On Thursday, February 26, at 6:00 pm in the Harkin Institute (2800 University Ave), Dr. Baolin Wu, Assistant Professor of Religion at Minzu University of China, will lecture on “Disability Care in Early Confucianism: Perspectives on Mutual Interaction.”
This lecture explores the treatment of disability in early Confucianism, focusing on key texts such as The Analects of Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi. It examines how Confucians of the pre-Qin period recognized various forms of physical and mental disabilities, emphasizing that individuals with disabilities deserve basic respect and appropriate care. Confucianism argued that this responsibility falls on the Junzi (君子)—a person committed to moral cultivation and societal improvement through ethical practice. A Junzi does not have to be a ruler but is anyone who takes personal responsibility and actively fosters moral virtue. Early Confucian thought posited that care and support for individuals with disabilities—whether in daily life or through societal structures reflecting moral values—should arise from genuine mutual understanding, taking into account differences in individual abilities.
On Thursday, March 26 at 6:00 pm in the Harkin Institute (2800 University Ave), Dr. Helen Lee Turner, Professor of Religion at Furman University, will lecture on “Disability and Personhood among the Navajo People.”
A Navajo (Diné) medicine man summarizes Navajo perceptions of disability and difference in the following way: “Before the white man came, we were blind [to disabilities]. You brought us the gift of sight. I think we were happier when we couldn’t see.” The Diné have no word for “disability.” Long before people with physical or intellectual limitations began to challenge the perspective of ableism seen in modern medicine and culture, the Navajo believed that no one should be autonomous. Indeed, relationships, even dependent ones, are necessary for health in the Navajo culture. This presentation will focus on traditional Navajo views of relational accountability that prioritize the integration and caretaking of disabled members of the tribe and challenge the understanding of personhood and self-actualization and even the standards of what it means to be healthy in most of modern America.
On Thursday, April 9 at 6:00 pm in the Harkin Institute (2800 University Ave), Dr. Sarah Jean Barton, Assistant Professor of Occupational Therapy and Theological Ethics at Duke University, will lecture on “’The Work of the People’: Disability and Participation in the Christian Tradition.”
Dr. Barton’s talk will explore how theologies and practices of public Christian worship – liturgy – both challenge and provide creative alternatives to typical characterizations of work (e.g. individuality, efficiency, and hypercognitivity) that marginalize disabled communities.
(Note that you will need to have an active zoom account to register, but that if you don’t, you can sign up for a free zoom account here: zoom.us/signup.)
On Saturday, April 5, from 2:00–3:30 pm, Drake University’s Comparison Project, in conjunction with the Abdelkader Education Project, will host “Islam in Iowa: A Celebration of Historical Roots and Contemporary Realities” online (zoom). The event, which is free and open to the public, features interactive sessions about Islam in Iowa, presentation of the 2025 Abdelkader Education Project contest awards, and a keynote by Dr. William Lawrence, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Area Studies at the National Council on US-Arab Relations, Washington, DC.
Local and regional Islamic experts will lead two blocks of concurrent sessions about topics including Islam in Iowa, Women in Islam, and Mystical Islam. Special attention will be given to the nineteenth-century Algerian leader Emir Abdelkader, after whom the town of Elkader was named in 1846, as well as the “Mother Mosque of America” in Cedar Rapids, the oldest standing purpose-built mosque in the U.S. (1934).
At the conclusion of the sessions, the Abdelkader Education Project will present awards to students, whose entries took inspiration from the ethical leadership of Emir Abdelkader. The event concludes with a brief keynote by Dr. William Lawrence titled, “Globalizing the Emir: Reflections on a recent visit to North Africa and US relations with the Muslim World.”
The event also includes dozens of booths about local Islamic mosques and organizations and intercultural interfaith programs and organizations, cultural performances and delicacies, and a photo and art exhibition.
The Comparison Project engages in the practice of comparative philosophy of religion, fosters understanding of local-lived religion, and cultivates interfaith literacy and leadership. It is supported by Drake’s Center for the Humanities, Drake’s Slay Fund for Social Justice, Interfaith America, and Cultivating Compassion: The Dr. Richard Deming Foundation.
The non-profit Abdelkader Education Project believes in the power of education to build bridges of cultural understanding that inspire, challenge, and connect our global community. It is a global network of individuals and organizations, developing educational resources and opportunities for engagement in the Abdelkader Story based on John W. Kiser’s biography Commander of the Faithful: The Life and Times of Emir Abdelkader.
