Proposals are invited for the conference on “Wild Spaces and Islamic Cosmopolitanism in Asia,” to be held January 14-January 15, 2015 in Singapore. The conference is jointly organized by Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore, and International Centre for Muslim and non-Muslim Understanding, University of South Australia.
This conference will focus on these questions.
- How have state and non-state efforts to distribute Muslims in time and space allowed for the containment of religious populations, or contributed to new manifestations of diversity and mobility?
- Did the contests between containment and connection generate new social, political, and ethical frameworks that might be construed through the explanatory framework of “Islamic cosmopolitanism”?
The larger goal of the conference is to explore the relationship between efforts to control Muslims in the lightly regulated “wild spaces” of Asia, and paradoxically, the subsequent mobilities, connections, and ethical frameworks of mutual obligation that grew out of such efforts. This conference will bring established and early-career researchers together to explore how faith-based identities are negotiated. Contributors may address spaces anywhere in Asia, and no temporal constraints apply.
The objectives of this conference are:
• Articulate flexible definitions of Islamic cosmopolitanism across Asia
• Examine historically and ethnographically the dialectic between Muslim and non-Muslim diversity on the one hand, and the influence of forces of enclosure which seek to regulate and homogenize belief and practice on the other
• Map the re-constitution of Muslim beliefs, practices, and networks at the blurry boundaries of spatial and regulatory enclosure as a technique of power
More details about the conference theme, submission form for proposals, and a detailed call for proposals may be found at the website.
SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS
Paper proposals should include a title, an abstract of 350 words maximum and a brief personal biography of 150 words for submission by 24 September 2014. Please see the details and form necessary at the website. Successful applicants will be notified by 15 October and are required to send in a completed draft paper (5,000 – 8,000 words) by 15 December. Based on the quality of proposals and availability of funds, partial or full funding may be granted to successful applicants. Participants are therefore encouraged to seek fund for travel from their home institutions. Full funding covers air travel to Singapore by the most economical means, plus board and lodging for the duration of the conference.