Islamist movements burst onto the world stage in the shadow of the late Cold War, but the relationship between Islamism and the global conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union remains poorly understood. "Cold War Islamisms", an international workshop at the Freie Universität Berlin organized by Dr. Timothy Nunan, highlighted recent research from scholars of Middle Eastern history, Cold War history, and international & global history on the precedents, causes, and ramifications of new Islamist and pan-Islamist movements that emerged in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Taking place over two days on March 15 and March 16, 2019, "Cold War Islamisms" brought together established and emerging scholars to discuss such topics as the inheritance of colonial visions of pan-Islamism and “the Muslim world” for twentieth century visions of Islamism; the global impact of actors like the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood and Saudi pan-Islamic institutions; transnational Shi’a Islamism; Islamism in Turkey; and the reaction of the superpowers to the events of 1978-1979 and their aftermath. Beyond these scholarly interventions, a highlight of the workshop was a Conference Keynote between Pankaj Mishra and Danny Postel on the former’s recent book Age of Anger and its relevance for scholars of Islamist movements in the modern world.

More information on the conference is available here.