Conference: Islam and Hinduism in the Indian Ocean World,
04/05
A two-day conference on "Islam and Hinduism in the Indian
Ocean World: Global Truths and Local Practices" will be held
at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) on April
15th and 16th. The conference is sponsored by the James S.
Coleman African Studies Center and funded by the UCLA
International Institute and the Burkle Center for
International Relations through a Global Impact Research
Grant. The sessions are open to the public and free of
charge.
The conference will explore changing notions and actual
practices of Islam and Hinduism in the Indian Ocean World
(IOW), a culturally complex crucible that links southern and
eastern Africa with the islands and lands along the rim of
the Indian Ocean to South Asia and beyond. Trade, migration,
diaspora-formation, and globalization are among the social
forces that have affected all Muslim and Hindu communities
for well over a millennium and that are accelerating in
today's world; but exactly how have and do such forces
influence the IOW? We anticipate that by bringing together
international scholars whose research in a variety of
academic fields examines such issues in different times and
places within the IOW, we shall identify commonalities and
differences between Islam and Hinduism as they have been and
are lived "on the ground" and across the waters.
Organized by Professors Ned Alpers (History) and Al Roberts
(World Arts & Cultures and African Studies Center), the
conference will feature presentations by Scott Reese
(Northern Arizona U), Hussein Ahmed (Addis
Abeba U), Mohamed Kassim (Seneca College of Applied Arts and
Technology), Abdin Chande (Adelphi U), Helene Basu (Institut
fur Ethnologie, Berlin), Anne Bang (U Bergen), Juan Campo
(UC Santa Barbara), Eric Tagliacozzo (Cornell U), Sanjay
Subrahmanyam (UCLA), Sanjay Chaturvedi (Panjab U), Vinay Lal
(UCLA), Samira Sheikh (Inst of Ismaili Studies), Allen
Roberts (UCLA), Zulfikar Hirji (Inst of Ismaili Studies),
Gijsbert Oonk (Erasmus U), Sriti Srinivas (UC Davis), and
Radhika Mongia (UC Santa Cruz).
Inquires may be sent to the UCLA African Studies Center,
africa@international.ucla.edu, or see
<www.international.ucla.edu/africa>
Page Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D.