Academia and Social Justice: Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship & Arab Studies Institute Second Annual Conference (11 – 13 March 2016)

8.30 – 9:00

Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship Arab Studies Institute

Second Annual Conference (March 11 – 13, 2016)

Academia and Social Justice Crown Plaza Hotel, Beirut

Agenda

Introductions and welcome panel

1. Fadlo Khuri, President, American University of Beirut (AUB)

2. Bassam Haddad, George Mason University & Arab Studies Institute

3. Fateh Azzam, Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship, AUB

9.00 – 11:00 Panel 1: Academia and political society

Moderator: Omar Dewachi, AUB

1. Ala Alazzeh, Birzeit University - Knowledge in a Colonial Space.

2. Alan Sears, Ryerson University - Infrastructure of dissent.

3. Sari Hanafi, AUB - The Demise of Public Life of Arab Academics: The case of writing

   op-eds in Lebanese newspapers.

4. Coralie Pison Hindawi, AUB - The role of Academia in Individual R2P

11.00 – 11.30 Break

11.30 – 1.00 Panel 2: Academia and the marketplace

Moderator: Nadya Sbaiti, AUB

1. Mudar Kassis, Birzeit University - Do universities contribute to the consolidation

   of contemporary slavery?

2. Corinna Mullin, University of Tunis & SOAS - Global neoliberal governance and

   higher education: power and resistance in post-uprising Tunisia

3. Tory Bryklaksi, University of California-Davis - Organized labor as a form of

   strategic resistance against the privatization of the academy

1.00 – 2.30 Lunch

2.30 – 4:00 Panel 3: Are public universities expressions of social justice?

Moderator: Nahla Chahal, As-Safir Al-Arabi Weekly Supplement

1. Rehab Sakr, Cairo University - ‘Free University Education, the Quality of the

   ‘Product’ and the changing meaning of social justice: The Egyptian experience

   from 1950s until now.’

2. Nahla Abdel Tawab, Salma Abou Hussein, and Tarek Alam El Din, Population

   Council - The Cost of ‘Free’ University Education in Egypt: Analyzing evidence of

   equity in access.

3. MennatuAllah Hendawy, Ain Shams University - Does Academia reinforce socio-

spatially just designs?

4.00-4.30 Break

4.30 – 6:00 Panel 4: The active role of students

Moderator: Aya Adra, Red Oak Club, AUB

1. Mohamed Baba Mohda, Université Internationale du Sahel - When students

   impose social justice through democratic means

2. Mohammed Aljssem, Damascus University - Academic alienation in Syrian

   universities and the Syrian social movement

3. Pankhuri Dasgupta, Centre for Women’s Studies - ‘Occupy UGC’ – A closer look at

   student movements in India in 2015

9.00 – 10.30 Panel 5: Academic organizing in Lebanon

Moderator: Sawsan Abdulrahim, AUB Faculty United, AUB

1. Emile Shaheen, Author, formerly Lebanese University - The role of faculty and

   students in the birth of the Lebanese University

2. Jacques Kabbanji, Contemporary Arab Affair, Lama Kabbanji, Research Institute

   for Development, and Hala Awada, researcher - The university public space and

   the protest movement experience in Lebanon.

3. Makram Rabbah, Georgetown University - Beyond the Gilded Walls: AUB and the

   World Around it

10.30 – 11.00 Break

11.00 – 1:00 Panel 6: Advocating for Palestine in Western academic Institutions

Moderator: Steven Salaita, AUB

1. Brenna Bhandar, SOAS - The Big Chill: Charities law and the politics of BDS

   activism in UK universities.

2. Rafeef Ziadah, SOAS - Silencing Dissent on Campus: the case of Israeli Apartheid

   Week’

3. Max Ajl, Cornell University - Opening Spaces for Speech: Organizing against

   backlash

4. Tareq Radi, Georgetown University - Repression Through Reform: The Student

   Handbook as a Living Document

1.00 – 2.30 Lunch

2.30 – 4:00 Town Hall meeting; Guided open discussion Moderators: Fateh Azzam, Bassam Haddad, Rania Masri

DAY TWO – Saturday March 12

4.00 – 4.15 Mini-Break

4.15 – 5.30 Panel 7: The University and Beyond: Power, Ethics and Academic Freedom

Moderator: Seteney Shami, Arab Council for the Social Sciences

1. Eileen Kuttab, Birzeit University – Gender, Equity, and Social Justice in the

   University

2. Ramy Aly, American University in Cairo (AUC) – Academic Freedom between the

   University and the State

3. Perla Issa, Institute for Palestine Studies – Reflections on conducting research

   with Palestinian refugees in Lebanon

9.30 – 11.00 Panel 8: Pedagogy and social justice

Moderator: Elie el Hindi, Notre Dame University

1. Rabab Abdulhadi, San Francisco State University - Resisting the New

   McCarthyism: Palestine Studies and Justice-Centered Knowledge

2. Sabiha Allouche, SOAS - No Longer Caught Between Two Worlds: Towards a

   Decolonized Feminist Research in the Middle East

3. Gregory Shupak, University of Guelph -Teaching Media and the Middle East in a

   Western University

11.00 – 11.30 Break

11.30 – 1:00 Panel 9: Schools and alternative models

Moderator: Fateh Azzam, Asfari Institute for Civil Society and Citizenship, AUB

1. Mike Orr, University of Edinburgh, and Samer Annous, University of Balamand -

   Linguistic Imperialism, identity, and English medium instruction in Lebanon

2. Ghada Feghali, Mmkn Association - Pedagogy for social justice: The experience of

   Mmkn

3. Sawsan El Sherif, AUC - Learning and knowledge-based society: the Community

   Universities

1.00 – 2.30 Lunch

2.30 - 4.00 Closing Panel: Publicly Engaged Scholarship

Moderator: Huda Zurayk, AUB

1. Patrick McGreevy, AUB - The idea of university autonomy and the challenges of

   the 21st century

2. Ahmad Dallal, AUB - The role of public intellectuals in the changing landscape of

   higher education

3. Bassam Haddad, George Mason University & Arab Studies Institute - Context,

   opportunities and limits

DAY THREE – Sunday, March 13