my abstract published in EASR conference

Irshad, Mohammed
Advent of Islam in Europe: cultural change and educational diffusion
Islam entered the crossroads of Europe through the conquest of Tariq bin Ziyad in Spain (711-714), the Berber lieutenant of the government of North Africa, Musa bin Nusair and in Sicily in 827 at the hand of the Asad bin Furath. In Italy, Islam was not spoken about until 1965. Muslims are present in Europe since the early middle ages. Muslim culture once flourished in Andalusia, Sicily, the Balkan and other European regions. A widespread fruitful exchange between Muslims, Jews, and Christians contributed to scientific, economic and cultural progress in Europe. The presence of Muslims in Europe dates back to the middle ages. Despite this fact, a stable presence of significant Muslim groups estimated number of 10-15 million in western, central and northern Europe is a relatively new phenomenon. Millions of Muslims now voluntarily stay in European countries whose majority population is non59 Muslims. Nevertheless in many cases and over centuries, the encounter between European Christian and Muslims realms and societies was over shadowed by hostility and warfare. The Muslim conquest of European territory as well as the re-conquest and the colonial expansions of Europe created fear and antagonist perception of the respective “other”. The Muslim presence in Europe made the culture of Europeans good and best, the educational diffusion started after the conquest of Muslims. Many of worldwide well known scholars, such as ibn seena were the donations of European Muslims. My paper is an attempt to recover the history of Islam in Europe as it is being misunderstood throughout the modern world. Jakson, Peter The enthralled spectator: Oblique Themes in the Discourse on Cultural Origins In this paper, I am borrowing the critical notion of the “enthralled spectator” from film historian Tom Gunning in order to explore its applicability to recurrent themes in the archaeological discourse on cultural origins. Behind this notion lies an inclination among in-group members to imagine themselves as profoundly different from those thought to exist outside of the willing suspension of disbelief. The enthralled specator remains the vicitm of an illusion, cut off from the wonder of insight and exposure characteristic of a fully emanicpated rational consiousness. In accordance with the envisioning of cinema’s first audiences as being passively submitted to an alldominating apparatus, prehistoric archaeologists have been prone to infer a lack of agency and symbolic sophistication among early humans from an archaeological record that simultaneously demonstrates traits of behavioural modernity. By clarifying how this long-term imaginative capacity is being reiterated rather than scrutinized in modern scholarship and popular culture, an attempt is made, firstly, to resolve certain lingering paradoxes in the discourse on cultural origins, and, secondly, to reconsider this mythically flawed anthropology as an object of historical study in its own right. Jacobsson, Kerstin Animal Rights Activism as Secular Sacralism The paper proposes to see animal rights activism as an instance of secular sacralism. Although most activists do not share the beliefs of traditional religion, there are many parallels to a religious universe. Both the activists’ view of the world and many of their collective practices, it is suggested, can be understood in terms of the elementary forms of religious life, as outlined by Durkheim, or as functional religion. Animal rights activists confer a sacred status to animals, activists give witness of strong experiences of awakening and conversion, after which they see the world in a new light and with a strong commitment to act. Another religious parallel is the aspirations for purity among activists and the protection of the sacred core from contamination. Moreover, rituals are essential for the building of collective identity, the sustention of moral commitment and also for invigorating the activists emotionally. The analysis draws on 18 interviews with Swedish animal rights activists. Jensen, Tim Why Ethics Must Be a Part of RE In countries with a confessional religious education (RE), 'Ethics', 'Ethics & Philosophy', or Werte und Normen' is offered to those who opt out of the confessional RE. This is, historically and logically speaking, explainable, but not optimal. RE ought be a non-confessional compulsory RS based RE that includes teaching about ethics, 60 religious and non-religious. The paper argues why, from a scholarly RS, from a RE didactic and from a strategical, i.e. political cum educational point of view.
IRSHAD MOHAMMED