Decolonial and Critical Approaches to Muslim Studies and Islamophobia
IMMRC (KULeuven), RHEA and Race & Research Network (VUB) organize reading sessions on
Decolonial and Critical Approaches to Muslim Studies and Islamophobia
How can we, as scholars of Islamic and Muslim Studies as well as the Humanities and the Social Sciences at large, understand and possibly further develop a decolonial approach to the study of Islamicate traditions and communities in the context of the global War on Terror? We aim to grapple with this central question through an engagement with a variety of texts from the burgeoning field of Critical Muslim Studies and Islamophobia.
Departing from a discussion on the connection between Islamophobia and racism in the modern world and its reverberation in Western epistemology, we will unpack the different trends in Muslim and Islamophobia Studies and exchange on the connections between Islam, racism and decolonization. Ultimately our aim is to stimulate an intellectual practice that allows for critical delinking from our Western episteme so as to reorient our gaze and efforts towards the decolonial perspectives that can be found in Islamicate practices and traditions.
We are inspired by the following projects: www.criticalmuslimstudies.co.uk and www.dialogoglobal.com/granada.
The reading groups sessions will take place from 14-16h on 23 October 2020,18 December 2020, 12 February 2021, 23 April 2021 & 18 June 2021. We will meet live at the Brussels City Campus @ BOZAR (entrance via koningsstraat 10) as long as it is possible under COVID measures. An online alternative is secured if circumstances change.
Attendance is free but registration is required via iman.lechkar@vub.be