Fundamantalist Literature in Indonesia
Source: http://www.anglistik.uni-muenster.de/Fundamentalism/Project/
Ever since 11 September 2001 and the subsequent ‘War on Terror’ the term fundamentalism has been a household word in politics and the media. The new topicality of the subject, brutally insisted on by the havoc wrought by the bombings in Bali (2002, 2005), Madrid (2004), London (2005) and Amman (2005) or Mumbai (2006), reinforced by the unexpected Hamas success in the Palestinian elections (2006) and, most recently, the ‘Cartoon Row’ (2006), has also brought earlier events once again to the fore of public awareness: the Islamic Revolution in Iran (1979), events in Sudan (1993), in Afghanistan (1996), in Turkey (1996), and in India (1996, 1998 and 1999), and the situation in the Middle East. Earlier journalistic commentaries and historical or strategic analyses are being (re-)read with new interest; Samuel P. Huntington’s notion of the “clash of civilizations” is being understood now also as a “clash of cultures” and has been designated more pointedly by Tariq Ali as a “clash of fundamentalisms”. Indeed, fundamentalism is being perceived as one of the greatest dangers to global peace, and in the field of domestic affairs, too, it is appreciated in many countries and cultures as the main impediment to a peaceful society.
The international research project on “Fundamentalism and Literature – Global/Local” at the English Department of the University of Münster aims at contributing to an understanding of the phenomenon of fundamentalism and its literary negotiations.
As early as 1989, those interested in literature and culture experienced a rude awakening to fundamentalist dynamics, when Ayatollah Khomeini sentenced the writer Salman Rushdie to death for the alleged blasphemy in his novel The Satanic Verses. The fatwa is not only an especially drastic and sustained example of the vulnerability of literature and culture in the face of fundamentalist violence. The fact that fundamentalist leaders of the stature of Khomeini gave their attention to the authors of novels and their work at all – and that they saw themselves forced to such a severe reaction – affirms conversely also the power of literature on a global level: it was perceived to be a ‘fundamental’ threat to the fundamentalist world view.
It is at this interface, that the project proposes to intervene with the aim of addressing the paradoxical relationship between fundamentalism and literature. The paradox derives from the fact that practically all shades and hues of fundamentalism are centred on texts, and they are so, more precisely, by claiming the exclusivity of a particular canon of texts. The same phenomenon, if not with the same radical bias, may also be observed in processes of canon formation in literary history. Indeed, this analogy may provide a potential explanation of the mistrust fundamentalist leaders exhibit towards literary efforts: Literature, due to the multiplication of texts and perspectives that is its particular domain, is eminently suited to challenge the very claim of exclusivity. Thus, important segments of the history of occidental literature may be illuminated (not least) by their ambivalent relationship with the Bible – which, of course, translates into “the book” per se.
In the context outlined, the analysis of the interrelations of fundamentalism and literature is directed primarily at enquiring into the function of literature in fundamentalism, into negotiations of literature with various fundamentalisms (Christian, Islamic, Hindu, Jewish, etc.), and into the societal relevance of these negotiations and their potential with a view towards the creation of an increasingly peaceful society.
Programme
Sunday, 19 November 2006
15.00–20.00
Registration (Foyer)
16.30–19.00
Discussion Evening (Aula im Schloss) – open to the public
Kirpal Singh, Singapore (Chair)
Khademul Islam, Bangladesh
Maurice Lee, USA
Luthfi Assyaukanie, Indonesia
Chris Schlittler, Singapore
19.30-22.00
Conference Warming (Senatssaal im Schloss)
Monday, 20 November 2006
9.00–13.00
Registration (Foyer)
10.00–11.00
Opening Ceremony (Aula im Schloss)
Prorektorin Dr. Marianne Ravenstein (Pro-Vicechancellor), Prorektorin für Lehre, Studienreform und studentische Angelegenheiten
Prof. Dr. Christoph Strosetzki,
Dekan des Fachbereichs 9 Philologie, WWU Münster
Prof. Dr. Klaus Stierstorfer,
Geschäftsführender Direktor des Englischen Seminars, WWU Münster
Consul General Matt Boyse,
Consulate General of the United States, Düsseldorf
Music: Galaxy Brass
11.00–12.00
Keynote Lecture: (Aula im Schloss)
Caryl Phillips, West Indies/UK
14.15-14.30
Apéritif and Lunch with Music and Poetry (Foyer)
Glyn Maxwell, UK
Sir Peter Torry, KCMG, The British Ambassador to Germany
14.30–15.15
Keynote Lecture: (Aula im Schloss)
Gareth Griffiths, Australia
15.15–15.45
Coffee Break
15.45–18.15
Parallel Sessions (A) and (B)
Session (A): Britain
(Aula im Schloss)
(Chair: Catherine Pesso-Miquel)
Session (B): America
(Senatssaal)
(Chair: Helga Ramsey-Kurz)
15.45–16.05
Sonja Fielitz, University of Marburg, Germany:
‘The Bible Says So’: Female Prophets During the English Civil War
16.05–16.25
Patricia Plummer, University of Mainz, Germany:
‘A very great part of Asia is infected with that pestilence’: The Perpetuation of Anti-Muslim Stereotypes in Early Modern Discourse on Travel
Ana Antón-Pacheco, University of Madrid, Spain:
Political Essentialism and Neoconservatism in America: Dramatic Responses
16.25–16.45
Discussion
16.45–17.15
Coffee Break
17.15–17.35
Hiroko Washizu, University of Tsukua, Japan:
William Whewell: The ‘Scientist’ and the Design of the Universe
Alfred Hornung, University of Mainz, Germany:
Fundamentalism and Democracy
17.35–17.55
Rüdiger Ahrens, University of Würzburg, Germany:
Equity as Fundamental Ethical Principle in Colonial and Post-colonial Literatures: the Case of J. Conrad, E.M. Forster and More
Dirk Vanderbeke, University of Greifswald, Germany:
‘Nearer My Lord to Thee’: Recent Christian Fundamentalist Novels
17.55–18.15
Discussion
20.00–21.30
Jewish Writers’ Perspectives on Fundamentalism: Reading and Discussion (Aula im Schloss) – open to the public
Axel Stähler, University of Münster (Chair)
Simon Louvish, UK
Miriam Sivan, Israel
Jonathan Wilson, USA
Tuesday, 21 November 2006
8.30−9.30
Reading and Talk (Aula im Schloss)
Richard Lewis, Indonesia
9.30–10.00
Coffee Break
10.00–13.00
Parallel Sessions© and (D)
Session©: Britain/ America (Aula im Schloss)
(Chair: Klaus Stierstorfer)
Session (D): India (Senatssaal)
(Chair: Nilufer Bharucha)
10.00–10.20
Catherine Pesso-Miquel,
University Lyon II, France:
‘Gobbledygook is back in style’: the Portrayal of Religious Fundamentalism in Salman Rushdie’s Essays and Contemporary Indo-English Fiction
10.20–10.40
Frédéric Regard, École Normale Supérieure de Saint-Cloud, Paris/Lyon:
Humanism Restylized: Rushdie’s Satanic Verses and the Resurrection of the Author
Debjani Bhattacharyya, University of Heidelberg, Germany:
Of Shadows and Silences: Dealing with fundamentalism in Amitav Gosh’s Shadow Lines
10.40–11.00
Barry Asker, Lignan University, Hong Kong:
Fighting for What’s Fundamental: Salman Rushdie, V.S. Naipaul, Ngugi wa Thiong’o, Michael Ondaatje, Nadine Gordimer, Zadie Smith and Hanif Kureishi
Monica Chan, Lignan University, Hong Kong:
Arundhati Roy and Hindu Fundamentalism in The God of Small Things
11.00–11.30
Discussion
11.30–12.00
Coffee Break
(Chair: Barbara Korte)
Coffee Break
12.00–12.20
Raimund Borgmeier, University of Gießen, Germany:
Fundamentalism in American SF Novels of the 1980s and 1990
12.20–12.40
Hager Weslati, Institute for Cultural Research, Lancaster University, UK/ University of Manouba, Tunisia:
The Frats and the Brothers: Fundamentalism and the Literature of the Great American Desert
Melanie Just, University of Münster:
‘In their proper places’: Hindu Women between Religious Fundamentalism and Western Secularism in Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni’s Sister of My Heart and Jaishree Misra’s Ancient Promises
Sridhar Rajeswaran, University of Mumbai, India
More programs:
http://www.anglistik.uni-muenster.de/Fundamentalism/Programme/
