Muslim Civilisations Abstracts Project

1. Muslim Civilisations Abstracts Project Aga Khan University AptinKhanbaghi, Project Leader

2. Content • The Project: Making the Less Accessible more Accessible • Rational • Objectives • Achievements • Beyond Abstracts

3. The Project • The ambition of the MCA project is to provide a systematic annotated bibliography of key works concerning Muslim civilisations, published in the Muslim world during the last ca. 200 years.

4. La Raison d’ Être of the MCA • Original work published in Muslim societies are largely unknown all over the world. • Scholarship on Muslim societies in various regions has proceeded without taking account of research conducted by scholars in the Muslim world, and elsewhere in Asia and Africa. • As a consequence, the East is not equitably represented.

5. Objectives • Strengthen research and information on the heritage of Muslim societies. • Generate global understanding by sharing knowledge across linguistic and cultural divides. • Introduce scholarly work from the Muslim regions to the World (all continents).

6. Achievements • The MCA project involves different stages. • Initial orientation of the project: Produce a bibliography of works concerning Muslim civilisations published in any of the languages and countries of the world. • Our first multilingual volume contains more than 200 abstracts of encyclopaedias along with bibliographical details and was released in Autumn 2009.

7. First Stage • Intellectual journey across the borders: creating a catalogue of encyclopaedias related to the Muslim civilisations in the past 200 years around the world. • With this project we have succeeded in mobilising selected thinkers around wide-ranging themes related to the Muslim civilisations.

8. Second Stage • Interpretations of Law and Ethics published in Muslim Contexts • Pressing debates on Law and Ethics as practised by Muslims and applied by governments in Muslim countries • Analysis of Current Affairs and sensational stories in Media on Sharia.

9. Third Stage • Urban Cosmopolitanisms: Cities as built and lived environments (Cities: Two Centuries of Scholarship from Muslim Contexts). Final title: Cities: Scholarship from Muslim Contexts. • The remarkable Urban dimension of demographic explosion in the contemporary Muslim world. • Worldwide phenomenon, but more astute in the Third World.

10. Fourth Stage • Governance in Muslim Contexts: The theme of Governance was selected in light of the political upheavals which have affected the Muslim majority countries at the gate of Europe in the last few years. The Aga Khan University began a project dedicated to Governance and the MCA followed suit in order to mobilise a range of younger scholars interested in the field.

11. Fifth Stage • Gender: Gender inequality is an ongoing debate especially in Muslim contexts. This phase will focus on publications addressing gendered discourses dictated both by tradition (influence of culture and religion) and Modern imperatives (modern education and labour force participation). It will cover issues relevant to men, women and transgenders.

12. Later Stages • We need to revise our choices, as themes were selected by a few number of academics at the Aga Khan University in London. • A wider consultation is being conducted as our last theme on historical moments was not grasped by many. • A theme commensurate with the present interest of wider academics or perhaps a more critical topic would be selected.

13. Beyond Abstracts • MCA aims to promote Muslim civilisations in order to: • Dissipate misunderstanding. • Display the diversity of the Muslim world. • Impart indigenous view. • Enhance the objectivity of research in Europe, America, Asia and Africa by adding Eastern perspectives.

14. Finally • The MCA catalogue is an academic resource which aims to Make the Less Accessible Publications more Accessible. In the long run we hope that it would not focus solely on the Muslim world, but expand to cover wider regions.

15. Aga Khan University Thank you