Habib University celebrated the successful conclusion of its esteemed 6th edition of the Postcolonial Higher Education Conference (PHEC). This globally recognized annual event, held at the university’s campus, gathered scholars, thinkers, activists, and writers from around the world to engage in enriching discussions under the theme “The Ethical and The Spiritual in Islam: Pasts, Presents, and Futures.”
Day 2 of the conference featured a distinguished keynote address by world-renowned author and scholar Dr. Oludamini Ogunnaike, Associate Professor of African Religious Thought and Democracy at the University of Virginia. In his thought-provoking speech titled, “Against the Dying of the Light: The Perils and Imperatives of Decoloniality in Islamic Temporalities,” Dr. Ogunnaike highlighted the need to break free from colonial mindsets, urging the audience to appreciate and inhabit their place in the world beyond imposed formations. Addressing the audience Dr Ogunnaike said “A colonial mindset forms the basis of where power, knowledge and being will exist in society. The West made their knowledge model universal. We need to break out of these formations, away from our colonizer, so we can truly appreciate and inhabit our place in the world.”
Dr Ogunnaike engaged the audience in a riveting presentation transforming the way decoloniality is considered and contemplated in the context of indigenous and western education. He also conveyed within his keynote, “We have three tasks: we have to continue to cultivate and develop the Islamic traditions, we also have to learn the western humanities and sciences, and finally we need to learn from and engage with other traditions from around the world.” Panel discussions followed after the keynote, including “The Politics of Spiritual Ethicality” and “Ethico-Spiritual Reorientations in an Age of Extreme Nihilism,” featured contributions from notable scholars such as Aaron Eldridge, SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Toronto, Arsalan Khan, Associate Professor of Anthropology at the University of Tennessee, and Muhammad Faruque, Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Cincinnati, and Dr. Nauman Naqvi, Asscociate Professor of Comparative Humanities at Habib University respectively.
The sessions highlighted addressing challenges arising from the swift pace of modernization, specifically examining the unraveling and distortion of connections between ‘religion,’ ‘ethics,’ and ‘spirituality.’ The comprehensive exploration identified the consequences of the global disintegration and misshaping of these interlinked dimensions, emphasizing its far-reaching significance for individual well-being across various traditions and lifestyles. Conference Chair, Dr. Nauman Naqvi, Associate Professor of Comparative Humanities at Habib University, delivered closing remarks, reinforcing the conference’s commitment to navigating modern challenges while preserving core values and traditions.
As inherited systems of thoughtful self-cultivation face distortion and disarticulation globally, the ‘Islamic’ context emerges as a critical test-case, notably in the delegitimization, disarticulation, and misappropriation of ‘Sufism.’ Aligned with the mission of shaping reparative futures, Habib University’s 6th Postcolonial Higher Education Conference illuminated, investigated, and analyzed the essential linkages between the ethical and spiritual dimensions in Islamic traditions, spanning late antique and medieval articulations, modern reconfigurations, and envisioning future reparative possibilities for theory and practice.
Nguồn bài viết : NE Điện Tử
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