Call for Papers | America’s Game in the Middle East: The 2027 Qatar Basketball World Cup

Friends playing basketball

The Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at Georgetown University in Qatar, in partnership with Professor Danyel Reiche, invites scholars from around the world to submit an abstract to study U.S. engagement in the Middle East through the lens of basketball and the development of the American Game in the region. This project will adopt a multidisciplinary approach and explore a wide range of cultural, economic, political, and social issues. Themes will include, but are not limited to: the origins of the game in the Middle East and the role America played in this process; basketball and its role in Middle Eastern societies; the importance of the Middle East as a market for the American professional basketball league, the NBA, and for the global growth of basketball; Middle Eastern ownerships and sponsorships in American basketball; how American basketball shapes Middle Eastern cultures (language, clothes, etc.); naturalized American basketball players in Middle Eastern national teams; Middle Eastern basketball players in the NBA and U.S. College sports; women’s basketball development in the Middle East, such as the lifting of the discriminatory Hijab ban in FIBA in 2017; the role of basketball in major migrant communities in the Middle East; the motives of Qatar as a small state to host the 2027 FIBA men’s World Cup; amongst other potential topics.

It is expected that the edited volume/special issue emerging from this project will be of great interest to scholars working on American relations with the Middle East, the globalization of basketball and sport in the Middle East, as well as the general public.

For more information and background on the project, click here.

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