Dig.ni.fy Winter Issue - January 2023 | Page 84

professionals on their trajectories towards a life characterized “by competent leadership, pluralistic understanding, and humanity-driven action.” The Internship Program provides “an opportunity for individuals to develop professional skills, build their resume with hands-on experiences at excellent institutions, gain exposure to development, deepen their understanding in various fields and develop personally.”

Participants in the Global Encounters Internship Program have the opportunity to:

•develop new skills and gain meaningful work experience;

•experience diversity – be it of cultures, people, or professional sectors;

•contribute to development and service to humanity across a range of sectors; and

•develop personally and academically through mentorship, peer-learning, and cultural immersion

The Aga Khan Museum

The Aga Khan Museum, which is located in Toronto, collects and presents art from historically significant Muslim civilizations as well as contemporary Muslim communities and diasporas around the world.

The core of the collection was as assembled by Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan (1933–2003), uncle of His Highness, Prince Karim Aga Khan IV. It spans a geographic area from Spain and North Africa in the west, across the Middle East, to South Asia and China in the east. It represents the foundation of North America’s first museum dedicated exclusively to Islamic arts.

The museum can also be accessed virtually at: https://www.agakhanmuseum.org/museumwithoutwalls/index.html

Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture

The Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture

at MIT (AKPIA@MIT) was established in 1979. It

is a graduate academic program “dedicated to the study of architecture, urbanism, architectural history, landscape, and conservation in the Islamic World.”

The aim of the program is to concentrate its teaching and research activities in the following directions:

•To enhance the understanding of Islamic architecture and urbanism in light of critical, theoretical and developmental issues.

•To support research at the forefront of the field in areas of history, theory and criticism of architecture and urbanism.

•To explore approaches to architecture that respond critically and thoughtfully to contemporary conditions, aspirations, and beliefs in the Islamic world.

•To provide an extensive base of information about architecture in the Islamic world and to share it with scholars, teachers, and practitioners from everywhere.

The program offers a concentration in Islamic architecture and urbanism as part of the two-year Master of Science in Architectural Studies (SMArchS) degree and the Ph.D. Program in the History, Theory and Criticism (HTC) section in the Department of Architecture.

Dignify magazine is proud to highlight the good work of His Highness the Aga Khan and the Shi‘a Ismaili Muslims of which he is the spiritual leader.  

We highlight the work not only because of his recognition for the role human dignity plays within human living and thinking, but also because of the range and depth of programs which span almost every element of what would facilitate living a dignified human existence – most particularly, those of which promote pluralism.

It also sets a fine example for people to understand that it is possible for a religion, its leader, and its followers to hold strong beliefs and yet leave room for the thoughts and beliefs of others.

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