophobic nationalism, and the allure of conspiratorial thinking, Schneider argues that modern jihad is not the antithesis to western neoliberalism, but rather a dark reflection of its inner logic.
Written with the sensibility of a political theorist and based on extensive research into a wide range of sources, from Islamic jurisprudence to popular recruitment videos, contemporary apocalyptic literature and the Islamic State's Arabic-language publications, the book explores modern jihad as an image of a potential dark future already heralded by neoliberal modes of life. Surveying ideas of the state, violence, identity, and political community, Schneider argues that modern jihad and neoliberalism are two versions of a politics of failure: the inability to imagine a better life here on earth. Dr. Schneider will be in conversation with Spencer Ackerman and Asad Dandia.
Spencer Ackerman is a journalist and author of Reign of Terror: How The 9/11 Era Destabilized America and Produced Trump. Ackerman has been a national-security correspondent for outlets like The New Republic, WIRED, The Guardian, and The Daily Beast for nearly the entire War on Terror. He has reported from the frontlines of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay. He shared in the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service Journalism for Edward Snowden's NSA leaks to The Guardian, a series of stories that also yielded him other awards, including the Scripps Howard Foundation's 2014 Roy W. Howard Award for Public Service Reporting and the 2013 IRE medal for investigative reporting. Ackerman's WIRED series on Islamophobic counterterrorism training at the FBI won the 2012 online National Magazine Award for reporting. Ackerman is the publisher of the Forever Wars newsletter on Substack, where he tracks the ongoing course of the War on Terror. He lives in his native Brooklyn with his wife and children.
Asad Dandia is a Brooklyn-born writer, organizer, and grad student. As an undergraduate, he was cofounder of the mutual aid organization Muslims Giving Back, which was targeted by NYPD informants, pushing Asad to join the historic Raza v. City of New York lawsuit as a plaintiff to challenge the NYPD's anti-Muslim surveillance, propelling him into advocacy and organizing. He writes on politics, culture, and religion, and has worked locally for Muslim Community Network, the Cordoba House, and currently teaches at the Islamic Learning Center of NYC. He is a co-host of New Books in Middle East Studies podcast at the New Books Network, and a book reviewer for Publishers Weekly's Middle East and Islam sections. He holds an MA in Islamic Studies from Columbia University and is currently an MA student in Urban Studies with a focus on the urban workforce at the CUNY School of Labor and Urban Studies. A Brooklyn native and nationalist, he is passionate about his city's history, culture, and politics, and is studying for his NYC tour guide license so he can further spread the gospel of Gotham.
Suzanne Schneider is Deputy Director and Core Faculty at the Brooklyn Institute for Social Research, specializing in the political and social history of the modern Middle East. Her books include Mandatory Separation: Religion, Education, and Mass Politics in Palestine (Stanford University Press, 2018) and The Apocalypse and the End of History: Modern Jihad and the Crisis of Liberalism (Verso, 2021). Her writing about political violence, religion, militancy, and American foreign policy has appeared in The Washington Post, n+1, Foreign Policy, Religion Dispatches, Mother Jones, and the Los Angeles Review of Books, among other publications.
Greenlight Bookstore is our bookseller for this event. You can purchase/preorder the book here.
Brooklyn Public Library - Virtual MM/DD/YYYY 60