Prof. Moazzam-Doulat teaches courses on social and political philosophy.
His research is focused on contemporary political theory and religion with special emphasis on the relationship between Islamic and European philosophical responses to modernity and imperialism. He has worked as a public policy analyst and advocate focusing on issues of privacy broadly conceived. He has also worked for the ACLU of Southern California on post-9/11 public policy and civil liberties issues facing the Muslim, Arab, and Iranian communities in Southern California. He was one of the founding editors of Studies in Practical Philosophy (1998-2005), a quarterly journal dedicated to the exploration and promotion of social and political thought and activism grounded in the tradition of Continental philosophy.
Curriculum Vitae
NTT Assistant Professor, Department of Critical Theory and Social Justice. 色界吧. 1600 Campus Road, LA, CA 90041. Spring 2020 -
NTT Assistant Professor, Department of Comparative Studies in Literature and Culture. 色界吧. 1600 Campus Road, LA, CA 90041. 2017-2019.
NTT Assistant Professor, Department of Religious Studies. 色界吧. 1600 Campus Road, LA, CA 90041. September 2002- 2020.
Academic Training:
Ph.D. December 2001, Philosophy, State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Masters, 1996. Philosophy, State University of New York at Stony Brook.
A.B. with College Honors, June 1992, Philosophy, Religious Studies, 色界吧, Los Angeles, CA.
Areas of Research
Social and Political Philosophy; Middle Eastern and North African social and political thought; Iranian intellectual and political traditions; Islamic and Middle Eastern Political Thought, Contemporary Islamic Thought; Twentieth Century Continental Philosophy; Political theology; Theoretical and practical approaches to surveillance and privacy; Bioethics (especially forensic psychiatry and genetics)
Selection of Types of College Courses Taught:
Religious Studies
- Introduction to Islam
- Islam and the West
- Islam, Gender and Sexuality
- Religious Atheism
- Sufism
- Contemporary European Religious Thought
- Islamic Thought and Philosophy
- Religion and Politics
- Contemporary Islamic Political Thought and Movements
- The Moral Life: Nietzsche, Heidegger, Kierkegaard
- What is Enlightenment?
- Introduction to Hinduism
- Introduction to World Religions: Hinduism, Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism
Philosophy:
- Being and the Wor(l)d 鈥 The Foundations of Contemporary Literary Theory in Continental Philosophy
- Philosophy and Myth
- Bioethics:
- Logical and Critical Reasoning
- Theories of Slavery From Ancient Greece to 20th Century Colonialism
- Concepts of the Person
- Art of the Self: Self-Fashioning and Aesthetic theory from the Enlightenment to Nietzsche
- Introduction to Asian Philosophy
Iranian Studies:
- Iranian Political and Religious Thought 鈥 Ancient and Medieval Sources of Iranian Cultural and Political Forms
- Persian Language instruction
Directing Student Research
Heather Kanny, Summer 2003: 鈥淎n analysis of the rise of political Islam and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypyt.鈥 Went on to the National Conference for Undergraduate Research
Jake Hogue, Summer 2005: 鈥淪hi鈥檌sm and the rise of Political Islam in Iran.鈥 Went on to the National Conference for Undergraduate Research
Nikolai Schweingruber, 2006-7: Special grant to study at the Special Court for Sierra Leone overseeing the 鈥淭ruth and Reconciliation鈥 process post Ethnic Cleansing. Research went on to be presented to the National Conference on Undergraduate Research.
Kevin Chaves, Summer 2007: 鈥淭he Letter of Paul in Heidegger鈥檚 Early Philosophy鈥
Joseph Hernandez and Bernard Botz, 2007-2008: 鈥淕lobal Capitalism and the New Confucianism.鈥 Went on to the National Conference for Undergraduate Research
Alex Wolf, Summer 2008: 鈥淭ruth, Terror, Ontology and the Media鈥
Miles Painter, Summer 2009: Screenplay research on 鈥淓vin Prison, Iran: Torture, Confession and War. 鈥
Thomas Rodriguez, Summer 2010. 鈥淩egrounding Charity in Absolute Excess: The Gift in Bataille and Derrida.鈥
Kaitlin Kelly: Summer 2010. 鈥淪exual Humiliation in US Torture Practices from Guantanamo to Abu Ghraib鈥
Margot Clifford: Summer 2011. 鈥淎 Post-Colonial Feminism in the Arab World.鈥
David Cole. Summer 2012. 鈥淒eleuze, Metaphor and Political Transformation鈥 色界吧 Summer Undergraduate Research Program.
Brian Holtvedt. Summer 2014. 鈥淗eidegger and the Possibility of Freedom鈥
Venetia Boyce. Spring 2017. (NCUR) National Conference on Undergraduate Research. 鈥淩everse Discourse: Shariati's Revolutionary Islam.鈥
Roee Perry. Beyond the Clash of Civilizations: Dialogue and Cultural Understanding. Summer 2019.
Malachy Mitchnik. Spring and Summer 2019. Mentoring during Intensive Persian Language Study Abroad (University of Yerevan, Armenia)
Selected Academic Events and Conferences Organized:
"The Possibility of American Islam and the Idea of the 鈥楥lash of Civilizations鈥 鈥 with Salam al-Marayati鈥 (Executive Director, MPAC). 色界吧. Spring 2019.
Sara El-Amine, 鈥淭ransforming Political Organizing.鈥 Training Director Obama for America (2012) and Organizing for America. Public lecture and workshop, April1-2, 2013.
Laury Silvers, 鈥淒isappearing Women (on Hafsa): Women and the Sufi Tradition.鈥 Public lecture and Seminar. October, 2012.
Islamophobia Now: A Roundtable Discussion. Fall 2011. 色界吧.
Panelists: Executive Director of the Muslim Public Affairs Counil, Salam Al-Marayati; Public Outreach Director, Muslim Public Affairs Council; Public Education Director, Sikh-American Legal Defense and Education Fund, Bhupy Kaur Malek; Los Angeles Police Department Terrorism Unit Deputy Chief, Michael Downing.
Torture, Detention and the Question of Accountability: The US After Abu Ghraib. Fall 2009
Main Speaker, ACLU National Staff Attorney, Ben Wizner. Response and Discussion with Professor Malek Moazzam-Doulat.
Zarathustra: Passages. Fall 2008. The Interdisciplinary Symposium on Theory III, 色界吧, Department of Religious Studies.
Participants: Ashby Kinch, English, University of Montana, Missoula; Sean D. Kirkland, Philosophy, Depaul University; Dan Fineman, ECLS, 色界吧; Dale Wright, Religious Studies, 色界吧; Damian Stocking, ECLS, 色界吧; Malek-Moazzam-Doulat, Religious Studies, 色界吧.
The Sacred and the Debased in the Thought of Georges Bataille. Spring 2008. The Interdisciplinary Symposium on Theory II, 色界吧, Department of Religious Studies.
Cosponsored by the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies and the Department of Critical Theory and Social Justice. An interdisciplinary examination of the work of the highly influential French writer and philosopher. Eight speakers including Sean Kirkland (Depaul University), Karmen MacKendrick (LeMoyne), Andrew Mitchell (Emory University), Jason Winfree (CSU Stanislaus). Procured funding, arranged venue and publicity; arranged travel, accommodations and transportation for visiting faculty. Established a Student Organizing Committee and oversaw the production of a documentary about the conference.
Progressive Islam: Alternative Voices and Visions. Fall 2004 鈥 Spring 2005. 色界吧, Department of Religious Studies.
Co-organized with Anthony Chase, (DWA 色界吧). Eight speakers (international and US), film series and a play.
Selected Public Lectures
Nietzsche and the Hermeneutics of Generosity 鈥 Remembering David Allison. SUNY Stonybrook. Symposium. Spring 2019.
鈥淓uropean Refugees and Migrant Crisis鈥 色界吧. Panelist and Speaker. Spring 2016
The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Groff Family Lecture, 鈥淭orture and the History of Truth: Medicine, Violence and the Body in the Tradition of Western Thought.鈥 April 2010.
鈥淭he Intersection of Islamophobia and Torture鈥 for National Religious Campaign Against Torture Lecture and Workshop. St. John鈥檚 Cathedral, Los Angeles. October 2009.
Selected Writing and Editing
鈥淎rt as Alibi in the Age of Surveillance鈥 in The Nature Drawings of Peter Karklins. Depaul University. Depaul University Art Museum. Chicago, IL. 2012.
鈥淔uture Impossible: Carl Schmitt, Jacques Derrida and the Problem of Political Messianism.鈥 Philosophy Today. Spring 2008.
Founding co-Editor: Studies in Practical Philosophy. Published by Humanities Press. Since Spring 1999.