MENA-related Events Calendar

Bush House Lecture Theatre 1, King's College London, WC2B 4BG

The war in Gaza and the accelerating ethnic cleansing of the West Bank are sustained by unwavering US economic, diplomatic, and military support. Within the US, the question of Palestine has consequently become a central, if contested, concern of American Studies. Across the Atlantic, however, the field in the UK has remained largely silent. This symposium seeks to both interrogate the historical, sociological, and political economic roots of American empire through Palestine. By placing Palestine at the very centre of our analysis, we aim to fundamentally reframe how we theorise the history, culture, literature, and political economy of American Empire. Bringing together UK and US-based American Studies scholars working on American empire and Palestine, alongside student activists and trade union organisers, this event will chart a more accountable path forward for the field of UK American studies.

Follow us on bluesky: @uk-usstudies4pal.bsky.social

This online event is co-organised by the Institute of Middle East, Central Asia and Caucasus Studies (MECACS) and BRISMES Outreach and Pedagogy Committee. The event will be online through MS Teams: email irevents@st-andrews.ac.uk for the event link.

Inclusive Curriculum in Practice: Sudan and the Politics of Knowledge Production

Friday, 24 April 2026, 5-6:30pm (UK time)

This workshop explores how Sudan can be meaningfully integrated into teaching as part of broader efforts to decolonise the curriculum and challenge global hierarchies of knowledge production. Bringing together scholars, students, and practitioners, it examines why certain cases remain marginal in academic discourse and how this can be addressed in practice. The session will also produce concrete pedagogical resources to support more inclusive and globally representative teaching.

Funded by the University of St Andrews EDI Project Fund and the School of IR EDI Committee.

Organiser: Centre for the Study of Islam, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter

Speaker: Eliza Tasbihi (McGill University) 

Through untouched manuscripts, Tasbihi’s Hidden in Plain Sight: İsmāʿīl Anḳaravī’s Commentary on ‘Book Seven’ of Rūmī’s Mathnawī (2025) examines the apocryphal Book Seven of the Mathnawī, which has never been studied. Why was it added to Rūmī’s Mathnawī? What were its implications in the Mevlevī centers in 17th-century Ottoman society or in Persian speaking societies in India and Iran? Was Book Seven added on the Indian subcontinent or in the Ottoman Empire?

Organiser: LSE Middle East Centre and the Centre for Peace and Security, Coventry University

We warmly invite you to attend this British Academy Conference, Algeria: Historical Struggles and Imagined Utopias, at the London School of Economics on Thursday 28 – Friday 29 May 2026.

The important historical legacies of the Independence struggle and exciting recent developments in Algerian political, social, cultural and economic fields call for a public platform in the UK for scholars working on Algeria to share their research. Prioritising decolonising, feminist and other innovative approaches in order to learn from Algeria’s important revolutionary history, contemporary struggles and future imaginations, this conference encourages an intersectional and multidisciplinary approach.

We invite you to attend a two-day workshop critically examining decentralised, autonomist, and federalist modes of political organising in West Asia and North Africa. The workshop aims to be a space of interdisciplinary exploration of historical lineages, contemporary manifestations, and future possibilities of decentralised governance in (post)uprising and (post)revolutionary contexts.

The workshop is structured around three core themes:  

• Historiography and Genealogy: excavating and reassessing historical precedents of autonomist organising in the WANA region, challenging statist historiographies.  
• Political Theory and Philosophy: articulating the distinct political thought emerging from these movements, exploring concepts of democracy, ecology, gender, and pluralism.  
• Contemporary Praxis and Future Possibilities: critically evaluating the successes, limitations, and future prospects of existing and emergent autonomist projects.

The workshop will take place at the University of Glasgow on 22 and 23 July 2026 from 10:00 am to 6 pm. To allow the broadest possible participation, the workshop will be held in person and online via Zoom. If you would like to attend the workshop, please register by following this Eventbrite link. There is no conference fee.