Earlier this week, I attended a conference for one of my other classes, led by former US Ambassador to the Netherlands, the Honorable Cynthia Schneider. She spoke about cultural diplomacy, which is essentially the art of exchange and engagement between two nations’ “cultures” towards the ends of boosting diplomatic relations. While listening to the discussion, I couldn’t help being reminded of connections to the themes of our class. What culture is it that is presented as the “culture” of the state? Some historical authentic art form? Some state-sanctioned cleaned-up presentation of nationality? Because of course, nothing subversive can be given the stamp of a state department, I suppose.

However, Ms. Schneider brought to our attention her latest project, since retiring from the US State Department and joining Georgetown University’s faculty at the School of Foreign Service. She is working on a humanitarian project called the Timbuktu Renaissance Initiative. This project aims to rebuild and restore the destroyed climate of art, literature, and creation that had been the heritage of Timbuktu for centuries before Mali’s occupation by extremist groups in 2012. In partnership with Brookings Institute and the government of Mali, this initiative is actively incorporating a multifaceted strategy to “boost Mali’s creative industries (e.g. tourism, literature, architecture, music, film and artisan crafts) and mobilize investment for sustainable economic development initiatives ranging from education and agriculture to renewable energy and transparent natural resource development.”

As a liberal arts student, I was initially hesitant watching the above video. The thought of western academics like the Brooking Institute going into a sensationalized “symbol of deeply rooted cultural legacy” with the intention of saving it was cringeworthy. But I think I jumped the social-justice-gun. (I’ll admit when I’m wrong) Upon further research, I was very impressed by the Initiative’s attempt to enable and amplify the voices of Malians, as opposed to speaking for them. Their site is very deliberate in focusing the effort not on foreign intervention, but on Malian scholars and artists; “a proud and determined society is countering the spread of violent extremism.”

The idea of art and scholarship to counter extremism is a very compelling one, that I believe deserves more attention. After all, the entire thesis of our class as I understand it is building counter-narratives and counter-culture to subvert top-down narratives about Islamic culture. I found a few other groups that are attempting to do this, focusing on unity and a creative future of hope, similar to the messages of Laal and Sheema Kirmani.

“They materialized a hope to replace ignorance with education, knowledge and understanding; to humanize the other; to imagine a better future. Within the workshop, individuals who had only interacted with each other through the prism of war found themselves living and working together as equals. As they listened to each other during rehearsals and discussions, they traversed deep political and ideological divides.” These words describe the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, a musical experiment to bring together musicians from Israel and Palestine. The concept is powerful and poignant; it speaks for itself.

A visiting artist at the Dkaha Art Summit 2016, Shumon Ahmed seeks to counter common narratives in the global war on terror, and the US’s treatment of alleged extremist terrorists. He highlights institutionalized human rights violations, reminding us that even criminals are humans, and should be treated as such. “In the Land of the Free, Ahmed challenges our understanding or lack of it of America’s holding pen for terrorist suspects, Guantánamo Bay. He befriended and subsequently photographed Mubarak Hussain Bin Abul Hashem, the only recorded Bangladeshi prisoner to have returned from Guantánamo to date.”

Shumon Ahmed’s “In the Land of the Free” (2016)

Tying back to the Honorable Cynthia Schneider’s work, the Georgetown School of Foreign Service has recently opened the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, an interdisciplinary effort to humanize global politics and promote peaceful portrayals of Islam. This casts issues of extremism, islamophobia, and the global war on terror on a different stage, a literal theater stage. “Artists hold up a mirror to society and politics, and so provide different perspectives from the political and policy focus that dominates Washington. Artists challenge conventional thinking. Our visiting artists and collaborative projects involving the Georgetown community will shed new light on the people of Syria, Pakistan, Iraq, the Sudan, among other Muslim majority countries, and will provoke stimulating conversations around challenging issues.” One of their visiting artists, Syria Trojan Women, adapted a beautiful and tragic version of the Greek classic “The Trojan Women,” to tell the story of their wartime experience and convey it in their own grassroots “cultural diplomacy” around the world.