NEWS

2021.09.30

Workshop "20 Years After, Beyond 9.11: A View of the Global Society, the Islamic World, and the Post-Terrorism Era" took place.

To mark the passing of twenty years since the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2021, the Asia Japan Research Institute of Ritsumeikan University, the Center for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies of Ritsumeikan University, and the Institute of Energy Economics hosted an open workshop entitled “20 Years After, Beyond 9.11: A View of the Global Society, the Islamic World, and the Post-Terrorism Era".

Shuji Hosaka (Commissioner, Institute of Energy Economics and Director of JIME Center), So Yamane (Professor and Dean, Graduate School of Language and Culture, Osaka University), and Yasushi Kosugi (Professor and Director, Asia Japan Research Institute, Ritsumeikan University) gave the following research reports (Their titles omitted here）.

・Shuji Hosaka: “Twenty Years after 9.11: What Al Qaeda has left”
・So Yamane: “Societal Transformation in Pakistan and the Fluidization of South Asian Relations Caused by 9.11”
・Yasushi Kosugi: “The Struggle of the Moderate Mainstream and Its Prospects: Focusing on the Uṣūl (Sources of Islamic jurisprudence) School”

First, Prof. Hosaka discussed various ideological tides in Islamic extremism, the changes in extremism that have occurred in these twenty years since 9.11, and the need to train researchers of area studies who are familiar with local languages. He also presented voluminous amounts of materials in Arabic. Second, Prof. Yamane introduced a wide range of issues such as the transformation of local communities in Pakistan and Afghanistan and its relationship with Islam, as well as the revival of the Taliban regime and prospects for international relations. Lastly, Prof. Kosugi presented an analytical perspective from Islamic jurisprudence (the study of theory and methodology of the interpretation of Islamic law) and discussed how to analyze the changes in Afghanistan and the Islamic world since 9.11.

After their presentations, panelists exchanged opinions about the framework of analysis on the relationship between politics and religion, with the moderator, Kota Suechika (Professor, Graduate School of International Relations, Ritsumeikan University). This workshop was a great success thanks to the support of more than one hundred participants.

Panelists and the moderator exchanging opinions in Q&A session