We are excited to have the Arab Studies Institute`s (ASI) projects and initiatives debut at MESA this year, and we would like to invite all Jadaliyya, Arab Studies Journal, and Tadween Publishing readers, Status/الوضع listeners, and Political Economy researchers to our booths at MESA:
M E S A B O O K E X H I B I T 
We have a lot to celebrate this year in terms of knowledge production. Besides Jadaliyya`s five-year anniversary (more here), we have a number of initiatives that have matured or bore fruit of late.
Our latest issue of the Arab Studies Journal was just released this week, a mammoth double issue with 458 pages of stellar scholarly articles and reviews (more here).
Tadween Publishing is releasing two new volumes, one of which will be available at our booth (Critical Voices, a collection of incisive and broad ranging interviews, a treasure for educators as well as lay readers). See MESA Program ad below. And Status/الوضع, our audio journal, is releasing its one-year anniversary issue this weekend! Stay tuned.
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Our most recent initiative has been years in the making, and was incidentally intended to be what Jadaliyya has become. We held off for five years, dug deep into our networks, and built the infrastructure for what is now a recent but robust Political Economy Project, based on a network of critical researchers in the field of political economy, working/living in the United State, the Middle East, Europe, and beyond, as well as on the efforts of a growing cohort of active individuals, organizations, and University units.
This Saturday, at 3pm, we are holding an inaugural reception in the Columbine Room (Tower Building, Terrace Level). See MESA Program ad below. Please join us as we introduce the project and celebrate the concurrent book launch of two of our members. There will be coffee, but no cookies! [The hotel charges $4 per cookie. We could not conceptualize/stomach this expense, so we are asking you to bring your own cookie or other stimulants]. You may access the (Beta) website by clicking on the image below, where you can take a peek at our own and co-sponsored workshops, our Book Prize Competition, and our Pedagogy Initiatives, which include a Political Economy Summer Institute for rising researchers.
On the research and workshops front, our research arm FAMA (Forum on Arab and Muslim Affairs) has been quite busy this past year with a number of research projects run by corresponding teams and individuals, mostly in the region, but also beyond. The wide range of topics addressed is a function of several years of preparation and networking. Our website is still embryonic, but includes a good deal of the initiatives mentioned above.
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Finally, the last initiative we will be introducing at MESA is by far our largest, but so far our most invisible. For nearly six years now, we have been working at ASI on what we are calling the Knowledge Production Project. This project aims at gathering, organizing, and providing the tools for analyzing nearly all knowledge produced on the Middle East in the English language since 1979, primarily for the benefit of researchers and students. The project is open-source, and will be ready for public release in Beta form in 2016. Progressively, we will be sharing more about the contours of the project, which will include a nifty interface, user accounts, and various research tools and data visualizations that bring together what is now accessible on multiple platforms. The seven searchable databases are: Peer-Reviewed Articles, Books, Dissertations, Translated books, Think-Tank papers, Films/Documentaries/TV Shows, and Websites. More soon! If you are interested in this project, contact us at info@KnowledgeProduction.com.
We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible at MESA, either at our Booths (20 & 21) or at the inaugural reception for the Political Economy Project on Saturday (21 November at 3pm in Columbine Room).
Onwards.
ASI Team
Political Economy Project Inaugural Reception
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Tadween Publishing
www.TadweenPublishing.com
