Linking Theory and Practice: The Politics of Re-Conceptualizing the Terms “Secular,” “Islamist,” “Liberal,” and “Left”

Past Event

Wednesday, May 12, 2010 8:00 PM EDT
American University of Beirut

Throughout the Cold War, which coincided with the emergence of Middle Eastern studies as area studies, a set of social science theories, ranging from the paradigm of tradition and modernization to frameworks of secularism, Islamism and liberalism, have been applied to understand the transformation of this region in modern times. The obvious mismatch between theoretical formulations and existing realities, however, led to the search for more apt and sound ways to interpret and understand the multiple faces of life in the region.

This workshop took several case studies where actual practices clearly defy theoretical and analytical conventions to interrogate ways to improve our conceptual tools and understanding. Cases presented by participants include the phenomenon of leftist/secularist support for Islamist organizations and parties in the Middle East, the alliances between liberal feminist discourses on Muslim women's rights and the search for more religious freedom and expression, and set of alliances between pro-European Union liberals and religious rights discourses.

The aim was not only to make sense of such alliances between seemingly disparate groups who are supposed to have conflicting agendas. It is also to consider such alliances as an entry point into a broader analytical and historical discussion that spans a wide variety of topics, from secularism and Islamism to gender and globalization, as well as the question of the rise and fall of the left in the region and beyond.

Participants and Topics:

Bassam Haddad
Talal Asad
Fawwaz Traboulsi, "Who Sets the Research Agenda?"
Rami Khoury, "The Modern Arab State: Is it a Vector of Modernity or Mediocrity?"
Mona Harb, "The Circulation, Meanings, and Utility of the Islamist (and other related) Labels in Scholarship: Hezbollah as Example"
Maya Mikdashi, "Pluralism as Ideology; Practices of Secularism and Religious Conversion in Lebanon"
Ahmad Dallal, "The Fate of Islamic Modernism: Twentieth-Century Heirs to Nineteenth-Century Islamic Reform"
Roger Owen, "Adel Hussein and the Attempts to Provide a Justification for an Islamo-Socialist Movement in Egypt After the 1967 Defeat"
Fadi Bardawil, "A Fractured Terrain? Levantine Critique in the Aftermath of Leftist Exhaustion"

For more information on the conference contact its organizer, Bassam Haddad, at bhaddad@gmu.edu.

Sponsored by the Ali Vural Ak Center for Global Islamic Studies at George Mason University, the Middle East Studies Program at George Mason University, and the Department of Political Studies and Public Administration at American University of Beirut.