by Don Queen, OLLI member
This June, Clare Fischer will teach a four-week course using Naguib Mahfouz's The Journey of Ibn Fattouma. The novel recounts the spiritual pilgrimage of a disillusioned Muslim man seeking the perfect city who visits a series of imaginary city-states which are ruled with varying combinations of freedom and force.
Professor Fischer will facilitate a class using the literary interpretation of the Arab classic as a medium to better understand the political and religious underpinnings of Egypt’s recent struggle for democracy which was hastened by the Arab Spring movement of 2010-2011.
In Egypt, President Hosni Mubarak resigned and a military council has scheduled elections for this coming May and June. The class will relate the political events and their religious implications to the allegorical novel by Naguib Mahfouz, the only Arab language writer to receive a Nobel Prize. Basics about Islam and recent historical background about the Arab Spring in Egypt will be provided along with short lectures and extensive discussion among class participants. OLLI @Berkeley's summer term occurs during this crucial period and will be an ideal time to study the struggle for freedom as it is actually happening.
Naguib Mahfouz (1911-2006) is the author of over 34 novels and 300 short stories which were banned by many Arab countries until his receipt of the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1988--the only Arab language writer to receive the prize. He was a liberal socialist and deeply concerned about the political destiny of Egypt. He outspokenly opposed fatwas against writers, resulting in a disabling assassination attempt.
Professor Fischer received a Ph.D. from the Graduate Theological Union (GTU) in Berkeley and is also professor emerita of religion and culture there. She served as Starr King School's Aurelia Henry Reinhardt Professor of Religion and Culture for over twenty years, mentoring and instructing graduate students. In 2005, the GTU honored her with the Sarlo Award for Excellence in Teaching, noting her exemplary commitment to interdisciplinary and interreligious teaching methods. She grew up in an inter-religious environment that contributed substantially to her interest in ecumenism and religious dialogue.
After retirement, she has taught at UC Berkeley in Women and Gender Studies and in the Theology and Religion Department of the University of San Francisco. She has taught several courses for OLLI @Berkeley built on her study of tourism and her association with Berkeley’s Tourism Study Working Group. Her interest in the scholarly study of tourism began in 1973 when she accompanied her husband on the first of many field trips to Java and Bali. She has published papers on pilgrimage and other ritual activity. She is currently studying domestic tourism associated with the iconic "Rosie the Riveter" sites in the city of Richmond with a focus on the Victory Ship, Red Oak. She is planning to document senior volunteerism associated with the ship’s restoration.