IKMAS SEMINAR SERIES 4/15 BETWEEN ORIENTALISM AND ISLAMIZATION: THE FAILURE OF ALTERNATIVE DISCOURSES

IKMAS SEMINAR SERIES NO.4/2015

The Institute of Malaysian and International Studies (IKMAS), Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia  cordially invites YBhg. Prof/Sir/Madam to the IKMAS Seminar Series stated as follows:

Presenter        :       Associate Professor Dr. Syed Farid Alatas

Title                    :       Between Orientalism and Islamization: the Failure of Alternative Discourses

Date                   :       27 March  2015 (Friday)

Venue               :        IKMAS Seminar Room

Time                  :        9.30 am – 11.00 am

Abstract

The thesis of this presentation is that much of the humanities and social sciences in the Muslim world had failed to go beyond the two extremes of Orientalism and its reverse, Islamization. While there had been much criticism of Orientalism in the social sciences and humanities, what we have seen as Islamized alternatives have serious theoretical problems. In order for the various disciplines to be a genuine alternative to Orientalism they should have three characteristics: (i) the conceptual vocabulary of a field should be free of ethnocentrism. In other words, its conceptual language should not be drawn exclusively from one civilizational or religious tradition; (ii) knowledge should be liberating in the sense that it should be intellectually demystifying; and (iii) knowledge should be impactful upon the people who are the subjects of discussion, that is, it should have an advocacy element. In other words, knowledge should be relevant. Arguing that a genuinely alternative discourse is one that is more relevant, I discuss different types of relevant knowledge. I suggest that the problem with both Orientalist and Islamized social science as they exist today are that they are irrelevant. The main types of irrelevance are conceptual and value irrelevance.  I provide examples of both irrelevant and relevant social science from Malaysia as well as elsewhere, to illustrate what a relevant social science would look like. An example of a social science that is conceptually irrelevant is from the study of religion. An example of discourse that is conceptually relevant in the sense that it demystifies dominant perspectives is the critique of Islamic economics. Value irrelevance refers to the disconnectedness of knowledge from its political, economic and cultural milieu. An example of a discourse that is of value relevance is that which critically deals with ethnicity and religion.
Biographical Sketch

Syed Farid Alatas, a Malaysian national, is Associate Professor of Sociology at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He also headed the Department of Malay Studies at NUS from 2007 to 2013. He lectured at the University of Malaya in the Department of South east Asian Studies prior to joining NUS. His areas of interest are the sociology of Islam, social theory, religion and reform, and intra- and inter-religious dialogue. His most recent books are Ibn Khaldun (Oxford University Press, 2013) and Applying Ibn KhaldÉn (Routledge, 2014).