Events

The aim of this meeting was to move beyond the ‘Clash of Civilizations’ or Clash of Cultures narrative in order to identify and outline the basic components of a new paradigm that helps us understand the common values that bind us together and the complex interplay of cultural influences that contribute to create our shared cultural framework.

The event we jointly organized by the British Council and the Prince AlWaleed Bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding, Georgetown University.

Our Shared Future: Deconstructing the Clash of Civilizations from British Council on Vimeo.

Common values

Over the last decade or so, historians, sociologists and political scientists in the US and Europe helped debunk many misperceptions about Islam and Muslim societies. Research highlighting profound historical, cultural and scientific interchange between Muslims and non-Muslims helped discredit the widely-held view that the “Muslim world” and the “West” are distinct, monolithic cultural blocs fatally set on a collision course.

Despite advances in scholarship, however, the ‘Clash of Civilizations’ or ‘Clash of Cultures’ narrative remains prevalent in the public debate and the media, shaping many people’s understanding of relations with Muslim societies.

Mutual understanding and respect

Indeed, much of today’s discussion about relations between Muslims and non-Muslims in Europe and the US is polemical and polarizing – and this is as true of the ideologically driven right-wing as it is of Muslim extremists. What is needed is a more balanced approach, a reflective evidence-based argument that can inform a conversation looking not for victory but mutual understanding and respect.

In the effort to contest negative views of Islam and particularly of Europe’s Muslims, it is increasingly clear that the two sides of the Atlantic are worryingly isolated. On the one hand, Europe is much less aware than it should be of the extent and depth of US scholarship in this area; and on the other, the US in particular is afflicted by an ideologically-driven view of Europe as ‘Eurabia’.

In Europe, the rise of xenophobic political forces, fed by an economic recession, is a growing concern that has produced conflict and a propensity to blame the ‘Other’. As a result, establishment figures on both sides of the Atlantic engage in anti-Muslim rhetoric and contribute to the growth of officially sanctioned debates about national identity and a ‘Judaeo-Christian heritage’ that are often pretexts for anti-Muslim polemic, which allow deeply illiberal opinions a currency they do not deserve. Imagined cultural and religious purity is also a feature of “anti-Western”narratives.

One of the key risks we face is that a binary ‘Clash of Civilizations’ worldview increasingly shapes a world in which the views of political and religious extremists on both sides engage in fear mongering that disproportionately affects popular culture and influences  mainstream majority opinion. 

A new paradigm

The challenge is not simply to dispel misconceptions and discredit myths but to refashion and reshape the way in which we think about the other. How do we create a new paradigm, one in which there is no ‘us and them’, but only a ‘we’ – a complex, multilayered, multifaceted ‘we’, made up of multiple, diverse, and mutually enriching identities?

What is the body of scholarship that supports such a paradigm? What kind of language is needed to describe this new “we”? What new ways must be devised to teach our children history? What new awareness must we create among journalists, opinion leaders and policy makers? What are the responsibilities of academics, scholars and opinion makers in that respect?

Background: (Download PDF version 126kb)
Programme: Read the full programme. (Download PDF version 1Mb)
Participants: View the list of participants. (Download PDF version 860kb)
Contact: info-us@britishcouncil.org
Press: Read the press release.