Hefner in CNN Politics on Education in the Middle East
Robert Hefner, Professor of Anthropology and International Relations at the Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies at Boston University and Director of the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs, was recently interviewed on comments made by incoming National Security Adviser Michael Flynn that most education in the Middle East takes place in Islamic religious schools that he described as “hate factories.”
Hefner was interviewed for a December 16, 2016 article in CNN Politics entitled “Michael Flynn Once Said Most Education in the Middle East is Done in Madrasas That are ‘Hate Factories’.”
From the text of the article:
“I certainly recognize that some madrasas, especially in Pakistan, do promote radical and anti-Western interpretations of Islam,” said Robert Hefner, who directs Boston University’s program on Islam. “But across the broader Middle East, this is not just a minority — it’s a tiny minority.”
You can read the entire article here.
Robert Hefner has directed 19 research projects and organized 18 international conferences, and authored or edited nineteen books. He is former president of the Association for Asian Studies. At CURA, he has directed the program on Islam and civil society since 1991; coordinated interdisciplinary research and public policy programs on religion, pluralism, and world affairs; and is currently involved in two research projects: “The New Western Plurality and Civic Coexistence: Muslims, Catholics, and Secularists in North America and Western Europe”; and “Sharia Transitions: Islamic Law and Ethical Plurality in the Contemporary World.” You can read more about him here.