Social Science Research Council

"Teaching Islam in Eurasia"
American University of Central Asia
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, June 24- July 7, 2006
“Islamic Texts, Thought, History, and Identity”

Hosted at the American University of Central Asia (AUCA), the second summer institute began with a two-day conference on “Islamic Learning in Central Asia,” which introduced participants to the Kyrgyz and Central Asian contexts in which Islam is currently being taught.  Guest speakers included state and religious leaders as well as representatives from a number of Kyrgyz universities, including the Islamic University of Kyrgyzstan, for which the conference was the culminating event of an SSRC project on Islam and Comparative Religion.

Once again, the SSRC took advantage of our host location to emphasize both the unique historical and contemporary aspects of Islam in Central Asia.  In comparison with the first institute in Kazan, however, this second institute narrowed the overall focus of topics to four: Islamic texts, Islamic thought, historical approaches to Islam, and modern Islamic identity and politics.  Individual resource faculty presented four-day, intensive practicums for participants, which included readings, presentations, and assignments on each of the four sub-themes.  Smaller groups of participants attended the practicums based on their teaching and research interests, and these groups will collectively prepare a series of lectures and course materials around their groups broad theme; these lectures will be presented at the summer institute in Simferopol, Ukraine in 2007.

Throughout the first two project years, participants have been revising existing courses and creating new courses at their home institutions.  Examples of such courses include “inter-confessional cooperation of Islamic and Christian faiths in Central Asia,” “Muslim education in modern Islamic ideology,” the origins and development of hadiths during the formation of the system of values in early Muslim society,” anthropology of Islam,” Islamic political parties and movements in Central Asia,” and “Islam and the Russian empire in the North Caucasus,” among others.  Many participants had the opportunity, during their practicum sessions, to present aspects of their courses, and some participants have already begun teaching these courses at their home institutions.

A number of other activities are planned for late spring/early summer, prior to the third summer institute, which will be held in the Crimea in August 2007.  These intersession activities include a short-term seminar to be led by resource faculty member Zifa Auezova on ikhtiyar (freedom of individual choice).  This seminar is an outgrowth of work done during the summer 2006 practicum on Islamic thought, though a few additional participants have shown interest in joining the group for a 2-3 day meeting in Almaty, Kazakhstan.  Additionally, a small conference is slated to take place in Tashkent, Uzbekistan.  This conference will involve a cross-section of institute participants, in addition to attracting numerous teachers, scholars and potentially students from Tashkent and other parts of Uzbekistan.  The focus of the topic will be on Islamic material culture, including art, architecture, and manuscripts, and participants will benefit greatly from the close proximity in Uzbekistan to amazing manuscript collections, historically significant architecture, and other national treasures. Lectures and presentations will be made by institute participants and resource faculty, as well as guest lecturers and will emphasize the incorporation of research and materials into the classroom.