[Oman-l] Orientalism Reconsidered: Call for Paper

[BaaboodA@aol.com]

Call for Paper:

Orientalism Reconsidered: Emerging Perspectives in Contemporary Arab &
Islamic Studies

Institute of Arab & Islamic Studies University of Exeter

18 & 19 April 2001

On the occasion of awarding Professors Edward Said and Mohammed Arkoun
honorary degrees, the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, is organizing
a one-day conference to explore trends, challenges and future perspectives
within the studies of the Arab and Islamic world.

More than 20 years have passed since Edward Said's Orientalism began to
make its impact on the scholarship of the Middle East and North Africa as
well as the social sciences and humanities in general.  Hardly any other
work within 'Middle East Studies' / Islamic Studies has received as much
attention, praise, criticism, and a host of passionate divergent
reactions.  For yet a longer period, Mohammed Arkoun has been seeking to
put forward a new approach to the study of Islam, recognising that
classical approaches were vulnerable from the point of view of their
implicit and explicit presuppositions, methods and interpretations.

This conference will critically examine the impact of the critique of
orientalism the challenges it poses, the scholarship it has inspired and
its relevance for contemporary realities and representations thereof.  It
will also examine the significance of 'rethinking Islam' as developed by
Mohammad Arkoun.

 The Conference is organized around three main themes:

1.  Orientalism : Implications and Limits Within the wide variety of
scholarship that self-consciously considers itself post-orientalist, some
works, more successfully than others, expose and undermine the monolithic
and hegemonic discourses underlying earlier codifications and
(mis)representations of the Orient. The first aim of the conference is to
critically examine the impact of Orientalism on the social sciences,
humanities and visual arts concerned with depictions and analyses of the
so-called East. Several questions could be addressed, e.g. How have
various disciplines been affected by the critique of orientalism? What
strategies and methodologies have been used to avoid the pitfalls of
essentialism and misrepresentation? How successful have been attempts to
indigenize knowledge? Why has Edward Said's own move beyond Orientalism
(most notably in Culture & Imperialism) not been taken on board by most
scholars, intellectuals and political commentators within the region?

2. 'Occidentalism': Constructions of the 'West' within the Arab and
Islamic world Although the process of deconstructing the notion of the
'East' has been a central motif in academic analyses from and of the
region in recent years, this process has generally not included the
'West'.  Occidentalism - images and constructions of the 'West' - has been
a powerful element in articulating identities and political constituencies
within the context of post-colonial nation-building. Aside from exploring
the actual content of occidentalism, the conference will address the
various ways perceptions of the West shape (and are shaped by) Arab and
Muslim peoples' conceptions of themselves, their political and material
realities, their attitudes towards globalisation, as well internal power
struggles and tensions.

Post-colonial theory and feminist criticism Edward Said's work constitutes
one of the main cornerstones of an increasingly significant body of
writings within the field of post-colonial scholarship. These works
subvert the previously rigid demarcations between the inside and the
outside of the colonial and neo-imperial systems. In his writings,
Mohammed Arkoun have stressed the need of 'auto-critique' in the context
of post-colonial identity formations. At the same time there has been a
flurry of literature addressing one of the gaps in Orientalism, namely its
gendered nature. Historical and contemporary analyses of representations
of Middle Eastern/Arab/Muslim women point to the intersection between
sexual, cultural and political modes of differentiation and 'othering'.
The third body of issues addressed in this Conference revolves around the
intersections between feminist critiques of knowledge production and
post-colonial scholarship focussing on the Arab and Muslim world.

Please send abstracts of up to 500 words by 15 January 2001 to:

Dr. Nadje Al-Ali
Institute of Arab & Islamic Studies
University of Exeter
Old Library
Prince of Wales Road
Exeter EX4 4JZ
UK

Tel: (+)44-(0)1392-264026
Fax: (+)44-(0)1392-264025
e-mail: N.S.Al-Ali@exeter.ac.uk

There will be limited funding available to cover travel expenses and
accommodation for conference participants. However, we strongly encourage
you to seek alternative funding where possible.