Conferences
Middle
East Studies Association Annual Meeting
Washington, D.C. November 22-25
The meeting features panels and special sessions on a
variety of topics related to
For further information: http://www.mesa.arizona.edu/annual/current.htm
Contact Mark Lowder mlowder@u.arizona.edu
NEMLA, Transcending Boundaries: The Novels of Elif Safak
Boston, February 26 – March 1, 2009
Turkish author Elif Safak’s exuberant novels transcend boundaries. Though her writing is unmistakably Turkish and much influenced by Sufism, Safak refuses to be confined within the bounds of a single language, culture, or even faith tradition. This panel invites papers that examine how Safak enriches her novels, especially The Flea Palace and The Bastard of Istanbul, by skillfully interweaving a plurality of voices and discources. Please send via email a 250 word abstract, contact information, and a short CV as Word attachments by September 15 to: Michael McGaha, mmcgaha@pomona.edu.
Model Arab League
Oxford, Ohio. 20 - 23 Feb, 2009
Model Arab League deals solely with the 22 Arab countries, not the 192 member-countries in the United Nations. Organized into five to ten-person delegations, student participants engage in debate and discussion with the goal of effectively representing a given country's foreign policy objectives in competition with students representing other Arab countries. By grappling with the foreign affairs challenges and opportunities of real-life Arab diplomats and foreign affairs practitioners, the participants are required to put themselves in the foreign policy shoes of someone from a country other than their own. The student delegates are required to learn their adopted Arab country's modern history, culture, society, economics, national politics, and public policy positions on the most pressing issues confronting Arab governments.
For further information: http://www.ncusar.org/email_graphics/announcements/08_MAL_Invitation.html
Contact: Mark Morozink mark@ncusar.org
7th Biennial Iranian Studies Conference
Pre-Registration Deadline: July 15, 2008.
Toronto, Canada. 31 July - 3 August, 2008.
Sponsored by the International Society for Iranian Studies
the Biennial Conference on Iranian Studies will bring to Toronto approximately 250 scholars from various parts of the world for the presentation of their current research on Iran. This is the largest international gathering of scholars who study, teach and write on Iran.
For further infromation: http://www.iranian-studies.com
Contact: Mohamad Tavakoli
Arab-American Leadership Training Seminars
Deadline: Feb 15, 2008
Washington D.C.. 12 - 16 March, 12 - 25 June, 13 – 17 Sept, 6 – 10 Dec, 2008
Sponsored by the Hala Salaam Maksoud Foundation for Arab-American Leadership
Like its namesake, the Hala Salaam Maksoud Leadership Training Program is innovative, progressive, and inspiring. The major issues facing Arab-Americans are tackled in-depth in a comfortable and stimulating environment comprised of accomplished co-participants, impressive guest speakers, and Hussein Ibish, a remarkably powerful and distinguished voice in Arab-American advocacy. It's well worth shuffling your schedule around to get the week off. If you're serious about working for the Arab-American community, and joining a growing network of forward-thinking people committed to progress for Arabs, apply for this program.
For further information: http://halafoundation.com/leadership.php
Contact: Hussein Ibish director@halafoundation.org
Cognitive Grammar and Foreign Language Teaching
Davis, California. 28 June – 1 July, 2008
Sponsored by U.C. Davis
The four day workshop, to be held on the UC Davis campus, will feature presentations on cognitive analysis of grammatical structures common to many languages. Afternoon sessions will be devoted to language specific understanding of the grammatical structures and the development of materials to implement the innovative cognitive method effectively in the classroom. The Materials are compatible with any textbook in any language.
For further information: http://uccllt.ucdavis.edu/
Contact: Robert Blake rjblake@ucdavis.edu
Constructing the Future in Relief Work: Learning from Women's experiences in Culturally Diverse Conditions
Deadline: July 15, 2008.
Kocaeli, Turkey. 8 - 11 October, 2008.
Kocaeli University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences, Turkey, seeks proposals for participating in an interdisciplinary international workshop for the victims of the recent disasters, emergency responders, relief workers, volunteers of voluntary organizations, governmental representatives, as well as the researchers who focus on gender related disaster topics. The event will cover topics that integrate the gender perspective into all natural disaster related policies and decision-making processes with the consideration of cultural differences. The language of the meetings will be Turkish and English. Simultaneous translation will be provided for all of the sessions.
For further infromation: http://www.genderanddisaster2008.org/
Contact: info@genderanddisaster2008.org
Orienting Istanbul: Cultural Capital of Europe?
Deadline for papers: May 20, 2008
Berkeley, CA. 26-27 September, 2008
This conference seeks to reconsider interpretations of the city by providing a context for inter-disciplinary dialogue. A program of academic presentations will be combined with a program of films and media installations. The academic panels will be organized in three themes: Architectures of Exclusion, Cultures of Spectacle, and Spaces of Nostalgia. Of particular interest are those papers that engage critically with theories of the city, modernization, globalization, spectacle, citizenship, community formation, and public sphere, as well as those that compare transformations in Istanbul to other European and Middle Eastern cities.
Istanbul is one of Europe’s oldest and largest cities, and today, one of its most fashionable travel spots. Popular narratives celebrate the city’s cultural vibrancy. Artistic works refer to the potential it offers for crossing the bridge between Asia and Europe, between Islam and the West. Interestingly, the bridge metaphor is also one worn out by local politicians to express the geopolitical significance of Istanbul and Turkey.
For further infromation: http://www.ced.berkeley.edu/istanbulconference/
Contact: Deniz Gokturk
Interrogating Tradition
Oxford, UK. 12 - 15 December, 2008
This conference will explore the role of tradition in modern global practices with its meanings inextricably bound today with the issues it seeks to explain. As tradition is a keyword, the exercise of interrogation becomes essential in understanding the social and political contexts in which it is mobilized. The paradoxes of this global moment necessitate a recalibration of our operative epistemological frameworks in the study of traditional environments. Examining the intersecting discourses of tradition and the politics of its organization moreover become critical in identifying how socio-political identities and differences are pursued. We use the term “interrogate” then to refer to the epistemic exercise of framing the rationalities of tradition in relation to their construction and their implications for practice. Such avenues of inquiry provide ways to examine how traditional knowledge is formulated and deployed in the political sphere, including the post-conflict reconstruction of society and space, the use of tradition by the “state” as a means of co-optation or governance, or the manner in which fundamentalism is “framed” and used by different interest and social groups.
For further information: http://arch.ced.berkeley.edu/research/iaste/2008conference.htm
Contact: Lily Cooc
Historians of Islamic Art Association's "Spaces and Visions"
Philadelphia, PA. 16 - 18 October, 2008
The first of the Historians of Islamic Art Association symposium will take place over a three-day period and will have each of the three days focused on a different zone of interest. The first day, “Out of Late Antiquity,” takes up the field’s formative emphasis on early Islamic art, a field remade in recent years through continued archaeological investigations and critically informed readings of the historical sources. The second day, " ‘Unity and Variety’ Once More: Time, Place, Material,” examines the field’s definitive shift since the late 1970s to regional, dynastic, and media based inquiries. The third day, “Confronting Modernity,” addresses the extension of the field into the modern and contemporary periods, and emerging debates about their study.
For further infromation: http://www.arthistory.upenn.edu/HIAA/
Teaching about the Middle East in the 21st Century
Dealine for papers: June 27, 2008.
Fresno, CA. 16-18 October, 2008.
In academic and popular discourse today, the Middle East has become a primary dimension of our geopolitical-intellectual culture. The global reach of current events has brought the Middle East into direct contact with the West. Much scholarly and professional attention is afforded today to the complex (yet habitually abstracted and simplified) human reality of the peoples of the Middle East, and their contributions to the world, be they in science, religion, literature or art.
One of the primary objects of this conference will be to explore the constructions and contextualizations of the modern Middle East through artistic, scholarly, economic, political, sociological, historical, and philological works and texts. The conference will subsequently examine the politics that underlie their production and dissemination in academia.
For further information: http://www.csufresno.edu/mesp/news_events/ConferenceMiddleEast.shtml
Contact: Sameh El Kharbawy
Arab-American Women
Deadline for papers: 31 August, 2008.
Manhattan, KS. 12-15 March, 2009.
Inviting papers dealing with different issues of Arab-American Women’s lives, including immigration, history (especially the early history of Arab-American women), settlement, organizations, professions, gender issues, marriage and family, health, religion, involvement in society and politics, status within the Arab-American community and the larger American society, successes and failures, general accomplishments, etc. Papers which analyze Arab-American literature, music and the arts are also invited.
For further information:
Contact: suleiman@ksu.edu
Global Ecounters: Legacies of Exchange and Conflict
Deadline for papers: April 1, 2008
Chapel Hill, North Carolina. 14 - 15 November, 2008.
The new Program in MEMS at UNC, Chapel Hill, seeks papers from scholars in a wide variety of disciplines. Papers dealing with topics of cultural mediation, interchange, and conflict are especially welcome. Possible areas of geographical concentration include Europe, the Atlantic world, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Key-note addresses will be offered by Professor Karen Ordahl Kupperman (Silver Professor of History at New York University), and by Professor Alfred J. Andrea (Professor Emeritus of History, University of Vermont).
This Conference is supported by: the College of Arts and Sciences; the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; MEMS, the Program in Medieval and Early Modern Studies at UNC; Associate Provost for International Affairs, UNC Chapel Hill; The Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Duke University.
For further information: http://mems.unc.edu/
Contact: bwhalen@email.unc.edu
Second Language Research Forum
Deadline for Papers: April 15, 2008
Manoa, Hawai'i. 17 - 19 October, 2008 (2009 location and call for papers will be announced during Summer, 2008).
Through this year's theme, Exploring SLA, Prospectives, Positions and Practices, we will investigate various professional interests and practices of the field of Second Language Acquisition. The overall purpose of SLRF 2008 is to integrate an array of ideas about SLA research, ethics, and practice, from across multiple approaches. We solicit papers, posters, and colloquia that consider SLA from a range of theoretical, methodological, linguistic, practical, political, historical, and disciplinary perspectives, and encourage submissions that deepen and broaden our understandings and inform the quality and application of SLA research.
For further information: http://nflrc.hawaii.edu/slrf08/
Contact: slrf2008@gmail.com
2009 Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers
Call for papers opens in July, 2008. Register and submit your abstract online until October 16th.
March 22-27, in Las Vegas, Nevada
The Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers attracts more than 6,500 geographers and related professionals from around the world. Your participation is most welcome and encouraged. The Annual Meeting attracts geographers and related professionals from around the world. Our meeting forum stimulates discussion about research, education, accomplishments, and developments in geography. The 2009 Annual Meeting will be held at the Riviera Hotel, March 22-27, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
For further information: http://www.aag.org/
Mirror Images: Challenges for Arab and Islamic Studies
02-04 April 2009– Villanova, Pennsylvania
Call for papers deadline: September 30, 2008
The 2009 Villanova conference on Arab and Islamic Studies celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Center for Arab and Islamic Studies. Proposals are invited for papers, workshops, or roundtable discussions. Suggested topics: (Re)focusing of Arab and Islamic studies; Arab and Islamic studies within academe in the U.S.; Arab and Islamic studies in the Middle East; education in the Arab and Islamic world; political conflicts/human rights; environmental issues/globalization; post/colonialism/post/modernity; questions of identity/cultural pluralism; gender issues; historical Islam/contemporary Islam; legal systems: religious and secular; representation/media/cinema; and authorship/literature. Send a 200-word abstract and a one-page CV to: aisconference@villanova.edu. Submit proposals on-line: http://www.villanova.edu/events/conference/ais/proposals.htm.
Traditions and Transformations: Tourism, Heritage and Cultural Change in the Middle East and North Africa Region (Amman, Jordan) 04–07 April 2009.
Call for papers deadline: September 30, 2008.
Tourism is a well established phenomenon across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Region and despite political instabilities it demonstrates remarkable resilience. As well as being a major economic force and a key driver for development, tourism is also an important mechanism for social exchange and identity building at both the individual and regional/national levels. Over recent years the rate of tourism development has increased substantively. The aims of this major international and multi-disciplinary conference are: to critically explore the major issues facing the MENA region with regard to the development of tourism and its relationships with heritage and culture; to draw upon ideas, cases and best practice from international scholars and help develop new understandings and research capacities regarding the relationships between tourism, heritage and culture in the MENA Region and; to provide a major networking opportunity for international scholars, policy makers and professionals. Please submit a 300-word abstract including title and full contact details as an electronic file to: Mike Robinson (ctcc@leedsmet.ac.uk). For information, contact: CTCC, Leeds Metropolitan University, Faculty of Arts and Society, Old School Board, Calverley St., Leeds LS1 3ED, United Kingdom (+44 (0) 113- 2838541; fax: +44 (0) 113- 2838544; ctcc@leedsmet.ac.uk; www.tourism-culture.com or www.cbrl.org.uk).
Hierarchy & Power in the History of Civilizations:
(23-26 June 2009–Moscow, Russia)
Call for papers deadline: November 8, 2008.
Organized by Center for Civilizational and Regional Studies of the Institute for African Studies under the Russian Academy of Sciences in co-operation with the School of History, Political Science and Law of the Russian State University for the Humanities in Moscow. The objective of the Conference is to discuss the following issues: hierarchical and net structures in the history of cultures and civilizations; civilizational and evolutionary models of socio-political development; historical and ethno-cultural variability of the forms of socio-political organization; from simple societies to the world-system: pathways and forms of political integration; socio-political and cultural-mental factors of social transformations; cultural and socio-biological foundations of dominance in human societies; ideology and legitimation of power in different civilizational contexts; cultural models of power's perception in different civilizations; violence and non-violence in the history of political institutions; access to information as a means of political manipulation and mobilization; power, society, and culture in the era of globalization; the study of ‘hierarchy and power’: schools, trends, and methods. Contact: conf2009@conf2009.ru
And Diverse are their Hues: Color in Islamic Art and Culture
02-04 November 2009: Cordoba, Spain
Third Biennial Symposium on Islamic Art of Virginia Commonwealth University & VCU School of the Arts in Qatar (FCUQ)Visit www.islamicartdoha.org if you are a prospective speaker or attendee. The call for papers will be available through August 1, 2008: http://www.islamicartdoha.org/papers.php.