Arab Studies Institute at 2023 MESA Conference: Panels & Presentations

Arab Studies Institute at 2023 MESA Conference: Panels & Presentations

Arab Studies Institute at 2023 MESA Conference: Panels & Presentations

By : Jadaliyya Reports

The Arab Studies Institute is pleased to showcase the below selection of panels, roundtables, and presentations from the 2023 Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association (MESA), being held from 2-5 November. The list contains panels organized by, or those featuring as presenters, discussants, and chairs, members of the Arab Studies Institute and its various projects.

Please note that as per MESA rules, audience members must be registered for the conference. This year, MESA has a sliding scale for conference registration for existing MESA members (which they can self-select options).

Join us for our reception on Thursday (4 November) at 6:30 PM. Under the current circumstances the reception will also be a space to converse and be in solidarity.

The Sisi Regime and the Limits of Authoritarian Upgrading in Egypt

Thursday, 2 November at 3:00 PM 


Prof. Joel Beinin 
-- Discussant, Chair
Dr. Dina Shehata -- Organizer, Presenter
Dr. Erin Snider -- Presenter
Dr. Hesham Sallam -- Organizer, Presenter
Dr. Adel Iskandar -- Presenter

Alternative Sovereignties

Friday, 3 November at 8:30 AM


Dr. Asli Bali 
-- Presenter, Discussant
Mr. Omar Shehabi -- Organizer, Presenter
Lily Hindy -- Presenter
Kian Tajbakhsh -- Presenter

Lebanese Studies: Current Stakes, Future Possibilities, and Ethical Commitments

Friday, 3 November at 11:00 AM


Dr. Nadya J. Sbaiti 
-- Presenter
Dr. Ziad M. Abu-Rish -- Presenter
Dr. Andrew Arsan -- Organizer, Presenter, Chair
Dr. Owain Lawson -- Presenter
Dr. Diala Lteif -- Presenter
Munira Khayyat -- Presenter

Collaborative Field Building in Amazigh/Berber Studies: Academia and Community in North Africa

Friday, 3 November at 11:00 AM


Dr. Paul Silverstein 
-- Presenter
Dr. Ellen Amster -- Organizer, Presenter, Discussant, Chair
Dr. Katherine E. Hoffman -- Presenter
Dr. Nabil Boudraa -- Presenter
Dr. Brahim El Guabli -- Presenter
Manaal Alsabagh -- Presenter

 

Courts and Constitutional Law in MENA

Friday, 3 November at 11:00 am 

 

Unearthing Capitalism: Social-Environmental Histories of Resource Extraction and Resistance

Friday, 3 November at 1:30 PM


Dr. Brahim El Guabli 
-- Presenter
Dr. Rebecca Gruskin -- Organizer, Presenter
Dr. Mattin Biglari -- Discussant
Deren Ertas -- Organizer, Presenter, Chair
Mark Drury -- Presenter

Multi-Dimensional Threats to Academic Freedom

Friday, 3 November at 1:30 PM


Dr. Laurie Brand -- Presenter, Chair
Dr. Eve Troutt Powell -- Presenter
Dr. G. Carole Woodall -- Presenter
Dr. Asli Bali -- Organizer, Presenter
Dr. Ziad M. Abu-Rish -- Presenter
 

Unwinding Empires: Crisis Management and Fantasies of Power in the Late Colonial Middle East

Friday, 3 November at 1:30 PM


Prof. Michael Provence 
-- Presenter
Elizabeth Williams -- Presenter
Dr. Sara Pursley -- Discussant, Chair
Dr. Aaron G. Jakes -- Presenter
Charles Anderson -- Organizer, Presenter

US-Gulf Cultures of Empire

Friday, 3 November at 1:30 PM


Michael Christopher Low 
-- Presenter
Dr. Neha Vora -- Organizer, Co-Author, Chair
Dr. Andrea Wright -- Presenter
Dr. Natalie Koch -- Organizer, Presenter
Dr. Karine Walther -- Presenter
Danya Al-Saleh -- Presenter
 

Rethinking Turkey: Politics of Method and Analysis of the Republic’s First Century

Friday, 3 November at 1:30 PM


Dr. Asli Z. Igsiz
-- Organizer, Presenter
Dr. Gunes Murat Tezcur -- Presenter, Co-Author
Ms. Evren Savcı -- Presenter
Dr. Banu Bargu -- Presenter
Dr. Nilay Ozok Gundogan -- Discussant, Chair
Serra Hakyemez -- Presenter

Roundtable on Gender, Nation, Emigration and the State: A Tribute to Laurie Brand

Friday, 3 November at 4:00 PM


Prof. Zachary Lockman
-- Presenter
Dr. Mark A. Tessler -- Presenter
Dr. Beth Baron -- Presenter
Dr. Miriam R. Lowi -- Organizer, Chair
Dr. Asli Z. Igsiz -- Presenter
Dr. Nadejda Marinova -- Presenter
Dr. Hania Abou Al-Shamat -- Presenter
Youssef Chouhoud -- Presenter

Rethinking Critical Security Studies

Friday, 3 November at 4:00 PM 


Prof. Omar Dahi
-- Presenter
Dr. Sami Hermez -- Organizer, Discussant
Zahra Babar -- Presenter
Dr. Noha Aboueldahab -- Presenter
Haya Al-Noaimi -- Presenter 
 

Gender Studies and Feminism at MESA: Taking Stock of the Field

Friday, 3 November at 4:00 PM


Prof. Sondra Hale 
-- Presenter
Prof. Nadje Al-Ali -- Organizer
Dr. Maya Mikdashi -- Presenter
Dr. Hanan H. Hammad -- Presenter
Dr. Asli Zengin -- Presenter
Dr. Zahra Ali -- Presenter
 

New Directions in the History and Politics of Labor in Lebanon

Saturday, 4 November at 8:30 AM 


Dr. Ziad M. Abu-Rish 
-- Discussant, Chair
Mr. Zachary Cuyler -- Organizer, Presenter
Anna Reumert -- Presenter
Samuel Dinger -- Presenter
China Sajadian -- Presenter

Beyond Case Study and Exception: the Middle East and North Africa

Saturday, 4 November at 8:30 AM


Dr. Sherene Seikaly
-- Organizer, Presenter
Ms. Muriam Haleh Davis -- Presenter
Tareq Radi -- Presenter
Julia Elyachar -- Presenter

The Law Is the Law, Sometimes: Interdisciplinary and Transnational Approaches to Legal Studies in and on the Middle East

Saturday, 4 November at 8:30 AM 


Dr. Lisa Hajjar
-- Presenter
Dr. Asli Bali -- Organizer, Chair
Dr. Maya Mikdashi -- Organizer, Presenter
Ms. Noura Erakat -- Presenter

SWANA Contributions to Feminist Theory

Saturday, 4 November at 11:00 AM


Dr. Nadya J. Sbaiti 
-- Presenter
Dr. Maryam Griffin -- Presenter
Dr. Nova Robinson -- Organizer, Presenter
Dr. Susanna Ferguson -- Presenter
Dr. Sara Rahnama -- Discussant
Mr. Alborz Ghandehari -- Presenter
Dr. Kara A. Peruccio -- Presenter
Lila Sharif -- Presenter

Geographies of Domination and Dispossession in Palestine

Saturday, 4 November at 11:00 AM


Dr. Kimberly B. Katz
-- Presenter
Dr. Jasmin Habib -- Chair
Mekarem Eljamal -- Presenter
Mr. Atwa Jaber -- Presenter
Yair Agmon -- Presenter
Chloé Chbat -- Presenter

Threats to Academic Freedom in the Middle East

Saturday, 4 November at 3:00 PM


MESA’s BDS Vote and the Question of Palestine

Saturday, 4 November at 5:30 PM


Ms. Noura Erakat
-- Chair
Ms. Samia Al-Botmeh -- Discussant
Prof. Abdel Razzaq Takriti -- Discussant
Dr. Maya Wind -- Organizer, Presenter
Nadia Abu El-Haj -- Presenter
Rafeef Ziadah -- Presenter
 

Alt-Ac and Graduate School: A Conversation about Bringing Alt-Ac into the Graduate School Experience

Sunday, 5 November at 8:30 AM


Mekarem Eljamal 
-- Presenter
Ms. Kylie Broderick -- Organizer, Presenter
John Jamil Kallas -- Presenter
Janina Santer -- Organizer, Presenter

Specters of Economic Growth: Trade, Banking, and National Development

Sunday, 5 November at 8:30 AM


Mrs. Cihan Tekay Liu
-- Presenter
Mr. Dimitrios Stergiopoulos -- Presenter
Mr. Sertac Sen -- Presenter
Prof. Bashar Malkawi -- Presenter, Chair

New Approaches to the Political Economy and Environmental History of Ottoman Greater Syria

Sunday, 5 November at 11:00 PM


Dr. Resat Kasaba
-- Presenter
Dr. Sherene Seikaly -- Presenter
Elizabeth Williams -- Presenter
Dr. Samuel Dolbee -- Organizer, Presenter
Nora Barakat -- Presenter
Huricihan Islamoglu -- Presenter 

Sports, Resistance, and Inter-National Solidarity: The Case of Palestine

Sunday, 5 November at 11:00 PM


Dr. Abdullah Al-Arian
-- Presenter
Ms. Kathryn Kalemkerian -- Organizer, Presenter
Ha Dong -- Presenter
Hillary Kipnis -- Presenter 

New Legal Histories of the Late Ottoman Empire

Sunday, 5 November at 1:30 PM


Nora Barakat
-- Presenter
Lale Can -- Presenter
Dr. Aimee Genell -- Presenter
Dr. Camille Cole -- Organizer, Presenter
Dr. Youssef Ben Ismail -- Organizer, Presenter

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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