History Speaks

About History Speaks

The past, present, and future are intimately bound to one another. In short, history matters. History Speaks situates the Islamic intellectual tradition within its socio-political context and connects it to pertinent issues today. Join Dr. Roshan Iqbal as she speaks with Islamic studies scholars about their work on gender, Iaw, and theology in the Islamic tradition. In each episode we move across different time periods and regions to discuss how aspects of Islamic history speak to concerns today. History Speaks is a part of the The Maydan Podcast made possible by a generous grant from Henry Luce Foundation. Visit us at https://themaydan.com/podcast

Publisher

Dr. Roshan Iqbal

Category

history · religion & spirituality · society & culture

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

15 Mar 2021

Latest episode

8 Oct 2026

Latest episodes

20 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   8 Oct 2026

   History Speaks EP 20 | Making Muslimness | Roshan Iqbal with Asif Majid

   In this episode of History Speaks, Dr. Roshan Iqbal is joined by Dr. Asif Majid to explore how British Muslim youth in Manchester use performance — on stage and in everyday life — to navigate identity, belonging, and race. Together, they discuss what it means to define “Muslimness” as something performed rather than fixed, how these communities responded in the aftermath of the 2017 Manchester Arena attack, and why performance offers a powerful lens for understanding racialization and community-making. From devised theatre to the politics of visibility and absence, this conversation opens a window onto a rich and understudied intersection of religion, race, and art. Asif Majid writes fiction, (academic) non-fiction, and plays. Using community-based participatory theatre and (auto)ethnography, he works at the intersection of Islam, performance, and race as a theatre maker, educator, researcher, and consultant. His work scripts, stages, and traces local and global nodes of power, politics, and (de)coloniality. Currently, he is Assistant Professor of Theatre and Human Rights at the University of Connecticut, where he is also Area Head of Theatre Studies and Affiliate Faculty in Anthropology; Asian and Asian American Studies; Intersectional Indigeneity, Race, Ethnicity, and Politics; Middle East Studies; and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Asif has earned over $500,000 in grant and fellowship funding from funders as diverse as the Asian Cultural Council, Mellon Foundation, Wallace Foundation, and Fulbright Program. His performance work has taken him from the Kennedy Center to Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre. He completed his practice-based PhD in Anthropology, Media, and Performance at The University of Manchester, and is the author of Making Muslimness: Race, Religion, and Performance in Contemporary Manchester. Asif is online at www.asifmajid.com and on Substack at Deeds and Du’as. Dr. Roshan Iqbal hails from a small hamlet of 20 million–Karachi, Pakistan. She received her PhD in Islamic Studies from Georgetown University. Prior to this she read for her MPhil at the University of Cambridge. She has studied in Pakistan, the US, Morocco, Egypt, Jordon, the UK, and Iran. Her research interests include gender and sexuality in the Qur’an, Islamic Law, Film and Media Studies, and modern Muslim intellectuals. Her recent book is titled, ‘Marital and Sexual Ethics in Islamic Law: Rethinking Temporary Marriage.’ As a...

2. 

   14 Sept 2026

   History Speaks EP 19 | Missionaries, Gender, and the Making of Islamophobia | Roshan Iqbal with Deanna Womack

   In this episode of History Speaks, Dr. Roshan Iqbal speaks with Dr. Deanna Ferree Womack, Associate Professor of History of Religions and Interfaith Studies at Emory University's Candler School of Theology, about her new book Re-inventing Islam: Gender and the Protestant Roots of American Islamophobia (Oxford University Press, 2025). Together they trace how Anglo-American Protestant missionaries, through texts, images, and material culture, reshaped ideas about Islam and Muslim women across four centuries — and how those inherited narratives still echo in American Islamophobia today. The conversation asks a question that reaches beyond the book itself: why do we see others the way we do, and what would it take to see differently?The Rev. Dr. Deanna Ferree Womack is Associate Professor of History of Religions and Interfaith Studies at Emory University’s Candler School of Theology. She teaches courses on Christian-Muslim relations, interreligious dialogue, and Middle Eastern Christianity. From 2022 to 2025 she directed Candler’s Master of Arts in Religion and Leadership program, and she served from 2015 to 2020 as director of the Leadership and Multifaith Program (LAMP), established with the Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts at Georgia Tech. Womack came to Candler from Princeton Theological Seminary, where she earned her MDiv, ThM and PhD. She is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

3. 

   5 Feb 2026

   History Speaks EP 18 | Shi'a Islam in Post-Soviet Eastern Europe | Roshan Iqbal with Akif Tahiiev

   In this episode of History Speaks, Dr. Roshan Iqbal is joined by Dr. Akif Tahieev to explore a topic that rarely appears in mainstream scholarship: Shia Muslim communities in post-Soviet Eastern Europe. Together, they discuss who these communities are, how they live and practice their faith, and why their stories have been overlooked in both Islamic studies and European studies. From questions of identity and conversion to the impact of recent conflicts, this conversation opens a window onto a world many listeners may not know exists.

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Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.5 / 5

4 ratings

Spotify

5.0 / 5

3 ratings

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