McGill University’s Institute of Islamic Studies Student Council (MIISSC) invites abstracts for scholarly papers to be presented at a graduate symposium in 29 & 30 April 2011. The conference will engage with the intersection of critical theory and Islamic Studies. We define critical theory very broadly as problematizing normative approaches to the study of Islam in its multiple social, political, literary, religious, and historical dimensions. By Islamic Studies, we refer to the interdisciplinary study of Islamic thought, culture, and society in western academia.
The goal of the symposium is to allow graduate students and junior scholars to present original unpublished research.
DEADLINE: Please submit a formal abstract (350-500 words) by January 20, 2011 date by email to miisscsymposium[at]gmail.com. Participants will be notified of their acceptance by February 15, 2011.
Some of the themes and questions we seek to address include, but are not limited to the following:
- Postcolonial theory and Islamic Studies, where do we go from here?
- What contribution does Islamic Studies make to critical theory?
- Insider vs. Outsider
- Secular vs. faith-informed approaches to the study of Islam
- Construction of authority in Islamic texts, societies, etc
- Islam and the ‘periphery’
- Marxist approaches to Islamic Studies
- Feminist approaches to Islamic Studies
- Foundational sources in Islamic Studies
- Race and Gender as categories of analysis for Islamic Studies
- Can we Queer Islamic Studies?
- Potentialities for the study of Islamic art, architecture, and literature
- Non-Muslim communities in Muslim societies