Evaluation of Academic Conferences in the West about Islam

 

 

         

One of the main activities of European and American universities has been to hold conferences and symposia on the issues pertaining to Muslims and the Muslim world in different fields: political, social, cultural …etc. Attendees are usually specialists in these fields from the Muslim/ Arab World or the West. Attendees include some representation from European or U. S governments.

 

These conferences and symposia are originally meant to build bridges and strengthen cultural ties between the West and Islam. They also seek to tackle some of the problems or misunderstanding between the two Worlds.

 

Some conferences and symposia do live up to the expectations and can be considered real success in the great results the true learning experience the offer for both parties. There are numerous examples of such excellent conferences which I personally attended where the organizers were open minded to all views and gave a good chance for balanced representation of different views and convictions. I believe that some of the blame should go to the Arab and Muslim researchers who do not venture to attend international conferences or even local ones at Western universities. They either do not possess the needed proficiency in the European languages or lack the methodology of the ability to present a paper in a conference.

 

However there are conferences that lack the real academic standards. Some conferences are not well advertised, and therefore the attendees are of one type or another. I monitored conferences held by the B.B.C. in cooperation with Royal Institute for International Affairs and found that most of the Arabs represented in these conferences are the pro western or western educated. They would usually be an echo of the views of their western counterparts. A Moroccan Scholar commented on some conferences commented on some conferences that claim to be bridge builders while in fact the invitations are extended to a certain types of Arab and Muslim Scholars who are know to be critical of Islam and Islamic faith and ready to relinquish their own faith for some trivial gains.

 

This paper will attempt to present an evaluation of a number of conferences according to the high standards of the European and the American standards of equal opportunity and representation.

I will tackle these issues in three sections:

- The topics and themes of the conferences

- Critical analysis of examples of Conferences held in the West.

- Basis for a true dialogue and guidelines for future conferences.