Jon Wilson Anderson, chairman of the anthropology department at Catholic University of America, is a sociocultural anthropologist who specializes in the anthropology of religion (ritual and symbol systems) and politics, new media and the social life of information technologies, and the Middle East. He co-edited New Media in the Muslim World: The Emerging Public Sphere and Reformatting Politics: […]

The Milton & Rose D. Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice is based in Indianapolis and works to educate the public and policymakers about school choice issues. Contact through Susan Meyers, national media relations director.

Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa is a human rights advocacy organization that works on behalf of Jewish refugees from those areas. It is based in San Francisco, with branches in Boston and Seattle. Sarah Levin is executive director.

Jonathan Bloom is co-holder of the Norma Jean Calderwood Chair of Islamic and Asian Art at Boston College and of the Hamad bin Khalifa Chair in Islamic Art at Virginia Commonwealth University. The author of many books on the history of Islamic art and architecture and the history of paper, he teaches courses on Islamic art, […]

Jewish World Watch fights genocide and other human rights violations through education, advocacy and refugee services. It’s based in Encino, Calif. Michael Lieb Jeser is executive director.

Sheila Blair is co-holder of the Norma Jean Calderwood Chair of Islamic and Asian Art at Boston College’s fine arts department and the Hamad bin Khalifa Chair in Islamic Art at Virginia Commonwealth University. Her expertise includes Islamic art, especially of Iran and Central Asia, art and architecture produced under the Mongols, and calligraphy and books.

Black Alliance for Educational Options is a national nonprofit group based in Washington, D.C. The alliance works to support parental choice and increase quality educational options for African-American students. Contact through Tanzi West, director of communications.

Jewish Women International advocates for the rights of women and children, including victims of abuse, in the Jewish community. It has offices and chapters around the United States and convenes the National Center on Domestic & Sexual Violence in the Jewish Community. The media contact is Deborah Rosenbloom, JWI chief program officer.

Nasser Rabbat is Aga Khan Professor of Islamic Architecture in the history, theory and criticism section of the architecture department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is avidly interested in culture and its historical manifestations in architecture. His field is Islamic architectural history, and he is immersed in the history, languages and culture of the Islamic […]