[Bilimsel Haber] A Conference of the Graduate Research Group "Gender as a Category of Knowledge" Humboldt-Universität Berlin, June 21st-23rd, 2007

[Onur Inal]

DE/CONSTRUCTIONS OF OCCIDENTALISM.
A GENDER-CRITICAL INTERVENTION IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE SELF THROUGH
THE OTHER

A Conference of the Graduate Research Group "Gender as a Category of
Knowledge" Humboldt-Universität Berlin, June 21st-23rd, 2007
http://www.okzidentalismus-konferenz.de

Debates about 'parallel societies', the politics of integration and
recognition, as well as the perceived degree to which immigrants might
be able to submit to democratic organizational structures and values not
only reveal anxieties about the presence of 'too many foreigners'. They
also serve to stabilize and newly construct the unmarked 'Self'. With
reference to the scholarship of Edward Said who has analyzed concepts of
an oriental 'Other' as constructions of colonial hegemony, it seems
obvious why the aforementioned processes should be linked to his work on
'Orientalism'. In the face of current 'cultural wars' against Muslims
and other persons living in European immigration societies who are being
identified as 'foreign' or 'not belonging', one can even speak of
'Neo-Orientalism' which must be seen in relation with eurocentrism and
ethnocentrism and in conjunction with what postcolonial theorists have
also termed 
'Occidentalism' (Fernando Coronil). The conference will take up the task
of examining new constructions of the 'Occident' in the sense of a
'Critical Occidentalism'. These renewed expressions of 'Occidentality'
can be most clearly observed in debates about a seemingly unbridgeable
cultural 'difference' which is seen as manifesting itself first and
foremost in the arena of gender and sexual politics (patriarchy,
headscarf, forced marriage). Therefore, the 
conference will make a sustained attempt to contribute to a transfer of
gender-critical postcolonial theory to German/ European societal
contexts. By focusing on three major thematic fields
(Knowledge/Religious Belief, Criticizing Hegemony: Theories in Dialogue,
and Critical Occidentalism) we hope to encourage discussions about
strategies towards a decentralization of Occidentalism which aspires to
be (self)-critical of hegemonic structures.

Confirmed keynote speakers are Rey Chow, Fernando Coronil, Lisa
Lampert-Weissig, Jasbir Puar und Yasemin Yildiz. Conference languages
are German 
and English. Unfortunately, translation services cannot be provided.

Project Director: Prof. Dr. Gabriele Dietze 
Academic Support Team: Prof. Dr. Edith Wenzel, Claudia Brunner, Elahe
Haschemi Yekani, Daniela Hrzán, Jana Husmann-Kastein, Carsten Junker, 
Karolina Krasuska, Beatrice Michaelis, Simon Strick.

Organization and Administration: Viola Beckmann, Desirée Zwanck, Dörthe
Schulz

-------

PRELIMINARY PROGRAM

THURSDAY, JUNE 21, 2007

4.00 pm Registration

6.00 pm Arrival

6.15 pm Greeting/ Opening Words: Christina von Braun (Berlin)

6.30 pm Selection of short films, presented by Nanna Heidenreich
(Berlin), followed by a discussion

7.30 pm Break

7.45 pm KEYNOTE
Yasemin Yildiz (Urbana-Champaign): Agency, Address, Occidentalism: The
Discourse of "Muslim" Women in Europe
Chair: Inge Stephan (Berlin) - not yet confirmed

9.00 pm Reception

-------

FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 2007

9.30 Gabriele Dietze (Graz/Berlin): Critical Occidentalism (presentation
in English)

10.00 KEYNOTE
Lisa Lampert-Weissig (San Diego): Supersession and Redemption: Woman and
Jew as Hermeneutic Strategy
Chair: Edith Wenzel (Berlin)

11.00 Coffee break

11.30 - 2.00 pm PARALLEL PANELS "KNOWLEDGE/RELIGIOUS BELIEF" and
"DOGMA/DEMOCRACY"

PANEL "KNOWLEDGE/RELIGIOUS BELIEF)
Language: German
Introduction: Edith Wenzel (Berlin)

Presenters:
Christina Lutter (Wien): Geschichten des Möglichen. Gelehrte Frauen und
Männer in mittelalterlichen Reformbewegungen 
Isabell Lorey (Berlin): Kritik der Immunisierung. Aussatz und Lepra von
der Bibel bis ins Mittelalter
Waltraud Ernst (Hildesheim): Das Erotische zwischen "Zivilisation" und
"Evolution"

PANEL "DOGMA/DEMOCRACY"
Language: English
Introduction: Carsten Junker (Berlin)

Presenters:
Nanna Heidenreich (Trier/Berlin) und Serhat Karakayali (Frankfurt a.M.):
"Phallic Democracy". Claiming Entitlement 
Antje Hornscheidt (Berlin): Muslim Curry? How religious and ethnic
identity categories are stirred up and conflated into each other
Tina Spies (Kassel): Gender - Ethnicity - Hybridity: Rethinking Public
Discourses on Immigrants' Delinquency

2.00 pm - 3.30 pm Lunch break

3.30 pm - 6.00 pm PARALLEL PANELS "HEGEMONY/INTERVENTIONS" and
"OTHERING"

PANEL "HEGEMONY/INTERVENTIONS"
Language: German
Introduction: Elahe Haschemi Yekani (Berlin)

Presenters:
Alexandra Karentzos (Trier): Neu-Besetzungen. 
Ironisierungen des Okzidentalismus in der Kunst Parastou Forouhars 
Kea Wienand (Trier/Oldenburg): Olaf Metzels "Türkenwohnung" -
künstlerische Intervention in einen "deutschen" Okzidentalismus
Kien Nghi Ha (Berlin): Das deutsche Integrationsregime als koloniale
Pädagogik

PANEL "OTHERING"
Language: German
Introduction: Claudia Brunner (Berlin/Wien)

Presenters:
Stanislawa Paulus (Lüneburg): Fremde Welten und Kartografien des
Eigenen. MuslimInnen in TV-Dokumentationen 
Sabine Berghahn (Berlin) und Petra Rostock (Berlin): Widersprüchliche
Neutralität. Eine geschlechtersensible Analyse der derzeitigen
juristischen und politischen Kopftuchdebatte(n)
Helmut Krieger (Wien): Unerwünschte Patriarchen und die Dialektik des
Globalen

6.00 pm Coffee break

6.30 pm KEYNOTE
Jasbir Puar (New Brunswick): Terrorist 
Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times
Chair: Elahe Haschemi Yekani (Berlin)

7.30 pm End of Program

8.00 pm Dinner

-------

SATURDAY, JUNE 23, 2007

10.00 KEYNOTE
Rey Chow (Providence): 'Human' in the Age of 
Disposable People: Humanism, Globalization, and the Chinese Film BLIND
SHAFT
Chair: Karolina Krasuska (Berlin/Frankfurt (Oder))

11.00 Coffee break

11.30 - 2.00 pm PARALLEL PANELS "WHITENESS/OCCIDENTALITY" and
"FEMINISM/PATRIARCHY"

PANEL "WHITENESS/OCCIDENTALITY"
Language: English
Introduction: Daniela Hrzán (Berlin)

Presenters:
Kristin Ørjasæter (Århus): Feminism and Racism. White Woman in the
Aftermath of Colonialism
Ina Kerner (Berlin): Challenges of Critical Whiteness Studies 
Susan Arndt (Berlin/ Frankfurt a.M.): The Racial Turn. Whiteness,
Critical Occidentalism and Europe

PANEL "FEMINISM/PATRIARCHY"
Language: German
Introduction: Jana Husmann-Kastein (Berlin)

Presenters:
Anette Dietrich (Berlin): Konstruktionen weißer Weiblichkeit in der
Ersten deutschen Frauenbewegung
Nazli Hodaie (München): Vom Orientalismus zur Patriarchatskritik:
Selbst- und Orientwahrnehmung in der deutschen Presse 
Daniela Marx (Göttingen): Feministischer Okzidentalismus in Deutschland
und den Niederlanden

2.00 pm - 3.30 pm Lunch break

3.30 pm - 6.00 pm PARALLEL PANELS 
"NATION/RELIGION" und "PUBLIC SPHERE /(GEO)POLITICS

PANEL "NATION/RELIGION"
Language: German
Introduction: Beatrice Michaelis (Berlin)

Presenters:
Sigrid Köhler (Münster): Nationale Zungen von Herder bis Zaimoglu 
Angelika Neuwirth (Berlin): Okzidentalismus-Konstruktionen? Westliche
und östliche Koranforschung als Schauplatz
Susanne Lanwerd (Berlin): Anachronistische Säkularisierungs-Theoreme und
Neo-Orientalismus

PANEL "PUBLIC SPHERE/(GEO)POLITICS"
Language: English
Introduction: Karolina Krasuska (Berlin/Frankfurt (Oder))

Presenters:
Schirin Amir-Moazami (Frankfurt/Oder): Secular Muslim Feminists in
European Public Spheres: Empowerment or Cooption? 
Nicole Dörr (Florenz): The Discourse on "Shy Eastern Women" in the
European Social Forum
Manuela Boatca (Eichstätt): Long Waves of Occidentalism. Gender, Racial
and Ethnic Othering in the Modern World-System

6.00 pm Break

6.30 pm KEYNOTE
Fernando Coronil (Ann Arbor): Darkness in the Heart of Knowledge -
Beyond Occidentalism
Chair: Claudia Brunner (Berlin/Wien)

7.30 pm Wrap-up/ Good-bye

8.00 pm End of Conference
Daniela Hrzán
Humboldt-Universität Berlin
Kulturwissenschaftliches Seminar
Sophienstr. 22a, 10178 Berlin
Germany
49-30-2093-8213
Email: daniela.hrzan at culture.hu-berlin.de 
Visit the website at http://www.okzidentalismus-konferenz.de