What is a Contrasting Episteme?
We will be elaborating on this topic in later rounds. For now however, we continue to share some of our instructional output through our site as a vibrant cross-roads and venue with those interested. (You may however check out our entry condensing our venture into RETHINKING CULTURE, RENEWING THE ACADEMY! )
On this page we may follow up on some themes launched in the curriculum on Religion and Civilization. Rethinking a Civilizational perspective in dealing with the diverse social and cultural issues of the day comes as part of an initiative to go beyond the conventional boundaries of the disciplines as they have developed in the modern (Western) university. The trend to go inter-disciplinary and cross-disciplinary in response to a cognitive awakening to the complexity and holistic dimension of the human condition can not be dealt with adequately within the paradigm of western modernity. Women and gender-related discourses need to go beyond the particularistic and the ego-centric proclivities to wider and more integrated horizons... Our Muslim Women Studies track opens the way to these expanded and expanding horizons, and in this way, we hope to add our imprint to the field.
The shows presented here are part of a program in a Religion and Social Sciences Curriculum that was originally piloted at the School of Islamic and Social Sciences in the latter nineties. It is here too that the Zahira Abdin Chair for Women's Studies was established to witness to the importance peaking through the last two decades-fin de siecle - of gender-related issues in rethinking sociological and civilizational studies.
It is in this perspective too, that here at Muslim Women Studies we hope to pursue our research and instruction in developing a unified and coherent curriculum & program that is open to diversity and innovation.
The shows that follow of a more general nature: constituting a background orientation to a field of what we call the 'episteme'... We are currently working on developing suitable modules that incorporate the 'women's perspective' against this host episteme.
Slide Shows Follow: **
With the following themes: Bridging History and Metaphor: City as Access
Vignettes: Revisiting the Modern Western Worldview
Vignettes 2: The 'Rest' & the 'West'? Theme Revisited
** Note: Your ability to view the Show depends on your browser and the speed of your connection... Usually a dial-up phone connection will deliver a poor show -- most of the images are lost or fail to load, and the slide background is flawed...displaying a faded screen... We regret the inconvenience... & appreciate any know-how you could offer to overcome what seems to be an internal ppt problem! However, fortunately all three shows worked beautifully on Broad Band - showing that there is nothing wrong with the PPT-Shws themselves, but with the speed of an internet connection... So, Good Luck!!
