The Venture of Islam in the Age of European Empires: Race, Religion, and Geopolitics (CURA Colloquium)

Presenter: Cemil Aydin, Professor of History, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Abstract: Recent scholarly on the transformation of Muslim religious tradition during the hegemony of European empires highlights how there was a silent epistemic revolution in the way modern Muslim intellectuals began to depict Islam as a systematic world religion and basis of global civilization. Several Muslim reformists redefined Islam as a global religion whose morality and consciousness can cure the disease of racism practiced by European empires, while helping to remake the post-Western Afro-Asian world order. This paper will discuss the content and legacy of the intellectual reformulations of Islam from the 1850s to the 1950s, when Muslim societies were ruled by European empires.

Reading the paper in advance is required for attendance. Email cura@bu.edu for your copy.

Cosponsored with the School of Theology