Syed Wamiq Jawaid '05 attended the SUNY Buffalo conference on Asian Philosophy and Religion last month where he delivered a paper that was well received by scholars and other members of the audience. His paper is titled "Genealogy of Fundamentalism: A Nietzschean Syncretism of Iqbal's Shikwa." The conference was organized by the Society for Indian Philosophy and Religion.
Jawaid presented another paper at an Asian Studies conference at Dartmouth College this month that looked at similar findings yet with a different focus. That paper is titled "Genealogy of Fundamentalism: A Nietzschean and Iqbal study."
Jawaid's thesis is that extremism and terrorism is the result of the rise of fundamentalism in religion. Specifically looking at the religion of Islam, he suggests that a dynamic social-sciences education system coupled with a strong ideological and epistemological philosophy can help break away from the "will to power" that has resulted in dogmatic radicalism in Islamic states.
The Casstevens Family Fund Award and sponsorship from the Dean of Faculty office as well as direction from Associate Professor of Philosophy Katheryn Doran made Jawaid's research and conference presentations possible.
