Breaking down barriers to understanding

He calls it luck, but John Bowen, the Dunbar-Van Cleve Professor in Arts & Sciences, seems to have a gift for being in the right place at the right time.

When he selected Indonesia, the world’s largest Muslim nation, as the location for his anthropological fieldwork back in 1978, he had no idea how relevant his groundbreaking research would be in the 21st century—or how two years spent in France during and after college would provide insights into the current conflicts there as Muslim immigrants adapt to a secular society, and vice versa.

His latest book, “Why the French Don’t Like Headscarves,” is being celebrated as the first comprehensive analysis of the French government’s headline-grabbing decision in 2004 to ban Islamic headscarves from public schools. The repercussions of that decision are still reverberating, far beyond France’s borders.

Professor Bowen’s ability to decode such complicated and volatile topics and explain them in simple, everyday language is indicative of how he conducts his classes. He doesn’t shy away from complex issues, which is precisely why students gravitate to his anthropology courses.

Professor Bowen tends to frame his lessons in terms of individuals, not “societies” as a way to avoid stereotypes that result in an “us versus them” mindset. His research among the Gayo people in Indonesia taught him how generalizations can be misleading.

For instance, Indonesia is Muslim, but not Arab. Islamic law, or Sharia, is not a document or book, but an interpretation of law derived from the Qur’an and other sources. Since different Muslims rely on different sources, there can be vast differences in interpretations. Indonesians, for example, have relatively gender-equal attitudes, and they interpret God’s “way” through that lens.

In addition to being a specialist in Islamic studies, Professor Bowen wears many hats in Arts & Sciences. He is Dunbar-Van Cleve Professor in Arts & Sciences Sociocultural Anthropology, Professor of Anthropology and Professor of Religious Studies. Already with more titles than he can fit on his business card, Professor Bowen is constantly searching for new and better ways to engage Arts & Sciences students in the exploration of cultural change.

His latest innovation is a new field of study to begin in this year, the "Pluralism Politics and Religion Initiative" (PPRI). The effort will bring together graduate students from several countries to study issues of religious tolerance, ethnic conflict, and the importance and limits of multiculturalism. During year one of the initiative, two graduate students from Arts & Sciences, and two from Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes in Paris, will be invited to participate in a yearlong seminar spread across the two countries. A call for applicants will go out later this year. It eventually will expand to include other universities in Europe and Asia. In fact, Arts & Sciences is already sponsoring joint graduate student workshops and exchanges with Sciences Po, another school in Paris.

Professor Bowen’s ultimate goal is to make Arts & Sciences at Washington University an interdisciplinary world hub for intellectual exchange. When you consider his gift for being in the right place at the right time, it sounds altogether achievable.

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