The Development of Normative Orders in the Muslim World
03 May 2010
International conference at the Goethe University Frankfurt, May 7-9, 2010
What form should normative foundations for peaceful coexistence in a multicultural and multi-religious society take? This question is the primary focus of the international conference ‘Formation of Normative Orders in the Islamic World’ which is being organised by the Cluster of Excellence at the Goethe University Frankfurt. Organisational responsibility for the conference is being assumed by Prof. Susanne Schröter, holder of the Chair in Anthropology of colonial and postcolonial orders and Director of the Cluster’s Junior Research Group ‘Contemporary discourses on state and society in the Islamic world’.
The East and the West are closer than ever before, interwoven by migration, transnational economies and policies, by electronic media and cultural camouflage. Whether within nation-states or the level of international relations, the normative orders of the future have to be renegotiated. The controversies over the burka in France and the legitimacy of the military intervention in Afghanistan are just two among numerous examples.
Islam is slowly establishing itself as a European religion, Islamist organisations are becoming democratised, and liberal and feminist Muslim voices have become an indispensable part of public debates. At the same time, there is an unmistakable increase in intolerance and violence.
The conference will provide a context for researchers from four continents, both Muslims and non-Muslims, to discuss how positive developments can be promoted and negative ones counteracted. Narratives through which ethnic, religious, social, or gender exclusions are legitimated will be addressed as well as approaches to overcoming discourses of dominance. Issues of gender equality, modern reinterpretations of the Qur’an and the Sunna, and recent reforms of family law in a range of Muslim countries will be thematized in addition to the European controversies over women’s rights versus cultural rights.
