Communication and Media in popular image building about Islam and the West
23-25 June 2005
ASEF/Alliance Workshop
Academybuilding, Leiden University,
Convenors:
Prof. Dr. Azyumardi Azra (Islamic State University Jakarta)
Dr. Andrée Feillard (École française d'Extrême-Orient, EFEO - Centre de Jakarta)
Dr Dick van der Meij (Projects Division, Leiden University)
Introduction
In everyday communication about either Islam or the West, biased preconceptions proliferate. Islam as a whole is seen as a global threat in the West (such we are made to believe if we look at it superficially) whereas the West is seen in Islamic countries as a threat to Muslim civilization, society, and religion. However, these notions are not necessarily true. One thing is sure though, the Media (press, television, internet etc.) is accused of playing a predominant role in creating and maintaining the images sketched above. In order to gain an insight into the workings of the media in the building of the images of Islam and the West (in this case narrowed down mainly to Europe), it is the aim of the workshop to make an inventory and a comparison of the images of Islam in European media and of the image of Europe (the West) in Muslim media in Asian countries with a predominant Muslim population or a sizable Muslim minority. A major question to be answered is whether or not there are specific European and Asian ways in which these images are construed and conveyed and what their specifics are.
Participants & Paper Titles
Prof. Dr. Azyumardi Azra (Rector, Universitas Islam Negeri, Jakarta): The Popular Image of the West among Indonesian Muslims
Prof. Dr. Robert Hefner (Senior Research Associate, Program on Religion and Democracy, Institute for Religion and World Affairs, Boston University,
USA): The Clash of Perceptions: Populist, Media, and Policy Representation of Islam in the Contemporary United States
Ulil Abshar Abdalla ( Jaringan Islam Liberal, Radio 68H, Jakarta): The experience of radio reporting in Radio 68H, Jakarta: Liberal Islam speaking in
times of multiple conflicts
Prof. Dr. Omar Farouk Bajunid (Professor of Comparative Politics at the Faculty of International Studies, Hiroshima City University): Islam in the
Japanese Media: Between Prejudices and Promises
Angeles Espinoza (El Pais, Madrid): Stereotypes and misunderstandings
Bernard Estrade (Agence France Presse): The Islamic explanation: a recent -and probably dangerous- trend in the reporting of the Western journalists
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Syed Farid al-Atas (National University Singapore): The problem of terminology and alternative possibilities to improve the
discourse on Islam among Muslims and non-muslims
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Patricia Martinez (Senior Research Fellow, Asia-Europe Institute, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur): Depicting, Appropriating and
Enacting ‘Islam and the West' in Malaysia
Dr. Mathias Diederich ( Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University Frankfurt): Islam in the West as seen by Indonesian and German print media
Dr. Jean-Louis Margolin (Université de Provence, Institut de Recherche sur le Sud-Est Asiatique, IRSEA/CNRS, Aix-Marseille): A shortcut towards
revolution? French radical Left and radical Islam since the late 1990s
Information
International Institute for Asian Studies
Attn. Josine Stremmelaar
2300 RA Leiden
P.O. Box 9515
the Netherlands
T +31-71-527 2227 / F +31-71-527 4162
j.stremmelaar@let.leidenuniv.nl