Anita Weiss, a professor of international studies, will be one of the speakers at today’s “After September 11” teach-in sponsored by the political science department and ASUO. Weiss recently returned from two months of research in Malaysia and Pakistan and a book she co-edited, “Power and Civil Society in Pakistan,” was published in June by Oxford University Press. Weiss spoke to the Emerald in a Q & A session about her presentation “Islamic Society, Globalization, and Grievances with the Western Order.” Her words have been edited for brevity and clarity.
Q. Your presentation will touch on what you call a “chasm” between some Muslim states and the West. What is that chasm?
A. From the perspective of some Muslim states, the chasm would be a chasm of values or priorities. Many people in many Muslim states see the United States in such a way that many Americans would not identify with that image. They see the United States as being power hungry, as only caring about making itself wealthier and using up the world’s resources. And many perceive the United States as looking at people from other countries as being expendable.
How do we breach the chasm?
I would like to see us begin to sincerely engage states and people in states in a fair manner to identify the compelling issues and do something about them. Many of us know what the compelling issues are, but we are not doing anything about them.
For example?
The issue of Kashmir. If we could find a solution to Kashmir it would really be key to breaking the back of the global web of terrorism. The United States could show that they really do care about resolving this conflict. We could put economic pressure, put political pressure to get India to agree to a third party mediator regarding Kashmir. At the point that the world is at right now, it has gotten out of control that India continues to say that Kashmir is a internal domestic manner and third party mediation is something they will not accept. This is a global issue, and the United States has never approached Kashmir as a global issue. It is interrelated to what is happening in Afghanistan, and it is interrelated to the idea of the United States not caring about what is happening to Muslims around the world.
Is there also a chasm within the Muslim world?
There are many chasms in the Muslim world. One thing that I see is a series of culture wars being fought within the Muslim world. The culture wars are not about how things have always been contrasted with something new and western and Modern. There is no keeping things as they have always been. What has happened in many parts of the Muslim world is a reassertion, rethinking or a reformulation of Islam in people’s experience — and Islam in the lived experience. For example, there is a movement called the Tabliqh movement, which is a movement to educate Muslims to become better Muslims. It is not a movement of proselytization, but for Muslims themselves. Through the Tabliqh movement, there has been much more movement to educate Muslims more about Islam. What often — but not always — gets taught is a much more narrow of interpretation of Islam and a more orthodox interpretation of Islam from what is previously adhered to in a region. For example, we can see Islamists — the political movements that incorporate a strong sentiment of Islam within it — where the Tabliqh movement has gone, and we have seen the rise of the Islamist political movement.