In this series conversation, Nermeen Mouftah discusses how in Pakistan, NGOs compete annually to collect and auction the animal skins of Eid al-Azha (Feast of the Sacrifice). Mouftah's talk examines how the welfare branch of the Islamist party, Jama’at-i-Islami, invests in a risky fundraising ritual that animates the value of sacrifice in their humanitarian work. And Juno Salazar Parreñas explores two contemporary crises: species extinction and the fortressing of nation-state borders that deny the nature of people, who like many other earthly beings, move around the world. What empathies can emerge in this contemporary age that is dually characterized by inhumanity towards humans and humanitarianism towards animals?

FEATURING:
Nermeen Mouftah is Assistant Professor of Religion at Butler University. Her ethnographic research examines the political and religious implications of Muslim social welfare practices. Juno Salazar Parreñas is Assistant Professor of Science & Technology Studies and Feminist, Gender & Sexuality Studies at Cornell University, and is the author of Decolonizing Extinction (Duke UP, 2018).

Jenna Grant (Assistant Professor, Anthropology) will join the webinar as discussant. Grant is a cultural anthropologist working in the fields of medical anthropology; feminist and postcolonial science & technology studies (STS); visual anthropology; and Southeast Asia Studies.

Visit www.humanitarianisms.org for more about the Mellon Sawyer Seminar, Humanitarianisms: Migrations and Care through the Global South.

Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made by April 26, 2021 to Caitlin Palo, 206-685-5260, scevents@uw.edu.