MENA Solidarity Day School / CFP: After the Uprisings
Middle East Solidarity Day School 2016 – Saturday 12 March, SOAS
Speakers include: Omar Barghouti, Ala’a Shehabi, Sameh Naguib, Joseph Daher, Adam Hanieh, Muzna al-Na’ib, Anne Alexander and others
This dayschool will provide an essential guide for activists and trade unionists who want to understand more about how ordinary people across the Middle East continue to resist military intervention and dictatorship in their day-to-day struggles for justice and dignity. Join the debate with leading activists from Palestine, Bahrain, Egypt and Syria who offer analysis of the region which cuts through the picture of confusion and despair in the mainstream media. We will also hear hidden stories of courage and resilience which continue to inspire, five years after the revolutions which shook the region and beyond.
Sessions on:
Palestine and the struggle for justice
Counter-revolution, military intervention and crisis in Syria
Egypt: strategies for resistance
Sectarian polarisation in the Gulf
Djam Lecture Theatre, SOAS, Russell Square, London, WC1H 0XG
£5 unwaged / £10 waged
Call for Abstracts
After the Uprisings: Political, Economic, and Social Transformations in the Middle East and North Africa
31 May 2016 – Edinburgh
Deadline for submissions: 29 February 2016
The Call For Papers is available to view here: http://www.arabtrans.eu/edinburgh-conference-2016/
Please send an abstract (max. 300 words) to p01kv4@abdn.ac.uk.
Important Dates
Paper titles and abstracts due: February 29, 2016
Notification of acceptance: March 18, 2016
Conference: May 31, 2016
Overview
Since December 2010, the Arab World has been undergoing a historical process of rapid and deep change in its political and social structures. Papers analysing any aspect of these transformations from any relevant field are welcome. The remit of the workshop is to bring together different perspectives on the changes that have taken place in the Middle East post-Uprisings, from diverse theoretical and disciplinary traditions.
The ArabTransitions project, headed by the University of Aberdeen, is organising a one-day conference in May 2016 to be held in Edinburgh as the culmination of a three year international research project on political and social transformations in the Arab world. Funded within the FP7 program of the European Commission, the project uses survey-based research to explore comparatively the beliefs, values, and behaviour with respect to political and social transformations in seven Arab countries (Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Jordan, and Iraq).
The conference is open to academics, activists, trade unionists, practitioners, policy-makers, and NGOs who are engaged in research, advocacy, campaigns, and movements in the Arab world. Due to the inter- and trans-disciplinary nature of the project, contributions from a variety of academic disciplines, such as history, economics, political science, international relations, public policy, geography, philosophy, and sociology are highly encouraged.
Topics
Key political, social, and economic transformations in the MENA region: major changes, their significance, and their implications for theoretical frameworks, analytical methods, as well as policy implications for stakeholders (governments. NGOs, IOs, etc.).
National and regional trends: homogeneities and heterogeneities among MENA countries (pathways of socio-economic and political transformation, possible future trajectories).
Roots of the Uprisings: long-term, structural factors and short-term triggers behind the upheaval in the Arab world.
The generational gap: the role of youth and ICTs before, during, and after the Uprisings.
Religion and political culture: the way the Uprisings and subsequent events affected Islamist movements and the relationship between politics and religion generally
Europe and the Arab Uprisings: impact of the recent turmoil upon the role of EU relations.
Registration fees
The Conference registration fee is £45 (covering all conference materials, coffee breaks and lunch) and a limited number of bursaries is available for unfunded students and unwaged. Instructions for conference registration will follow.
Further enquiries may be directed to the conference organizers Dr Ilia Xypolia at:ilia.xypolia@abdn.ac.uk and Dr Vera Lomazzi at vera.lomazzi@abdn.ac.uk