International Conference on “Orientalism Revisited: Beyond the Politics of East and West”

May 10, 2015

Date: May 23 – 24, 2015

Venue: University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus, Level 2, Chulan Tower, No. 3 Jalan Conlay, Kuala Lumpur

Registration: http://www.eventbrite.com/e/international-conference-on-orientalism-revisited-beyond-the-politics-of-east-and-west-tickets-16867923413

“Orientalism” is a term that has been widely used by scholars to refer to the Western ways of observation that imagines, exaggerates and distorts differences of the East. It acts as a double-edged sword for both the West and the so-called East, and bears a negative connotation in Eastern societies, which led to the emergence of “Occidentalism,” or the excessively critical approach to seeing the West. Moving beyond familiar contraposition of West/East, good/evil and rational/irrational, this conference attempts to study the pre-defined boundaries in order to reassess them for creating a discursive space beyond the politics of the West and East.

The goal of this conference is to provide a forum in which not only old issues can be discussed but also fresh developments and new theoretical and methodological approaches could be dissected and explored. While questioning cross-cultural assumptions, this conference goes beyond the bounds of a Saidian critique of Orientalism which perceives Orientalism itself and the pursuit of Oriental Studies in Western universities to be an extension of a colonial will to dominate. This conference will not belabor the West’s will to dominate over the East, but rather discuss different approaches to the interpretation of Orientalism and the alternatives to Orientalist discourses that have emerged since the critique of Orientalism. In this way, the conference strives to establish a true dialogue and mutual understanding between the East and West as a prerequisite to mutual acceptance.

Programme

May 23 (Saturday)

1000 – 1015AM	Welcoming Speech by Prof Sean Matthews
1015 – 1045AM	Session I “Orientalism Still Around?” Disengagement and Ambivalence on Orientalism in Malay Intellectual Discourse Azhar Ibrahim, Department of Malay Studies, National University of Singapore, Singapore
1045 – 1130AM	Q&A
1130 – 1200 Noon	Session II The Ummatic Approach To Communication: A Cross-Cultural Encounter Between The West And The Rest. Andi Faisal Bakti, Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University, Jakarta
1200 – 1230 Noon	Q&A
1230 – 230PM	Lunch
230 – 300PM	Session III From Orientalism to Islamophobia: Contemporary Issues and Challenges Dr. Leon Moosavi, University of Liverpool, UK
300 – 330PM	Q&A
330 – 400PM	Session IV The Said and Unsaid: The Grammar of Visual Imperialism Noraini Md Yusof and Esmaeil Zeiny, National University of Malaysia, Bangi
400-500PM	Q&A
500PM	Tea

May 24 (Sunday)

1000 – 1015AM	Opening speech by Prof Syed Farid Alatas
1015– 1045AM	Session V Reverse Orientalism: National Poet of Albania Naim Frasheri (1846-1900) Ali Akbar Ziaei, Ferdowsi Institute, Kuala Lumpur
1045 – 1115AM	Session VI The Stages and Process of Orientalism in History Dr Mohammad Hasan Zamani, Vice-Chancellor for International Affairs at Qom Seminary
1115 – 1145AM	Session VII Beyond Orientalism & Occidentalism: Metaphysics of Nothingness Fauzi Naeim Mohamed, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur
1145 – 1230 Noon	Q&A
1230 – 230PM	Lunch
230 – 300PM	Session VIII Alternative Re-appropriation of Malcolm X Field Strategies as Novel Modes of Decentering Eurocentric Social Theory Seyed Javad Miri, Institute of Humanities and Cultural Studies, Tehran
300 – 330PM	Q&A
330 – 400PM	Session IX Conceptual Imperialism and Academic Dependency: Can We stop Talking about Them? Syed Farid Alatas, National University of Singapore, Singapore
400 – 500PM	Q&A
500PM	Tea

Organized by:

Islamic Renaissance Front (IRF), University of Nottingham Malaysia
Campus (UNMC), University of Malaya (UM), National University of Singapore (NUS),
Ferdowsi Research and Culture Institute, Istanbul Foundation for Science and Culture
In cooperation with Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS, UKM)