__________________________________________________
Call for Papers "No!: Subjectivity and Agency in Muslim Rights/Rites of Negation" 7th Annual Duke-UNC Graduate Islamic Studies Conference Duke University Durham, NC (USA) 27-28 February 2010 __________________________________________________ Graduate students in Islamic Studies at Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill are now accepting papers for the following conference: No!: Subjectivity and Agency in Muslim Rights/Rites of Negation Keynote Speaker: Kecia Ali, Boston University The concept and practice of No! can establish barriers and break them down. As Georges Bataille explained, No can be passive negation or active rebellion. Who gets to refuse and how they do so involves subjectivityways in which individuals relate to themselves and the other. The act of negation enacts the affirmation of possible alternatives. Such acts range from Satans refusal to bow before Adam to a wifes legal inability to refuse her husbands sexual overtures in Muslim jurisprudence. In ordinary life, individuals enunciate negation through multiple media, including expressions of tact and satire. In politics, the state expresses its agency by codifying certain political ideologies, while individuals actualize their agency by negating or affirming them. Practices of negation, refusal, and dissent both constitute and are constituted by subjectivity and society. This connection has often been overlooked in recent studies of Islam. Therefore, we welcome diverse approaches to examine negation, agency, and the subject in the study of classical, medieval, and contemporary Islamicate contexts. We are particularly interested in interdisciplinary approaches to this theme with regards to Muslim political theologies, Islamic textual canons, and Muslim minorities, including those of gender, sexuality, race, and class. In addition to formal papers, we also welcome films related to theme of the conference. Possible paper/film topics may include: - Refusal or Appropriation of Normative Categories of Gender and Sexuality - Approaches to Difference in Muslim Intellectual History - The Construction of Sunni and Shi'a Theology Through Mutual Refusal - The Role of Dissent in Contemporary Muslim Politics - Rejection of Arabized Muslim identity - Negation as a hermeneutical tool in the construction of authority in jurisprudential methodology - Re-defining Collective Muslim Narratives and Representations - Appropriation or negation of legal rulings through the utilization of Objectives of Islamic Law - Annihilating the Self in Sufism - Muslim Dissent as Political Threat - Asceticism and Martyrdom as Socio-Political Refusal in Early Sufism - Disavowal of Muslim Minorities - Refusing Racial Categories within Islam - Turns from Asharite Theological Hegemony in Contemporary Sunnism - Appropriations and Negations of the Muslim Past in Contemporary Apologetic Discourses The conference will proceed in an interactive workshop format. We ask that those invited to present papers remain for the duration of the conference in order to engage the work of fellow participants. This two-day conference will take place at Duke University. To apply, please send the following to: [email protected]: - Proposal of no more than 500 words, double-spaced - Paper title - Curriculum Vitae The deadline for submissions is December 15, 2009. Organizers: Brandon Gorman, Department of Sociology, UNC-Chapel Hill Matthew Hotham, Department of Religious Studies, UNC-Chapel Hill Nadia Khan, Department of Religion, Duke University Ali Altaf Mian, Department of Religion, Duke University Saadia Yacoob, Department of Religion, Duke University Contact: DUKE-UNC Graduate Islamic Studies Conference Department of Religious Studies 125 Saunders Hall, CB#3225 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3225 USA Email: [email protected] __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org
