Arab Studies Institute at MESA 2019 Recap

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Nov 26, 2019
Arab Studies Institute at MESA 2019 Recap

Arab Studies Institute at MESA 2019 Recap

By : Jadaliyya Co-Editors

The Arab Studies Institute is pleased to share with you the details of our participation at the 2019 Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Conference. The conference was held from 14 November - 17 November in New Orleans, Louisiana. The Arab Studies Institute’s presence was evident and widely felt throughout MESA. The larger MESA community was able to interact with the ASI team during many of the panels and important side meetings. 

In addition to the thirteen sessions featuring ASI personnel, ASI co-sponsored two special sessions. The special sessions were titled:  “Feminist Conversation on Current Uprisings in the Middle East,” and “Uprisings Across Iraq, Lebanon, and Sudan.” Both special sessions were exceptionally engaging and some of the best-attended events of the weekend. Recordings of the sessions will be published soon on jadaliyya.com.

MESA attendees also engaged more directly with ASI by stopping at our booth at the Book Bazaar. Those who visited the booth were excited to learn more about ASI’s projects and publications. Importantly, the weekend provided an opportunity for ASI team members from around the world to connect with one another. Reconnecting allowed for productive strategizing sessions and discussions of how to best develop ASI, both internally and externally, such as the stellar Global Academy Project where ASI is a partner with MESA and other institutions, working with and supporting endangered scholars.  ASI’s recent developments were also shared with the larger MESA community at ASI’s reception and dance party, leaving a positive and energizing impression within our broader network and MESA audience.

Below is a breakdown of ASI’s activities at MESA.

ASI PANELS


                 


Special Session: Uprisings Across Iraq, Lebanon, and Sudan

This year ASI co-sponsored two special sessions. The first session was titled, “Special Session: Uprisings Across Iraq, Lebanon, and Sudan.” The panel, featuring Jadaliyya Co-Editors Nadya Sbaiti and  Ziad Abu Rish, compared and contrasted the various uprisings unfolding across the region. It also featured Khalid Medani (Co-Editor of Jadaliyya’s Sudan Page in-the-making) who addressed the Sudan uprising and Zahra Alie of Rutgers who addressed the Iraqi uprising.

                  

Special Session: Feminist Conversation on Current Uprisings in the Middle East

ASI also cosponsored a session titled, “Feminist Conversation on Current Uprisings in the Middle East.” The conversation, organized by Jadaliyya Co-Editor Maya Makdishi, created a space for MESA participants to discuss feminists’ participation and demands during the recent uprisings. 

                       

ASI BOOK BAZAAR BOOTH


Our booth at the Book Bazaar proved to once again be a hit among the conference’s many attendees. Throughout the weekend, attendees stopped by to learn more about ASI’s many projects, such as the Knowledge Production Project, Middle East Studies Pedagogy Initiative, and Status Audio Magazine. Many attendees also purchased copies of our latest Tadween publications, including the Arab Studies Journal Fall 2019 Issue and the JadMag Spring 2019 Issue. 

                                         

ASI RECEPTION


The ASI reception on Saturday the 16th was both an awesome celebration of all that ASI has accomplished in the past year, as well as a peek into the many exciting projects that will be rolled out in 2020. The excitement in the room was palpable as we announced the launch of Jadaliyya’s Gender and Sexuality Page, organized by Maya Mikdashi and the Sudan Page, organized by Khalid Medani. Tadween Publishing also introduced the upcoming JadMag Pedagogy Issue. 

                

Announcing the Arab Studies Journal’s Fall 2019 Issue 

At the ASI reception, the Arab Studies Journal Editor, Sherene Seikaly, announced the  Arab Studies Journal Fall 2019 issue. We are proud to feature another collection of insightful articles that are theoretically rich and empirical grounded. Get your hands on a new copy of ASJ at Tadweenpublishing.com.

Celebrating Jadaliyya

In the fall of 2019, Jadaliyya is celebrating its ninth anniversary! During the reception, Jadaliyya Co-Editor Ziad Abu Rish highlighted Jadaliyya’s many accomplishments in this past year. Not least of which was the launch of the Iran page and the expansion of the Refugees and Migrants Page. Looking toward the year ahead, Jadaliyya Co-Editor Maya Mikdashi announced the Gender and Sexuality Page on Jadaliyya. Co-founding Editor Bassam Haddad then announced Jadaliyya’s forthcoming Sudan Page. Both pages will be launched in 2020! 


                            

Middle East Pedagogy Initiative’s (MESPI) Teaching Modules Presentation

MESPI’s Coordinator and Associate Editor, Mekarem Eljamal, informed the audience of the project’s inaugural conference for its founding Board and Team, which was held in June 2019, where a number of its projects were launched. Eljamal highlighted the development of MESPI’s  Secondary Education Module. MESPI’s founding Editor, Bassam Haddad then addressed the development of MESPI’s Teaching Modules on salient topics and on particular countries that receive short shrift, both of which will become available gradually starting in 2020.

JadMag Issue Spring 2019

Jonathan Adler, Managing Editor of Tadween Publishing, then announced the publication of the JadMag Spring 2019 Issue. Adler also unveiled plans to produce a thematic JadMag centered around pedagogy. He also addressed the publication of the third Syria QuarterlyReport, which chronicles important developments in Syria on a weekly basis and curates significant writing/articles on Syria from across the globe, in Arabic and in English.

Showcasing Status Audio Magazine 

Jadaliyya’s Nadya Sbaiti and Abdullah al Arian presented a synopsis of “The Nerdiest Show on the Internet.” The two also introduced Status Issue 6.2, which features content relevant to Jadaliyya’s new  Iran page, as well as a large number of interviews, lectures, panels, and videos that address current developments in the region.

                      

Rogue Stealth Dance Party

While the official MESA dance party was canceled, Executive Director of ASI Bassam Haddad, DJ’d a Rogue Stealth Dance Party. ASI and MESA attendees danced the night away to the tune of global beats and revolutionary chants. 

PANELS FEATURING ASI TEAM MEMBERS


ASI team members continued a tradition of heavy involvement in the many panels, roundtables, and conversations featured at MESA this year. Thirteen of this years’ sessions featured contributions by ASI team members. The sessions provided a fantastic opportunity for members of ASI’s community to learn about and engage with one another's research. 

This session above was held around Jadaliyya’s Syria Page Co-Editor Lisa Wedeen’s book, Authoritarian Apprehensions (University of Chicago Press, 2019), where another Co-Editor of that page, Bassam Haddad was among the six scholars who discussed the book.

Other panels featuring ASI Team Members include: 

Race in the Middle East 

Thursday, 14 November, 5:30 PM

Organized by Sherene Seikaly 

  • Chair: Sherene Seikaly, UC Santa Barbara 
  • Sophia Azeb, University of Chicago 
  • Eve Troutt, University of Penn 
  • Marc Lamont Hill, Temple U

Women in Lebanon: From Late Colonialism to Early Independence 

Thursday, 14 November, 5:30 PM

Organized by Ziad M. Abu-Rish and Nova Robinson 

  • Chair: Tsolin Nalbantian, Leiden University 
  • Nadya J. Sbaiti, AUB
  • Sana Tannoury-Karam, Arab Council for Social Sciences
  • Ziad M. Abu-Rish, Ohio University
  • Nova Robinson, Seattle University

Articulating Community and Inter-confessional Interactions across the Middle East and North Africa

Friday, November 15, 8:00 AM

Organized by Richard Antaramian and Murat C. Yildiz 

  • Chair: Michelle U. Campos, University of Florida 
  • Discussant: Lior B. Sternfeld, Penn State University
  • Sinem Adar, Humboldt University
  • Richard Antaramian, University of Southern California
  • Chris Silver, McGill University

Infrastructure and Power: Oil, Water, Energy

Friday, November 15, 8:00 AM

Organized by Owain Lawson and Natasha Pesaran

  • Shima Houshyar, CUNY Graduate Center
  • Natasha Pesaran, Columbia University
  • Katayoun Shafiee, University of Warwick
  • Noura Wahby, University of Cambridge
  • Owain Lawson, Columbia University

Mapping Islam in Middle America

Friday, November 15, 8:00 AM

Organized by Camila Pastor de Maria y Campos, Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economicas 

  • Miguel Fuentes Carreno, UC Santa Barbara 
  • Brittany Dawson, UC Berkeley
  • Mariam Saada, UCLA

Lisa Wedeen’s Authoritarian Apprehensions: Ideology, Judgment, and Mourning in Syria 

Friday, November 15, 10:15 AM

Organized by Danny Postel 

  • Chair: Danny Postel, Northwestern University
  • Anne-Marie McManus, Washington U St. Louis
  • Paul Amar, UC Santa Barbara 
  • Lisa Wedeen, University of Chicago 
  • Suad Joseph, UC Davis 
  • Bassam Haddad, George Mason University
  • Timothy Mitchell, Columbia University
  • Brinkley Messick, Columbia University 
  • Lori Allen, SOAS University London

The Question of Palestine in American and Ethnic Studies

Organized by Bayan Abusneineh 

Friday, November 15, 12:30 PM

Sponsored by Arab American Studies Association 

  • Chair: Sherene Seikaly, UC Santa Barbara 
  • Tamar Ghabin, SOAS University London
  • Tareq Radi, NYU
  • Bayan Abusneineh, UC San Diego
  • Loubna Qutami, UC Berkeley

Special Session-Hirak - Algeria’s New Revolution? 

Friday, November 15, 12:30 PM

Organized by Robert P. Parks and James McDougall 

  • Robert P. Parks, Centre d’Études Maghrébines en Algérie 
  • James McDougall, Trinity College, University of Oxford 
  • Malika Rahal, Institut d’histoire du temps présent (CNRS) 
  • Muriam Haleh Davis, UCSC

The Neoliberalization of the University

Friday, November 15, 2:45 PM

Organized by Joshua Stacher and Sherene Seikaly, UC, Santa Barbara 

  • Chair: Joshua Stacher, Kent State University
  • Omar Dahi, Hampshire College
  • Joel Beinin, Stanford University
  • Maya Mikdashi, Rutgers University

Muslim Youth and Sports

Friday, November 15, 5:00 PM

Organized by Terrence Peterson and Gwyneth Talley 

  • Discussant: Murat C. Yildaz
  • Terrence Peterson, Florida International University
  • Paul Silverstein, Reed College
  • A. George Bajalia, Columbia University
  • Gwyneth Talley, UCLA

After the Colonial Turn: Middle East Studies and Challenges of Theory 

Saturday, November 16, 3:00 PM

Organized by Muriam Haleh Davis 

  • Chair: Aaron G. Jakes, The New School 
  • Anthony Alessandrini, Kingsborough Community College CUNY 
  • Hussein A H Omar, University College Dublin 
  • Naghmeh Sohrabi, Brandeis University
  • Muriam Haleh Davis, UC Santa Cruz

Our participation at MESA would not be possible without the support of our Jadaliyya readership. We look forward to continuing to develop the Arab Studies Institute in order to best suit the needs and interests of readers like you. 
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Past is Present: Settler Colonialism Matters!

On 5-6 March 2011, the Palestine Society at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London will hold its seventh annual conference, "Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine." This year`s conference aims to understand Zionism as a settler colonial project which has, for more than a century, subjected Palestine and Palestinians to a structural and violent form of destruction, dispossession, land appropriation and erasure in the pursuit of a new Jewish Israeli society. By organizing this conference, we hope to reclaim and revive the settler colonial paradigm and to outline its potential to inform and guide political strategy and mobilization.

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is often described as unique and exceptional with little resemblance to other historical or ongoing colonial conflicts. Yet, for Zionism, like other settler colonial projects such as the British colonization of Ireland or European settlement of North America, South Africa or Australia, the imperative is to control the land and its resources -- and to displace the original inhabitants. Indeed, as conference keynote speaker Patrick Wolfe, one of the foremost scholars on settler colonialism and professor at La Trobe University in Victoria, Australia, argues, "the logic of this project, a sustained institutional tendency to eliminate the Indigenous population, informs a range of historical practices that might otherwise appear distinct--invasion is a structure not an event."[i]

Therefore, the classification of the Zionist movement as a settler colonial project, and the Israeli state as its manifestation, is not merely intended as a statement on the historical origins of Israel, nor as a rhetorical or polemical device. Rather, the aim is to highlight Zionism`s structural continuities and the ideology which informs Israeli policies and practices in Palestine and toward Palestinians everywhere. Thus, the Nakba -- whether viewed as a spontaneous, violent episode in war, or the implementation of a preconceived master plan -- should be understood as both the precondition for the creation of Israel and the logical outcome of Zionist settlement in Palestine.

Moreover, it is this same logic that sustains the continuation of the Nakba today. As remarked by Benny Morris, “had he [David Ben Gurion] carried out full expulsion--rather than partial--he would have stabilised the State of Israel for generations.”[ii] Yet, plagued by an “instability”--defined by the very existence of the Palestinian nation--Israel continues its daily state practices in its quest to fulfill Zionism’s logic to maximize the amount of land under its control with the minimum number of Palestinians on it. These practices take a painful array of manifestations: aerial and maritime bombardment, massacre and invasion, house demolitions, land theft, identity card confiscation, racist laws and loyalty tests, the wall, the siege on Gaza, cultural appropriation, and the dependence on willing (or unwilling) native collaboration and security arrangements, all with the continued support and backing of imperial power. 

Despite these enduring practices however, the settler colonial paradigm has largely fallen into disuse. As a paradigm, it once served as a primary ideological and political framework for all Palestinian political factions and trends, and informed the intellectual work of committed academics and revolutionary scholars, both Palestinians and Jews.

The conference thus asks where and why the settler colonial paradigm was lost, both in scholarship on Palestine and in politics; how do current analyses and theoretical trends that have arisen in its place address present and historical realities? While acknowledging the creativity of these new interpretations, we must nonetheless ask: when exactly did Palestinian natives find themselves in a "post-colonial" condition? When did the ongoing struggle over land become a "post-conflict" situation? When did Israel become a "post-Zionist" society? And when did the fortification of Palestinian ghettos and reservations become "state-building"?

In outlining settler colonialism as a central paradigm from which to understand Palestine, this conference re-invigorates it as a tool by which to analyze the present situation. In doing so, it contests solutions which accommodate Zionism, and more significantly, builds settler colonialism as a political analysis that can embolden and inform a strategy of active, mutual, and principled Palestinian alignment with the Arab struggle for self-determination, and indigenous struggles in the US, Latin America, Oceania, and elsewhere.

Such an alignment would expand the tools available to Palestinians and their solidarity movement, and reconnect the struggle to its own history of anti-colonial internationalism. At its core, this internationalism asserts that the Palestinian struggle against Zionist settler colonialism can only be won when it is embedded within, and empowered by, the broader Arab movement for emancipation and the indigenous, anti-racist and anti-colonial movement--from Arizona to Auckland.

SOAS Palestine Society invites everyone to join us at what promises to be a significant intervention in Palestine activism and scholarship.

For over 30 years, SOAS Palestine Society has heightened awareness and understanding of the Palestinian people, their rights, culture, and struggle for self-determination, amongst students, faculty, staff, and the broader public. SOAS Palestine society aims to continuously push the frontiers of discourse in an effort to make provocative arguments and to stimulate debate and organizing for justice in Palestine through relevant conferences, and events ranging from the intellectual and political impact of Edward Said`s life and work (2004), international law and the Palestine question (2005), the economy of Palestine and its occupation (2006), the one state (2007), 60 Years of Nakba, 60 Years of Resistance (2009), and most recently, the Left in Palestine (2010).

For more information on the SOAS Palestine Society 7th annual conference, Past is Present: Settler Colonialism in Palestine: www.soaspalsoc.org

SOAS Palestine Society Organizing Collective is a group of committed students that has undertaken to organize annual academic conferences on Palestine since 2003.

 

[i] Patrick Wolfe, Settler Colonialism and the Transformation of Anthropology: The Politics and Poetics of an Ethnographic Event, Cassell, London, p. 163

[ii] Interview with Benny Morris, Survival of the Fittest, Haaretz, 9. January 2004, http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/art.php?aid=5412