The Arab Studies Institute cordially invites you to visit us at the 2018 Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), held in San Antonio, Texas, November 15-18. You can find us at our catered reception (Bowie B), our book exhibit booth (38 &39), and at the many panels our various team members will be participating in. And check out the exciting new announcements below!
ASI Reception (Saturday Nov. 17, 8:30pm, Bowie B)
Date: Saturday, November 17
Time: 8:30pm-10:30pm
Location: Bowie B, 2nd Floor, MESA Main Hotel
Join us at our open (and catered) reception this year, where will be pleased to showcase the following recent developments.
Launching of Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative (MESPI)
MESPI’s new website will be announced on Friday! You can visit the info page now, however, at www.MESPI.org.
MESPI (Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative) is a curated interactive platform for middle east studies resources, specifically tailored for the needs of teachers, researchers, and students. It will be a one-stop shop for course design on the macro level, lesson planning on the micro level, and for scholarship vis-a-vis specific topics, countries, and disciplines. MESPI will feature a variety of resources for research, syllabus-building, and graduate/language programs search, as well as thorough databases of new scholarly production.
Launching of the Inaugural Issue of JADMAG (Jadaliyya in Print)
This issue coincides with the eighth anniversary of Jadaliyya, and ushers in a new era and concept for JadMag. Starting this fall, it will be published as a subscription-based magazine in both hard-copy and electronically. JADMAG will be released in print four times a year. Coupling timely content with the addition of essential readings lists, reviews of new books and scholarly articles, and topical pieces from Jadaliyya’s celebrated archives allows the JADMAG project more ambitiously to function as a knowledge producer, a near-comprehensive source of analysis on the region, and a pedagogical resource par excellence. Read more about this at www.JadMag.org.
Showcasing New Developments with Arab Studies Journal
Arab Studies Journal is a peer-reviewed, multidisciplinary research publication in the field of Arab and Middle East studies. In its over twenty years of publication, it prides itself on simultaneously featuring the work of promising young scholars and established scholars. At the ASI reception, the ASJ editorial team will highlight our most recent content and a new online platform. Visit www.ArabStudiesJournal.org for more information and a look at our previous and current issues!
Launching The Nerdiest Show
The Nerdiest Show (TNS) features researchers talking about books received at the desk of the www.ArabStudiesJournal.org and www.Jadaliyya.com. Lightheartedly, we discuss each book in five minutes or so, including the author, title, table of contents, praise on the back cover, and the books' pedagogical utility. Tune in for a thoroughly nerdy affair and don't tell anyone you're doin' it! Watch TNS on www.StatusHour.com or www.TheNerdiestShow.com and read up on featured books.
The Political Economy Project
The Political Economy Project (PEP) organized its third annual book prize to recognize exceptional work in critical political economy of the Middle East. This year, we will announce and celebrate the winner of third annual book prize as well as share more information on eligibility criteria and nomination procedures for the 2019 prize. Visit www.PoliticalEconomyProject.org for more information.
ASI Booth (No. 38 & 39)
Visit us at our two adjacent booths (38 and 39) that will showcase all things ASI, including book and other publications, various online platforms, and a steady stream of ASI team members.
Political Economy Project Panel (Friday Nov. 16, 4pm)
The Political Economy Project (PEP) aims to develop and encourage critical approaches to political economy, interrogate the dominant paradigms, and provide insights for alternatives. As part of this aim, PEP has organized the following panel which is part of the MESA Annual Meeting Program:
Date and Time: Friday, Nov. 16, 4:00pm
Title: Toward A Critical Political Economy of the Middle East and North Africa
Abstract: Critical approaches to the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa have played a significant role in shaping scholarly understanding of the region. From the 1970s to the 1980s, many highly influential and path-breaking texts drew explicitly on Marxism, Dependency and World Systems theories, socialist-feminism, and anti-colonial perspectives to interpret the region. Common to all of these writers was a deep appreciation of history (both local and global) and a willingness to engage with theoretical debates beyond our region of interest. Consequently, their work remains widely read and cited today. However, during the 1990s and 2000s, the culturalist turn and the dominance of neo-classical or institutionalist framings that often reproduce long discredited modernization theory narratives tended to marginalize political economy as an approach to the study of MENA. Today many students lack the theoretical background or interdisciplinary knowledge to engage critically with these perspectives. While the earlier 'classical' critical political economy texts of the 1970s to 1980s remain important, relatively little recent work has sought to update or re-examine the issues they address. The global financial crisis of 2007-08 and the Arab uprisings that began in December 2010 and spread so profoundly across the region sparked a resurgence of interest in both the global history of capitalism and the political economy of our region. The uprisings highlighted the centrality of: social and political inequality; the dynamics of class and state formation; patterns of collective action by labor and other social movements; and the impact of regional issues within a crisis-prone and unstable global order. Our panel seeks to present cutting-edge work on MENA political economy from diverse disciplines and regions. We aim to demonstrate the ways in which critical political economy can illuminate the historical and contemporary dynamics of the region, and to contribute to wider political economy debates from the vantage point of MENA.
Presentations:
- “Ten Theses on the Past and Future of Oil,” by Timothy Mitchell
- “The French Empire in North Africa: A History of Racial Capitalism?” by Muriam Haleh Davis
- “Unpacking Gulf Capitalism: Business, Labor, and the State in the GCC, ”by Adam Hanieh
- “The State, Oil, War, and the Political Economy of Iraq (1920-2017), by ”Nida Alahmad
Discussant: Aaron Jakes
Chair and Organizer: Joel Beinin
Panels Featuring ASI Team Members (See Schedule Below)
Below is a list of MESA 2018 Annual Meeting panels in which one or more members of the Arab Studies Institute (including Jadaliyya, Arab Studies Journal, Status Audio Journal, Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative, Forum on Arab and Muslim Affairs, and Knowledge Production Project) is involved in as an organizer, presenters, discussant, and/or chair. However, to appreciate the full spectrum of topics, themes, geographic areas, and disciplines represented, we encourage you to browse the entire program. All information, including registration information, can be found by clicking here.
Thursday, 15 November, 5:30pm
Fortune, Crisis, Catastrophe: Histories of Capitalism in the Global Middle East
- "Egypt’s Roosevelt: Crisis and Comparison in 1907", by Aaron Jakes
Friday, 16 November, 11:00am
Colonial Rule and Modern Identity in Morocco
- “The Colonial Roots of Nationalist Modernity: Rereading Abdallah Laroui,” by Samia Errazzouki
Friday, 16 November, 11:00am
Knowing Nature: Epistemologies, Scientific Exchange, and Exploration in the Ottoman Empire, 17th-20th centuries
- “Fellah Entomology: Observing and Eradicating Bugs in the Great Locust Invasion of 1915,” by Taylor M. Moore
Friday, 16 November, 1:30pm
Arab Specters of Marx
- Discussant: Sherene Seikaly
Friday, 16 November, 4:00pm
Land to Territory in the Late Ottoman Empire
- “Grain and Governance, People and Place in the Ottoman Jazira, 1860-1920,” by Sam Dolbee
Friday, 16 November, 4:00pm
The War that Ended? 1918-1923
- “A Global Brotherhood in a “City Without Any Civic Consciousness”: The YMCA During the Armistice,” by Murat C. Yildiz
Saturday, 17 November, 8:30am
Roundtable: A Global Middle East and the Search for A Core
- Participant: Owain Lawson
- Participant: Ziad Abu-Rish
- Discussant: Muriam Haleh Davis
Saturday, 17 November, 8:30am
Roundtable: Medicine and Science: Geography, Periodization, Rupture, Continuity (I)
- Participant: Taylor M. Moore
Saturday, 17 November, 8:30am
Practicing Sectarianism in Lebanon
- “No Room for This Story: Education and the Limits of Sectarianism,” by Nadya Sbaiti
- "Archival Sectarianism: Afterlives of the 1932 Census in Lebanon," by Maya Mikdashi
Saturday, 17 November, 11:00am
The Performance of Razm: Warfare in the Eastern Islamic World
- Discussant: Murat C. Yildiz
Saturday, 17 November, 3:00pm
Crisis and Catastrophe: Conceptualizing Engaged Arab Film and Literature through a Syrian Lens
- Discussant: Nadya Sbaiti
Sunday, 18 November, 8:30am
Visiting the Dead: Family History and Geneology in the Middle East
- “The Pith Helmet and the Expert: A Palestinian in Sudan,” by Sherene Seikaly
- Discussant: Maya Mikdashi
Sunday, 18 November, 8:30am
Competing Visions of Development in the Era of Decolonization
- "Sisters in Misery": Rural and Urban Effects of the Litani Project, 1965-1974,” by Owain Lawson
- “Development from Below? Competing Visions in Early Independence Lebanon,” by Ziad Abu-Rish
MESA Dance Party
If all else fails, join us at the official MESA party, where you can dance off all kinds of anxieties and bad news from region, the United States, and even Mars.