The Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys is a collection of books, films, and other resources chosen with a view to familiarizing the American public with Islam and the cultural heritage of Islamic civilizations around the world.  Through the Muslim Journeys Bookshelf, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Library Association are providing a collection of twenty-five books, three documentary films, a one-year subscription to Oxford Islamic Studies Online, and a DVD of short films titled Islamic Art Spots developed and presented by national project scholar D. Fairchild Ruggles to more than 800 libraries in all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia and the Virgin Islands.

The Muslim Journeys Bookshelf includes the following titles, organized by theme:

American Stories

• A Quiet Revolution by Leila Ahmed
• Prince Among Slaves by Terry Alford
• The Columbia Sourcebook of Muslims in the United States, edited by Edward E. Curtis IV
• Acts of Faith by Eboo Patel
• The Butterfly Mosque: A Young American Woman’s Journey to Love and Islam by G. Willow Wilson

Connected Histories

• The House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaissance by Jim Al-Khalili
• In an Antique Land by Amitav Ghosh
• When Asia Was the World: Traveling Merchants, Scholars, Warriors, and Monks Who Created the “Riches of the East” by Stewart Gordon
• Leo Africanus by Amin Maalouf, translated by Peter Sluglett
• The Ornament of the World by Maria Rosa Menocal

Literary Reflections

• Minaret by Leila Aboulela
• The Arabian Nights (anonymous), edited by Muhsin Mahdi, translated by Husain Haddawy
• The Conference of the Birds by Farid al-Din Attar, translated by Dick Davis and Afkham Darbandi
• Dreams of Trespass by Fatima Mernissi
• Snow by Orhan Pamuk, translated by Maureen Freely

Pathways of Faith

• Muhammad: A Very Short Introduction by Jonathan A. C. Brown
• The Story of the Qur’an: Its History and Place in Muslim Life by Ingrid Mattson
• The Children of Abraham: Judaism, Christianity, Islam by F. E. Peters
• The Art of Hajj by Venetia Porter
• Rumi: Poet and Mystic, edited and translated by Reynold A. Nicholson

Points of View

• In the Country of Men by Hisham Matar
• Dreams of Trespass by Fatima Mernissi
• Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
• House of Stone by Anthony Shadid
• Broken Verses by Kamila Shamsie

Art Architecture and Film

• The Art of Hajj by Venetia Porter
• Islamic Arts by Jonathan Bloom and Sheila Blair
• Islamic Art Spots (short films designed, written, and presented by D. Fairchild Ruggles, and produced by Twin Cities Public Television)
• Islamic Art: Mirror of the Invisible World (2011)
• Prince Among Slaves (2007)
• Koran by Heart (2011)

The books and films comprising the Bookshelf were selected with the advice of librarians and cultural programming experts as well as distinguished scholars in the fields of anthropology, world history, religious studies, interfaith dialogue, the history of art and architecture, world literature, Middle East studies, Southeast Asian studies, African studies, and Islamic studies.

The Portland State University Library is among 840 libraries and state humanities councils nationwide – including 13 in Oregon – to receive this special collection of materials. The initiative aims to familiarize public audiences in the United States with the people, places, history, faith, and cultures of Muslims in the United States and around the world. In collaboration with the University’s Middle East Studies Center, the University Library will present a series of programs and activities to promote and provide context to the collection.

Events

• Celebrating Muslim Journeys at Portland State University: A Collection of Resources About the Muslim World, Thursday, January 31, 2013, 4 pm, Branford P. Millar Library, room 160, 1875 SW Park Avenue
• Women Writers of Iran: Past & Present - Featuring Dick Davis, Professor of Persian & Chair of the Dept. of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures, Ohio State University, Thursday, February 14, 2013, 12 N, East Hall, room 109, 632 SW Hall
• "Hasht Bihisht": the Garden of the Eight Paradises - the place of the garden in early Mughal culture, Thursday, February 28, 7 pm, Branford P. Millar Library, room 160, 1875 SW Park Avenue
• Iran: Modern & Medieval - Featuring Aria Minu-Sepehr, author of We Heard the Heavens Then: A Memoir of Iran—a Publisher’s Weekly “top ten memoir of 2012”. Thursday, April 11, 2013, 12:00pm, SMSU Room 294.
• About In an Antique Land: a book discussion with Bishupal Limbu, PSU Assistant Professor of English, Friday, May 24, 2013, 2:30pm, at Multnomah County Library, Central Library, 801 SW 10th Avenue

Events supported by the U.S. Institute of Peace Public Education for Peacebuilding Support initiative.

Resources

• Event synopses and podcasts will be made available here.
• Middle East Studies Center resources and additional materials will be made available here.
• Muslim Journeys website (launching February 18), developed by the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University, with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities.
• Islamic Art Spots short films, streaming by chapter, developed and performed by Professor D. Fairchild Ruggles and produced by Twin Cities Public Television. A link will be posted by February 18.

The Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys is a project of the National Endowment for the Humanities, conducted in cooperation with the American Library Association, the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University, Oxford University Press, and Twin Cities Public Television. Support was provided by a grant from Carnegie Corporation of New York. Additional support for the arts and media components was provided by the Doris Duke Foundation for Islamic Art.

For more information about the Bridging Cultures Bookshelf: Muslim Journeys and its themes, including additional supporting materials and reading lists, click here.

Portland State University congratulates other Oregon libraries hosting the Bookshelf

Albany Public Library, Beaverton City Library, Central Oregon Community College, Canby Public Library, Cottage Grove Public Library, Capitol Hill Library, Central Library, Multnomah County Library, North Portland Library, Portland Community College, Tillamook Bay Community College