Transgressing the Gulf: Dissidence, Resistance, and Potentiality in the GCC States
9-10 September 2013
University of Exeter
A two-day symposium sponsored by the Centre for Gulf Studies at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, 9-10 September 2013.
What do we talk of, when we speak of "transgression" in the Gulf today? Are ideas of dissidence, dissonance and difference most easily cast in the light of the events of the Arab Spring and political transformations in the MENA region, or more appropriately set within the context of wider forms of transgressive potentiality in the Gulf? Whilst many scholars working on the Gulf are paying significant attention to the notion of political transgression, to what extent can transgression be examined in terms of the “everyday?" Are forms of sexual, ethnic, racial, class and caste transgression intimately related to broader currents of political change or are distinct forms of deeper-lying subalternity and resistance alive in the Gulf? This symposium aims to examine the theme of transgression in the Gulf and to begin to answer these questions which connect social and cultural change to political power. It therefore seeks to bring together scholars from both the social sciences and the humanities; from, on the one hand, fields such as political economy and international relations, in which Gulf Studies is well-developed, to, on the other, anthropology, history, gender and sexuality and media studies, amongst others, which may have received less attention in Gulf Studies. Our specific concern is to bring disciplines together to engender an inter-disciplinary approach to the contemporary Gulf, which is as focused on the politics of, and behavior in, the everyday as it is on “high” politics. We have an especial interest in soliciting papers which will work conceptually and theoretically to enable such work on the region. Possible topics for papers and panels might include:
- Modernity and postmodernity
- Sovereignty
- Oil and post-oil economies and technologies
- Labour, class, privilege
- Race, gender, ethnicity
- Migrant communities
- Rights and identities
- Sexualities
- Biopower and governmentality
- Cybertechnology and on-line activism
- Violence, protest and revolt
- Cities
- Gulf aesthetics
- Capital, consumption and shopping
- Tourism
- Culture, education, museums
- Heritage and the making of histories
- Art and cultural practices
Interested parties are asked to submit abstracts of 250-300 words and biographical information of 100-150 words by 14 June to nooralqasimi@mac.com and w.gallois@exeter.ac.uk. Subsidies for travel and accommodation will be available.