AAIMS Conference 'The Future of Islam and Humanity: Local and Global Challenges and Opportunities'

Date & time

Tue 14 Sep 2021, 8am – Thu 16 Sep 2021, 5pm

Location

Online via Zoom

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The Australian Association of Islamic and Muslim Studies (AAIMS) is Australia’s leading academic association for scholars engaged in research and the dissemination of knowledge about Islam and Muslim societies. The Association is interdisciplinary and fosters a network of academics based at Australian universities to generate opportunities for joint scholarly research across disciplines and institutions, disseminate research by its members, and promote national and international collaborations.

AAIMS’ third national conference will be held on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, 14-16 September 2021 and will be hosted online at the Australian National University, Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies in Canberra. Current and prospective AAIMS and BRAIS members are warmly encouraged to apply to present their ongoing research in any area of Islamic and Muslim Studies

The central theme of this year’s conference, “The Future of Islam and Humanity: Local and Global Challenges and Opportunities”, is meant to challenge decades-long perceptions of Islam as antithetical to peaceful coexistence and encourage papers that discuss the challenges and opportunities for Islamic and Muslim studies in local and global contexts. Participants are encouraged to consider the significance of the current time-period – by the latter half of this century, Islam is expected to have more followers than any other religion on the planet, surpassing Christianity for the first time in history. A focus on humanity refers to the collectively of human beings but also connotes the qualities of being humane, kind and compassionate, terms that have come to be proclaimed more loudly in the wake of the 2019 Christchurch massacre, COVID-19 pandemic and protests around the world calling for systemic change in support of human rights, equality and a more ethical, fair and just planet and for its inhabitants.

Conference Convenors: A/Prof Halim Rane (Griffith University), A/Prof Zuleyha Keskin (Charles Sturt University) and A/Prof Karima Laachir (ANU).

File attachments:

- AAIMS_2021_Conference_-_Program.pdf (PDF, 695.25 KB)
- AAIMS_Keynote_Address.jpeg (JPEG, 204.62 KB)

The conference welcomes presentations by academics of all levels including early career researchers and PhD students. We will have specific sessions to support participants involved in Higher Degree Research and Early Career Academics (ECRs).

We welcome both individual papers as well as panel submissions relevant to the study of Islam and Muslim societies. Proposals can be submitted for the traditional panel format as well as roundtable discussions all to be conducted in an online format. We also welcome papers and panels that focus on learning and teaching, including language teaching and learning via online formats,

Proposals of up to 300 words should be sent to info@aaims.org.au by 1 June 2021 to be reviewed on an ongoing basis by members of the AAIMS executive and conference sub-committee. Please include relevant affiliation, a 200 word bio and contact information in a single Word Document, along with the abstract. Presentations should be no longer than 15 minutes.

All presenters will be required to be members of AAIMS (or BRAIS) by 31 July 2021. Membership details are available on the AAIMS website via this link. Specific technical information and timings will follow closer to the conference date and will be updated on our conference webpage.

The 2021 AAIMS conference will feature a keynote presentation delivered by Prof. Ibrahim Zein of Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar, who will discuss new research on the Covenants of the Prophet Muhammad, arguably the most ground-breaking research in the field of Islamic Studies today. He will be joined by Ahmed El-Wakil who will discuss his fieldwork and the evidence gathered to date towards the authentication of the Covenants.

The conference will also feature an online roundtable discussion with prominent leaders in the fields of Islamic and Muslim Studies on the state of the fields of Islamic and Muslim Studies from global and national perspectives. This roundtable will provide insight on prominent areas of research today and propose new research directions for the future.