Reorienting Futures

Across the world, expressions of Muslimness are under concerted attack. Far-right agitators voice what was once thought unthinkable; liberal politicians and parties mainstream and normalise policies and propositions that embed hostile environments for Muslims and their ways of life. Genocides are waged with impunity. The Global War on Terror, regimes of securitisation and counter-extremism, and the effective criminalisation of Palestinian solidarity have worked to suppress dissent across the Global North, the Global South, and the Islamicate—flattening the present into a networked Age of Global Islamophobia.

As we stand at a critical juncture in the history and possible futures of Muslimness and Muslim political subjectivities, the fifth international Critical Muslim Studies conference invites scholars, researchers, and thinkers to engage critically and creatively with the theme ReOrienting Futures.

Envisaging post-Western futures requires moving beyond the reiteration of critiques of Orientalism and Orientalist formations, as well as the universalist pretensions of the coloniality of secularity. It demands the recovery and cultivation of non-hegemonic epistemic frameworks and alternatives; the intensification of epistemic disobedience; and the interrogation of dominant assumptions and methodologies in order to forge a post-Westernese world. To this end, the conference is committed to fostering a broad and inclusive conversation, welcoming scholars and researchers from across disciplines—within and beyond Critical Muslim Studies—who share a commitment to developing emancipatory critiques and futures.

We invite contributions that engage with the complexities of Critical Muslim Studies and resistances, particularly those that examine the implications and tensions surrounding the decolonisation of discourses and the creation of alternative, intersectional forms of knowledge production and political practices.

Submissions extending beyond conventional framings of Muslimness and the Islamicate both substantively and theoretically are particularly welcome. We encourage perspectives that move beyond (SAMENA) South Asian, Middle Eastern, and North African contexts or their diasporic equivalents, and interrogate the hegemonic persistence of and subaltern alternatives to colonial-racial forms of political identities and institutions.

The conference invites individual presentations (15 minutes) from any relevant disciplinary field on the conference theme. Each session will be 90 minutes, with 30 minutes allocated for discussion and Q&A. This is an in-person event only.

• Presenter(s) Name(s) & Institutional Affiliation
• Short Biographical Note (100 words max)
• Presentation Title
• Presentation Abstract (300 words max)

Given the limited number of presentation slots, early submission is strongly encouraged.

Please Note: This is an in-person event only.

Registration: £300 (Includes meals and accommodation).

Submission Details:
Please use this link: https://forms.office.com/e/FpbueMqSft

Deadline for Submissions: 14th February 2026

For any queries, please email reorient@leeds.ac.uk with the subject line: CMS5