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Call for Papers Theme: Arab Thought and the New Cultural Critique Subtitle: The 1980s and Beyond Type: International Workshop Institution: Van Leer Jerusalem Institute Location: Jerusalem (Israel) Date: 23.–24.7.2012 Deadline: 4.3.2012 __________________________________________________ The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute is organizing an international workshop on "Arab Thought and the New Cultural Critique: The 1980s and Beyond." Transcending the ubiquitous trend of self-criticism which proliferated widely after 1967, Arab thought during the 1980s took a critical turn toward a more systematic reexamination of modern Arab being and its relationship with the past. Especially debatable was the mass metaphysical turn to the Islamic heritage, turath, and the expectation that this cultural rush would result in the discovery of a valid and authentic cultural frame of reference asala which, in turn, would interface harmoniously with, or supersede, modernity. In consequence, dozens of intellectuals participated in the debates over the desired relationship between turath (historical heritage), asala (authenticity, tradition), and tajdid (renewal), and multiple volumes were published. The innovative and comprehensive corpus of Moroccan philosopher Muhammad Abid al-Jabiri (1936-2010), and the passionate reactions to it, best capture the nature of this exchange and redefine its importance. Far from being a simple matter of "discourse," the new critique of the 1980s saw meaningful continuity up to the present, most notably in the context of the Arab Spring. The aim of this two-day conference is to explore this intellectual moment and examine the formation of the new cultural criticism that ensued. We intend to contextualize the 1980s and study the individuals, journals, books and conferences which ushered in this critical phase. We welcome the studies of individual intellectuals such as George Tarabishi, Muhammad Arkoun, Abdallah Laroui, Hasan Hanafi, Mahmmud Amin al-Alim and al-Jabiri, as well as an analysis of public debates and exchanges. In addition, contributors are welcome to offer analysis of concepts which were key to the 1980s debates such as turath, nahda (cultural renaissance), almaniyya (secularism) etc. With these concerns in mind, we invite senior and young scholars to submit papers to be presented at the conference.Selected conference papers will be published in a special volume of Journal of Levantine Studies. Proposals should be limited to two pages, and will be accepted no later than Sunday, 4 March 2012. Limited funds will be available for participants. Please send your abstract, including biographical note, to both email addresses: Wael Abu-Uksa ([email protected]) Yoav Di Capua ([email protected]) __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: http://interphil.polylog.org Intercultural Philosophy Calendar: http://cal.polylog.org __________________________________________________
