Schooling Islam: Madrasas and the Remaking of Muslim Modernity
A lecture and three seminars by Robert W. Hefner, 2008 NUS-Stanford Lee Kong Chian Distinguished Fellow, Shorenstein APARC and Professor of Anthropology, Boston University
April 28 - May 1, 2008
Media coverage of Islam and Muslims, especially since 9/11, has featured violence and the threat of violence. In his opening lecture and three seminars to follow, Prof. Hefner will explore a different reality "beyond the headlines." Is there a "civil Islam"? Are Islam and democracy compatible? Is "Islamism" always radical, or can it be democratic? How does Muslim schooling affect the answers to these questions? Prof. Hefner will also look beyond the media's focus on the Middle East to examine the interactions between Islam, Muslims, and democracy in Southeast Asia.
This is the second of the three seminars scheduled with Dr. Hefner.
The third and final seminar in this series will be on Thursday, May 1 and is titled Muslim Politics in Southeast Asia: Democratic Islam Hijacked? or Re-invigorated?
Robert W. Hefner's latest books include Schooling Islam (co-ed., 2007); Remaking Muslim Politics (ed., 2005); and Civil Islam (2000). He is the invited editor of the sixth volume of the forthcoming New Cambridge History of Islam, Muslims and Modernity: Society and Culture since 1800. He directs the program on Islam and civil society at Boston University since 1991.
All four events are co-sponsored by the the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, the Stanford Humanities Center, and the Southeast Asia Forum in the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center, Stanford University.
The Board Room
Humanities Center
424 Santa Teresa Street
Stanford University
Stanford, CA
Robert W. Hefner
Shorenstein APARC
Stanford University
Encina Hall E301
Stanford, CA 94305-6055
Robert William Hefner, professor of anthropology and associate director of the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs at Boston University, is the inaugural Lee Kong Chian NUS-Stanford Distinguished Fellow on Southeast Asia.
Professor Hefner has been associate director of the Institute on Culture, Religion, and World Affairs at Boston University, where he has directed the program on Islam and civil society since 1991. Hefner has carried out research on religion and politics in Southeast Asia for the past thirty years, and has authored or edited a fourteen books, as well as several major policy reports for private and public foundations. His most recent books include, Schooling Islam: The Culture and Politics of Modern Muslim Education (edited with Muhammad Qasim Zaman, Princeton 2007); ed., Remaking Muslim Politics: Pluralism, Contestation, Democratization (Princeton 2005), ed., and Civil Islam: Muslims and Democratization in Indonesia (Princeton 2000). Hefner is also the invited editor for the sixth volume of the forthcoming New Cambridge History of Islam, Muslims and Modernity: Society and Culture since 1800.
Hefner is currently writing a book on Islamic education, democratization, and political violence in Indonesia. The research and writing locate the Indonesian example in the culture and politics of the broader Muslim world. His book also revisits the the question of the role of religious and secular knowledge in modernity.
Hefner will divide his time between Boston University, the National University of Singapore, and Stanford, where he will teach a seminar during the spring quarter.