Upcoming Summer Workshops, July 15-18 2019, Cambridge, UK

Posted on Posted in Announcements, Conference Announcements & Calls for Proposals

The following workshops may be of interest to members of our community. If you are interested in knowing more, kindly contact the respective workshop organizer(s) below. Note that the Jan. 20 deadline is coming soon.

  1. Emerging Challenges in International Relations and Transnational Politics of the GCC
  2. Re-engaging with the Gulf Modernist City: Heritage and Repurposing Practice
  3. Quotidian youth cultures in the Gulf Peninsula: changes and challenges

Workshop 1: Emerging Challenges in International Relations and Transnational Politics of the GCC

Over the past 18 months, the geopolitically critical Gulf region has been adjusting to new political, social, economic, and security realities. Traditional understandings of politics in the region – a preference for gradualism, for example – have been challenged by the emergence of a new generation of GCC rulers, who seek to establish legitimacy through ambitious new development or foreign policy regimes. New regional realignments and a stronger rejection of Iranian external interference from the US Administration has also shifted the political and strategic environment in which the GCC states operate. Simultaneously, migration patterns, the transnational diffusion of culture and ideas, and the interconnected nature of social and religious networks in the Gulf have been repurposed by economic development strategies that include a focus on foreign direct investment, global diversification of sovereign wealth fund assets, and the generation of soft power through ownership of traditional and new media outlets. These changes suggest a reassessment of the state of International Relations and its various sub-fields as applied to the Gulf region is needed.

Within this context, this workshop will offer new insights into the international and transnational relationships that shape contemporary Gulf polities. The selected papers will highlight the interdisciplinary nature of research on international politics in the Gulf region, drawing from political economy, critical security studies, anthropology, geography, political science, and sociology. They will challenge traditional distinctions between domestic and international spheres, revealing the transnational spread of ideologies, security perceptions, and political attitudes.

The ultimate purpose of this workshop is to publish a collective volume edited by both workshop directors as well as Dr. Courtney Freer. The edited book will be based on the individual papers presented at this workshop and at a previous workshop which took place at the MESA Conference 2018. We intend this volume to represent some of the best scholarship on the interconnectivity between the domestic, transnational, and international spheres.

Paper proposal due January 20, 2019; if accepted, full paper due May 15, 2019. Partial travel subsidy offered to accepted papers.

Please contact workshop directors Dr Jessie Moritz (jessie.moritz@anu.edu.au) or Dr Emma Soubrier (esoubrier@hotmail.fr) for further details.

 

Workshop 2: Re-engaging with the Gulf Modernist City: Heritage and Repurposing Practice

Long-time neglected architectural and artistic productions of the modernization era in the Gulf are now at the centre of a renewed interest. In the last decade, a series of initiatives were launched to understand, analyse and re-engage with the once-modern city, which meanwhile lost its pivotal function and meaning. A city within a bigger city, the urban fabric produced in the Gulf during the modernization era has the potential to narrate the social growth, as well as the East-West dynamics typical of the region and citizens’ memories of a recent past. Lately, media reported the news of preservation policies to be issued for the architecture of the second half of the 20th century. What future can be envisioned for the Gulf modern heritage? The workshop invites qualitative and quantitative contributions that will look at this compelling topic from a cross-country perspective pondering the cultural, historical and sociodemographic aspects of possible repurposing actions.

(Full workshop description at
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__grm.grc.net_index.php-3Fpgid-3DNjk-3D-26wid-3DMTYx-26yr-3D2019&d=DwIFaQ&c=nE__W8dFE-shTxStwXtp0A&r=n-Tpg2QkkSuKJUE_Iydtyw&m=wuTR4H6dHlOSuSL3Oq7ZZqn1KGRP16gSMryAo6hnPXw&s=Vm8w8VF9NBG7KF7IHr-noFYh70cfPa2Lql96AZkdK5Q&e=)

Abstracts of 500-1000 words (in English) shall be submitted by January 20 to the following link:
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__grm.grc.net_index.php-3Fpgid-3DMw&d=DwIFaQ&c=nE__W8dFE-shTxStwXtp0A&r=n-Tpg2QkkSuKJUE_Iydtyw&m=wuTR4H6dHlOSuSL3Oq7ZZqn1KGRP16gSMryAo6hnPXw&s=-PudWD7FLlwmH2_Z-uCZ44SAAVqXNjfxyFunC7CSGRQ&e=

The best papers presented at the workshop will be considered for an edited volume.

The workshop directors:  Sultan Sooud al Qassemi and Roberto Fabbri

 

Workshop 3: Quotidian youth cultures in the Gulf Peninsula: changes and challenges

The youth bulge registered in the Middle East in the past decade reveals how youth is becoming a crucial resource in the area. Described in world media primarily in terms of radicalisation or political mobilisation, youth is ambivalently torn between opportunity and challenge. In the Gulf Cooperation Countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and UAE) young people enjoy an extensive welfare system, can access the latest technological advances, live in a globalised culture and display international consumption patterns. However, they have been affected by the drop of oil prices, have been hit by unemployment, and are experiencing challenges in terms of education opportunities and housing availability. Their demands for social and political change display potential instability, as evidenced by the uprisings in the region. Moreover, governments have alternated increased security measures and tighter provisions with ad hoc youth programmes to foster creativity, entrepreneurship and inclusiveness.

The workshop intends to interrogate quotidian youth cultures in the past decade, seeking to contribute to Gulf Studies by complicating and questioning the continuity with the literature; investigating the implications on Khaleeji identity construction and wider social, cultural and political processes; examining from a multi-disciplinary perspective the relationship with dominant narratives in a globalised society; complicating the framework of opposition and resistance. In so doing, the workshop will bring a critical perspective on quotidian youth cultures in the GCC, unpacking the ambiguities and contradictions, and contextualising an under-researched topic.

The submission deadline for abstracts is January 20th through the following page:

 http://grm.grc.net/index.php?pgid=Mw

 The best papers presented at the workshop will be considered for a journal special edition or an edited volume, depending on the number of submissions. The conference organisers also provide participants with a lump sum towards travel expenses.

The workshop directors are: Emanuela Buscemi, University of Monterrey (Mexico) and Ildiko Kaposi, Gulf University for Science and Technology (Kuwait)