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.