Roetzel Family Lecture Featuring Dr. Kambiz GhaneaBassiri

Dr. Kambiz GhaneaBassiri takes the stage at Northrop on Wednesday, Nov. 4, for the annual Roetzel Family Lecture. He'll be presenting The Mecca Paradox, a talk that sits right at the center of the evening. The session is hosted by the Religious Studies Program at the University of Minnesota, so it's a university-led event brought to the public.

The lecture is part of UMN Conversations at Northrop, a series the university puts together throughout the year. It brings together lectures, panel discussions, and talks from across UMN's different departments, all held at Northrop. Each year, various colleges, departments, and units propose events that focus on timely issues, and they bring in distinguished speakers—invited by faculty, students, and staff—to open those conversations up to the wider university community. This particular session comes from the Religious Studies Program.

If you're not familiar with the series, it's essentially a way for the university to take the research and discussions happening inside its classrooms and departments and put them on a public stage. The Roetzel Family Lecture is one of those annual slots, and this year the spotlight is on GhaneaBassiri and The Mecca Paradox.

It's a free event, and there's no registration required, so you can just show up. The lecture starts at 4:30 PM on Wednesday, Nov. 4, at Northrop on the University of Minnesota campus in Minneapolis.