Conference, Symposium, and Panel Reports

Dialogue vs. Conflict:
Islam at the Age of Globalization

The “Second International Conference on Islam,” held at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison on 24-25 April 2006, focused on the broad theme of
Islam and globalization through the lens of dialogue and conflict. There
were four keynote speakers and more then thirty presentations on a wide
range of topics related to Islam and the experiences of Muslims throughout
history as well as in the contemporary world. The conference was marked
by its multidisciplinary diversity and strong emphasis on constructive intel-
lectual exchange among scholars.

The four keynote speakers, Jocelyne Cesari (Harvard University),
Thomas Michel, S.J. (Georgetown University), Scott Alexander (Catholic
Theological Union), and Kemal Karpat (University of Wisconsin-Madison),
touched upon various aspects of Islam at the age of globalization. Cesari’s
talk, entitled “Global Islam between Fundamentalism and Cosmopolitan-
ism,” presented a typology of three forms of Islamic identity that are emerg-
ing in the global age, namely, diasporic, pan-Islamic, and cosmopolitan. In
her words, diasporic refers to the localized relationships of Muslims who
choose to maintain strong ties with their country or city of origin, pan-
Islamic emphasizes the effectiveness of the ummah concept in today’s world,
and cosmopolitan refers to a worldview that is reflexive, in a sense defined
by the status of being “other.” 

In his speech, “Confrontation and Dialogue: A History of Catholic-
Muslim Relations,” Alexander outlined the history of this relationship since
the advent of Islam, pointing to elements of dialogue and confrontation.
Kemal Karpat discussed a most current topic in his speech, “Turkey and the
EU: The End of a Millennium of Confrontation?” and analyzed the positive
consequences of Turkey’s membership in the European Union (EU).

The first panel, “Global Islam and the West,” accommodated papers
exemplifying the responses and contributions of Muslims to globalization.



In his paper, “The Anti-Globalization and Islamic Reformism of Chandra
Muzaffar: The Malaysian Contribution to a Religious Global Ethic,” David
Johnston (Yale University) analyzed “how Muzaffar leverages central
aspects of Muslim theology in order to construct an inter-faith vision of the
unity of humankind and its implications for the confronting and transform-
ing of the current western-led forces of globalization.” On the other hand,
Hayal Akarsu (Sabanci University, Turkey) presented “Ramadanization
of the World: Religious and National Identifications in the Multiculturalism
and Globalization Discourses,” a cultural study of a television program
broadcasting local Ramadan practices from around the world.

In the “Muslims, Integration, and the European Union” panel, Ahmed
Yukleyen (Boston University) presented “Redefining Islam and Europe in
Turkey’s EU Membership Process,” in which he discussed the mutual
transformation of Turkish Islam and the cultural context of Europe. He
argued that since Turkish Islam is not monolithic, but rather encompasses
divergent groups with even opposing commitments, the essentialist argu-
ments of those who oppose Turkey’s EU membership are unwarranted. He
concluded that “arguments pro and con Turkey’s EU membership use the
Turkish Muslim immigrant experience in Europe selectively to support
their political positions.” 

Egemen Ozalp (Universidad Pompeu Fabra, Spain) discussed the pros-
pects for Turkey’s EU membership in his “Bridging Civilizations? Turkey’s
EU Bid: New Risks and Opportunities.” Ozalp pointed out the benefits of
Turkey’s membership to the EU and argued that “interaction of civilizations,
and reduction of political and social differences to a favorable level are vital
for three reasons: to increase ‘civic participation’ for a more feasible democ-
racy, to eliminate the current democracy deficit and maintain legitimacy for
actors and institutions in the policy-making process, and to avoid long-term
citizen dissatisfaction by ‘removing its causes and controlling its effects.’”

In the panel “Negotiating Religious and National Identities,” Reem Hilal
(University of Wisconsin, Madison) presented “African Muslim Slave
Writings and Muslims in America: Identities in Transition,” in which she ana-
lyzed the writings of two nineteenth-century African Muslim slaves, namely,
Umar ibn Said and Bilali Muhammad. Hilal discussed the religious discourse
and the traces of identity negotiation in these writings that have been over-
looked in previous studies. Eren Tatari’s (Indiana University, Bloomington)
paper, “Theories of State Accommodation of Muslim Religious Practices in
Western Europe,” analyzed the four dominant theories employed by scholars
to explain the cross-national variation in the state’s accommodation of

138 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 23:2



Muslim religious practices in western Europe. She discussed their merits and
shortcomings when used to understand the cases of Muslim minorities in
western Europe and proposed a dynamic compound hypothesis that outlined
the causal mechanisms of the policy process. Mustafa Gokcek (University of
Wisconsin, Madison), who presented “Introducing Modern Education among
Muslims of Russia: Jadidism and the Gulen Movement,” compared and con-
trasted these two Islamic movements and argued that “both movements
emerged as a result of a need for adapting Muslims to the changing circum-
stances of the rapidly modernizing and globalizing world.”

The “Islamic Movements in a Globalized World” panel hosted papers
analyzing Islamic religious, social, and political movements in different parts
of the world. In his “Islamic Movements and Globalization: Integration vs.
Conflict in Turkey,” Ahmet Kuru (University of Washington) asked “Why do
certain Islamic movements support globalization and others oppose it?” He
proposed two variables, opportunity structures and the given movement’s
normative framework, to explain the variation in their attitudes. Etga Ugur
(University of Utah) presented “Civic Islam in the Public Sphere: The Gulen
Movement, Civil Society, and Social Capital in Turkey,” and Marcia Her-
mansen (Loyola University) presented “Global Sufism: Theirs and Ours.”

The panel on “Muslim Women in the Public Sphere” featured two
papers: Minoo Derayeh’s (York University, Toronto) “The Dialogue on
Ifsha-i Qanun: Iranian Women Revealing the Shariah” and Derya (Senol)
Iner’s (University of Wisconsin, Madison) “Invisible Women’s Visibility
versus Visible Women’s Invisibility.” Iner questioned the status of modern
Turkish and Ottoman women who choose/chose to wear the headscarf. Her
findings revealed that the fundamentalist secularism of modern Turkey ren-
ders women invisible, whereas Ottoman women who wore the headscarf
were more visible and active agents in Ottoman society.

Overall, this enriching and intellectually stimulating conference pro-
vided an opportunity for all participants to exchange cutting-edge research
on many topics concerning Islam and Muslims. One of the essential method-
ological issues that emerged was the need for rigorous works to provide ana-
lytical insight into the dilemma of employing Islam vs. Muslims as actor(s),
participants, and institutions. Research, taking a complex and sophisticated
approach to how Islam is referenced by Muslims and the mechanisms of
Islam’s personal-faith framework, is waiting to be undertaken.

Eren Tatari 
Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Political Science

Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

Conference, Symposium, and Panel Reports 139