Asian Studies Events
Critical Conversations on Islam and Asia
October 18, 2024
2-4pm PST | 3-5pm MST | 4-6pm CST | 5-7pm ESTAlthough Islam originated and remains vibrant in the Middle East, the three largest national populations of Muslims are in Asia, with Indonesia being the largest in the world. This online workshop will explore the contemporary dynamics of Islam in Asia, and its relation to global Islam.
Join the Online Workshop!
Passcode: 586155
Sponsored by the East-West Center & Asian Studies Development Program (ASDP)
CWU faculty interested in offering or developing coursework in Asian Studies have taken advantage of the rich learning opportunities available through the East-West Center and the Asian Studies Development Program (ASDP). CWU has a longstanding connection with both and is a Regional Center for the ASDP.Speakers
How to be Muslim, Modern and Middle Class: The Varieties of Muslim Youth in Contemporary Indonesia
Dr. Muhamad Ali, University of California, Riverside
In this talk I explore the variety of Muslim youth – particularly in the Islamic boarding schools and universities, and their accommodative attitudes toward social change in the everyday life and social media, thus highlighting the intersection of Islam, age, and social class. I will also reflect on how we can streamline Asia into Islamic studies and Islamic studies into Asia.
Muhamad Ali is the director of Middle East and Islamic Studies, and an associate professor in Islamic Studies, at the Department for the Study of Religion, and Southeast Asia: Text, Ritual, and Performance (SEATRIP), University of California, Riverside. Currently an associate editor of Contemporary Islam: Dynamics of Muslim Life, Ali received a B.A. in Islamic studies from the State Islamic University, Indonesia; a M.Sc. in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Edinburgh, and a Ph.D. in history from the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa. His books include Multicultural-Pluralist Theology and Islam and Colonialism: Becoming Modern in Indonesia and Malaya; articles on interfaith marriage in Indonesia, Indonesian Muslims perceptions of Jews and Judaism, and Indonesian ideas on inter-religious relations; book chapters on modern Islam in Indonesia and Malaysia and religious pluralism and freedom in Islam; and entries on Islam’s global interactions and the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Indonesia.
A Century of Advocating Women's Rights: the Congress for Women Ulama (KUPI)
Dr. Nelly van Doorn-Harder, Wake Forest University
In 2017 and 2022, Indonesian Muslim women leaders and scholars organized a congress for women ulama called KUPI. Their knowledge of the Islamic sacred scriptures was at the same level as that of male Muslim leaders. These gatherings were unique in the history of Islam and drew national and international attention. This presentation will explain the background of these KUPI events, the groundwork done to make them possible, and what they mean for Muslim leadership in Indonesia in general.
Nelly van Doorn-Harder is a scholar of religion. Presently, she is a professor at Wake Forest University (North Carolina, USA) and the Vrije Universiteit (Amsterdam, Netherlands). Her work focuses on the Coptic Christians from Egypt and Islam in Southeast Asia. Although these fields seem far apart, Professor van Doorn-Harder connects them by studying gender, leadership, interfaith engagement, and issues pertaining to freedom of religion. She has written and edited ten books and numerous articles. For her work she has received grants from among others, the Ford Foundation, Fulbright, the University of Oslo, and the Contending Modernities Project of Notre Dame University. She is connected with the Center for Interdisciplinary Research (ZIF) at Bielefeld University (Germany) in an international project ‘Felix Culpa’? Guilt as Culturally Productive Force.
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