MENA-related Events Calendar
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Upcoming Events
Gulf Logistics: The 'Logistics Revolution' & Economic Diversification in Regional Transformation
Organiser: Centre for Gulf Studies Virtual Seminar Series
Speaker: Dr Rafeef Ziadah (KCL)
Development plans across the Gulf Cooperation Council emphasise logistical infrastructure as a driver of economic diversification. Investments in maritime ports, roads, rail, airports, and logistics cities are transforming the economic geography of the region. This paper aims to make visible this neglected aspect of the physical transformation of the Gulf - shifting the analysis to emergent maritime logistical infrastructure at a regional level.
Symposium: Academic freedom and ethical scholarship in times of precarity and genocide
Organisers: University of Cambridge Research for Equitable Access and Learning (REAL Centre) and Centre for Lebanese Studies
The symposium will begin with a keynote address by Professor Adam Habib, Director of the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), who has been actively involved in debates about academic freedom and the role and responsibility of universities, through his current role as well as former role as Vice Chancellor at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. This will be followed by a panel discussion with experts from academic professional associations and universities who have been at the forefront of these debates. Panellists include Professor Neve Gordon, Chair of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES)' Committee on Academic Freedom, and Dr Bashir Abu-Manneh and Dr Kelli Rudolph from the University of Kent.
Kurdish Studies Conference 2024
Organisers: LSE and University of Sheffield
Registration is now open for the second Kurdish Studies Conference. This interdisciplinary event builds on the inaugural conference at LSE in 2023 and is organised by the Kurdish Studies Series at the LSE Middle East Centre and the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield. The Kurdish Studies Series encourages dissemination and discussion of new research on Kurdish politics and society and provides a network for scholars, students and all others with related research interests.
The Giant Has Problems Too: An insider’s look at the challenges of US power
Organiser: SOAS Middle East Institute
Speaker: David Des Roches (Associate Professor, Near East South Asia Center for Security Studies)
The SOAS Middle East Institute is pleased to welcome SOAS alum David Des Roches (Politics, 1991), Associate Professor at the Near East South Asia Center for Security Studies, and an expert in defence policy and security studies, to deliver a public talk. His talk, “The Giant Has Problems Too: An Insider’s Look at the Challenges of US Power”, will discuss the United States’ national security goals and the systemic obstacles to achieving them. His insights promise to offer a frank view into the underlying structural issues and circumstances that have restricted well-known initiatives, such as the "pivot" to Asia
Security Politics in the Gulf Monarchies: Continuity Amid Change
Organiser: Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, King's College London
Speaker: Dr David Roberts (KCL)
The Gulf monarchies—Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates—play crucial roles in world markets and politics. Their economies, which have traditionally been driven by oil revenues, have simultaneously propelled transformative change and preserved the traditional order. Fossil fuel wealth has underwritten an implicit social contract characterized by generous welfare states, ruler-centric politics, and a heavy state presence in the economy, facilitating stability during tumultuous times. However, as the transition toward renewable energy looms, will the Gulf monarchies be able to adapt? David B. Roberts offers a definitive guide to continuity and change in the Gulf region.
Post-NATO Afghanistan: The Taliban's Assumption of Power and Government
Organiser: Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, King's College London
Speaker: Dr Wahid Watanyar (King's College London)
This talk will delve into the complex realm of Taliban rule after NATO's departure from Afghanistan in 2021. It will explore the complex relationship between security concepts and political stratagems, revealing how security policies are intricately woven into the political landscape and examine their significant effects on the stability and legitimacy of governance.
13 Years After the Arab Spring: What are the Chances for Legitimate Constitutions in the Arab World?
Organiser: LSE Middle East Centre
Speakers: Nathan J. Brown (Georgetown University); Tamara El Khoury (IE University); Azza Kamel Maghur (Lawyer and Human Rights Activist)
This event will launch the special issue ‘Arab Constitutional Responses to the Revolutions and Transformations in the Region’ published in the Journal of Constitutional Law in the Middle East and North Africa.
Scholars and experts have worked together to investigate the constitutional responses to the Arab Spring in 10 different Arab countries including Bahrain, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. The case studies examined in this special issue explore both the opportunities that were raised by the prospect of a constitutional change in the wake of the Arab Spring, as well as the many challenges they faced.
Indian Problems, Yemeni Solutions? Legal Exchanges in the Sixteenth Century
Leiden Yemeni Studies Lecture Series
Speaker: Mahmood Kooria (Edinburgh University)
Discussant: Roxani Eleni Margariti (Emory University)
Russia's strategy in the Middle East and North Africa
Organiser: BISA International Relations as Social Science and Russia and Eurasian Security Working Groups
In this joint seminar from the International Relations as Social Science and Russia and Eurasian Security Working Groups, we present ideas and conclusions from speaker Dr Derek Averre's recent book on Russia's strategy in the Middle East and North Africa in the turbulent period since the inception of the Arab Spring. It explores Russia's thinking and decision-making, and the key policy challenges faced by Moscow, in the context of its relations with both the regional MENA states and the major external powers.
The Fourth Biennial Arabic Language Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Conference
The University of Cambridge will be hosting the Fourth Biennial Arabic Language Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Conference on Thursday, 18th April, 2024 at Cripps Court, Magdalene College, University of Cambridge. The conference aims to delve into Translanguaging and Linguistic Diversity in Arabic, and provide a platform for robust discussions and networking opportunities.
The conference will cover the following subthemes:
- Perceptions of Translanguaging
- The varieties we teach
- Pedagogical approaches
- Approaches to assessment
Deadline for Registration: 28 March 2024
Blessed Aristocracies: Charismatic authority, rural elites, and historiography in Medieval Yemen
Leiden Yemeni Studies Lecture Series
Speaker: Zacharie Mochtari de Pierrepont (University of Liège)
Discussant: Vincent Cornell (Emory University)
Next steps for freedom of speech in UK higher education
Organiser: Westminster Higher Education Forum
This conference will examine the way forward for freedom of speech in higher education institutions in the UK. It will bring together stakeholders, regulators and policymakers to discuss the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, which aims to ensure that universities promote freedom of speech as a fundamental value.
Delegates will assess implications of the legislation for the HE sector, its staff and students. It will be an opportunity to consider the roles going forward of stakeholders and policy in setting and implementing boundaries for discussion in higher education settings, and more widely in society.
Three Worlds: Memoirs of an Arab Jew
Organiser: BRICUP Seminar Series 2023-4
Speaker: Professor Avi Shlaim (University of Oxford)
All seminars are on-line events, and take place at 18.00-19.30 London time. They consist of a presentation by the guest lecturer, an exchange with a discussant, and then questions and contributions. All participants are expected to read a short extract of the relevant text in advance, around which the discussion will revolve. Advance registration is necessary.
Book Launch | Battleground: 10 Conflicts that Explain the New Middle East
Organiser: Council for Arab-British Understanding (CAABU)
Speaker: Christopher Phillips (Author and professor of international relations at Queen Mary University of London)
Caabu invites you to an in person briefing with Christopher Phillips, author, and professor of international relations at Queen Mary University of London, who will discuss his new book, Battleground: 10 Conflicts that Explain the New Middle East, on Tuesday 30 April 2024 at 6.30pm at The Arab British Centre, 1 Gough Square, London, EC4A 3DE.
Christopher Phillips explores geopolitical rivalries in the region, and the major external powers vying for influence: Russia, China, the EU, and the US. Moving through ten key flashpoints, from Syria to Palestine, Phillips argues that the United States’ overextension after the Cold War, and retreat in the 2010s, has imbalanced the region. Today, the Middle East remains blighted by conflicts of unprecedented violence and a post-American scramble for power – leaving its fate in the balance.
History of Water Management in Yemen: An Interdisciplinary Study
Leiden Yemeni Studies Lecture Series
Speaker: Ingrid Hehmeyer (Toronto Metropolitan University)
Discussant: Daniel Varisco (American Institute for Yemeni Studies)
The Qur’an in Muslim Practices
Online short course, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, 23-24 May 2024
The course attempts to introduce participants to understanding ways in which Muslims use the Qur’an in practice in both religious and social contexts. After initially situating the Qur’an as a religious text within the context of Muslim beliefs and perceptions, the remaining sessions will explore the use of the Qur’an in calligraphy, in healing rituals, and in Sufi practices.
The Challenges of Development in Muslim Societies
Online short course, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, 4-5 June 2024
This two-day course introduces participants to the different approaches to development and how these approaches inform development policies. Participants will be able to share their own understanding of development and explore current datasets on development indicators to investigate the experiences of Muslim-majority countries (MMCs). We will also look at the historical evidence to see what can be learnt from today’s industrialised or high-income countries, and what this implies for the types of policies to promote development in MMCs, including the roles of government, private sector, civil society and NGOs.
Memory Politics and Contentious Heritage in Anṣār Allāh/Ḥūthī Yemen
Leiden Yemeni Studies Lecture Series
Speaker: Marieke Brandt (Austrian Academy of Sciences)
Discussant: Noha Sadek (French Research Centre of the Arabian Peninsula in Kuwait)
Exhibition | Hudood: Rethinking boundaries
The exhibition introduces contemporary art from the Barjeel Foundation, with a focus on the overarching theme of "Boundaries" as both a subject and a tool for meaningfully accessing a diverse array of art from the SWANA region. Delving into the profound implications of walls and borders on artistic expression, the exhibition prompts the question of whether it is the artist's perspective that ultimately transcends these boundaries.
Keynote Lecture: Friendship and Scholarship in 20th-Century Yemen
Leiden Yemeni Studies Lecture Series
Speaker: Sabine Schmidtke (Institute of Advanced Study)
Manuscripts in Arabic Script: Introduction to Codicology
Online short course, Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, 7-8 October 2024
This course introduces students to the study of manuscripts (codicology). It will allow participants to apply the technical terminology of codicology and understand how writing materials were prepared. We also explore the institutional contexts in which manuscripts were produced and discuss how codicological methods can inform research in history and art history.
If you would like to add your event to the calendar, please email office@brismes.org with the details.
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