"Clash of Civilizations"

The [1] Intercollegiate Studies Institute recently posted a video of a debate I had with Columbia University’s Hamid Dabashi, entitled, “[2] Islam and the West: Clash of Civilizations?” In part due to Dabashi's adamant and passionate position, I consider this one of the more meaningful debates I have engaged in.

Intellectual successor to the late Edward Said, Dabashi, according to his [3] website, is “Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York, the oldest and most prestigious Chair in Iranian Studies…. Professor Dabashi has written 18 books, edited 4, and contributed chapters to many more. He is also the author of over 100 essays, articles and book reviews in major scholarly and peer reviewed journals on subjects ranging from Iranian Studies, medieval and modern Islam…”

Prior to our debate, ISI took Dabashi and me to dinner. I found him to be an affable man, even if we went on to strongly disagree over any number of issues in our debate.