MENA Think Tank Roundtable: Improving Relevance and Impact at a Time of Mounting Global Uncertainty
2023-02-04 08:00 - 2023-02-05 17:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
On February 4-5, 2023, CIRS hosted a roundtable discussion for a group of think tank representatives that operate in and produce policy research on the Middle East and North Africa region. Over the course of two days, representatives around the table discussed challenges, opportunities and possible areas for collaboration as a way forward. The roundtable was convened by the Middle East Council for Foreign Affairs (Qatar) and the Issam Fares Institute at the American University of Beirut.

CURA Research Skills Workshop: Designing a Research Question
2023-02-09 13:00 - 16:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
On February 9, 2023, the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) hosted a research skills workshop titled “Designing a Research Question.” The workshop was presented in collaboration with the Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South (#IAS_NUQ) at Northwestern University in Qatar (NUQ), under the auspices of the CIRS Undergraduate Research Advancement (CURA) program. Twenty-three undergraduate students from GU-Q and NU-Q attended the workshop, which was led by Dr. Clovis Bergère, Assistant Director for Research at #IAS_NUQ.

“The biggest takeaway I had from this workshop is how to always include the biographical context in my research and how it goes a long way in helping me structure my questions.”
– Workshop participant

Bergère opened the workshop by posing a question about the idea of “designing” a research question. When talking about research questions, it is difficult to articulate exactly what one does to arrive at an effective research question – do you build, create, develop, write, craft, stumble upon? Bergère compared the process of arriving at a research question to that of cooking. You may be able to follow a recipe, but there is also a craft that two different chefs may bring to creating the dish that will result in two very different dishes, despite them being based on the same recipe. Similarly, Bergère stated that there is an element of recipe-following when devising a research question, but there is another less tangible element that can’t be captured in a “recipe.” It is this less tangible element that the workshop meant to address, and to give students the opportunity to work through the process with their peers.

As if following a recipe, a research question should be all the following: clear; focused; concise; complex; arguable; not too broad, not too narrow; not too easy to answer, not too difficult to answer; researchable; and analytical rather than descriptive. Bergère points out that while the above criteria seem straight-forward, it is difficult to find guidance on how to arrive at a research question with these criteria. Bergère shared excerpts from two books that have helped him to approach research: The Sociological Imagination, by C. Wright Mills (1959) and The Art of Listening, by Les Back (2007). Bergère explained that the prior book helps us to grasp history and biography and the relations between the two in society. The latter book shaped Bergère’s understanding of the work or the craft of research, and that it involves imagination. Bergère argues that both are needed in order to develop a research question that is meaningful to the researcher, and to others.

Taking this idea further, Bergère suggests three sorts of questions that can help researchers get to their question: what is the structure of this particular society as a whole?; Where does this society stand in human history?; and, What varieties of people now prevail in this society and in this period? Any of these three questions can be a starting point for thinking about a particular research topic and determining the perspective with which to approach it.

Finally, Bergère encouraged students to bring their personal experiences into the process and offered the frames of “troubles” and “issues” to relate their personal experiences to a research topic. Bergère explains that “troubles” occur within the character of the individual and within the range of their immediate relations with others. “Issues” then have to do with matters that transcend the local environment of the individual and the range of their inner life. With these two frames in mind, one can approach a research topic and begin the work of imagining a research question.

“…going forward I will think a lot about the historical and biographical” components of a research question.
– Workshop participant

The last half of the workshop was devoted to hands-on activities and group work. Students were asked to think of a research topic that was interesting to them. In the first activity, students described the topic, what brought them to the topic (their own “trouble” with it), and some key words about the topic. Students shared their work with their peers, and with feedback honed their ideas.

In the second activity, students used their imagination to write several questions related to the topic, considering the three types of questions Bergère suggested during the presentation. Students shared their questions, and also ordered them from broadest to narrowest. Working with their group, students provided feedback on their questions based on the criteria discussed at the beginning of the workshop. The workshop concluded with a reflection activity.

Article by Elizabeth Wanucha, CIRS Operations Manager

Strategic Timing in the Appearance of News: Evidences from Scandals on U.S.Politicians
2023-02-12 18:00 - 19:00 (Europe/Moscow) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
Speaker: Lamis Kattan, Georgetown University in Qatar

Location: CIRS Conference Room, Georgetown University in Qatar

Dr. Lamis Kattan received her Ph.D. in economics from the University of Ottawa in Canada. She is an applied micro-economist and her fields of research broadly fall under labor economics, political economy, public economics, and population economics. She joined Georgetown University in Qatar as an assistant professor of Economics in Fall 2022 where she has been teaching various courses including statistics, econometrics, and research methodologies.

Narratives of Language Landscapes in Qatar: The Language Landscape in Qatar - Workshop I
2023-02-19 08:00 - 17:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
On February 19–20, 2023, the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) hosted a roundtable workshop titled “Language Landscapes of Qatar.” The two-day workshop was the first meeting under the “Narratives of Language Landscapes in Qatar” research initiative led by GU-Q faculty member, Yehia A. Mohamed. The aim of the workshop was to identify understudied areas of research in the field of linguistics of the Arabic language, particularly pertaining to spoken Arabic in Qatar.

The first session was moderated by Dr. Hadeel Al-Khatib, Associate Professor of Educational Sciences at Qatar University. In this session, scholars gave three presentations: “A Non-Najdi Element in Qatari Arabic,” “Historical Linguistic Trends in Gulf Arabic,” and “Mapping the Scholarship on Qatari Arabic and the Language Situation in Qatar.”

Dr. Eiman Mustafawi, Associate Professor of English Literature and Linguistics, and Vice President for Student Affairs at Qatar University, presented one of the features of the Qatari spoken Arabic dialect, noting that it could be considered a trace of a non-Najdi substrate dialect. Qatari Arabic belongs to the group of northeast Arabian dialects, which originated in Najd. However, there is a feature unique to Qatari Arabic—singular demonstrative terms for “this” do not distinguish gender, whereas other northeast Arabian dialects do distinguish between the grammatical masculine and feminine form of “this.” Mustafawi calls this feature gender neutralization of the singular demonstrative in Qatari Arabic. In particular, she has observed that the feminine form of the word is used, regardless of the grammatical gender of the word it refers to. The participants discussed the possible causes of such a dialectical feature, which is the subject of Mustafawi’s research as the initiative moves forward.

Dr. David Wilmsen, a Professor at the American University of Sharjah, presented on the historical linguistic trends in Gulf Arabic. Scholars have “bundled” unique features of Arabic dialects and mapped them geographically in a “broken chain” along the periphery of the Arabian Peninsula. Wilmsen’s presentation focused on the gaps along the “broken chain,” one of them being Qatar as a geographic area, and highlighted where his research may fill those gaps for Qatari Arabic. In the group discussion, the scholars provided examples from their own experiences, noting differences between Arabic speakers in different countries, in proximity to populations speaking another dialect, and also within the same country but of different tribal backgrounds.

In the final presentation of session one, Dr. Yehia Mohamed, Associate Professor of Arabic at GU-Q, and Dr. Muntasir Al Hamad, Associate Professor of Arabic for Non-Arabic Speakers at Qatar University, exhibited their extensive work compiling scholarship on Qatari Arabic. A tremendous feat, the compilation will serve as an incredibly useful tool for any scholar conducting research on Arabic dialects. In the group discussion, scholars traded ideas and suggestions on how the corpus of data could be presented in physical and digital formats for maximum utility.

Dr. Yehia Mohamed talking about the Workshop on Alarabi TV

Session two was moderated by Elizabeth Wanucha, CIRS Operations Manager. In this session, two presentations, “Qatari Arabic Vowel Systems,” and “Sound Changes in Qatari Arabic,” provided an in-depth analysis of sounds unique to Qatari Arabic dialects.

Mark Shockley, a Ph.D. candidate at Leiden University, presented his in-depth work studying Qatari Arabic vowel systems. His study examined if and how Qatari Arabic speakers distinguished between certain vowel sounds appearing in specific contexts. One instance he studied is vowels that are paired with certain Arabic letters pronounced in the back of the throat. In spoken Arabic, this “backness” is reflected in the accompanying vowel. In some Arabic dialects, the consonant determines the vowel to some extent, and certain vowels only occur with certain consonants. If appearing outside of this context, a listener might have issues distinguishing the word. The other instance he studied is the pronunciation of the final vowel in specific contexts. Shockley argues that these vowel sound features seem to be unique to the Qatari dialect of Arabic, which points to further areas of research as this project continues.

The final presentation of the day also examined sound changes in Qatari Arabic. Dr. Vladimir Kulikov, Associate Professor of Linguistics at Qatar University, presented other features unique to Qatari Arabic dialects. His study complements that of Shockley, in that he also looks at the “backness” of vowels. However, he also made an important note of sound differences with the consonants that are pronounced at the back of the throat. In addition to the “backness” of these consonants, they are also characterized by the degree to which the speaker emits a puff of air when pronouncing the consonant sounds. This is called aspiration. Kulikov argues that Qatari Arabic dialects have two unique features related to aspiration and “backness” of these vowels and consonants. For the vowels, Qatari Arabic dialect speakers pronounce the long vowel “a” in a more “back” way than in other dialects. When paired with these “backed” consonants, the vowels are “more backed” than in other contexts. For the “backed” consonants, in most other dialects, “backed” consonants are spoken with very little air emission (aspiration). In the Qatari Arabic dialect, speakers seem to emit more air when pronouncing the “backed” consonants than in other dialects.

Kulikov argues that for Qatari Arabic, the level of aspiration on the consonant in this context is more important than the “backness” of the vowel, which is not the case in other dialects. For example, if a Qatari Arabic speaker hears two similar words, one with a backed vowel and aspirated consonant, and one with a backed vowel and not-so-aspirated consonant, the listener will determine those to be the same word. Whereas in other dialects, those two words would be considered different words due to the difference in aspiration and the difference in the “backness” of the vowel. In the group discussion, scholars debated potential reasons these features developed, and in which population of Qatari Arabic speakers these features are more prominent.

The third session, on day two of the workshop, was moderated by Dr. Christine Schiwietz, Assistant Dean for Curricular and Academic Advising at GU-Q. In this session, presentations covered the topics “Beyond the Question of ‘Arabic or English?’ in Qatar,” “Helping Students Respond to the Linguistic Expectations of Analytical and Argumentative Writing in the Disciplines,” and “The Narrative of Qatari Global Identity as Civic Epistemology: Hospitality, Arts, and Interculturalism.”

Dr. Dudley Reynolds, Senior Associate Dean of Education and Full Teaching Professor of English at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, presented on “Beyond the Question of ‘Arabic or English?’ in Qatar.” His presentation centered around two ideas: the way we speak relates to where we come from in society; and, how we look at language is a product of where we come from. Qatar has experienced a range of policies related to use of English and Arabic in schools, public signage, and elsewhere. Reynolds explained how in multilingual societies, such as Qatar, language choice often becomes a competition, with one language “winning.” This can be seen playing out in media, on government websites, in schools, and even on public signs. In the field of linguistics, this environment taken as a whole is known as a “linguistic landscape,” which, in a diverse society such as Qatar, can be quite complex.

The Scaffolding Literacy in Academic and Tertiary Environments Qatar (SLATEQ) project team presented on their work helping undergraduate students meet the writing expectations for their coursework. The team includes three faculty members at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q): Dr. Silvia Pessoa, Teaching Professor of English; Dr. Thomas D. Mitchell, Associate Teaching Professor of English; and, Dr. Pia Gomez-Laich, Assistant Teaching Professor of English. With funding from the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), the team has spent four years collecting student writing and used the material to adapt the “3×3 Learning Toolkit” (Humphrey et al., 2010) to the fields of study at CMU-Q. The 3×3 model considers a written text’s ideational meanings (representing knowledge), interpersonal meanings (aligning readers), and textual meanings (organizing texts) within the whole text, parts of the text, and sentences/clauses within the text. The team has used this model in writing workshops they offer to students, and they also embed themselves in courses with faculty partners.

The final presentation of this session was given by Dr. Wisam Abdul-Jabbar, Visiting Professor at Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU). Abdul-Jabbar’s presentation covered “The Narrative of Qatari Global Identity as Civic Epistemology: Hospitality, Arts, and Interculturalism.” He started by reviewing the state of citizenship education in Qatar at present. In Qatar’s highly multicultural setting, even local Qatari citizenship as an identity has taken on internationalized and globalized facets. Abdul-Jabbar explored this through three components: hospitality, arts, and interculturalism. As the project moves forward, Abdul-Jabbar will examine the following research questions: to what extent and under what conditions does hospitality to foreigners define the responsibilities of Qatari citizens? Is there a Qatari architectural global identity, and what does it tell us about Qatari civics? Which Qatari and Islamic ethics, customs, values, and practices qualify as intercultural?

The final session of the two-day workshop covered “Other Languages in Qatar and their Relationship with Arabic,” and “The Linguistic Landscape of Public Signage in Qatar.” Dr. Irene Theodoropoulou, Associate Professor of Linguistics at Qatar University, moderated the session.

Dr. Andrei Avram, Professor of English Linguistics at the University of Bucharest, Romania, presented on other languages in Qatar, and suggested potential areas of further study. According to Avram, Qatari Arabic and other Arabic dialects only constitute approximately twenty-eight percent of the languages spoken in Qatar. The majority of other languages are Asian, including Bengali, Farsi, Hindi, Indonesian, Malayalam, Nepalese, Urdu, and others. The other non-Arabic, non-Asian languages spoken in Qatar, including English, constitute only twelve percent of the languages spoken in Qatar. Farsi, Urdu, and Hindi have even contributed words to the Gulf Arabic lexicon. Another interesting component of the Qatari language landscape is what is termed Gulf Pidgin Arabic and Arabic Foreigner Talk, which are often spoken among communities that do not share a common language. With the spread of English to Gulf countries, Avram also suggested the areas of Arabic-English code-switching, New Englishes, and Pidgin English as further areas of research.

Dr. Rizwan Ahmad, Associate Professor of Linguistics at Qatar University, and Dr. Sara Hillman, Assistant Professor at Texas A&M University in Qatar, gave the final presentation on the use of language on public signs in Qatar. Following a screening of his 20-minute documentary, Ahmad described the sociolinguistic context within which Qatari dialect spellings were used on street signs. Notably, many street signs in Qatar are written in Arabic script, which mirrors Qatari Arabic dialect pronunciations instead of the expected Standard Arabic ones. Ahmad highlighted how the use of nonstandard Arabic spelling displays a complex interplay of language, script, identity, and migration. The documentary shows how supposedly “incorrect” spellings on street signs serve as visual icons that mark public spaces as Qatari. They showcase Qatari identity and heritage as distinct from other Arabic-speaking societies. Ahmad and Hillman’s presentation complemented that of Dudley Reynolds, and also touched on language policy for public signs. How shopkeepers choose to display Arabic and English on their signs forms an important part of the language landscape for the populations living in that area.

In the wrap-up session, Dr. Yehia Mohamed led a group discussion to explore the next steps for the project. As part of the research initiative, the group aims to compile at least one written publication, with further digital components published online. A second workshop will take place in fall 2023 to study the sociolinguistic narratives in Qatar.

Article by Elizabeth Wanucha, CIRS Operations Manager

To view the working group agenda, click here

To read the participants’ biographies, click here

Read more about this research initiative

Participants and Discussants:

Wisam Kh. Abdul-Jabbar, Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU).

Rizwan Ahmad, Qatar University

Muntasir Fayez Al Hamad, Qatar University

Hadeel Al-Khatib, Qatar University

Andrei Avram, University of Bucharest

Zahra Babar, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar

Robert Bianchi, VCUarts Qatar

Julie Boéri, Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU).

Abdelrahman Elsharqawy, Osaka University

Deborah Giustini, Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU).

Pia Gomez-Laich, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar

Sara Hillman, Texas A&M University at Qatar.

Vladimir Kulikov, Qatar University

Suzi Mirgani, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar

Thomas D. Mitchell, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar

Yehia A. Mohamed, Georgetown University in Qatar

Eiman Mustafawi, Qatar University

Silvia Pessoa, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar

Dudley Reynolds, Carnegie Mellon Unive,rsity in Qatar

Christine Schiwietz, Georgetown University in Qatar

Mark Shockley, American University of Sharjah

Irene Theodoropoulou, Qatar University

Elizabeth Wanucha, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar

David Wilmsen, American University of Sharjah

Wajdi Zaghouani, Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU).

CURA Spotlight: Kyoko Matsukawa
2023-03-05 13:00 - 14:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
Speaker: Kyoko Matsukawa (Konan University)

Moderator: Aashish Karn (Georgetown University in Qatar, Class of 2023)

Location: CIRS Conference Room, Georgetown University in Qatar

On March 5th 2023, CIRS organized its first CURA Spotlight roundtable event of the semester with Dr. Kyoko Matsukawa, Professor in the faculty of Letters and the Director in General of the Konan International Exchange Center at Konan University in Kobe, Japan. The workshop was offered under the CIRS Undergraduate Research Advancement (CURA) Program, and was moderated by a CURA Student Assistant, Aashish Karn. Elizabeth Wanucha, the Operations Manager of CIRS, opened the event with a description of the CURA Spotlight initiative and introduced the moderator. The session, then, progressed into a brief introduction of the guest speaker, Dr. Matsukawa and the structure of the event by Aashish. The moderator and the guest speaker had a discussion for the first half of the session and then moved on to taking questions from the audience. The moderator initiated the discussion by inquiring about the graduate education experience of Dr. Matsukawa. Aashish began by asking Dr. Matsukawa about her research interests and how she became interested in anthropology. Given the expertise of the guest speaker in anthropological research in South Asia and the Gulf, the discussion was directed by a series of questions from the moderator which focused on Dr. Matsukawa’s experience in conducting ethnographic fieldwork in the region. The discussion also focused on Dr. Matsukawa’s experience in conducting ethnographic research among the Goan population in India and gaining a deeper understanding of the challenges and opportunities of conducting fieldwork in a cross-cultural context. During the event, Dr. Matsukawa shared some of her key findings and reflections on the research process, including the methods she used to build arapport with the local community, navigate cultural differences, and document her participant observations. Dr. Matsukawa also answered a set of questions on her research interests on the transnational community and citizenship of Indian expatriates. The Spotlight event concluded with a question about Dr. Matsukawa’s future research plans. Finally, the event progressed into a Q&A session where the moderator took questions from the audience for the guest speaker which were centered around the research of the speaker. In the engaging Q&A session with Dr. Matsukawa, students asked various questions about her research, the broader scholarship her research deals with, and her own experience on the role ofethnography in contemporary anthropological studies.

Reflections on the World Cup 2022 and the Role of Sport in Qatar's Future Development
2023-03-06 08:00 - 17:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
In this panel, we reflect on how the World Cup impacted Qatar’s politics and society and its relations with other nations in the region and internationally. We also discuss the role of sport in Qatar’s future development.

Moderator: Suzi Mirgani (Center for International and Regional Studies, Georgetown University in Qatar)

Panelists: Danyel Reiche (Georgetown University in Qatar), Alexandra Chalat (Qatar Foundation), and Zaid Mosawy (Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy).

Location: CIRS Conference Room, Georgetown University in Qatar

2023-03-08 12:39 (Asia/Qatar)
مجموعة العمل 1عن تاريخ العالم وممارسات الاسلاموفوبيا

08 AUG 2022 – 09 AUG 2022 17:00 – 19:30

في 8 و 9 أغسطس 2022، نظم مركز الدراسات الدولية والإقليمية أول اجتماع بحثي في ​​إطار مبادرته حول تاريخ العالم وممارسات الإسلاموفوبيا. عقد الاجتماع كحدث افتراضي عبر الإنترنت، بمشاركة علماء من مختلف المواقع الجغرافية. يهدف الاجتماع إلى مناقشة مقترحات الملخصات المقدمة، والتي تم التماسها من خلال دعوة لتقديم الأوراق وتقديمها من قبل العلماء المدعوين. ناقش الأكاديميون والخبراء المجتمعون من خلفيات متعددة التخصصات القضايا المتعلقة بالتحامل العالمي على الإسلام بما يتجاوز مسألة الحرب على الإرهاب والخوف والكراهية للإسلام والمسلمين بعد 11 سبتمبر.

بدأت المحادثة من قبل “آن نورتون”، التي جادلت أنه على الرغم من اعتماد الفكر السياسي الغربي على الفلسفة الإسلامية، إلا أنه غالبًا ما كان يُنظر إليه على أنه محو للملامح في تصوير شخصي متراكم تشكله طبقات التأثيرات والمحو هذه يخفي ويكشف عن مكانة الفكر الإسلامي، الفلسفي والديني، في الدين والفلسفة الغربية. الهدف من هذه الورقة هو العمل على توضيح الآثار التأسيسية لهذا النص. إلى جانب عزل الفكر الإسلامي في السياسة والفلسفة، ستوضح الورقة كيف قام الغرب بتقييد جوانب تحقيقاته الفكرية الخاصة. تقوم نورتون بتشخيص آثار استقرار التنوير التي منعت كلا من المشاركة الكاملة في التفكير في الإلوهية في الغرب.

حوّل سلمان سيد المناقشة إلى مسألة ظهور دولة الإسلاموفوبيا. وقال إن هناك حاجة لتوسيع أطر الجغرافيا وتعميق مجال التاريخ لفهم الإسلاموفوبيا. غالبًا ما يُفهم المصطلح على أنه مشكلة تنطبق على الأقليات المسلمة ولكن ليس على الدول ذات الأغلبية المسلمة. نشوء دولة معادية للإسلام، وهي شكل محدد من أشكال الدولة، لها مجموعة مميزة من المؤسسات والعمليات الإدارية وتغطي نطاقا متسعا من الأشكال السياسية. فالدولة المعادية للإسلام لا تستهدف فقط التعبيرات عن الإسلام ولكن في جهودها لتأديب المسلمين، تبني نظامًا دوليًا للمراقبة والتقييد، والذي يمكن تطبيقه بسهولة على الفاعلين الاجتماعيين الآخرين. تهدف الورقة إلى شرح ظهور الدولة المعادية للإسلام كمشروع لإعادة صياغة العقود الاجتماعية وإعادة تشكيل العلاقات بين المحكومين والحكام. أثارت حفصة كانجوال مسألة تقرير المصير فيما يتعلق بالاسلاموفبيا في كشمير التي تحتلها الهند. وذكرت أن تطور الإسلاموفوبيا في الهند هو نتيجة مشتركة لكل من الأيديولوجيات العلمانية الليبرالية والهندوسية. فبينما تُستخدم العلمانية في الهند لنزع الطابع السياسي عن الهوية الإسلامية بالقوة، يرى داعمو دولة الهندوس المسلمين على أنهم تابعون للهوية الهندوسية للأمة. باستخدام كشمير المحتلة كمثال، تبحث الورقة في كيفية استبعاد أهمية الإسلام من بين فئات الدولة الحديثة وكيف تحاول الدولة تقويض النشاطات الإسلامية وتقرير المصير. كانت الحجة الرئيسية هي أن الطابع الأساسي للقومية الهندية هو معاداة الإسلام، والذي لا يمحو فقط العلامات الإسلامية في الأماكن العامة ويقبل بالعنف والتعصب تجاه المسلمين كأمر طبيعي، ولكنه ينظر أيضًا إلى مطالبة المسلمين بالسيادة أو تقرير المصير بريبة ورفض ضمن نظام الدولة القومية العلمانية الليبرالية. ثم وجهت شيرين فرنانديز التحويل لفحص البحر كمسرح لممارسات الإسلاموفوبيا. وتقول إن هناك فجوة في الأدبيات تتجاهل دراسة كيفية استخدام البحر كمساحة لممارسة الإسلاموفوبيا. ولسد هذه الفجوة، ستنظر ورقتها في الممارسات التاريخية لنقل السجناء المسلمين ، من قبل البريطانيين في خمسينيات القرن التاسع عشر ، إلى مستعمرة عقابية تستخدم كمنفى في جزر أندامان على متن سفن وتدرس تجاربهم كمدانين استعماريين. سيربط الجزء الأخير من الورقة هذا التاريخ بالاسلاموفوبيا التي عانى منها المعتقلون في خليج غوانتانامو خلال الحرب على الإرهاب بعد 11 سبتمبر. ومن خلال هذه المساهمة، تهدف فرنانديز إلى استكشاف مركزية البحر كموقع يديم إضفاء الطابع المكاني على الإسلاموفوبيا كما يتجلى في نماذج معاملة السجناء المسلمين.. تناولت مناقشة أولي شاربونو دور الإسلام ومظاهر الإسلاموفوبيا في الفلبين المستعمرة من عام 1899 إلى عشرينيات القرن الماضي. وجادل بأن التفكير المتحيز عن المسلمين في المنطقة هو نتيجة لخطابات عديدة. أدى ذلك إلى سيطرة ممنهجة على السكان المسلمين من خلال العنف العسكري والهيمنة الثقافية والسياسية. تهدف ورقة شاربونو إلى دراسة المواد الأرشيفية من العلاقات الخارجية للولايات المتحدة، والدراسات الفلبينية؛ ودراسات جنوب شرق آسيا الإسلامية لتوضيح الأفكار الأمريكية المعاصرة حول المجتمعات الإسلامية وأفعالها. استخدام جنوب الفلبين كدراسة حالة سيهدف شاربونو أيضًا إلى تقديم الإسلاموفوبيا في جنوب شرق آسيا كمجموعة من المعتقدات وليس كممارسة موحدة.

قاد فالنتين دوكيه النقاش حول الإسلاموفوبيا في الأدب الاستعماري الاستيطاني “الجزائري” الذي ظهر في النصف الأول من القرن العشرين. خلال هذه الحقبة، كانت الجزائر منطقة تابعة للجمهورية الفرنسية. بتحليل ثلاث روايات من فترة ما بين الحربين كأرشيف تاريخي، ستبحث ورقته في تمثيل المواطن المسلم، والذي يشرح دوكيه أنه المفتاح لفهم الإسلاموفوبيا في ظل الاستعمار الفرنسي وكذلك حلها الوحشي بعد بضعة عقود. في هذه الروايات، غالبًا ما يتم إهمال الشخصيات الإسلامية واستبعادها إلى الخلفية أو محوها أو استبدالها بشخصيات “بربرية” غالبًا ما تكون مسيحية أو وثنية أو متوسطية غامضة. ويقول إن هذا المحو دليل على العنف الرمزي للاستيعاب الفرنسي الذي أنكر حتى اسم “جزائري” من بين المسلمين المغاربيين.

ناقش علي الصمدي دور الإسلام الإسباني وسلط الضوء على معالجة أدب الموريسكيين في الدراسات الأكاديمية. يجادل الصمدي بأن الإسلام ينظر إليه من قبل العلماء المستشرقين على أنه دين مستورد وليس جزءًا من الثقافة والتراث الإسباني الأصلي. وفي ورقته البحثية، يلقي الصمدي الضوء على الرفض السياسي الحالي للاعتراف بلغة الموريسكين وأدبهم المتجذر بعمق في الممارسات الماضية. ويوضح تحليله كيف كان منحى القرنين التاسع عشر والعشرين وفهمه للموريسكيين بأنهم كانوا متحيزين ويظهر الروابط الأدبية والثقافية بين أدب موريسكو والمؤلفين الإسبان المعاصرين التي تعكس التأثيرات عبر الأديان الفريدة التي تقتصر على شبه الجزيرة الأيبيرية.

حول فيرات أوروش تركيز المناقشة إلى الإسلاموفوبيا في تركيا والخوف من الإسلام في العصر الجمهوري التركي. روى أوروش أنه بعد زوال الإمبراطورية العثمانية، زعمت النخب التأسيسية الكمالية والمثقفون الأتراك أن الإسلام هو “ضائقة روحية” كان على الأمة التركية أن تتعافى منها. تصور مفهومهم لتركيا الحديثة إضفاء الصبغة الغربية على قومية الدولة. كان يُنظر إلى العصر العثماني على أنه قمع للشعب التركي وللقيم الثقافية التركية، حيث يُنظر إلى الإسلام على أنه التهديد الرئيسي لظهور تركيا كدولة جمهورية حديثة. ومن خلال فحص النصوص الثقافية والأدبية التركية، يهدف أوروش إلى استكشاف المظاهر والمؤشرات التاريخية للخوف من الإسلام وآثاره في تركيا وأيضًا إلى دراسة كيف يمكن أن تتكرر بعض النماذج المماثلة من الإسلاموفوبيا في المجتمعات ذات الأغلبية المسلمة الأخرى.تطرق توماس سيمزاريان دولان إلى مسألة “المال العربي” والرأسمالية العالمية. جادل دولان أنه في الخطاب الاقتصادي الانتقائي، يُنظر إلى المسلمين على أنهم فاعلون اقتصاديون غير عاديين. وصرح دولان بأن هذا الشكل من الإسلاموفوبيا يعتمد على نظرية الاستشراق التي تعمقت خلال الحرب الباردة، وتصف المسلمين بأنهم يشكلون تهديدًا أمنيًا للنظام المالي الغربي الذي يحتاج إلى انضباط اقتصادي وسياسي. إضافة إلى العمل الحالي للعلماء مثل ديبا كومار ومصطفى بيومي ومحمود معمداني، يهدف دولان وشريكته في التأليف زينب قادري إلى استكشاف هذه السلسلة من الإسلاموفوبيا من خلال تتبع الاقتصادات السياسية العابرة للحدود الوطنية التي يتدفق فيها رأس المال العالمي والأشخاص. يتم تحجيمها في وقت واحد.

سلطت منيزة رضوي الضوء على الخلافات حول وصف النضال الفلسطيني بأنه “قضية إسلامية”. ركزت على الأصوات التي، من ناحية، تنتقد روايات المستشرقين التي تصور إنشاء إسرائيل على أنه عداء بين المسلمين واليهود، ومن ناحية أخرى، تشير إلى أن التسمية “إسلامية” تستبعد بالضرورة الأطر التحليلية الأخرى للموضوع، مثل الاستعمار الاستيطاني. تدفع رضوي بأن الافتراضات العلمانية حول السياسة والدين تبني هذه النقاشات العادية، بالإضافة إلى المسارات الأكاديمية الموازية في دراسات الشرق الأوسط.وجه فريد حافظ المناقشة نحو الجغرافيا السياسية للإسلاموفوبيا وذكر أن فكرة الإسلام السياسي قد استخدمت من قبل الحكومات الوسطية في أوروبا لاستبعاد المسلمين من المجال العام، وإسكات الأصوات الناقدة، وقمع الجاليات المسلمة. هذا الخطاب هو امتداد للرواية حول مكافحة التطرف والحرب العالمية على الإرهاب. يهدف حافظ إلى دراسة كيف أن محاولات إسكات المسلمين تتجاوز الغرب. باستخدام عدسة جيوسياسية، وينظر في محاولات الإمارات لتشكيل الخطاب حول تدجين المسلمين في أوروبا ومصالح الولايات المتحدة وإسرائيل في قمع حماس. ويحاول رسم الروابط والاختلافات بين هذه الممارسات والإسلاموفوبيا في أوروبا.شارك عبد الله العريان أفكار سانوبر عمر حول تكوين العرق والدين في الهند الاستعمارية وما بعد الاستعمار. تم تشجيع المشاركين على النقاش حول قضايا مثل؛ المواقف الاستعمارية السائدة تجاه الإسلام في الهند، واستخدام الدين للتمييز بين الهندوس والمسلمين على أنهم “أعراق” منفصلة، والنظر إلى المسلمين على أنهم خطرون وبربريون مقارنة بالهندوس الذين يمكن إشراكهم في النظام الاستعماري البريطاني.يأخذ المشاركون التعليقات البناءة التي تلقوها على ملخصاتهم ويبدأون في كتابة مسودات الأوراق، والتي سيتم تعميمها على المجموعة قبل الاجتماع الثاني لمجموعة العمل. في الاجتماع اللاحق، سينتقد العلماء أوراق بعضهم البعض ويقدمون تعليقات متعمقة.

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المشاركون والمناقشات

• عبدالله العريان جامعة جورجتاون في قطر• علي الصمادي ـ جامعة إنديانا بلومنجتون ـ الولايات المتحدة• زهرة بابار ، مركز الدراسات الدولية والإقليمية – جامعة جورجتاون في قطر• مسبا بهاتي ، مركز الدراسات الدولية والإقليمية – جامعة جورجتاون في قطر• أولي شاربونو ، جامعة جلاسكو• توماس سيمزاريان دولان ، الجامعة الأمريكية بالقاهرة• فالنتين دوكيتيس ، جامعة تكساس في أوستن• شيرين فرنانديز ، كلية لندن للاقتصاد والعلوم السياسية• فريد حافظ جامعة جورجتاون• حفصة كنجواليس من كلية لافاييت• سوزي ميرغني ، مركز الدراسات الدولية والإقليمية – جامعة جورجتاون في قطر• آن نورتون ، جامعة بنسلفانيا

المقال بقلم ميسبا بهاتي، محللة بحثية بمركز الدراسات الدولية والاقليمية

Global Histories and Practices of Islamophobia Workshop II
2023-03-12 08:00 - 17:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
On March 12 and 13, 2023, the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) organized a second research meeting under its research initiative, Global Histories and Practices of Islamophobia. The aim of the two-day meeting was to discuss and provide extensive feedback on written contributions from scholars and experts on the subject. The convened scholars presented papers on a variety of issues such as islamophobia and Orientalism, settler colonialism, global capitalism, Islamic identity, and Islamic and Western thought among others.

Anne Norton opened the discussion with her paper, “Reading the Palimpsest: The Erasure, Exile, and Elision of Islamic Thought in Western Philosophy.” Norton argued that the contributions of Muslim philosophers in Western political thought and philosophy are often erased. The foundational role played by figures such as al-Farabi, Ibn Rushd, and Ibn Sina in shaping Western philosophy is excluded from the Western canon. She stated that this erasure can be traced back to enmity, shame, and the European insistence on civilizational dominance. Her paper examines the palimpsest formed by these erasures and states that philosophic and political exclusions can be better understood through the recovery and reparation of Islamic thinkers and philosophers.

Salman Sayyid then presented his paper, “Islamophobia and Worldmaking.” He stated that islamophobia is a type of racism that specifically targets perceived “Muslimness.” It is a concept that has taken different forms and expressions over time and context and plays out at different horizons. With this paper, Sayyid challenges the dominant framing of islamophobia as primarily a result of the War on Terror and argues that it is a product of the colonial-racial venture of Europe/West, along with antisemitism and racism. The chapter details the history and definition of the term islamophobia, and the nature of the phenomenon itself as well as discusses the various global proposals and policies put forward for its reduction.

In the next session, Hafsa Kanjwal discussed her piece, “Against Muslimness: Islamophobia in Indian-occupied Kashmir.” She narrated that in the case of Indian-occupied Kashmir both secular liberalism and Hindu nationalist ideology converged in producing islamophobia. The chapter proposes that islamophobia must be recognized as a denial and regulation of “Muslimness.” This, she argues includes not only practices of islamophobia in sites where public markers of Muslim difference are erased or violence and bigotry towards Muslims are normalized, but also in places where Muslim histories of indigeneity, demands for self-determination, or expressions of solidarity, are seen with suspicion or rejected altogether as being dangerous to the liberal, secular nation-state order.

Shifting the focus to “Islamophobia and the Sea,” Shereen Fernandez traced how the sea and bodies of water have become sites of abuse and torture for racialized Muslims and detailed how characterizations of Muslims as ‘fanatics’ and ‘violent’ is not a new phenomenon arising from the War on Terror but have a deeper and more global history. Using the Indian Mutiny of 1857 and the treatment of Indian Muslims specifically, alongside the treatment of detainees at Guantánamo Bay at the height of the War on Terror, as case studies Fernandez aims to examine how Muslims were characterized and the impacts this has had on the continued abuse and labeling of these convicts as the “Other.” By focusing on seascapes through the forced transportation of Muslims across seas to penal colonies and prisoners, this chapter amplifies the argument that islamophobia is a practice rooted in racism and violence.

Oli Charbonneau’s presentation on, “Learning and Loathing: The Long Shadow of US Colonialism,” traced how Islamophobic beliefs and practices emerged within deeper American colonial history. Using Mindanao and the Sulu Archipelago as case studies, he explained how the Southern Philippines acted as a site for the continuous regeneration of ideas about the Muslim threat. His paper provides an analysis of how American islamophobia is the result of attempts to reform Muslim Filipinos, alongside acts of violence within a military state. The paper traces the lineage of these ideas, which Charbonneau argues persists not only in U.S. military activities in the Southern Philippines but also in a host of cultural products that renew fearful visions forged within the empire.

The next session looked at Firat Oruc’s paper, “Islam as Founding Fear: Turkish National Humanism and “the Muslim Orient.” He stated that the foundation of the new Turkish state as a westernized, secular, and modern nation-state was laid upon the expulsion of the old Ottoman-Islamic traditions. His paper examines how this was embedded into the narrative of ensuring national survival and territorial sovereignty, which was seen as integral to the emergence of modern Turkey. The fear of Islam as the return of repressed was envisioned as a threat to Turkey’s modern image and was regarded as the root neurotic cause of Turkey’s crisis of identity.

Valentin Duquet then presented his paper on “Islamophobia in Algerianist Settler-Colonial Literature of the Interwar Period: A Post-Orientalist Form of Symbolic Violence.” Analyzing three Algerianist novels of the interwar period, Pascualette l’Algérien by Louis Lecoq, Cassard le Berbère by Robert Randau, and Berberopolis by Victor Trenga, Duquet’s paper tracks a progression from covert to overt islamophobia, in ways that continually erase Muslim identities while highlighting stories of settler and Berber successes. These literary pieces, Duquet argues depict religious and racial animosity as systemic and are embedded in the political climate of the time. The paper aims to examine how post-orientalism is therefore not a rejection but a continuation of French imperialism with its brand of islamophobia.

Commenting on his paper, “Spanish Islam and Islamic Identity in Scholarship: The Case of the Moriscos,” Ali Alsmadi stated that the expulsion of the Moriscos was part of Spain’s violent past and the denial of the right to return to Spain to their descendants reinforces a double standard and contradicts Spain’s claims to multiculturalism, diversity, and tolerance. This stance is rooted in Spain’s past and is an example of islamophobia, which is not a recent phenomenon but has deep roots in Spanish history. The Moriscos were seen as the ‘Other,’ and their differences were conflated with religious deviance. Alsmadi’s study aims to draw parallels between the Moriscos’ case and the situation of Muslim minorities in contemporary Spain and other European countries, where islamophobia shapes debates about identity, secularity, and multiculturalism. The paper claims that disregarding Moriscos’ past tragedies leads to downplaying current Islamophobic practices, which are aimed towards safeguarding the future of the European identity.

Focusing on Islamophobia in China with his paper “Islamophobia in Late Imperial China: Rhetoric and Roots,” Haiyun Ma provided a historical account of Islamophobia in Confucian China. By examining the systematic Han Confucian accusations and attacks on Chinese-speaking Muslims in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties, Ma outlines premodern Islamophobia, as seen in Confucian historiography and discourses, as well as traces the transition of the Confucian historiography to a nationalist ideology in the early twentieth century. The author notes that modern Islamophobia in China is different from the premodern version which has ties to the Middle East, the Arabs, Wahabi ideology, and global Islamophobia primarily imported from the West.

Andrew Hammond’s paper “Islamophobia and Modern Islamic Thought,” examined the role of modernizing intellectual currents, both from within the Islamic tradition and from Western philosophy, in providing the ideological basis for secular authoritarian regimes in the Middle East in the 20th century. Hammond stated that the materialist and positivist trends in Western philosophy influenced ruling elites in the Middle East, but modern Islamic thought’s internalization of European secularism provided an internal ideological cover for the authoritarian secular hue of post-colonial regimes. The paper also examines how Islamic political movements dealt with secularism after the Iranian Revolution and sought to reclaim lost ground for religion, which lead to an intensification of anti-Muslim animus during the 2000s.

In the next session, Carol Fadda presented her chapter “Producing “Terror:” Gendered State Surveillance and the US Racial State.” Addressing the experiences of Arab and Muslim women who have been targeted and attacked by the US security state for their political stances within the US, the chapter analyzed and identified the US security state as a racial state in its ongoing gendered criminalization of Arab and Muslim communities. Fadda highlighted the case of Palestinian-American activist Rasmea Odeh, who was arrested in 2013 for allegedly lying on her US citizenship application. Many activists claimed that Odeh’s arrest and deportation were politically motivated due to her pro-Palestinian activism and support for the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Fadda argued that Odeh’s case is an example of the US security state’s increasing racialized and gendered targeting of Arab and Muslim women, which builds on a longer history of the state’s criminalization of political critique, dissidence, and activism by Arabs and other racialized minorities in the US more broadly.

Zayneb Quadri presented her paper “A-rab Money”: Islamophobia and Global Capitalism,” which she co-authored with Thomas Simsarian Dolan. She maintained that while after 9/11, islamophobia became more racialized, the political shift was less an intensification of a pre-existing hatred and more of a reorientation within the geography of U.S. imperialism. Suggesting that it becomes difficult to frame islamophobia as a cogent racism, given the privileged status the US state has accorded to many Muslims, who are allowed to be “good” so long as they are proximal to natural resources and capital that serves a Euro-American global capitalist order. This contribution looks at the framing of “Muslimness” both as an ally and threat and examines Muslims’ racing and un-racing through the ideological and structural positions they occupy. The authors argue that the evolution of these modes of engagement with Muslims emphasizes articulating who qualifies as a tolerable Muslim and who becomes a threat to national security.

Farid Hafez addressed the issue of islamophobia in Germany with his chapter, “Colonial and Post-Colonial Governance of Islam in Germany.” Tracing the historical legacy of racialization in Germany Hafez highlighted the importance of colonialism in understanding the context of islamophobia in Germany. The paper discusses issues of the governance of Muslims, and the bureaucratization of Islam, first in colonial and then in postcolonial times to evaluate the legacy of the colonial, racial order, and aims to provide a nuanced picture of past and present islamophobia in Germany.

The final session looked at Sanober Umar’s paper “Good Orient/Bad Orient: ‘Yogawashing’ in Casteist-Islamophobic India.” Tracing the development of contemporary islamophobia in India under Hindu Nationalism, Umar discussed how British orientalist perceptions and literature produced and reproduced the figure of the Muslim as dangerous and barbaric, often in collusion with casteist and nativist Hindus, which still influences contemporary Hindu Nationalist ideologies. This Umar argues has resulted in the racialization of Muslims in dehumanizing tropes, with little condemnation from the Western quarters. The paper examines how both the neocolonial Western global apparatus and Hindu Nationalists have produced themselves as desirable civilizations through their ethnocultural narratives of history and self-representation, in relation to the global figure of the homogenized and otherized Muslim. Notably, the paper examines how romanticized and exotic conceptions of “eastern spirituality” including popular imaginations of contemporary India as a land of peaceful yoga practices has further served to invisibilize the complex histories and ongoing politics of Muslim persecution in the country with Western complacency.

The final revised drafts will be collected by CIRS with an aim of publishing an edited volume in the future.

To view the working group agenda, click here

To read the participants’ biographies, click here

Read more about this research initiative

Participants and Discussants:

Abdullah Al-Arian Georgetown University Qatar

Ali Alsmadi Indiana University Bloomington

Zahra Babar, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar

Misba Bhatti, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar

Oli Charbonneau University of Glasgow

Thomas Simsarian Dolan American University in Cairo

Valentin Duquetis University of Texas at Austin

Carol Fadda Syracuse University

Shereen Fernandez London School of Economics

Farid Hafez Georgetown University

Andrew Hammond Oxford University

Hafsa Kanjwalis Lafayette College

Aashish Karn Georgetown University Qatar

Haiyun Ma Frostburg State University

Suzi Mirgani, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar

Anne Norton University of Pennsylvania

Firat Oruc Georgetown University Qatar

Zaynab Quadri Ohio State University

Dalva Raposo Georgetown University Qatar

Salman Sayyid University of Leeds

Asma Shakeel Georgetown University Qatar

Sanober Umar York University

Elizabeth Wanucha, CIRS – Georgetown University Qatar

Karine Walther Georgetown University Qatar

Article by Misba Bhatti, Research Analyst at CIRS

CURA Spotlight: Min Zhou
2023-03-19 13:00 - 14:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
Speaker: Min Zhou (University of California, Los Angeles)

Moderator: Dalva Raposo (Georgetown University in Qatar, Class of 2024)

Location: Georgetown University in Qatar

Beyond Economic Migration: Social, Historical, and Political Factors in US Immigration
2023-03-19 18:00 - 19:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
Moderator: Zahra Babar (Center for International and Regional Studies, Georgetown University in Qatar)

Panelists: Min Zhou (University of California, Los Angeles), Hasan Mahmud (Northwestern University in Qatar), and Misba Bhatti (Center for International and Regional Studies, Georgetown University in Qatar).

Location: CIRS Conference Room, Georgetown University in Qatar

CIRS Open House
2023-08-21 13:00 - 14:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
On August 21, 2023, the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) held an open house for GU-Q students, faculty, and staff to learn more about CIRS, the CIRS Undergraduate Research Advancement (CURA) program, and how they can be involved in the Center’s work. Over 70 attendees met CIRS staff members and listened to a presentation by Elizabeth Wanucha, CIRS Operations Manager.

Iran-Saudi Relations: Changing Regional Alignments
2023-09-10 18:00 - 19:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
Speaker: Mehran Kamrava (Georgetown University in Qatar)

Moderator: Gerd Nonneman (Georgetown University in Qatar)

Location: Faculty Conference Room, GU-Q (First floor)

Mehran Kamrava is Professor of Government at Georgetown University Qatar. Kamrava is the author of a number of journal articles and books, including, most recently, Righteous Politics: Power and Resilience in Iran (Cambridge University Press, 2023); A Dynastic History of Iran: From the Qajars to the Pahlavis (Cambridge University Press, 2022); and Triumph and Despair: In Search of Iran’s Islamic Republic (Oxford University Press, 2022).

The Invasion of Iraq: Regional Reflections
2023-09-14 18:00 - 2023-09-16 16:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
The 2003 invasion of Iraq marked a critical turning point in America’s relationship with Iraq and its neighboring countries, a region of strategic importance encompassing vital energy and military interests, and reshaped its diplomatic relations worldwide. This conference was convened by the Dean of Georgetown University in Qatar, Dr. Safwan Masri, in collaboration with the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS). Taking a regional perspective, this meeting provided an opportunity to reflect on the many geopolitical and socioeconomic consequences of the conflict that continue to reverberate across the globe twenty years later.

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About the Conference

Sociolinguistics Landscape and Culture in Qatar - Workshop II
2023-09-24 08:00 - 2023-09-25 17:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
On September 24 and 25, 2023, the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) hosted a roundtable workshop titled “Sociolinguistics Landscape and Culture in Qatar.” The two-day workshop was the second meeting under the “Narratives of Language Landscapes in Qatar” research initiative led by GU-Q faculty member, Yehia A. Mohamed. The aim of the workshop was to discuss and provide feedback on the abstracts submitted by the workshop participant.

To view the working group agenda, click here

To read the participants’ biographies, click here

Read more about this research initiative

Participants and Discussants:

Wisam Kh. Abdul-Jabbar, Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU)

Muntasir Fayez Al Hamad, Qatar University

H.E. Dr. Hamad Al-Kawari, State Minister Qatar

Hadeel Al-Khatib, Qatar University

Najma Al Zidjaly, Sultan Qaboos University, Oman

Andrei Avram, University of Bucharest, Romania

Misba Bhatti, CIRS, Georgetown University in Qatar

Julie Boéri, Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU)

Deborah Giustini, Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU)

Najla Kalach, Università degli Studi Internazionali di Roma (UNINT University)

Vladimir Kulikov, Qatar University

Suzi Mirgani, CIRS, Georgetown University in Qatar

Yehia Abdelmobdy Mohamed, Georgetown University in Qatar

Dudley Reynolds, Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar

Yasir Suleiman, University of Cambridge

Irene Theodoropoulou, Qatar University

Elizabeth Wanucha, CIRS, Georgetown University in Qatar

David Wilmsen, American University of Sharjah

Wajdi Zaghouani, Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU)

Conceptualizing Womanhood in the Arabian Littoral of the Gulf
2023-10-16 18:00 - 19:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
Speaker: Maryam Alsada (Georgetown University in Qatar)

Moderator: Trish Kahle (Georgetown University in Qatar)

Location: Faculty Conference Room, GU-Q (First floor)

Maryam Alsada is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Humanities and Social Sciences at Georgetown University in Qatar. Alsada completed her PhD at UCL, where she employed an interdisciplinary approach to studying the Arabian littoral of the Gulf at the Department of Anthropology. She also holds an MSc in Public Policy from UCL, as well as a BS in Foreign Service and a Certificate in American Studies from Georgetown University in Qatar.

Mobility Diplomacy: How States Maximize Passport Power
2023-10-26 08:00 - 17:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
Speaker: Noora Lori (Boston University)

Moderators: Nadya Sbaiti (Georgetown University in Qatar) and Sami Hermez (Northwestern University in Qatar)

About the event: Co-organized by CIRS and Northwestern University in Qatar, the talk introduced the concept of mobility diplomacy and argued that neither wealth nor political stability are sufficient conditions for unlocking visa-free travel.

The Environmental Drivers of Out-Migration in Bangladesh
2023-10-29 17:00 - 18:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
Speaker: Katharine Donato (Georgetown University)

Moderator: Zahra Babar (CIRS, Georgetown University in Qatar)

Location: 1D02 Faculty Conference Room, Georgetown University in Qatar (1st floor)

Katharine M. Donato holds the Donald G. Herzberg Chair in International Migration and is Director of the Institute for the Study of International Migration in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. Her research addresses many research questions related to global migration.

Afghanistan Regional Symposium: Confronting the Impasse
2023-11-11 09:00 - 17:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
The Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) is hosting the “Afghanistan Regional Symposium: Confronting the Impasse.” The symposium gathers leading experts, scholars, and policymakers in a collective pursuit of exploring and addressing the intricate challenges surrounding Afghanistan and its neighboring region. Since the Taliban regained power in 2021, there has been an unsettling impasse between Afghanistan and the rest of the world. This impasse presents a critical juncture where conventional strategies of intervention from global powers have become inadequate. Through insightful panels, including discussions on the Afghan peace process, climate change, food security challenges, education, and humanitarian concerns, the symposium fosters a nuanced understanding of ongoing challenges and paves the way for informed impactful solutions.

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Read About the Symposium

CURA Spotlight: Victor Ehikhamenor
2023-11-29 13:00 - 14:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
Speaker: Victor Ehikhamenor, Artist-in-Residence (Georgetown University in Qatar)

Moderator: Asma Shakeel (Georgetown University in Qatar, Class of 2024)

Location: Georgetown University in Qatar

Persisting Biases: Findings from the UNDP 2023 Gender Social Norm Index
2023-11-29 18:00 - 20:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
The index, which was first introduced in 2020, covers 85 percent of the global population and captures data up to 2022. It provides information on the evolution of social norms over a 10-year period. The 2023 GSNI sheds light on the persistent presence of biased gender social norms across the world. The index reveals around 87% of women and 90% of men harbour biases against women across key dimensions: politics, education, economics, and physical integrity. The 2023 GSNI highlights a number of important findings showing 10 years of stagnation in gender biases and notes that gender social norms could be tackled by education and awareness raising, and through representation and recognition, among others.

The GSNI report and media release is available at https://hdr.undp.org/content/2023-gender-social-norms-index-gsni#/indicies/GSN

Moderator: Biplove Choudhary (Technical Representative & Head of Office, UNDP)

Speakers: Pedro Conceição (Director of the Human Development Report Office, UNDP), Raquel Lagunas (Head of Gender Equality, UNDP), and Nadya Sbaiti (Georgetown University in Qatar).

Location: Faculty Conference Room (1D02), Georgetown University in Qatar.

Global Energy Cultures: How Energy Shapes our Everyday Lives
2023-12-09 08:00 - 2023-12-10 20:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
In collaboration with Msheireb Museums, the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) is hosting a forum on “Global Energy Cultures: How Energy Shapes our Everyday Lives.” Every aspect of our contemporary lives is shaped by energy; societies are fully dependent on the accessibility and availability of energy products, whether in the form of hydrocarbons or alternative energy sources. At the intersection of academic and artistic perspectives, scholars, artists, and practitioners engage in discussions around the broad theme of “energy.” The aim of the conversations is to make academic research accessible to the public through a series of multidisciplinary talks and cultural events.

Location: Msheireb Museums

About the forum

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Workshop: Race and Ethnicity in Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia
2024-01-10 08:00 - 2024-01-11 17:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
On January 10-11, 2024, the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at Georgetown University in Qatar (GUQ) organized a workshop to discuss draft papers submitted under its Race and Ethnicity in Africa, the Middle East, and South Asia research initiative. Over two days, the convened scholars presented and received feedback on their papers that tackled a wide array of issues, including; the history of racism in Africa, Turkey, and the Ottoman Empire, the notion of whiteness and blackness, the construction of national identity within diasporic communities and everyday racism in Asia, Africa and the Middle East.

To view the working group agenda, click here

To read the participants’ biographies, click here

Read more about this research initiative

Participants and Discussants:

Rogaia Abusharaf, Georgetown University in Qatar

Akintunde E. Akinade, Georgetown University in Qatar

Azza Ahmed Abdel Aziz, University of London

Zahra Babar, CIRS, Georgetown University in Qatar

Clovis Bergère, Northwestern University Qatar

Misba Bhatti, CIRS, Georgetown University in Qatar

Uday Chandra, Georgetown University in Qatar

Chouki El Hamel, Arizona State University

Amal Ghazal, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies

Sami Hermez, Northwestern University in Qatar

Wilson Chacko Jacob, Concordia University

Taha Kaleem, PhD student, Brandeis University

Aashish Karn, postgraduate student, Lancaster University

Hasan Mahmud, Northwestern University in Qatar

Thomas F. McDow, Ohio State University

Pascal Ménoret, Brandeis University

Mostafa Minawi, Cornell University

Suzi Mirgani, CIRS, Georgetown University in Qatar

Yehia Abdelmobdy Mohamed, Georgetown University in Qatar

Anne-Sophie Pratte, Georgetown University in Qatar

Paul A. Silverstein, Reed College (Portland, USA)

Leila Tayeb, Northwestern University in Qatar

Ousmane Traoré, Pomona College

Elizabeth Wanucha, CIRS, Georgetown University in Qatar

Tukufu Zuberi, University of Pennsylvania

The Struggles of Palestinian Prisoners
2024-01-29 17:00 - 18:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
Shedding light on current imprisonment conditions and the escalation of mass-arrest campaigns across Palestine, the talk will highlight the centrality of imprisonment to Israel’s project of control and dispossession. Since 1948, it is estimated that the Israeli regime has arrested nearly one million Palestinians, subjecting them to multitude forms of torture and violence, and diligently working to dismantle forms of collective mobilization and resistance inside prisons. The talk will also discuss the hope of true liberation that many have long been holding closely, within and outside the physical space of the prison.

Location: CIRS Conference Room, Georgetown University in Qatar.

Speaker: Basil Farraj (Birzeit University)

Moderator: Sami Hermez (Northwestern University)

CURA Research Skills Workshop: Tools for Effective Argumentative Writing
2024-02-08 13:00 - 15:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
On February 8, 2024, the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) hosted a research skills workshop titled “Tools for Effective Argumentative Writing.” The workshop was presented in collaboration with the Office of Academic Services at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q), under the auspices of the CIRS Undergraduate Research Advancement (CURA) program. Twelve undergraduate students from GU-Q attended the workshop, which was led by CMU-Q’s Professors Thomas Mitchell and Silvia Pessoa.

“Analyzing and deconstructing sample texts, revealed the various components that blend together to create a coherent and persuasive argument. The ability to break down arguments is a valuable skill that I gained from the workshop.”
– Workshop participant

Using a hands-on approach, Professors Mitchell and Pessoa guided students through several peer-review activities using excerpts from real essays and papers submitted by GU-Q students. This activity involved both individual and group analysis of different excerpts, focusing on various elements of effective argumentative writing.

One interesting activity involved a thorough analysis of pairs of similar phrases within the same context to determine the most effective claims. Students explained their reasoning and received insights from the professors on accurately identifying the attributes of a descriptive claim versus an argumentative claim. Special attention was given to sources and language as major elements influencing the reader’s understanding of the author’s position. The students also analyzed pairs of sample texts to identify common features within texts with effective claims. Professor Mitchell emphasized the importance of language choice, stating, “your choice in the type of language that you use is very important to bring the reader to your side without alienating them.”

The workshop explored engagement moves and interpersonal resources as tools of specific rhetorical effect, exemplified by commonly used discourse markers. Students learned to apply these tools in body paragraphs, analyzing interactions of the text with different sources to support the author’s claims or introduce alternative perspectives. The importance of engaging in a dialogue with existing sources was highlighted, with Professor Silvia stating, “Do not ignore them, rather bring them in and then challenge their ideas.” This emphasized the idea that writing is entering into a conversation with those who have written on the topic before, actively creating knowledge through the addition to the ongoing discourse.

“I think this workshop was very helpful. It established the fundamental framework for college writing. With the skills taught here, it is easier to handle college level assignments.”
– Workshop participant

A notable segment involved the analysis of two college students’ arguments on the social effects of urban planning in Qatar. This approach encouraged students to critically examine texts similar to their own, stressing the importance of a discerning eye during the revising and editing process. Small details, as revealed through this exercise, can significantly impact the clarity and structure of argumentative claims.

The CURA Research Skills Workshop not only equipped students with practical tools for effective argumentative writing but also fostered a collaborative and critical approach to peer-reviewed analysis. Through engaging activities and expert guidance, participants gained valuable insights into the art of crafting compelling and persuasive arguments. CIRS continues to provide opportunities for skill development, enhancing the research capabilities of the undergraduate student body.

Article by Dalva Raposo, CIRS Research Assistant

Qatar's Creative Culture: Fostering Development and Diplomacy
2024-02-20 18:00 - 19:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
This talk explores how Qatar is redefining the global cultural landscape, using its rich artistic heritage and innovative creative industries to forge new paths in diplomacy and spur national development. This talk unveils the strategies behind Qatar’s success in turning culture into a powerful tool for international engagement and sustainable growth.

Speaker: Nouf M. S. Al-Thani, J.D. (Georgetown University in Qatar)

Moderator: Trish Kahle (Georgetown University in Qatar)

Location: Faculty Conference Room (1D02), 1st Floor, Georgetown University in Qatar.

On Palestine: Hiwaraat Symposium
2024-03-07 13:00 - 18:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
“On Palestine” features leading Palestinian voices, and is moderated by prominent broadcaster and author Mehdi Hassan. The symposium is organized around three thematic areas: justice and accountability, global media narratives and the shaping of public opinion, and avoiding traps in imagining a political future.

Location: Al Mirqab Ballroom, Four Seasons Hotel Doha

About the Symposium

America's Game in the Middle East: The 2027 Qatar Basketball World Cup
2024-03-12 18:00 - 19:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
After successfully hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022, Qatar continues to retain sport as an important domestic and foreign policy tool. In April 2023, Qatar achieved another historical win by being selected as the first Arab nation to host the men’s basketball World Cup, a quintessentially American game, invented in the late nineteenth century in Springfield, Massachusetts, and the second most popular global sport after football.This panel discussion serves as the launching event for a new CIRS research project titled “America’s Game in the Middle East: The 2027 Qatar Basketball World Cup,” which studies U.S. and Middle East political and cultural engagements through the lens of basketball.

Location: Faculty Conference Room (1D02), Georgetown University in Qatar

Speakers: Claudia Kozman (Northwestern University in Qatar), Yaseen Ismail Musa (Former Professional Basketball Player and Head of the Qatar Basketball Federation), Joseph John (Al Jazeera English)

Moderator: Danyel Reiche (Georgetown University in Qatar)

Humanization through International Law? The Global South's Role in Accountability
2024-03-26 18:00 - 20:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
South Africa’s presentation of its case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in January 2024 was a powerful assertion of humanity through law. Many have argued that international law is only as good as its enforcement. This talk engages in a discussion on such statements and on the role of Global South actors’ critical engagement in international law.

Speaker: Noha Aboueldahab (Georgetown University in Qatar) is an Assistant Professor of International Law at Georgetown University in Qatar, and a Senior Non-Resident Fellow at the Middle East Council on Global Affairs. Her second forthcoming book examines the role of Arab diasporas in using international law and transitional justice to push for political change in their home states. Aboueldahab sits on the advisory boards of several organizations, and is regularly consulted by the media and policymakers on issues concerning law and politics in the Arab region.

Moderator: Nadya Sbaiti (Georgetown University in Qatar).

The Migrant Race: Intra-Asian Mobility, Co-ethnicity & Categorical Complexity
2024-04-17 13:00 - 14:00 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
Speaker: Laavanya Kathiravelu (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)

Moderator: Uday Chandra (Georgetown University in Qatar)

Location: CIRS Conference Room, Georgetown University in Qatar

This talk explored the comparative complexities faced by long-term and second generation immigrants in Singapore and Doha, and interrogated how Asian migration studies can contribute to complexifying enrich intersectional approaches to identity and belonging in the social sciences.

"Mothership" Documentary Screening and Discussion
2024-04-21 13:00 - 14:30 (Asia/Qatar) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
About the documentary: In the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, the crew of the Ocean Viking is rescuing people in exile fleeing Libya, crammed in unseaworthy boats. To ensure that people in distress are rescued in compliance with human rights and maritime law, a tug-of-war between authorities and humanitarian aid workers occurs.

Speakers: Fyras Mawazini and Sanad Hamdan, members of the Search and Rescue team on-board the ship Ocean Viking.

Location: Room 0A12, Georgetown University in Qatar
