130 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 10:1 

Seminars, Conferences, Addresses 

Conf ere nee on Knowledge across 
Cultures: Universities East and West 

9 -12 Rabi' al Akhir 1413 I 7-10 October 1992 
Toronto, Canada 

This conference was organized by the Ontario Institute for Studies in 
Education (OISE), Toronto, Canada. Approximately 166 participants, 
rep­resenting various disciplines and different countries, attended the 
eight plenary and twenty concurrent sessions. Its purpose was to bring 
together Eastern and Western knowledge through culture via an exchange 
of ideas and deliberations, an exposition of theories, and an examination 
of the contributions of various cultures-mainly China ·s-to human 
civilization. 



Seminars, Conferences, Addresses 131 

The papers presented and the discussions that ensued were extremely 
enlightening and concentrated on the following issues: a) the contribu- 
tions made to knowledge by specific cultures (mainly Chinese, Indian, 
and Muslim); b) knowledge transferreed from the West to the East does 
not consider the attributes of the East; c) the East is responsible for 
finding ways to adapting its cultures to imported knowledge; and d) so- 
cial science knowledge is better generated when social science -hers 
abandon natural science methodologies (i.e., realism and positivism) and 
recognize that the social sciences should be based on qualitative research. 

There were a few papers on the above-mentioned themes that were 
outstanding. Abdul Rahman, in his "Spheres of Life: Inheritance, Crea- 
tivity, and Society," emphasized the holistic nature of knowledge. This 
knowledge does not underestimate or neglect the contributions of differ- 
ent countries (races) in developing the present (current) civilization. 
Abdul Rahman indicated that the lack of a holistic view of knowlege at 
present has also led knowledge to be fragmented. 

Al-A'ali, in her "The Impact of Knowledge Transfer with Respect to 
Modem Bureaucratic Organizations and Human Relationships," posited 
an analysis of the fragmentation of knowledge by examining assumptions 
of human existence and human societies. Al-A'ali argued that knowledge 
is fragmented because it has been based on partial views of human exis- 
tence and human societies. The first partial view assumes that individuals 
have their own real exsitence while societies do not, and the second view 
assumes that societies have their own real existence while individuals do 
not. Knowledge based on these views is partial and thus does not con- 
ceive of human knowledge as based on complementary underpinnings. 

Mazrui, in his "The Post-Colonial University and the Challenge of 
Cutlural Dependency: Some African and Arab Perspectives," elaborated 
on the issue of university dependence on multinational support. This sup- 
port, through its own special institutions, creates a new form of colonial- 
ism: "cultural dependency." He also explained that a given culture cannot 
be viewed in isolation from other cultures. Thus the need to view cultures 
from a holistic and complementary perspective should be pursued. 

The conference was very successful. Its friendly atmosphere, along 
with the diversity of its participants' cultures, promoted a good beginning 
for informal contracts. But certain issues were neglected: 

1. There was no common ground for a definition of culture. This omis- 
sion emphasized partiality of thinking and was a result of grouping 
cultures into "East" and "West." While the conference sought to bring 
different cultures together, this grouping aggravated the impact of that 
categorization. It led participants to view cultures on a noncomple- 
mentary basis, with the exception of the above-mentioned papers. 

2. No attempt was made to relate different ideas, theories, and contribu- 
tions of different countries (races). Though Abdul Rahman explained 
the need to view human knowledge on a holistic and complementary 



132 The American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 10:1 

basis, the conference concluded without illustrating an attempt to put 
the papers into one stream of knowledge: human knowledge. 

3. Criticism of natural science methodologies, which advocate qualita­
tive research, reflected the attibute of being confined to "either-or"
thinking. This is not a suitable style of thinking for a conference con­
cerned with evaluating and examining "Knowledge across Culture."

The conference also overlooked a simple fact: knowledge transferred
from the East to the West has not been questioned by the West. This im­
plies and reflects the view that no country owns a complete set of viable 
ideas, theories, and contributions-they are not the property of one na­
tion. Thus, it is not just the responsiblity of the East to question imported 
ideas, theories, practices, and contributions. Both the East and the West 
must ask relevant questions to promote a better understanding of human 
affairs and to further human knowledge. 

Ebtihaj Al-A 'ali 
Department of Business and Management 

University of Bahrain 
Isa Town, Bahrain