ASMEA 2008 Conference
The Evolution of Islamic Politics, Philosophy and Culture in the
Middle East and Africa:
From Traditional Limits to Modern Extremes
Thursday, April 24th 5-7pm
Friday, April 25th 9:00am-5:00pm
Panel #1- 9:00-10:30am
Islamic Politics, Philosophy and Culture: Theological and Practical Traditions
1. The Tribal Foundations of Middle Eastern Islamic Culture
2. Why did Muhammad Attack the Byzantines? A Re-examination of Quran sura 30:1-2
3. Hermeneutics and Human Rights: Liberal Democracy, Islam and Catholicism
4. The Agreement of Divine Law and Philosophy in Averroes’ The Book of the Decisive Treatise
Panel #2 9:00-10:30am
Religious Obligation, Political Expression, or Post-Modern Development: The New Jihad
1. The Origins and Roots of Islamists’ Political Concepts
2. War and Peace: Negotiating Meaning in Islam
3. Gen. S.K. Malik’s The Quranic Concept of War and Today’s Jihadism
Roundtable Discussion 10:45am-12:00pm
Religion, Tribalism, Nationalism or Profit: Explaining the Current Instability in Africa
Luncheon 12:30-2:00pm
Prof. Bernard Lewis- Studying the Other: Different Ways of Looking at the Middle East and Africa
Panel #3 2:15-3:30pm
Current Trends in the Middle East and Africa: Regional Case Studies
1. Legal Terrorism in the Name of Islamic Justice: The Case of Iran
2. Takfir as a Tool for Instigating Jihad Among Moslems: The Ghanaian Example
3. Reading Tehran in Washington: The Problems of Defining the Fundamentalist Regime in Iran and Prospects for Political Change
4. Jihadist Approaches to Jurisprudence Viewed Through the Lens of the Egyptian “Revisions” Movement
Panel #4 2:15-3:30pm
Current Trends in the Middle East and Africa: Regional Case Studies
1. Al-Qaida’s Greatest Defeat: Uncovering Algeria’s Civil War
2. The Modern Impact of Mahdism and the Case of Iraq
3. Mad Mullahs and the Pax Britannica: Islam as Factor in Somali Resistance to British Colonial Rule
Roundtable Discussion 3:45-5:00pm
A Closer Look: Approaches to the Apocalyptic Politics of Modern Jihadism
Saturday, April 26th 9am-12:15pm
Panel #5 9:00-10:30am
Mediating and Other Influences in Societies Influenced by Islam
1. Mitigating the e-Jihad: Engaging the Umma through Global Communications and Multiple Nationalisms
2. Economic Justice in the Middle East: A Bad Idea, Badly Done
3. Islamic Feminism: Influence and Political Constraints
4. From Malika al-Fassi to Nadya Yassin and Maggui Cacoun: Moroccan Women and Political Change
Panel #6 10:45am-12:15pm
Current Trends in the Middle East and Africa: Regional Case Studies
1. The Palestinian Culture of Martyrdom and Shahid: Providing the Model for 21st Century Islamist Terrorism
2. Jihad as a Progressive Concept: The Case of the Tunisian Islamic Movement “Al-Nahda”
3. Geo-political Jihad in Israel/Palestinian Authority: Re-interpreting Islamic Geopolitics for the 21st Century