Public Outreach

Workshop Description

Following the Scholars Forum at George Mason University, a Program Development Workshop was held under the auspices of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (VFH) in Charlottesville, VA, March 16-17, 2011. The purpose of the workshop was to develop plans to disseminate the findings of the Scholars Forum through a variety of media and public programs that will help re-shape and re-orient the thinking of the American public in various walks of life on the history of Muslim societies and their legacy in the pre-modern and modernizing world. Many workshop participants attended the Forum, in addition ot availing themselves of the online resources on this website prior to the events. The workshop featured sessions to discuss the findings and to discuss ways to incorporate these ideas into public programs such as museum exhibits, documentary film, television and radio programs, library events, and other forms of outreach.

The Workshop took place in conjunction with the Virginia Festival of the Book, March 16-20, 2011. Workshop participants took part in this annual book event, which featured several of the Forum scholars on two panels, Muslim Women: Perceptions and Self-Perceptions and Beyond Golden Age and Decline: the Legacy of Muslim Societies in Global Modernity, 1300-1900. NEH Chairman Jim Leach also gave a talk entitled Civility in a Fractured Society.

As Virginia’s state council for the humanities, Virginia Foundation for the Humanities (VFH) brings years of public programming experience and a large network of public humanities professionals to the project. Through this network, VFH brings together participants for the workshop which will develop the plan for national implementation. Recording, production, and distribution of forum and workshop content was made possible through With Good Reason, Virginia’s only statewide public radio program, which is produced at VFH. The Virginia Foundation for the Humanities is a non-profit educational organization, created in 1974. VFH is a catalyst for the cultural, civic, artistic, and educational vitality of the Commonwealth. This project typifies the mission of the VFH to build community through the humanities, to foster understanding between cultures, and to promote civil discourse.

Download: Report & Overview of Workshop

Outreach Events