BRISMES Event | Connecting Social Psychology and Middle Eastern Studies

Date: Thursday, 22 May 2025, 15.00-16.30 (BST)

A number of social, political, and community psychologists are actively engaged in research and teaching about Arab, South West Asian and North African regions. However, they remain informally connected, with few opportunities for structured engagement, either among themselves or with scholars from adjacent disciplines. Furthermore, psychology as a discipline remains largely absent from the field of “Middle Eastern Studies”, in part due to psychology’s limited engagement with area studies. To begin addressing this gap, the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) is hosting an online gathering to bring together social, political, and community psychologists who conduct research or teaching on the Arab, South West Asian and North African regions.

This initial networking event aims to foster connections within this community of scholars and to familiarize participants with BRISMES as an organization for interdisciplinary engagement, with a view to advancing future dialogues within and across disciplinary boundaries. The gathering is intended for psychologists committed to anti-colonial, decolonial, anti-oppressive, and liberationist values. Together, we will share our research, teaching and public engagement interests, and explore potential initiatives to strengthen both intra- and inter-disciplinary links. The event is open to PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and academic faculty.

Brief agenda: The meeting will start with a welcome from the co-chairs, who will introduce the event aims and BRISMES. Participants will then be invited to introduce themselves before moving into a discussion about building intra and inter-disciplinary links.

Co-chairs:

Wassim Naboulsi is an Associate Lecturer in International Relations at the University of St Andrews. He was elected to the Council of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) in 2022 and currently serves as Chair of the Membership Committee. His research focuses on Middle Eastern politics, with particular emphasis on rural-urban relations, social identities, social mobilisation, and the Syrian context. His interdisciplinary approach integrates Gramscian International Relations theory with insights from social psychology, particularly the social identity approach.

Rim Saab is a Lebanese Assistant Professor in Social Psychology at Sussex University, UK, and a member of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES). Her research focuses on intergroup relations, particularly collective action. She also examines meta-scientific questions concerning the production of social psychological knowledge in the Arab region and the Global South. She was previously a faculty member at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.

Yara Zebian is a Lebanese PhD Candidate in Social Psychology at the University of Sussex. She currently serves as co-President of the Graduate Section at the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES). Her research focuses on the social psychological processes that influence the use of different forms of political resistance in the face of oppression. Previously, completed her bachelor's degree in Psychology at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon.