Issue No. 602
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5 - 11 September 2002 Issue No. 602 Region |
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Studying the Middle East
Muslim, Christian and Jewish prayers will begin the First World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies in Germany. Abdel-Azim Hammad, in Mainz, reviews the agenda
The Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, Germany, is getting ready to host the First World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies beginning on Monday, 9 September, through the 13th of September.
The World Congress was initiated by the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA). The event will include European, North American, and Middle Eastern study associations and cultural centres.
The conference includes some 2000 researchers and 1000 political and public figures from all over the world. Among the dignitaries participating are Prince Al-Hussein Bin Talal, former Jordanian crown-prince and current head of the Arab Thought Forum and the Rome Club, as well as German officials from the state of Rhineland. In addition to political leaders, many German religious leaders from various faiths will attend the conference. The Central Council for Muslims in Germany, the Central Council for German Jews, the Anglican Church and the Catholic Church will all be represented at the gathering.
The leaders of the different religions will lead prayers at the inauguration of the congress. The prayers are meant to be a symbol of interfaith tolerance in Germany and the Middle East.
The congress will also honour a number of prominent Middle East scholars, including Palestinian-American thinker Edward Said, professor of English Literature at Columbia Univeristy.
This congress is unique in its timing, as it coincides with the first anniversary of the 11 September attacks. Preparations for the conference began in January of 2001. But even though preparations began long before 11 September, the events of that day have cast a new and powerful light on the message of the interfaith congress. Organisers plan it to be the first of a regular meeting.
The conference will be headed by German philosopher Jurgen Habbermas, leader of the Frankfurt School of social thought. Many officials and politicians will also take part. Participants in this conference are from all parts of the globe including Japan, the United States, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, European states, and Latin America.
The programme is quite extensive covering 35 themes relating to the Middle East and West Asia. Topics include a variety of disciplines ranging from anthropology and archeology to sociology, gender and women's studies. No intellectual stone in the Middle East will be left unturned.
As is to be expected after 11 September, Islam and political Islam are at the forefront of the topics to be discussed at the conference, followed by political, economic and social conditions in the Middle East.
A special panel has been dedicated to conditions in the Middle East after 11 September. This panel will focus on papers such as the political ramifications of the war on terror in the Arab world; international relations and security in the Mediterranean, terrorism and the peace process, information and human rights in the Middle East after 11 September, media coverage of the war on terror and revisions of the debate on the clash of civilisations, Islam in American foreign policy, Afghanistan after the Taliban, and the effects of the attacks on Islamic groups in exile.
Islam as a religion and a civlisation will be discussed under a number of themes, including a focus on Islam and modernity, and contemporary research into the Qur'an. In addition, panels will examine the role of Christians in the region and the relationship between Christians and Muslims.
The programme also includes other topics which are more political than religious in nature. Topics such as civil society in the Middle East, the peace process, the European- Mediterranean dialogue, Israeli foreign policy and the social and political challenges before the Israeli state, Palestinian civil society, and the future of Jerusalem will all be examined at the congress.
Seven panels are dedicated to economic conditions in the Middle East, including oil and gas and their effect on world markets and politics, development in the Middle East and North Africa, poverty in Palestine, and industrialisation as a tool against poverty. Another panel is dedicated to the problems of water resources and management of the environment.
In charge of organising the conference is Professor Gunter Meyer, president of the European Association for Middle Eastern Studies. Explaining the unique nature of the forthcoming congress, he told Al-Ahram Weekly, "This congress includes participating thinkers, academics and politicians representing all the various civilisations of the world, it thus does not aim to study the Middle East, the Arab world and Islam solely from a Western perspective, but it will be a forum in which the civilisations can have dialogue and reach a better understanding of the other."
This Congress, he added, "has taken on board the criticism levelled against previous 'Orientalist conferences' by authors like Edward Said in his book Orientalism. This congress aims to create lasting effects in the study of relationships between segments of society in the Middle East and study of the Middle East and its relation with the West."
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