Clash of Civilizations or
Clash of Perceptions?

In Search of Common Ground for Understanding

Report of the Dialogues: Islamic World -U.S.-The West Conference organized on October 28-31, 2002 in Granada, Spain.

Note of Acknowledgment

As always, there are many individuals and institutions that contribute to the making of a conference and the report that reflects its deliberations. The first meeting of Dialogues: Islamic World-U.S.-The West in Granada in October 2002 would have been impossible without the generous financial assistance of four foundations: the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, the MacArthur Foundation, and El legado andalusí foundation. Their commitment to improving relations between Islam and the West, particularly after the tragic events of September 2001, is an inspiration to all who believe that religious differences need not be an insurmountable obstacle to cross-cultural cooperation. These institutions’ support also reflects the discerning views of their leaders, and the Granada meeting benefited from the foresightedness and understanding of four individuals: Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie Corporation; Stephen Heintz, president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund; Jonathan Fanton, president of the MacArthur Foundation; and Jerónimo Páez López, director of El legado andalusí. All of them grasped the timeliness of the project, and I am grateful to them for their advice and unflagging encouragement. Their aides—Priscilla Lewis, Geraldine Mannion, Mary Page, and Carmen Casares, respectively—are also to be thanked for their contributions to the conference’s success.

The World Policy Institute of the New School University has provided a stimulating home for Dialogues. Bob Kerrey, president of the university, has been supportive from the start and unselfish with insights derived from his distinguished public career. I have also profited from the advice and recommendations of Institute colleagues, particularly Stephen Schlesinger, Director of the Institute, and Karl Meyer, editor of the World Policy Journal.

James Piscatori of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies and Wadham College, Oxford, provided a number of useful suggestions for the planning of the conference and ably assisted at the meeting as a chair and commentator. Under my guidance, Hassan Abedin, an expert on modern Middle Eastern and Islamic history and associate editor of the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs (London), drafted the background paper that was distributed to participants before the conference and is included here as an appendix.

The success of the conference and the report was also, of course, dependent on my Dialogues staff. I could not be more grateful for the acute editorial skill of Shara Kay and the cheerful administrative efficiency of Nicole Hertvik and Cristina Rasco.

With such dedicated colleagues and supporters, the spirit of Granada shall continue to guide our program.

— Mustapha Tlili
Founder and Director
Dialogues: Islamic World-U.S.-The West
New York
26 January 2003

Back to the top.