Program Objectives

  1. Historical understanding of the Western colonization of Islam and destruction of Islamic Civilization.
  2. A conceptual understanding of the key concepts and responses over time of critical Islamic thought to Western colonial expansion to produce new visions of the economy (labor, finances, natural resources), authority (state, governmental, legal and international structures), gender/sexuality (gender equality between men and women, non-homophobic and non-oppressive sexuality), subjectivity (spirituality, identity, liberation, freedom, ways of living and thinking, etc.), and ecology (ways of thinking and living in relation to the way humans relate to other humans and planetary life in general).
  3. Prospective orientation: seminar instructors will encourage participants in formulating their own critical questions, designing research projects on Islamic knowledge and methodology, working on an Islamic Pedagogy of Liberation geared toward decolonizing the mind.