Events

Speaker: Marlene Schäfers, Associate Professor, Department of Cultural Anthropology, Utrecht University On November 13, CIRS hosted a lunch talk in collaboration with the Critical Security Studies Hub at the Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South at Northwestern University, titled “Labouring to Keep the Dead Alive: Commemoration and Social Reproduction in the Kurdish Movement.”…

On November 16 and 17, 2025, the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at Georgetown University in Qatar (GUQ) held a brainstorming session under its research initiative Migration Studies from the Global South: Rethinking Theory and Method. This inaugural meeting brought together scholars and practitioners of migration from the Global South to explore key…

In Conversation with Dr. Su’ad Abdul Khabeer and Professor Akintunde Akinade What does Africana Studies look like depending on where it is practiced? This lunch talk brings scholars into conversation on how institutional location, disciplinary training, and regional context shape the questions, methods, and stakes of Africana Studies. The discussion considers the relationship between scholarship…

Join us for the screening of Cotton Queen, register below! Cotton Queen is a 2025 internationally co-produced drama written and directed by Suzi Mirgani in her feature directorial debut. Set in a cotton-farming village in Sudan, the film follows Nafisa, a young woman raised on her grandmother’s stories of resistance against British colonial rule. When…

On 29 January 2026, the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) hosted a research skills workshop titled Visualizing Your Research: Poster Design Workshop. The workshop was facilitated by Sahar Mari, Senior Learning Engineer at Northwestern University in Qatar, and Sara Shaaban, Creative Director at VCU School of the Arts in Qatar. The workshop attracted…

On February 8 and 9, 2026, the Center for International and Regional Studies held a research workshop under its project, Rethinking Migration Categories from the Global South. The purpose of the two-day meeting was to discuss and provide feedback on a collection of draft abstracts submitted for the project. Scholars, working on the topic, were…

This public panel brings together scholars to examine how migration categories are produced, governed, and contested within Asia and across transnational flows from the Global South to the Global North. Moving beyond fixed labels such as migrant, refugee, skilled worker, or trafficking victim, the discussion explores how state policies, visa regimes, and labor markets shape…

This panel highlights contributions in the new Handbook on Authoritarianism in the Arab World, forthcoming open access from Bloomsbury Politics. The Handbook highlights the specificities of authoritarianism in the Arab world while placing the region in the context of global trends. The panel will feature Dana Al Kurd (Associate Professor at University of Richmond) Yasmeen Mekawy…

In Conversation with Professor Maurice Jackson The book, set to be published next year, traces the struggles of African Americans for equality and human rights from 1780 to 2020. Through…