Call for Papers: Ohio Symposium on Middle East Studies (Dayton, 8-9 April 2016)

Call for Papers: Ohio Symposium on Middle East Studies (Dayton, 8-9 April 2016)

Call for Papers: Ohio Symposium on Middle East Studies (Dayton, 8-9 April 2016)

By : Jadaliyya Reports

Call for Papers: Ohio Symposium on Middle East Studies (April 8-9, 2016)

Beyond the Margins: Researching and Teaching the Middle East in Ohio

Abstracts due Septemnber 1, 2015

Over the past several years, numerous universities, colleges, and community colleges across the state of Ohio have hired new faculty whose research focuses on the MENA region. Some have created minors, majors, and/or public events programs that center on the topic. Nevertheless, many scholars of the MENA region that are based in Ohio institutions of higher learning work in relative isolation. More so, there is no mechanism through which these Ohio-based scholars can network with one another and facilitate cooperation and solidarity across campuses.

The time is ripe for these scholars to meet one another and introduce our research agendas. The symposium will serve as a forum for sharing research, strategizing on ways to draw on each other’s expertise in classroom education and campus programming, and for thinking through the challenges of teaching and researching the MENA region in Ohio.

The Symposium

We invite faculty based in Ohio institutions of higher education whose research and teaching focus on the MENA region to participate in a symposium scheduled to take place 8-9 April 2016 at the University of Dayton.

The main aims of the symposium are:

  • to introduce scholars to one another as well as our research areas
  • to present and receive feedback on our current scholarship
  • to establish disciplinary and topical networks which we can mobilize on campuses
  • to critically discuss questions of pedagogy and course development in Ohio
     

The preliminary schedule for the symposium is as follows:

  • Friday, 8 April 2016: Opening Dinner
  • Saturday, 9 April 2016: Research Panels and Pedagogy Roundtable


All symposium presenters will be provided with complementary hotel accommodations for Friday night as well as meals throughout the duration of the symposium (including the Friday dinner).

The symposium will be open to the public.

Abstracts and Other Relevant Dates

Abstract Deadline: 1 September 2015

Scholars based in Ohio institutions of higher education interested in presenting at the symposium should send an abstract to abuz@ohio.edu containing the following information:

  1. Full Name
  2. Institutional Affiliation and Position
  3. Contact Information
  4. Presentation Title
  5. 100-500 Word Paper/Presentation Description (Abstracts demonstrating an assertive and focused scholarly statement of thesis or significance, as well as clear goals, methodology, sources, and conclusions will be prioritized).

Symposium organizers are open to a broad array of disciplinary and methodological approaches as well as topics and time periods. We are particularly interested in abstracts that highlight ongoing research agendas and/or pedagogical approaches, as the primary raison d’etre of the event is to introduce one another’s scholarship and teaching 

Notification of Decisions: 15 October 2015


Sponsorship
 

Professors Ellen Fleischmann (University of Dayton) and Ziad Abu-Rish (Ohio University) are serving as co-conveners of the symposium, which is jointly sponsored by:


Contact Information

For questions and concerns, please contact Ziad Abu-Rish at abuz@ohio.edu

Inaugural Issue of Journal on Postcolonial Directions in Education

Postcolonial Directions in Education is a peer-reviewed open access journal produced twice a year. It is a scholarly journal intended to foster further understanding, advancement and reshaping of the field of postcolonial education. We welcome articles that contriute to advancing the field. As indicated in the editorial for the inaugural issue, the purview of this journal is broad enough to encompass a variety of disciplinary approaches, including but not confined to the following: sociological, anthropological, historical and social psychological approaches. The areas embraced include anti-racist education, decolonizing education, critical multiculturalism, critical racism theory, direct colonial experiences in education and their legacies for present day educational structures and practice, educational experiences reflecting the culture and "imagination" of empire, the impact of neoliberalism/globalization/structural adjustment programs on education, colonial curricula and subaltern alternatives, education and liberation movements, challenging hegemonic languages, the promotion of local literacies and linguistic diversity, neocolonial education and identity construction, colonialism and the construction of patriarchy, canon and canonicity, indigenous knowledges, supranational bodies and their educational frameworks, north-south and east-west relations in education, the politics of representation, unlearning colonial stereotypes, internal colonialism and education, cultural hybridity and learning  in  postcolonial contexts, education and the politics of dislocation, biographies or autobiographies reflecting the above themes, and deconstruction of colonial narratives of civilization within educational contexts. Once again, the field cannot be exhausted.

Table of Contents

  • Furthering the Discourse in Postcolonial Education, by Anne Hickling Hudson & Peter Mayo
  • Resisting the Inner Plantation: Decolonization and the Practice of Education in the Work of Eric Williams, by Jennifer Lavia
  • Neocolonialism, Higher Education and Student Union Activism in Zimbabwe, by Munyaradzi Hwami & Dip Kapoor
  • Reframing Anti-Colonial Theory for the Diasporic Context, by Marlon Simmons & George Dei 
  • Review of The Politics of Postcolonialism: Empire, Nation and Resistance, by Tejwant Chana
  • Review of Actionable Postcolonial Theory in Education, by Joseph Zanoni
  • AERA Postcolonial Studies and Education SIG: Business Meeting, by Joseph Zanoni 

[Click here to access the articles of the issue.]