1st International Kyoto University Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies Symposium

Islamic Studies and Sufi Studies in Academia: Rethinking Methodologies


(The First International Symposium of Kyoto University Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies titled “The Search for Methodology in Islamic Studies and Sufi Studies” will be held in Kyoto on May 20-21, 2017. The symposium will raise the question of how Islamic studies have been structured in different countries up to the present day. Focusing on the field of Sufism in Islamic studies, papers that present the institutional and intellectual history of these studies in America, China, Japan, and Turkey will be included. Differences in the treatment of Islamic studies in terms of academic disciplines, orientalism, state institutions and the relationship between these and religious identity will be discussed. A future projection will be made on academic collaborations, inter-institutional relations and new program structuring opportunities to be developed in the field of Sufism in Islamic studies. In the symposium, it is expected that evaluations will be made especially on the academic methods of Sufi studies.

Within the scope of the symposium, the symposium will also be organized in cooperation with Kyoto University, Kerim Foundation and TURKKAD Istanbul Branch within the framework of the institutional relations between Kyoto University, Üsküdar University Institute of Sufi Studies and supported by the Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities.
Bridge of Two Easts: Sufi Culture Education Program
The closing conference of the project will be held.

The symposium, spearheaded by Kyoto University and the Kerim Foundation, will be attended by 14 scholars from various universities in Japan, including Yasushi Tonaga, Masayuki Akahori, Kazuo Morimoto, who are experts in Islamic studies, Sufism, the Middle East and North Africa, South and Central Asia and the Far East; William Chittick, Sachiko Murata, Carl Ernst, Bruce Lawrence, Cemil Aydın, miriam cooke, Juliane Hammer, Omid Safi, James Morris and Tu Weiming from Peking University. Cemalnur Sargut, Mahmud Erol Kılıç, Emine Yeniterzi, Osman Nuri Küçük, Ahmet Murat Özel and Cangüzel Güner Zülfikar, who are also part of the Bridge of Two Easts Project team, will attend the symposium as speakers from Turkey.

PhD students from Kyoto and Tokyo University, who have completed the Bridge of Two Easts: Sufi Culture Training Program at Üsküdar University, doctoral students from Kyoto and Tokyo Universities will present papers on Ottoman Sufism and related topics. The session to be held as part of the Project Closing Conference is expected to attract additional interest.

The project has been realized with the aim of making original sources on Sufism from the Ottoman period, which have not yet been included in the Japanese academic tradition, available to Japanese scholars. The bridge of understanding to be built in this way is expected to contribute to the development of academic, social and diplomatic relations between the two countries.

The opening of the symposium will be hosted by Yasushi Kosugi, Dean of ASAFAS at Kyoto University, Yasushi Tonaga, Director of Kyoto Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies, and Cemalnur Sargut representing Kerim Foundation, TÜRKKAD-Turkish Women’s Cultural Association and Üsküdar University on behalf of the organizers, and with the presence of Ahmet Bülent Meriç, Ambassador of Tokyo.

The symposium will be attended by a delegation of 61 people from Turkey, including invited speakers, representatives of institutions, audience and technical team.

The two-day symposium can be watched live on the internet.

SYMPOSIUM DATE

May 20-21, 2017- Kyoto University, JAPAN

**Symposium live broadcast, Nefes Publishing House Inc. is carried out by

[The program was prepared according to Japan time. Japan time is 6 hours ahead of Turkey time].

INSTITUTIONS ORGANIZING THE SYMPOSIUM


Kenan Rifai Center for Sufi Studies, Kyoto University, Kyoto
Japan National Institute for the Humanities Modern Middle East Regional Studies Project: [Structural Comprehension of Islamic Mysticism: Investigation into Sufism-Tariqa-Saint Cults Complex (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (A), JSPS); Anthropological Studies on Veneration of Saints and Relics in the Mediterranean World (Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B), JSPS] Institute of Sufi Studies, Üsküdar University, Istanbul
Bridge of Two Easts: Sufi Culture Education Program (Project supported by the Republic of Turkey Prime Ministry Presidency for Turks Abroad and Related Communities)
Kerim Education, Culture and Health Foundation, Istanbul
TÜRKKAD Turkish Women’s Cultural Association Istanbul Branch

SYMPOSIUM SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE

Yasushi TONAGA, JAPAN
Masayuki AKAHORI, JAPAN
Yasushi KOSUGI, JAPAN
Mahmud Erol KILIÇ, TURKEY
William CHITTICK, USA
Sachiko MURATA, USA
Tu WEIMING, CHINA
Carl W. ERNST, USA
Osman Nuri KÜÇÜK, TURKEY
Ahmet Murat ÖZEL, TURKEY

SYMPOSIUM ORGANIZATION COMMITTEE

Yasushi TONAGA, JAPAN
Chiaki FUJII, JAPAN
Tatsuro FUTATSUYAMA, JAPAN
Shinsuke NAGAOKA, JAPAN
Yumi DONNY-CLARK, JAPAN
Belgin BATUM, TURKEY
Elif ERHAN, TURKEY
Cangüzel ZÜLFİKAR, TURKEY
Hülya DELİKTAŞ, TURKEY