APSA MENA Workshops

• Virtual Research Methods for MENA Politics: scholars are invited to register to attend one (or more) of the online seminar sessions starting May 12. This is an effort to support scholars who are currently reconsidering how and when to do fieldwork or adopt data collection techniques that are more suitable to the virtual environment. There are 13 guest speakers scheduled across 5 thematic sessions.

• 2021 Virtual summer workshops: early-career scholars based in or from the MENA region are invited to apply for one of two summer MENA workshops. The deadline to apply for both workshops is May 31, with workshops taking place in July/August. Below are synopsis of both workshops

1.       “Studying Public Opinion in MENA” – The workshop will discuss the growing body of research that use surveys, experiments, and/or focus groups to understand what MENA populations think and want on a wide range of issues, from gender to conflict to religion to democracy. For more information, see the Call for Applications, and you can submit your application here.

2.       “Visuality and the Creation of Liminal Spaces in MENA” - The workshop will examine the everyday “politics of presence” as practiced by ordinary people within public spheres across the MENA region after the Arab uprisings. We seek to explore how power is produced and reproduced within society, how citizens engage in political expression even in repressive contexts, and how these practices use public spaces as sites of meaning-making. Applicants need not be already familiar with the literature on liminality and visuality, as the workshop will be centered around exploring the literature and developing research projects. For more information, see the Call for Applications, and you can submit your application here.