Center for International and Regional Studies

Daughters of the Dust
2022-02-01 18:00 - 20:30 (Europe/Moscow) | Education City, Al Luqta St, Ar-Rayyan, Doha, Qatar
Film Synopsis:Languid look at the Gullah culture of the sea islands off the coast of South Carolina and Georgia where African folk-The women of the Peazant family struggle with a decision which will remake their relationship with their heritage and with each other. Julie Dash’s groundbreaking 1991 film tells the story of generational change in the Gullah community of the South Carolina sea islands with rich visual language and non-linear narrative.

Content Warning: drama, romance, violence, profanity, racial bias, PG 18+

The film was screened on February 1 via a virtual event and was followed by a community discussion facilitated by Professor Dana Olwan

Dana Olwan is an Associate Professor in the Master of Arts in Women, Society, and Development program at Hamad bin Khalifa University. Her work is located at the nexus of feminist theorizations of gender violence, transnational solidarities, and critical feminist pedagogies. Her writings have appeared in Signs, Feminist Formations, the Journal of Settler Colonial Studies, American Quarterly, and Feral Feminisms. Her first book Gender Violence and The Transnational Politics of the Honor Crime was published by Ohio State University Press in 2021. She is co-editor with Chandra Talpade Mohanty of the Reimagining Comparative Feminist Studies book series from Palgrave Macmillan. She teaches courses on feminist theory, gender politics in the Middle East and North Africa, and women, labor, and development.

Additional Resources

Beyoncé, Lemonade (2016)
Katherine McKittrick

Demonic Grounds (Minnesota, 2006)
Dear Science and Other Stories (Duke, 2021).
May be worth linking directly to her site since there are multimedia formats to engage these texts, including examples of her citational practices.

Saidiya Hartman

“Venus in Two Acts” Small Axe, vol. 12 no. 2, 2008, p. 1-14. Project MUSE muse.jhu.edu/article/241115
Scenes of Subjection: Terror, Slavery, and Self-Making in Nineteenth-Century America (Oxford, 1997).

Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments: Intimate Histories of Riotous Black Girls, Troublesome Women, and Queer Radicals (Norton, 2020)

Who Belongs to a Country? National Representation and Identity at the FIFA World Cup 2022
2022-02-02 08:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Moscow)
Panelists: Zahra Babar, Gijs van Campenhout, Ross Griffin, Edward J. Kolla, and Peter Sprio

Moderator: Danyel Reiche

The panel discussion explored critical issues such as the recruitment and naturalisation of top foreign athletes, a practice that is making national dreams come true, but also stirring public debate around sports and national identity. Centering on Qatar’s role in shaping the global conversation around sports and society, the webinar covered a range of topics, including the reasons athletes switch nationalities and the citizenship requirements set forth by international sporting federations such as FIFA. The panelists also explored conceptions of ethnicity and civic nationalism, and the future of citizenship and residency laws in a globalised world.

Tula: The Revolt
2022-02-15 17:30 - 20:00 (Europe/Moscow)
Film Synopsis:On Curaçao in the Dutch West Indies, Tula leads a revolt. The enslaved people who seized their freedom on the island in 1795 would be brutally repressed and slavery reimposed, but today the revolt is recognized as being the beginning of the end of slavery in the Dutch Caribbean. Leinders’ film features actor Danny Glover, who has advocated and worked to bring stories of slave revolution to the American cinema.

Content Warning: history, war, violence, racial bias, PG 18+

The film was screened on February 15 and was followed by a community discussion facilitated by Professor Trish Kahle

Trish Kahle is an Assistant Professor of history at Georgetown University Qatar. Her work focuses on history of energy, work, and politics in the modern United States and the world. Currently, she is working on her first book, which traces the emergence of energy citizenship—a form of national belonging defined by the rights and obligations of energy production, distribution, and consumption—from the coal mining workplace in the modern United States. A second project examines the role of utility companies in defining what counts as “energy work” by organizing both individuals and communities into energy producers and energy consumers. Her research has appeared in Labor, the Journal of Energy History/ Revue d’Histoire de l’Énergie, and American Quarterly. Support for my work has come from the Mellon Foundation, the Jefferson Scholars Foundation at the University of Virginia, the American Society for Environmental History, the Western Association of Women Historians, the Labor and Working-Class History Association, the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society, the University of Chicago, and several research libraries.

Adanggaman
2022-03-08 17:30 - 20:30 (Europe/Moscow)
Film Synopsis:In West Africa during the late 17th century, King Adanggaman leads a war against his neighboring tribes, ordering his soldiers to torch enemy villages, kill the elderly and capture the healthy tribesmen to sell to the European slave traders. When his village falls prey to one of Adanggaman’s attacks, Ossei manages to escape, but his family is murdered except for his captured mother. Chasing after the soldiers in an effort to free her, Ossei is befriended by a fierce warrior named Naka.

Content Warning: violence, brutality, racial slur, sensitive subject, PG 18+

Free Screening

LOCATION: Georgetown University Qatar

The film was screened on March 8 and was followed by a community discussion facilitated by Professor James Hodapp

James Hodapp is an Assistant Professor of English at Northwestern University in Qatar in the Liberal Arts Program where his primary focus is African and postcolonial literature and visual cultures. His work on literature, cinema, comic arts, television, and podcasts from Africa have appeared in Journal of Commonwealth Literature, The Journal of Postcolonial Writing, African Literature Today,  ARIEL, Research in African Literatures, and English in Africa, among others. He is also the editor of the collections Afropolitan Literature as World Literature and Graphic Novels and Comics as World Literature from Bloomsbury academic publishing.

Qatar’s World Cup Goals: Moving from the Periphery to the Center Working Group I
2022-03-09 09:00 - 2022-03-10 17:00 (Europe/Moscow)
On March 9-10, 2022, CIRS convened the first Working Group under its newly launched research initiative on Qatar’s World Cup Goals: Moving from the Periphery to the Center. The meeting was held as a hybrid event, allowing for both virtual and in-person participation. The goal of the working group was to bring together scholars from different disciplines to examine the role of the upcoming FIFA World Cup in enabling the state of Qatar to move from the periphery of global sports and politics to the center. Applying both empirical and theoretical lenses, the invited scholars addressed a number of topics including Qatar’s national security, the impact of the pandemic on mega-sporting events, national identity, tourism, and sports sponsorships.

The meeting began with Gerd Nonneman’s discussion on the links between Qatar’s national security and the World Cup. He noted that the Cup was one component of a wider and longer-term security and developmental strategy since the 1990s of raising Qatar’s global visibility, acquiring economic resources, moving to sustainability, and building supportive global networks. Given its small size, limited hard power resources, and powerful neighbors, security has been a key driver of Qatari policies at home and abroad. Liquefied natural gas (LNG) development brought both resources and global economic networks. To the continuing aim of building equally global diplomatic networks was then added the ambition to build a sustainable economy beyond hydrocarbon dependence. Staging the World Cup aimed to serve these goals, by raising global awareness of the “Brand Qatar” and helping to lay the foundations for a more diversified economy. It also helped accelerate not only the building of the infrastructural underpinnings for future development, but equally necessary reforms of migration and labor policies – attempting to match the needs of a viable future economy and global branding with the exploration of an evolving national identity.

The second session of the working group focused on the World Cup 2022 and the pandemic. Kamilla Swart suggested that Covid-19 was almost entirely unique in how it upended the sporting world. While we are currently witnessing the return of competitive sports at various levels, the pandemic still remains a threat. In preparation for hosting the World Cup in winter 2022, Qatar has effectively hosted ‘test events’, such as the FIFA Arab Cup, and implemented restrictions and social distancing during the games. Swart stated that the compact nature of the World Cup will be a challenge, especially in regards to implementing Covid protocols and managing the influx of the expected visitors. She highlighted that some of the key areas that require research are the nature of Covid protocols, fan management, vaccination administration and statuses, non-communicable disease, injuries prevention, and the burden on health care and medical facilities during the games. Swart suggested that new risks and disaster management during the World Cup is a key area requiring new research.

Continuing the discussion on health-related issues, Andreas Flouris addressed the question of whether serving as hosts to the World Cup leads to the promotion of a healthy lifestyle. Flouris pointed out that, based on existing health data on Qatar, 70% of deaths in the country occur due to chronic diseases, most of which are tied to obesity and low levels of physical activity. Qatar has adopted policies and undertaken new interventions such as tobacco-free policy, building of recreational spaces for physical activity, and the Tamreen education programs in schools that are all geared towards promoting healthy lifestyle. The Ministry of Health in Qatar is engaged in a 3-year collaboration with the World Health Organization for health promotion. Health and nutrition programs have also been developed in the country. However, the core question of whether the 2022 FIFA World Cup has enabled an overall healthier lifestyle in Qatar still needs to be addressed. Are there efforts underway to encourage the aging citizen population to adopt healthier habits? At a global level, there is little evidence on whether mega sporting events such as the World Cup actually have a positive health impact on host countries. Flouris suggested that there is a need to collect baseline and longitudinal data and compare Qatar with other countries that have hosted the World Cup. Additionally, Flouris discussed the lack of school physical education curriculum and the impact of a harsh environment and desert climate as being critical issues affecting patterns of physical activity.

Andreas Krieg examined how Qatar’s engagements in Afghanistan as well the hosting of the World Cup 2022 have both been means by which the state has exhibited its soft power. Post Arab Uprisings Qatar has been translating its financial power into regional and global influence, and the World Cup and Afghanistan have served as sites where Qatar has been able to display its power of appeal and attraction. Krieg stated that diplomacy, investment, energy and LNG demand, education and developmental policies, and sports are the main tools through which Qatar is trying to achieve its policy goals. Whereas military action is the least influential lever of its soft power. The World Cup has put Qatar and the MENA region on the global map and the Afghanistan moment has helped Qatar build networks and increase regional influence in Asia. Bridging the gap between the western world and Islamic countries and the exploration of Qatar’s potential as a mediator were identified by Krieg as key areas of further research.

Danyel Reiche focused his remarks on the topic of Qatar Airways and its sports sponsorships, with Germany’s leading football club Bayern Munich serving as a case study. Reiche stated that Qatar Airways, which has been operational for 25 years, has been leveraged by the state to achieve various state objectives including enhancing its visibility in the global realm. Qatar Airways has a history of sports sponsorships which was amplified post the financial crisis of 2008. The airline was the shirt sponsor for Barcelona from 2013-2017 and is currently Bayern Munich’s sleeve sponsor in an agreement that started in 2018 and goes until 2023. Reiche explained that while these sponsorships give the state of Qatar a lot of exposure, they also show the limitations of soft power approaches. These sponsorships have met with a lot of resistance on the ground in the European states where these teams are based. Reiche suggested there was a need to explore why there is such a persistent critique of this particular sponsor and not of others from non-democratic countries.

Ross Griffin examined Qatar’s national identity in relation to the Qatari-owned French football club Paris St. Germain (PSG). Griffin suggested that Qatar has used sports to shape its national identity while simultaneously positively projecting its identity to the rest of the world. The acquisition of PSG has been part of state efforts to promote a global image of Qatar as a progressive state. Much of the attention that Qatar has garnered from the global sporting world since being awarded the bid to host the 2022 World Cup Qatar has been negative. PSG has partially served to dissipate some of that negative attention. Griffin outlined that some key questions to explore would be to look at how the ownership of PSG defines Qatar’s national identity. How do PSG fans react to this ownerships and how progressive national identity is being achieved with the hiring of elite and famous football players?

Sebastian Sons led the discussion on the nexus of Qatar’s development assistance and sport. He detailed Qatar’s humanitarian aid portfolio in recent years and stated that Qatar’s development assistance has been closely related to domestics polices, economic diversification, geo-strategic interests and its ideological affiliations. In recent years, there was a fundamental shift in the nature of the aid provided. It shifted from Islamic forms of aid to development assistance, with the focus on financing youth and female developmental projects. Sons specified that the main point of query is to question how do sports come into this story of Qatar’s developmental aid. He narrated that Qatar has been financing sports developmental projects in partner countries and on a domestic level, but it remains unclear what are Qatar’s interests in becoming a hub of exchange and human development in the fields of sports and development. Examining what role sports play in regional integration and cooperation, in identity construction and migration through different development projects, were some key areas identified.

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen explored Qatar’s New Development Model and argued that over the years Qatar has built a branding model that is based on diplomacy. Qatari policy making, which is influenced by the Qatar Vision 2030 has aimed to build a unique developmental model. Various construction, infrastructure development projects, and domestic policy changes have propelled the country towards a progressive state. During the blockade of 2017 regional associations and collaborations were affected which now have been revived. Ulrichsen argued that there is a need to examine what tangible legacy this model will have and what measures could be undertaken in regard to migrant labor issues that the country has been facing since winning the bid for hosting the World Cup.

Irene Theodoropoulou led the discussion on Sports Tourism in Qatar and FIFA 2022 for the next session. She argued that Qatar will be using tourism to rectify its global image and diversify its economy. Qatar Tourism has combined the traditional with modernity to develop a new tourism strategy that aims to put Qatar on the global map in terms of culture, sports, business, and family entertainment tourism. A new airport and visa free arrival policy has been developed to diversify tourism in the country. Theodoropoulou highlighted that further study needs to be conducted in the areas of intercultural communications in Qatar, demographics of tourists expected during the World Cup, improving relations and developing synergies between Qatar Tourism and Qatar Airways, and developing better media relations.

The discussion then shifted to beIN sports and its global influence. Craig LaMay addressed beIN’s dominance over football broadcasting in the MENA region as well as coverage of other sports in the U.S. and UK. He stated that since beIN was a private entity, publicly available records of its operations do not exist. beIN’s regional and global operations have been severely affected during the pandemic, and the company will need to innovate in order to be competitive and to retain its broadcasting rights. Its model of pay-TV is being challenged by streaming services and even free-to-air alternatives. beIN’s traditional bundled service not only faces competition from new models and a variety of cheaper services but also has to deal with issues such as piracy and non-live content provision for its customers across the globe.

Uday Chandra and Aisha Al-Kuwari initiated the conversation on Qatar 2022 and Popular Culture. Chandra argued that there is a need to understand the nature of fandom in Qatar and how the preparations for the World Cup have remade popular culture. Aisha explained that fan culture in Qatar is associated with a fireej or neighborhood, and fans had loyalties to the local clubs established by community elders in these neighborhoods. She added that fandom was also associated with the culture of majlises, in which people gather to watch games and root for teams. Women’s increasing participation in football fandom in Doha, including in stadiums in the recent Arab Cup, and the limitations of gender stereotypes in journalistic accounts also came through in Aisha’s remarks. With respect to non-citizens, Chandra spoke of their absence from discussions of fandom and popular culture in Qatar and highlighted recent scholarship that shows strong loyalties to host societies in the Gulf. Although migrant workers recurrently appear as mute victims in Western European commentary on the World Cup, labor activism by these workers remains understudied.

The next session looked at Aspire Zone and its rise to become a Global Benchmark for Talent Development and Sports Medicine. Paul Brannagan explained that small states tend to find niche industries that are culturally different and sets them apart from their neighbors. For Qatar, sports is the niche industry through which it is making a mark on the global stage. Aspire Zone and Sports Academy are part of Qatar’s sporting strategy and aids the State in building its sports portfolio. Brannagan identified that there is the need to examine how and where Aspire fits in Qatar’s sporting investments and global political agenda. He also highlighted that through Aspire, Qatar is producing a stream of athletes and is showing its ability of overcoming the disadvantage of its population size. The legacy of Aspire post-2022, the role of Aspire in sports humanitarianism, and global sports medicine were some other key research areas identified.

Johan Granberg discussed community building and the Education City Stadium. He stated that identity doesn’t make people stay and that people required environments that they could co-exist with. Building a stadium in a city is a good project for the city and helps build its image but there are very little examples of these buildings being good for the community. The stadium in Education City might be a good example of a good stadium but lacks the communal aspect and engagement required by society. He stressed that often stadiums become beautiful object that has very little use for the community after the games. Granberg expressed that the questions of how the Education City community can use the arena and what can be gained from it requires further exploration and research.

Th last session of the meeting looked at Sport Security and the Role of the International Center for Sports Security (ICSS). Magda De Lange expanded on ICSS’s role in addressing safety and security in global sporting events. She stated that while work has been done to address issues of safety and security in traditional sports, research on esports remain limited. An athlete-centered esports ecosystem is developing as a new trend. Of critical concern is that there are sparse, decentralized resources for collegiate esports players and limited regulation or fact-checking for practices. Gaps in the existing scholarship which could benefit from academic exploration and new research are: research on how to provide consistent guidelines to support young esports players; dual careers of esports athletes; the use and promotion of esports as an added value for P/CVE interventions to increase societal resilience and empowerment. Esports research’s key barriers and key considerations include understanding the ecosystem of esports, sampling by device, then by game genre, examining the positive impacts of esports, and emphasizing equity in players.

In conclusion, Dean Clyde Wilcox, Director of CIRS, thanked the participants for identifying key gaps in the literature. It is worth noting that invited participants will contribute empirically grounded papers addressing questions and gaps identified during the meeting, among others, to be published in an edited volume under the auspices of CIRS. The second working group for the project will be held in Fall 2022.

In conclusion, Dean Clyde Wilcox, Director of CIRS, thanked the participants for identifying key gaps in the literature. It is worth noting that invited participants will contribute empirically grounded papers addressing questions and gaps identified during the meeting, among others, to be published in an edited volume under the auspices of CIRS. The second working group for the project will be held in Fall 2022.

To view the working group agenda, click hereTo read the participants’ biographies, click hereRead more about this research initiative

Participants and Discussants:

Aisha Al Kuwari, Georgetown University in QatarHend Al-Muftah, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, QatarMariam Al-Thani, Georgetown University in QatarZahra Babar, CIRS – Georgetown University in QatarKathy Babiak, University of MichiganMisba Bhatti, CIRS – Georgetown University in QatarPaul Brannagan, Manchester Metropolitan University, UKUday Chandra, Georgetown University in QatarKristian Coates Ulrichsen, Rice UniversityMagda de Lange, International Center for Sport Security (ICSS), QatarAndreas Flouris, University of OttawaJohan Granberg, Virginia Commonwealth University–QatarRoss Griffin, Qatar University Andreas Krieg, King’s College LondonCraig LaMay, Northwestern University in QatarSuzi Mirgani, CIRS – Georgetown University in QatarGerd Nonneman, Georgetown University in QatarDanyel Reiche, Georgetown University in QatarSebastian Sons, Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient (CARPO)Kamilla Swart, Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU)Irene Theodoropoulou, Qatar UniversityElizabeth Wanucha, CIRS – Georgetown University QatarClyde Wilcox, Georgetown University in Qatar

Article by Misba Bhatti, Research Analyst at CIRS

How Has the World Cup 2022 Changed Qatar?
2022-03-20 18:00 - 19:30 (Europe/Moscow)
Ever since Qatar was awarded the hosting rights for the FIFA World Cup 2022TM in December 2010, the small state has been criticized for its human rights record in Western media, particularly by British newspapers. In our panel, we will discuss the changes that have taken place in Qatar in the last decade and the challenges that remain. We will also focus on migrant workers and women’s rights and how staging the world’s most remarkable sporting event has impacted the diversification of Qatar’s natural gas dependent economy, and its relations with other countries in the region and worldwide.

Featuring: Danyel Reiche, Amal Al-Malki, Gerd Nonneman, Alexis Antoniades, Haya Al-Noaimi, Max Tuñón.

Harriet
2022-03-22 18:00 - 20:30 (Europe/Moscow)
Film Synopsis:The extraordinary tale of Harriet Tubman’s escape from slavery and transformation into one of America’s greatest heroes, whose courage, ingenuity, and tenacity freed hundreds of slaves and changed the course of history.

Content Warning: violence & gore, cruelty, torture, profanity, alcohol consumption, frightening. Rated R, PG 18+

Free Screening

LOCATION: To be updated closer to the date.

The film was screened on March 22 and was followed by a community discussion facilitated by Professor Brittany Bounds

Brittany Bounds teaches critical thinking and social skills through U.S. History and American Military History to undergrads at TAMU-Q. She is also the co-chair of the Women’s Faculty Forum, which supports female faculty, academic staff, and students at the university. She also advises the Engineering Entrepreneurship Society who encourage students to combine their engineering and business skills. Dr. Bounds further engages students through STEAM by putting the A into STEM through the annual Showcase of student projects that display creativity through video and poster. Dr. Bounds obtained her Ph.D. in U.S. History with an emphasis in social/cultural and military/diplomatic history at Texas A&M University in College Station. Her research centers on U.S. history and how its roots explain current debates in American society. Her dissertation explored the Silent Majority’s reaction to the social movements of the 60s: the response to civil rights, campus liberals, antiwar protesters, racial riots, and women’s liberation by examining written modes of communication from a media-silenced American majority. Her publications include topics on the Civil War, 1960s culture, and counterterrorism.

Mediterranea & Al-Sit
2022-03-30 18:00 - 20:30 (Europe/Moscow)
Mediterranea

Film Synopsis:The film depicts the Africans’ interaction with Italians, and their lives as migrant workers, which includes friendships and animosities, boredom, and temptation.

Content Warning: violence, gore, profanity, alcohol and drugs consumption, smoking, frightening & intense scenes, sex & nudity, PG 18+

Al-Sit

Film Synopsis:In a cotton-farming village in Sudan, 15-year-old Nafisa has a crush on Babiker, but her parents have arranged her marriage to Nadir, a young Sudanese businessman living abroad. Nafisa’s grandmother Al-Sit, the powerful village matriarch, has her own plans for Nafisa’s future. But can Nafisa choose for herself?

Content: Short film, in Arabic with English subtitles

The screening followed a community discussion facilitated by Professor Trish Kahle.

Trish Kahle is an Assistant Professor of history at Georgetown University Qatar. Her work focuses on history of energy, work, and politics in the modern United States and the world. Currently, she is working on her first book, which traces the emergence of energy citizenship—a form of national belonging defined by the rights and obligations of energy production, distribution, and consumption—from the coal mining workplace in the modern United States. A second project examines the role of utility companies in defining what counts as “energy work” by organizing both individuals and communities into energy producers and energy consumers. Her research has appeared in Labor, the Journal of Energy History/ Revue d’Histoire de l’Énergie, and American Quarterly. Support for my work has come from the Mellon Foundation, the Jefferson Scholars Foundation at the University of Virginia, the American Society for Environmental History, the Western Association of Women Historians, the Labor and Working-Class History Association, the Center for the History of Business, Technology, and Society, the University of Chicago, and several research libraries.

Global Perspectives on Slavery and Freedom on Film
2022-04-13 18:00 - 19:30 (Asia/Qatar)
The Webinar was a concluding panel discussion for our Cinematic Afterlives film series and aimed to discuss the stakes and challenges of portraying slavery and abolition through film from different perspectives and geographic contexts.

Speakers: Alyssa Sepinwall (California State University San Marcos), Dexter Gabriel (University of Connecticut), Parisa Vaziri (Cornell University) , and Firat Oruc (Georgetown University in Qatar)Moderator: Trish Kahle (Georgetown University in Qatar)

This event is part of Cinematic Afterlives: Film and Memory in the Black Atlantic research project.

Affects of Energy Transition Working Group I
2022-05-24 08:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Moscow)
On May 24, 2022, the Center for International and Regional Studies at Georgetown University Qatar convened the first working group under its Energy and Affect Theory research project. The working group, led by GU-Q faculty members Trish Kahle, Firat Oruc, and Victoria Googasian, was held virtually and brought together multidisciplinary scholars to discuss their paper abstracts for written contributions that are being developed as a journal special issue. The participants engaged in focused discussions on cross-cutting themes of affect, energy transition, and labor that will inform all of the papers in the collection.

Animesh Chatterjee proposed a study of everyday experiences of energy in colonial Calcutta’s domestic spheres, around 1875 – 1940s. His paper contribution builds on a larger book project which describes the social life of electricity in colonial Calcutta. He proposes to examine how class and social identities shaped the ways in which people interacted with and made meanings of different forms of energy, especially electricity. His study focuses on the gendering of energy consumption in the domestic sphere, as well as the politics of energy use in the context of colonialism and Bengali nationalism.

Ewan Gibbs’ paper assesses lives in energy industries, focused on workers’ experiences in Britain’s coal and offshore oil and gas sector, as well as in nuclear and conventional power generation. Using oral histories that were structured around telling life stories, he examines how workers’ experiences incorporate reflections on local and national experiences of energy transitions. By concentrating on transition as a workplace and community experience, Gibbs studies how workers made sense of movements from one source of energy to the other and how they implicated themselves within larger processes of economic change. Through a contrast between experiences in the UK’s major energy sectors, this article also contributes to understanding of distinctions between labor regimes as well as the commonalities that underlay conceptions of what it meant to be British energy workers.

Anne Pasek’s contribution looks at how people see and sensorialize carbon. Pasek argues that while carbon is dominant in everyday life and industrial processes, it is not always visible. Her paper will look at the sensorial politics of carbon in carbon removal and sequestration, examining how the process is tied up in energy transitions more broadly. Pasek also seeks to examine the experiences of carbon removal workers and their emotional and affective stakes for the work they do. Her aim is to map their affective involvement in their work on behalf of the climate system. Pasek proposes to study these processes by bringing together the labor theory of value with affect theory.

Victoria Googasian will contribute a paper that explores a sub-genre of science fiction, the space opera. These literary works imagine human life centuries into the future and involve interplanetary and interstellar travel. Googasian explained that while space operas texts narrate human futures that depend on vast reserves of energy, they rarely explore questions of where the energy is to come from or what kinds of energy transitions may underwrite their worldbuilding. Instead, they maintain a fantasy of endless imperial expansion and human power over material environments. However, throughout the history of the genre, space opera also imagines characters who are materially embedded in their energy systems and characterized by embodied vulnerability. Taking these characters as a starting point, Googasian aims to study whether this seemingly reactionary genre might have an alternative energy imaginary that is grounded in humility, finitude, and limits of energetic life.

In order to generate new possibilities and identify connections between their scholarship, the group was divided into several smaller break-out sessions where participants were invited to deliberate on particular themes and concepts. In the first break-out session, the four paper contributors were asked to think through and highlight questions of time and space in relation to affect in their own work. For the second breakout session, the participants explored the theme of labor in regards to identity/subjectivity and values/structures. The last session focused specifically on transition and questions on modes of perception and narrative and obscurity. Finally, the participants reconvened as a complete group to share some of the main questions and takeaways from the break-out sessions and discuss how these will be developed and addressed in the final drafts of the paper contributions.

The second working group for the project will be held in September 2022, in which participants will discuss and get feedback on their draft papers.

To view the working group agenda, click here

To read the participants’ biographies, click here

Read more about this research initiative

Participants and Discussants:

Zahra Babar, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar

Misba Bhatti, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar

Dominic Boyer, Rice University

Animesh Chatterjee, Technische Universität Darmstadt

Ewan Gibbs, University of Glasgow

Vicky Googasian, Georgetown University in Qatar

Trish Kahle, Georgetown University in Qatar

Firat Oruc, Georgetown University in Qatar

Anne Pasek, Trent University

Elizabeth Wanucha, CIRS – Georgetown University Qatar

Article by Misba Bhatti, Research Analyst at CIRS

CURA Seminar: Football in the Middle East
2022-08-01 08:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Moscow)
On March 19, 2020, the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) held a CURA seminar under its Undergraduate Research Advancement program. This is an opportunity for CURA Fellows to discuss new articles from scholars who have submitted to CIRS’s regional research initiative on “Football in the Middle East.” In observing local regulations for the prevention of the spread of COVID-19, the seminar was hosted online through Zoom. Two papers were critiqued, and feedback from the CURA Fellows was gathered to later share with the research working group.

Khushboo Shah (class of 2022) opened the seminar by presenting Danyel Reiche’s paper “Playing in the triple periphery: Exclusionary policies towards Palestinian football in Lebanon.” The paper explores the development of policy toward Palestinian football players in Lebanon through a chronological survey of policies and interviews with scholars and players. The author describes a gradual restriction of Palestinian football players through a series of quotas and fees imposed to restrict their number. Through a comparative perspective, Reiche emphasizes the relative lack of opportunities and flexibility Palestinian players have in Lebanon compared to those in Israel and Jordan.

Chaïmaa Benkermi (class of 2021) led the second half of the seminar by presenting Thomas Ross Griffin’s “Who Kisses the Badge? The Player’s Perspective in the Performance of National Identity in the Qatar National Team.” Griffin uses literary and social media analysis to understand the performance of nationalism of players in the Qatari National Football team. The author divides the players into three categories: those who were born Qatari (jus sanguinis), non-Qataris born in Qatar (jus soli), and naturalized players from Europe and North Africa (jus talenti). Griffin argues that players from all three groups express Qatari nationalism in similar ways despite their different origins, particularly in their embrace of the image of the Emir and the anthem Shoomila Shoomila.

Following the presentations, CURA fellow engaged in an in-depth discussion about the structure, theoretical framework, sources, and clarity and strength of each paper. While analyzing the papers’ significance to the current scholarship of Football in the Middle East, CURA fellows use the research and analytical skills they learn on the job and through various CURA activities to contribute to their assessments.

Following the seminar, Salma Hassabou (class of 2022) and Shaza Afifi (class of 2022) will serve as ambassadors to present the comments to the working group on “Football in the Middle East,” which will be held on a virtual platform in early April.

For the participants’ biographies, please click here

Article by Ngoc Nguyen, CURA Research Fellow

CURA Paper Series Seminar
2022-08-01 08:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Moscow)
On April 9, 2020, CIRS held the CURA Paper Series Seminar with a presentation by Adithi Sanjay, a GU-Q junior majoring in International Politics, and the winner of the Spring 2020 CURA Paper Series Competition. The CURA program launched the competition under its paper series initiative, which allows selected research papers to be published after editorial review, feedback, and revisions. Sanjay’s paper, titled “The Creation and Mobilization of Anti-China Sentiment by Interest Groups in Indian Society (2012-2018),” was chosen as the winner of the competition from a competitive pool of submitted papers.

The winner of the competition had the opportunity to work with CIRS staff to elevate her research work with the goal of being published by the end of the semester. The seminar was organized to provide the student with professional development experience through presenting the paper to GU-Q peers and receiving their feedback. Due to COVID-19 related restrictions and to accommodate participants from various countries, Sanjay presented her research on anti-China sentiment in India via a Zoom meeting, which was attended by CURA fellows and CIRS staff.

Sanjay’s research methodology allowed for a micro-level analysis of the contemporary mobilization of anti-China protests in India. Using a global news monitoring and aggregation database that sourced more than 30,000 newspaper articles, she was able to compile a unique dataset cataloging anti-China protests on a state and regional level in India. The research scope covered anti-China protests from 2012 to 2018, a period spanning the incumbency of two Indian prime ministers as well as two military confrontations at the Sino-Indian border. Sanjay emphasized that anti-China sentiment in India has significant “implications for the level of [Sino-Indian] cooperation on economic, sociocultural, and political bases.” Her analysis focused on the six major drivers of anti-China sentiment that emerged as recurring themes across various anti-Chinese protest events: border tensions, economic tensions, religious tensions, historical and current oppression of Tibetans, Chinese support for Pakistan, and Chinese ministers’ visits to India.

Sanjay stated that “given the sheer size of the Indian population, [the] generalization of anti-China sentiment on a national level is problematic in that it glosses over the nuances of the issues driving public opinion of China in India,” As such, her research fills the gap in the preexisting literature on perceptions of China in India by analyzing the creation and mobilization of anti-China sentiment by three broad categories of stakeholders: non-political civil society organizations, political parties, and their affiliates, and the Indian central government.

The seminar began with the presenter’s remarks on the results and findings of her research and was followed by the question and answer portion that allowed for a fruitful discussion with every participant offering input. Sanjay shared that a limitation of her methodology is media bias, given that “small-size protests are not reported [in regional and national-level newspapers] and therefore considered ‘non-existent.’” As such, Sanjay suggested that data triangulation would enhance her research, as it would allow for the incorporation of ethnographic sources with her existing analysis of news reports. Sanjay concluded, “I enjoyed this experience, and I am grateful for all of your suggestions to improve on my paper and get it ready for publication.”

Sanjay’s winning paper will be published by CIRS in June 2020 and will be the inaugural paper published under the CURA Paper Series.

For the participants’ biographies, please click here

Article by J.I, CURA Research Fellow

Global Histories and Practices of Islamophobia Working Group I
2022-08-08 17:00 - 2022-08-09 19:30 (Europe/Moscow)
On August 8 and 9, 2022, the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) organized the first research meeting under its initiative on Global Histories and Practices of Islamophobia. The meeting was held as a virtual event, with scholars participating from various geographical locations. The meeting aimed to discuss the submitted abstract proposals, which were solicited through a Call for Papers and submissions by invited scholars. The convened academics and experts from various multi-disciplinary backgrounds discussed issues related to global Islamophobia beyond the question of war on terror and fear and hatred of Islam and Muslims post 9/11.The conversation was initiated by Anne Norton, who argued that despite Western political thought relying upon Muslim philosophy, it was often figured only as an allusive erasure in portrayals of the canonical. The palimpsest formed by this layering of influences and erasures conceals and reveals the place of Muslim thought, philosophical and religious, in Western religion and philosophy. The objective of the paper will work to articulate the constitutive effects of this palimpsest. Along with the sequestration of Muslim thought in politics and philosophy, the paper will show how the West bounded and confined aspects of its own intellectual inquiries. Norton will diagnose the effects of an Enlightenment settlement that foreclosed both a full engagement with thinking about the divine in the West.Salman Sayyid shifted the discussion to the question of the emergence of the Islamophobic State. He argued that there was a need to broaden the geography and deepen the history to understand Islamophobia. The term is often understood as a problem that applies to Muslim minorities but not to Muslim majority states. The emergence of an Islamophobic state, which is a specific form of state, has a distinct ensemble of institutions and administrative processes and covers an astonishing range of political forms. The Islamophobic State not only targets expressions of Muslimness but in its efforts to discipline the Muslims, builds up an internationally sanctioned system of surveillance and restriction, which can be easily applied to other social actors. The paper will aim to explain this emergence of the Islamophobic State as a project to rewrite social contracts and transform relations between the ruled and the rulers. The question of self-determination in relation to Islamophobia in Indian-Occupied Kashmir was raised by Hafsa Kanjwal. She stated that the development of Islamophobia in India is a combined result of both secular-liberal and Hindutva ideologies. While secularism is used in India to forcibly depoliticize Muslim identity, Hindutva views Muslims as being subservient to the Hindu identity of the nation. Using the example of Occupied Kashmir, the paper will look at how the relevance of Islam is dismissed as a category for the modern state and how the state attempts to subvert Muslim agency and self-determination. The main argument made was that the essential character of Indian nationalism is Islamophobic, which not only erases Muslim markers in public sites and normalizes violence and bigotry toward Muslims, but also views the Muslim demand for sovereignty or self-determination with suspicion and as a rejection of the liberal secular nation-state order.Shereen Fernandez then directed the conversion to examine the sea as a site for practices of Islamophobia. She argued that there is a gap in the literature that neglects to examine how the sea has been used as a space to practice Islamophobia. To fill this gap, her paper will look at the historical practices of transporting Muslim prisoners, by the British in the 1850s, to a penal colony in the Andaman Islands on a ship and study their experiences as colonial convicts. The latter part of the paper will link this history to the Islamophobia experienced by detainees at Guantánamo Bay (GTMO) during the War on Terror post 9/11. With this contribution, Fernandez aims to explore the centrality of the sea as a site which perpetuates the spatialization of Islamophobia as exemplified in the treatment of Muslim prisoners.Oli Charbonneau’s discussion examined the role of Islam and manifestations of Islamophobia in the Colonial Philippines from 1899 to the 1920s. He argued that prejudicial thinking about Muslims in the region is the result of several discourses. These resulted in systematic control over the Muslim population via militarized violence and cultural-political overhaul. Charbonneau’s paper will aim to study the archival materials from U.S. foreign relations, Philippine Studies; and Islamic Southeast Asian Studies to illustrate the contemporary American ideas about and actions towards Islamic societies. Using Southern Philippines as a case study Charbonneau will also aim to present Islamophobia in Southeast Asia as a set of beliefs rather than a uniform practice.Valentin Duquet led the discussion on Islamophobia in “Algerianist” settler colonial literature which came out in the first half of the 1900s. During this era, Algeria was a region of the French Republic. Analyzing three “pied-noir” novels of the Interwar period as historical archives, his paper will examine the representation of the Muslim native, which Duquet explains is key to understanding Islamophobia under French colonialism as well as its brutal unwinding a few decades later. In these novels, the Muslim figures are often relegated to the background, erased, or replaced with “Berber” characters which are often Christian, pagan, or vaguely Mediterranean. This erasure, he argues, is symptomatic of the symbolic violence of French assimilation which denied even the name “Algerian” from Maghrebi Muslims.Ali Alsmadi discussed the role of Spanish Islam and highlighted the treatment of the Moriscos’ literature in the scholarship. Alsmadi argued that Islam is viewed by the orientalist scholars as an imported religion and not part of indigenous Spanish culture and heritage. In his paper, Alsmadi will shed light on the current political denial to recognize the Moriscos’ language and literature which is deeply rooted in past practices. His analysis will demonstrate how the 19th and 20th-century scholarship and its understanding of the Moriscos were biased and show literary and cultural linkages between Morisco literature and contemporary Spanish authors that reflect cross-religious influences that are unique to the Iberian Peninsula.First Oruc then shifted the focus of the discussion to Islamophobia in Turkey and the fear of Islam in the Turkish Republican era. Oruc narrated that after the demise of the Ottoman Empire, the Kemalist founding elites and the Turkish intelligentsia claimed Islam to be a “spiritual malaise” from which the Turkish nation had to recover. Their concept of modern Turkey envisioned the adoption of Westernizing state nationalism. The Ottoman era was viewed as the repression of the Turk and Turkish cultural values, with Islam seen as the main threat to Turkey’s emergence as a modern republic state. Through examining Turkish cultural and literary texts Oruc aims to explore the historical manifestation of fear of Islam and its aftermaths in Turkey and also examine how some of the similar paradigms of Islamophobia may reoccur in other Muslim majority societies.Thomas Simsarian Dolan addressed the question of “Arab Money” and Global capitalism. Dolan argued that in the selective economic discourse, Muslims are seen as non-normative economic actors. This form of Islamophobia, Dolan stated, builds on Orientalist theory that deepened during the Cold War, and labels Muslims as a security threat to the Western financial system in need of economic and political discipline. Adding to the existing work of scholars such as Deepa Kumar, Moustafa Bayoumi, and Mahmood Mamdani, Dolan and his co-author Zaynab Quadri aim to explore this strand of Islamophobia by tracing the transnational political economies in which both the flow of global capital and people are simultaneously curtailed.

Muneeza Rizvi highlighted contestations over the Palestinian struggle being characterized as an “Islamic issue.” She focused on voices that, on one hand, are critical of the orientalist accounts that portray the creation of Israel as a feud between Muslims and Jews, and on the other, suggest that the designation “Islamic” necessarily excludes other analytical framings of the issue, such as settler colonialism. Rizvi argued that secular assumptions about politics and religion structure these colloquial debates, as well as parallel academic trajectories within Middle East Studies.Farid Hafez directed the discussion toward the geopolitics of Islamophobia and stated that the notion of political Islam has been used by centrist governments in Europe to exclude Muslims from the public sphere, silence critical voices, and crack down on Muslim communities. This discourse is an extension of the narrative on countering extremism and the global war on terror. Hafez aims to study how attempts to silence Muslims transcends beyond the West. Using a geopolitical lens, he will look into UAE’s attempts to shape the discourse on domesticating Muslims in Europe and US and into pro-Israeli interest in cracking down on Muslim political agency in the West. He will try to draw linkages and differences between these practices and Islamophobia in Europe.Abdullah Arian shared Sanober Umar’s thoughts on race-making and religion in colonial and post-colonial India. The participants were encouraged to deliberate over issues such as; prevailing colonial attitudes towards Islam in India, the use of religion to differentiate between Hindus and Muslims as separate “races” and the viewing of Muslims as being dangerous and barbaric compared to Hindus who could be co-opted into the British colonial system.The participants will take the constructive feedback their abstracts received and begin writing draft papers, which will be circulated among the group before the second working group meeting. At the subsequent meeting, scholars will critique each other’s papers and provide in-depth commentary.

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 in Qatar

Ali Alsmadi, Indiana University Bloomington, US

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

Shereen Fernandez, London School of Economics and Political Science

Farid Hafez, Georgetown University

Hafsa Kanjwalis, Lafayette College

Suzi Mirgani, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar

Anne Norton, University of Pennsylvania

Firat Oruc, Georgetown University in Qatar

Zaynab Quadri, Ohio State University

Muneeza Rizvi, University of California, Berkeley

Salman Sayyid, University of Leeds

Sanober Umar, York University

Elizabeth Wanucha, CIRS – Georgetown University Qatar

Karine Walther, Georgetown University in Qatar

Clyde Wilcox, Georgetown University in Qatar

Article by Misba Bhatti, Research Analyst at CIRS

CURA Workshop: Writing Women into Wikipedia: Information Creation and Peer Review
2022-08-11 13:00 - 2022-08-18 15:00 (Europe/Moscow)
On August 11 and 18, 2022, CIRS hosted a two-part workshop for undergraduate students titled, “Writing Women into Wikipedia: Information Creation and Peer Review.” The workshop was offered under the CIRS Undergraduate Research Advancement (CURA) Program, and was co-led by GU-Q Faculty Professor Phoebe Musandu, and Paschalia Terzi, GU-Q Librarian.

This workshop taught me to create and edit the websites, but also learn to respect other works as well by giving valuable and reasonable feedback while making the necessary edits/suggestions. Throughout this process, I got to further develop my research skills, especially when you need to find out an information about someone who is not well known in online platforms when you try researching in English.
– Nafisa Sagdullaeva, GU-Q Class of 2026

Over the course of two days, 15 Georgetown University in Qatar and Northwestern University in Qatar students learned about the information creation and peer review process using Wikipedia articles as a model. The workshop was adapted by Terzi from a recent project report published in the Journal of Information Literacy (Thomas, Jones & Mattingly, 2021). Professor Musandu opened the workshop with a presentation contextualizing the themes and goals of the workshop in the bigger picture of the bias that is presented in Wikipedia. Her presentation highlighted the importance of analyzing information sources to determine whose voices are represented, and whose are being left out.

Wikipedia is an online encyclopedia that relies on a community of editors to create, revise, and remove articles from the website based on Wikipedia’s policies and guidelines. It is a common misperception that anyone can write or edit anything on Wikipedia at any time without oversight. While this is true to an extent, what is often not known is that every article and edit is reviewed by experienced Wikipedia editors who will remove the edits or article itself if found to be outside of Wikipedia’s policies and guidelines. Information presented in Wikipedia articles should be from a neutral point of view, verifiable, and not original research.

Professor Musandu explained how bias enters into Wikipedia – evidenced not only in the authors and subjects of articles, but also within the community of editors. Since Wikipedia’s guidelines require all information in articles to be verifiable, only secondary sources may be used to source articles. Professor Musandu explained why this can be an issue – authors of secondary sources may insert their own biases into their work, which is then replicated in the Wikipedia article. Secondary sources reflect the social norms, mores, and values that were evident at the time of writing, thus perpetuating the biases through generations.

I learnt how I can critically review the articles posted on Wikipedia, and post my own and ultimately become a Wikipedian.
– Zarrish Ahmed, GU-Q Class of 2026

In this workshop, students focused on the underrepresentation of women in the world of Wikipedia. Regarding the content of Wikipedia itself, women are underrepresented in articles. Within articles themselves, how women are represented is often very narrow and reduced to their role in relationship to a male, or relegated to matters of social and purely feminine affairs, advancing unhelpful stereotypes. For example, in the Wikipedia article “Women in Qatar,” the first sentence is “Women’s rights in Qatar are restricted by the country’s male guardianship law and influenced by the Wahhabi interpretation of Islam” (Wikipedia, 2022).

Women are also underrepresented in the community of Wikipedia editors. In addition to the fewer number of women editors, Shane-Simpson and Gillespie-Lynch (2017) suggest five reasons for the gender gap, including the inclination of women to discuss more and edit content less, perception and interaction with other editors, and gender issues in quantity of leisure time available. This is why the workshop focused specifically on women and Wikipedia. It is the hope of the facilitators that students will choose to become Wikipedia editors themselves.

After the presentation, students worked in groups to write articles about Qatari women in the fields of politics, science, education, art, and business. During the second session on August 18, the facilitators gave each group the article of another group in an anonymous manner to review in a peer review exercise. At the end of the two-part Workshop, students had the opportunity to publish their articles and engage with the global community of Wikipedia editors on their biographical contributions. As Anupa Khanal, GU-Q class of 2026 stated after the workshop, “I would like to devote more time on writing articles on women who are unrepresented and also work on peer reviews.”

Watch a video of the presentation by Professor Phoebe Musandu and Paschalia Terzi here.

Article by Elizabeth Wanucha, CIRS Operations Manager

Football in the Middle East: State, Society, and the Beautiful Game
2022-08-15 18:00 - 19:30 (Asia/Qatar)
A tour d’horizon exploring how the world’s best-loved game is affecting people, societies and governments across the region.

Far and away the most popular sport in the world, football has a special place in Middle Eastern societies, and for Middle Eastern states. With Qatar hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup, this region has been cast into the global footballing spotlight, raising issues of geopolitical competition, consumer culture and social justice.

Panelists: Zahra Babar (Center for International and Regional Studies at Georgetown University in Qatar), Ross Griffin (Qatar University), Craig LaMay (Northwestern University in Qatar), and Danyel Reiche (Georgetown University in Qatar)

Moderator: Abdullah Al-Arian (Georgetown University in Qatar)

Location: 3-2-1 Qatar Olympic and Sports Museum

The World Cup and Women's Empowerment in Qatar
2022-08-29 18:00 - 19:00 (Europe/Moscow)
In 2010, Qatar was chosen to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Only two years later in 2012, the first Qatari woman competed in the Olympic Games. This panel discussion will look at the impact of hosting the first World Cup in the Middle East on women’s participation in sports, as well as their rights and lived experiences in the country.

Panelists: Zarqa Parvez Abdullah (Georgetown University in Qatar), Afraa Al-Noaimi (Josoor Institute), Susan Dun (Northwestern University in Qatar)

Moderator: Danyel Reiche (Georgetown University in Qatar)

Location: CIRS Conference Room, Georgetown University in Qatar

Affects of Energy Transition Working Group II
2022-09-05 08:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Moscow)
On September 5, 2022, the Center for International and Regional Studies held a second working group under its research initiative on Energy Humanities. The meeting was organized as a hybrid event, which allowed for both in-person and virtual participation. The convened scholars received critical feedback and commentary on the draft chapters that they had submitted prior to the meeting.

Animesh Chatterjee initiated the discussion with his paper titled, “Everyday Experiences of Energy in Colonial Calcutta’s Domestic Spheres, c. 1875-1940s.” He explained that in late-nineteenth and early twentieth century Calcutta, appeared in Calcutta as both a source of illumination in public and domestic spaces, and as a complex metaphor in the intellectual articulations of contemporary social and political thoughts. Using the metaphor of braiding, Chatterjee’s article provides a contemporary recollection of colonial and nationalist debates over electric use in domestic and public spaces and looks at ways in which historical narratives influence these affective engagements. The paper examines and analyzes differing positions of address and representations of electricity both as a symbol of material and cultural progress, and as a symbol of “Western” modernity and material culture harmful to the Bengali individual, family, and society. Overall, the paper highlights how electricity accentuated heterogenous views on modernity, nationalism, and culture within Bengali society.

Ewan Gibbs then led a discussion on his paper, “Lives in Energy: Understanding Testimonies from Britain’s Coal, Power, and Oil Sectors.” Gibbs argued that across various energy sectors, including coal, oil, gas, and nuclear, workers engaged in energy generation have a common view of their centrality to the British economy but also share a sense of invisibility in dominant public debates. These trends have magnified through the privatization of electricity since the 1990s, concurrent with the broader impacts of deindustrialization, which have left skilled manual workers peripheral to Britain’s economic imaginary. This paper addresses the role of labor in energy histories using worker testimonies collected in life-story oral histories from Scotland, England, and Wales. Gibbs aims to shed light on workplace experiences since the middle of the twentieth century, a period marked by major changes in Britain’s energy economy including the building of large new power stations under public ownership, the contracting significance of coal mining and burning, and the beginning and maturing of new form of generation including North Sea oil and gas extraction and the nuclear project. His paper assesses how workers in varied energy sectors constructed their relationship to their workplace and locality and dealt with the contradictory affective dimensions of place attachment.

Anne Pasek shifted the discussion to contemporary energy affects with her paper, “Unalienating Carbon: Affect and Labor in Emerging Carbon Sequestration Markets’ Theories of Value.” Her article looks at the process of carbon removal, particularly in the biochar and regenerative agriculture communities. Using the framework of affect and work Pasek argues that carbon removal in these industries is effortful, manual, and impactful. Through their labor, practitioners not only bring tangible changes in the landscapes and materials they work with but are themselves affected by the work they do to intervene in the climate system. Using the documentary media produced about the artisanal communities, as the source material, Pasek’s paper explains how affect plays a central role in both driving and sustaining the work done by these communities and how it shapes their apprehensions and relations to the carbon cycle.

Victoria Googasian then discussed her paper titled, “Infrastructural Character: Space Opera’s Energetic Imaginary.” Using three space operas examples–Star Trek Discovery, Dune, and Nova–as case studies, Googasian’s paper explores how these texts diverge from the genre’s tropes of endless imperial expansion and human power over material environments. These novels imagine human futures that depend on vast reserves of energy, but they depict characters who are materially embedded in their energy systems and are characterized by embodied vulnerability. The three texts are used to further examine the role of these infrastructural characters during the energy transitions taking place in these literary works.

The participants will revise their draft papers based on the feedback received during the discussions. CIRS will work with the faculty leads of the project, Professors Firat Oruc, Trish Kahle, and Victoria Googasian to submit the final for publication as a journal special issue.

To view the working group agenda, click here

To read the participants’ biographies, click here

Read more about this research initiative

Participants and Discussants:

Zahra Babar, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar

Misba Bhatti, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar

Animesh Chatterjee, Technische Universität Darmstadt

Ewan Gibbs, University of Glasgow

Vicky Googasian, Georgetown University in Qatar

Trish Kahle, Georgetown University in Qatar

Suzi Mirgani, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar

Firat Oruc, Georgetown University in Qatar

Anne Pasek, Trent University

Elizabeth Wanucha, CIRS – Georgetown University Qatar

Article by Misba Bhatti, Research Analyst at CIRS

Football and the State in the Middle East
2022-09-13 18:00 - 19:00 (Europe/Moscow)
This panel discussion was the second event being hosted to highlight the research conducted under CIRS project Football in the Middle East, the outcome of which is a new book edited by Professor Abdullah Al-Arian published by Hurst/Oxford University Press. The panel looks at how football is affecting states, governments, and societies across the region.

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

Panelists: Niki Akhavan (The Catholic University of America), Craig LaMay (Northwestern University in Qatar), and Abdullah Al-Arian (Georgetown University in Qatar)

Location: CIRS Conference Room, Georgetown University in Qatar

Russian Foreign Policy Towards the Middle East
2022-09-21 18:00 - 19:00 (Europe/Moscow)
Moderated by GUQ Professor Mehran Kamrava, the event discusses Russia’s motives in the Middle East, examining its growing role in the region and its efforts to defend its national interests. The discussion addresses both domestic and external drivers of Moscow’s foreign policy, tracing the historical evolution of Russia’s presence in the region within the last 30 years.

Speaker: Nikolay Kozhanov – Qatar University

Location: CIRS Conference Room, Georgetown University in Qatar

Qatar’s World Cup Goals: Moving from the Periphery to the Center Working Group II
2022-09-25 08:00 - 2022-09-26 17:00 (Europe/Moscow)
On September 25 and 26, 2022, the Center for International and Regional Studies held the second working group under its research initiative, “Qatar’s World Cup Goals: Moving from the Periphery to the Center.” The meeting convened regional and international scholars who discussed their draft papers and received extensive feedback for revisions. The topics discussed at the meeting included Qatar Airways sponsorships, Paris Saint Germain and national identity, the World Cup and efforts to promote a healthy lifestyle in Qatar, Corporate Social Responsibility, the blockade of 2017, COVID-19 preparedness, and Qatar’s foreign policy in relation to the World Cup 2022.

Danyel Reiche initiated the discussion with his chapter, “The Perception of Qatar Airways Sponsorships in Major European Football Clubs.” Reiche’s paper analyzed Qatar Airways’ sponsorships of three major European football clubs: FC Barcelona, FC Bayern Munich, and FC Paris Saint-Germain, and discussed how sponsorship arrangements have been perceived by different stakeholders in the three clubs. Outlining Qatar Airways’ sports sponsorship portfolio, Reiche argued that over the years Qatar’s standing has become stronger at the elite levels of European football but more work needs to be done at the grassroots level. The chapter provides deeper insight into why these sponsorships were and remain controversial, and whether Qatar has used these sports sponsorships effectively to gain soft power.

Andreas Flouris’s chapter addresses whether being awarded the World Cup has prompted Qatar to focus on policies and programs to support a healthy lifestyle in the country. In his chapter, “The 2022 FIFA World Cup and the Quest for Healthy Living in Qatar,” Flouris suggests that while the World Cup has led to economic and infrastructural development in the country, it remains to be seen whether the initiatives carried out as part of the World Cup preparation will have a longer-term impact on the adoption of a healthy lifestyle by the population.

Continuing the discussion on health-related issues, Kamilla Swart briefly updated the group on her chapter which will be examining the World Cup 2022 and the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Her paper will look at other mega sporting events hosted by Qatar during the pandemic, and how these supported Qatar’s efforts to deliver a safe and secure World Cup in 2022.

Ross Griffin’s chapter, “Identity Matters: Qatar, QSI, and Paris Saint-Germain” focuses on Qatari national identity expressed through the ownership of the French football club. Ross argues that after its purchase by Qatar Sports Investments in 2011, Paris Saint German was transformed into one of the most glamorous football clubs in the world, with high levels of success. Ross states that there is a significant absence of academic work on Qatar’s motivations in purchasing PSG, and how ownership of the club has enabled the state to engage in national identity performance on the global stage. In his chapter, Ross examines the forms of national identity that Qatar is performing through its ownership of PSG, how this identity is performed, and why PSG serves as the desired medium for performing this identity.

Uday Chandra and Aisha Al-Kuwari’s chapter, “Popular Culture and the World Cup,” focuses on football fandom and popular culture in Doha. Using vernacular sources and interviews they argue that the evolution of football fandom in Doha can be best understood through historic neighborhood clubs, known as furjan, and through the culture of football spectatorship in the Qatari majaalis. The paper’s secondary intervention is in its highlighting of the voices of the migrant communities present in Doha, their expressions of inclusion and participation in the World Cup, as well as their broader forms of patriotism to the country. By bringing both the citizen and migrant dimensions together, this contribution explores how local popular culture in Doha shapes and is shaped by the World Cup.

The next session was led by Irene Theodoropoulou on her chapter, “Good Things Come from Small Places: Communicating Qatar to World Cup Tourists.” The paper examines the discursive and linguistic means through which the World Cup 2022 is communicated to the world. Theodoropoulou detailed the three phases of the communication strategy, “Expect Amazing”, “Deliver Amazing”, and “Now is All.” She argued that Qatar has employed the three phases not only to tackle the negative image but also to put itself on the global tourist map, to rebrand itself, and to establish tourism as one of its basic revenue sectors post World Cup in order to diversify its economy.

Sebastian Sons paper, “Creating Sports Humanitarianism: The Nexus of Qatar’s Development Assistance and Sport,” analyzed Qatar’s efforts to link its humanitarian aid policy with sports. Sons stated that Qatar has emerged as a relevant provider of development assistance in recent years, and has made sport an integral part of its developmental aid. In doing so, Qatar has aimed to present itself as a promoter of humanitarianism, physical activity, and a healthy lifestyle. It also seeks to compete with regional neighbors such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) which are also following a similar policy in terms of sports development. Sons paper focuses on Qatar’s developmental policy and its close interlinkages with sport, and aims to contribute to the academic discussion on sport as a driver for development.

Paul Brannagan led a session discussion on “Soft Power as ‘Beauty, Brilliance, Benignity’: the Case of the Aspire Zone Elite Sports.” Brannagan’s paper aims to provide an analysis of Qatar’s state-of-the-art elite sports complex, Aspire Zone. Using the lens of ‘beauty’, ‘brilliance’ and ‘benignity,’ he discussed how this elite athlete complex generates soft power for Qatar so far and will add to it post World Cup ear. Building on previous academic works on Aspire Zone, the paper examines how Qatar has used soft power to carve out an attractive global profile in global sports.

Kathy Babiak’s paper, “FIFA World Cup 2022: The Role of Corporate Social Responsibility as a Vehicle for Qatar’s Development Goals,” looked at the CSR of the key stakeholders responsible for organizing the World Cup in Qatar. Babiak discussed the concept of CSR and its link to firm strategy and national development. She argued that sport has been used to drive broader strategic development goals by all types of businesses, rights holders, organizing committees, sports organizations, and nations around the world. International sports governing bodies such as FIFA, sports sponsors, and other interested parties have amplified the global business of sports and have used the power of sports to influence positive social change. Babiak’s contribution will aim to examine and better understand how CSR is enacted by local and international stakeholders of mega events such as the World Cup, and how it can help to advance social change and position firms, sports organizations, and even host countries as positive agents of social impact.

Hissa Al-Kubaisi shifted the discussion to Qatar’s foreign policy with her paper, “The World Cup and Shifts in Qatar’s Foreign Policy.” Al-Kubaisi stated that the academic literature on small states claims that a change in leadership does not have an effect on the foreign policies of small states. She argued against this concept and specified that in the case of Qatar there was a strong shift in foreign policy after 2010 which can be associated with two events, the awarding of hosting the FIFA World Cup 2022 in 2010 and the change in leadership in 2013. The paper will examine how, following a change in leadership in the run-up to the FIFA World Cup 2022, Qatar’s foreign policy has shifted to and is now based on mediation and diplomacy, which is more aligned with the values of the World Cup.

The working group discussion was brought to a close by Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, who presented his paper, “Qatar: Between the Blockade and the World Cup?” Ulrichen’s chapter looked at the 2017 blockade of Qatar by Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Egypt and examined how the blockade affected Qatar’s preparations for the World Cup. He analyzed the steps that were undertaken by policymakers in Qatar to overcome the domestic, regional, and international challenges that arose in and after 2017. Outlining the aspects of the blockade and the ways it intersected with the World Cup preparations, the paper explores issue of political risk and the climate of uncertainty created by the blockading states and the measures that were implemented to strengthen Qatar’s domestic resilience and to solidify its regional and international partnerships. Finally, it looks at the legacy of the blockade and the twelve-year-long World Cup preparations.

The contributors will revise their paper drafts based on the feedback received. CIRS will gather the final chapter submissions into an edited volume to be published by a university press.

To view the working group agenda, click here

To read the participants’ biographies, click here

Read more about this research initiative

Participants and Discussants:

Aisha Al Kuwari, Georgetown University in Qatar

Hissa Al Kubaisi, Georgetown University in Qatar

Zahra Babar, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar

Kathy Babiak, University of Michigan

Misba Bhatti, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar

Paul Brannagan, Manchester Metropolitan University, UK

Susan Dun, Northwestern University in Qatar

Uday Chandra, Georgetown University in Qatar

Kristian Coates Ulrichsen, Rice University

Andreas Flouris, University of Ottawa

Ross Griffin, Qatar University

Craig LaMay, Northwestern University in Qatar

Suzi Mirgani, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar

Anne Nebel, Georgetown University in Qatar

Zarqa Parvez, Georgetown University in Qatar

Danyel Reiche, Georgetown University in Qatar

Sebastian Sons, Center for Applied Research in Partnership with the Orient (CARPO)

Kamilla Swart, Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU)

Irene Theodoropoulou, Qatar University

Elizabeth Wanucha, CIRS – Georgetown University Qatar

Clyde Wilcox, Georgetown University in Qatar

Article by Misba Bhatti, Research Analyst at CIRS

CIRS Lunch Talk: The Beautiful Game in America
2022-10-16 13:00 - 14:00 (Asia/Qatar)
Speaker: Andrew Guest (University of Portland in Oregon USA)

Moderator: Danyel Reiche (Georgetown University in Qatar)

Location: CIRS Conference Room, Georgetown University in Qatar

Energy and the World Cup
2022-10-17 18:00 - 19:30 (Europe/Moscow)
This special panel is hosted as part of CIRS and GUQ’s research focus on Qatar and the FIFA World Cup 2022, and addresses issues related to energy and the hosting of the tournament. In this panel, we consider what lessons and avenues the World Cup 2022 offers for the energy humanities in the Gulf region and beyond. How does this event and its legacy speak to the issue of mega-event infrastructures and energy culture?

Moderators: Firat Oruc and Victoria Googasian (Georgetown University in Qatar)

Panelists: Danyel Reiche (Georgetown University in Qatar), Gokce Gunel (Rice University), and Laurent Lambert (Doha Institute for Graduate Studies)

Location: CIRS Conference Room, Georgetown University in Qatar

UNDP Human Development Report 2021/2022
2022-10-18 18:00 - 19:00 (Europe/Moscow)
This panel is the country launch for the 2021-2022 UNDP Human Development Report. The report authors will discuss how to understand and navigate today’s uncertainty complex as explored in the report – driven by the Anthropocene, by purposeful societal transformation, and by intensifying polarization. Distinguished panelists will reflect on the report’s implications for Qatar, the broader region, and the world.

Opening Remarks: H.E. Dr. Saleh bin Mohammad Al Nabit (Planning and Statistics Authority)

Panelists: Dr. Safwan Masri (Dean of Georgetown University in Qatar), Pedro Conceição (United Nations Development Program), Sheikha Hanouf Abdulrahman N. J. Al-Thani (Ministry of Foreign Affairs), Dr. Mohamed Eskandar Shah (Hamad bin Khalifa University)

Moderators: Biplove Chaudhary (United Nations Development Program) and Zahra Babar (Center for International and Regional Studies at Georgetown University in Qatar)

Location: CIRS Conference Room, Georgetown University in Qatar

A World Cup for Qatar or the Middle East?
2022-10-24 18:00 - 20:00 (Europe/Moscow)
In 2010, Qatar won the bid to become the first ever Middle Eastern and Arab country to host a FIFA World Cup. Even though all 32 teams will be hosted in Qatar and all 64 games will be played in local stadiums, the state is emphasizing the broader regional character of the event. Join us for a panel discussion on the tournament’s impact on neighboring countries and its effect on regional relations.

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

Panelists: Danyel Reiche (Georgetown University in Qatar), Hissa Al-Kubaisi (Georgetown University in Qatar – Alumna), Irene Theodoropoulou (Qatar University)

Location: CIRS Conference Room, Georgetown University in Qatar

CURA Research Presentation "The Image World of Qatar 2022: Visual Representations of the World Cup 2022"
2022-10-26 08:00 - 17:00 (Europe/Moscow)
On October 26, 2022, six students from the “Film and Visual Culture in the Gulf” class with GU-Q professor Firat Oruc, presented their analyses of visual representations of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Shaikha Al Obaidan (class of ’23), Maryam Al Thani (class of ’23), John Carlos Burog (class of ’25), Rodolfo Munoz Cardenas (class of ’23), Meryam Hashmi (class of ’25) and Iman Saif (class of ’24) analyzed Swedish-Moroccan producer, RedOne’s, music videos for the three FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 songs: “Arhbo,” “Hayya, Hayya (Better Together),” and “Light the Sky;” the official mascot, La’eeb; the official emblem; and the official poster of the tournament. Each visual representation was analyzed according to three facets: cultural encounter; gender; and space, time & world.

Across all facets of analysis, several themes emerged from these visual representations as highlighted by each student presenter. Themes of East-West hybridity, bringing the world together in one space (Qatar), unity in diversity, convergence, tradition juxtaposed with modernity, the rise of Qatar on the global stage, and gender.

A careful review of the music videos accompanying the official FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 songs reveals many of the themes noted above. Shaikha provided cultural encounter commentary on the music video for the “Arhbo” song and noted how the video highlights the themes of East-West hybridity, and bringing the world together in one space. One of the singers, Gims, is himself “hybrid” in that he is both Congolese and French. RedOne, the producer of the songs who also features in the video, is Moroccan-Swedish. The imagery of the video depicts people from all different nationalities, and the lyrics are in Spanish, English, French, and the Qatari dialect of Arabic. One repeated verse includes the lyrics “east to west.” “Arhbo’s” space, time, and world facets refer to Qatar as the space where people from around the world will come together. The video takes place in a bus, living room, and stadium – all places where people gather.

In his analysis of the “Hayya, Hayya (Better Together)” music video, John touched on the themes of hybridity, unity in diversity, convergence, and gender. As cultural encounter, the video’s setting juxtaposes the iconography of the desert with the liveliness of the singers and dancers. The singer, Aisha, is filmed on a beach at the point of convergence of two bodies of water with the Doha skyline in the background. John remarks that this scene symbolizes Qatar and the multicultural forces that will impact Qatar, the new ideas and new people that the global attention of the World Cup in Qatar will bring.

In the “Hayya, Hayya (Better Together)” music video, John also highlights the theme of gender. In the scenes of Aisha singing, she is in white, symbolizing modernity, and is surrounded by women in tribal black dress, symbolizing tradition, playing traditional instruments. Additionally, there is a snapshot of women weaving on shore as men prepare to enter the sea to fish or pearl. This depicts the roles of men and women in traditional Qatari society.

The final music video for the song “Light the Sky” provides imagery relating to gender in particular, according to Rodolfo. This music video highlights women – all the singers are women, and the first women FIFA referees are also literally spotlighted. Rodolfo provided a critique of this choice of imagery, arguing that the spotlights isolate the women against the dark stadium as the background, which undermines the idea of women being empowered. The imagery shows the female FIFA referees as isolated, alone, and separate from the game, the fans, and the players.

Under the facet of space, time, and world, the “Light the Sky” video imagery also undermines the idea of women’s empowerment, according to Rodolfo, in that it is filmed in front of Al Thumama stadium, which is designed by a Qatari male architect and visually represents the gahfiya cap, which is part of Muslim Arab boy’s and men’s dress. From a women’s empowerment perspective, it would have been more appropriate to film the video at Al Janoub stadium, the only Qatar 2022 stadium designed by a female architect, Zaha Hadid. One can imagine the choice decision-makers had to make between the only Qatar 2022 stadium designed by a Qatari (Al Thumama stadium), and the only one designed by a woman (Al Janoub).

La’eeb is the official mascot of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Shaikha presented her analysis of him under the facets of cultural encounter, and Maryam A. provided commentary under the facet of space, time, and world. In a promotional video introducing La’eeb, he is depicted as coming from a parallel multiverse of mascots. In the video, La’eeb is shown breaking into our world. Shaikha and Maryam A. both note that this emergence narrative relates to Qatar’s emergence onto the world stage, and the two parallel worlds reflect the East-West hybridity of the football world. Maryam A. reflects on La’eeb’s retelling of what football is all about, reclaiming the mascots’ version of the story. This parallels Qatar’s own reclaiming of football as a part of its cultural heritage, not a new phenomenon as has often been argued in the lead up to the FIFA World Cup 2022.

Meryam H. provided her analysis of the official emblem of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 under the facets of cultural encounter and space, time and world. The official emblem represents a traditional woolen shawl people in the region often wear in winter. It includes traditional Qatari floral patterns in the burgundy national color of Qatar. The emblem also features diacritic from Arabic script. Meryam H. sees it as a symbol of Middle Eastern culture, and also something that everyone can relate to as it is in the shape of the FIFA trophy. The emblem also features a large amount of blank space, suggesting the viewer is free to fill it in with their own cultural connections. The shape of the emblem also resembles the infinity loop shape. Time has been crucial to Qatar’s preparations for the 2022 World Cup, and countdown clocks feature prominently throughout the city. The final phase of Qatar’s preparations is called “Now is All,” which is seen throughout the city on billboards, buses, overpasses, advertisements, and more.

Iman commented on the visual representation of the official posters for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. Her analysis focuses on the area of space, time, & world. The posters were designed by a Qatari female graduate of the Virginia Commonwealth University Qatar (VCU-Q) school of art and design, Buthayna Al Muftah. The striking posters were revealed at the Hamad International Airport, which Iman notes is the space where all people meet before entering Qatar. The airport is a space of diversity, symbolizing how the World Cup in Qatar is meant to be a space for everyone.

The background of the official posters depicts the beach and sand dunes of Qatar. Sand and water are important to Qatar. The posters in combination with the other visual representations show that while Qatar has embraced the city’s bright lights, the desert is also important and harmonizes in a way with the city. In relation to time, Iman suggests that the piece of headwear that is depicted in the posters, the khudra, has been a traditional piece of clothing throughout the centuries. It is the same whether the person wears it in a formal event, or at home with friends. It is a simple garment that has stayed the same throughout history and is the same in whatever context in which it is worn. Similarly, football is a universal sport that is the same across the globe.

Article by Elizabeth Wanucha, CIRS Operations Manager

A Century of Football in the Middle East
2022-11-07 18:00 - 19:30 (Europe/Moscow)
In this Webinar, the panelists offer a historical perspective of football in the Middle East.

Moderator: Abdullah Al-Arian (Georgetown University in Qatar)

Panelists: Simon Chadwick (Skema Business School in Paris), Ibrahim Elhoudaiby (Bard College),Yağmur Nuhrat (Bilgi University), Maher Mezahi (Football Journalist), and Zahra Babar (Center for International and Regional Studies at Georgetown University in Qatar)

Russian Foreign Policy Towards the Middle East
2022-11-09 18:00 - 19:30 (Europe/Moscow)
The panel discuses the motives behind Moscow’s behavior in the Middle East, considering Russia’s growing role in the region and its desire to protect national interests using a wide array of means. The panel considers Russian involvement in the Middle East from several points and analyze global geopolitical risks affecting Russia’s Middle Eastern strategy and internal drivers determining Moscow’s behavior in the region. Special attention is paid to the question of Russian foreign policy toward the Middle East being based on the principle of continuity. The panelists discuss how Moscow’s vision of its priorities in the Middle East differs from that of the Soviet Union and how the drivers of the Russian presence in the region evolved after 1991.

Moderator: Nikolay Kozhanov (Qatar University)

Panelists: Roy Allison (University of Oxford), Leonid Issaev (HSE University), Mark Katz (George Mason University).

POMEPS-CIRS Politics of Sports in the Middle East Workshop
2023-01-14 08:00 - 2023-01-15 17:00 (Asia/Qatar)
On January 14 and 15, 2023, the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at Georgetown University in Qatar, in collaboration with the Project on Middle East Politics (POMEPS) convened a two-day closed-door workshop to explore and study the complex relationship between politics and sports in the Middle East. During the meeting invited regional and international scholars presented short papers and received feedback from the group. Some of the themes under discussion included football and national identity, sports washing, political mobilizations, gender and sports, global capital, and stadium dynamics, among others.

Over the two days, the convened scholars discussed various converging themes and topics associated with the political dynamics of football performance, spectatorship, sponsorships, and hosting of events. Starting the discussion with the rise of disinformation and the use of bots in digital technology and social media for purposes of propaganda, it was debated that football, with its global and often emotional fanbase, worldwide popularity, and capital-heavy investment opportunities, is also a key area for competing narratives. News shared on social media around sporting events has become another avenue for the regional rivalry of gulf regimes and the construction of reputations in the international arena. The participants also discussed and questioned the myriad reasons behind the gulf states’ heavy sports investments. It was stated that prestige building, sports washing, and projection of soft power were the main factors of this investment strategy. The role of football in national identity preservation in the Arab world and the politicization of the sport in countries such as Morocco, Egypt, and Palestine were also examined and discussed.

Ultras have a history of using football to develop new tools of political mobilization. This is particularly true for Cairo ultras who were active in mobilizing against the Mubarak regime. The participants explored the connection between aesthetics and politics by looking at Egypt’s football ultras movements. The discussion was then shifted to the role of privatization of football clubs in Egypt and the lack of investors’ interest in the Egyptian football industry. It was argued that structural problems in the Egyptian economy were the main reason behind the lack of investors and availability of funding for football clubs.

The use of football to construct and contest national identity in Palestine and Iran was also a topic of discussion at the meeting. In the first case, it has been utilized to shape and represent the national identity by the Palestinians, whereas in the latter it is the tool through which non-Persian-speaking minorities express their Azeri nationalistic narrative in Iran. Continuing the debate on Iran the group next looked at how various spaces have been used by certain political actors to bypass the ban on women’s entry to football stadiums in Iran. One such arena has been the movie theaters that allow female spectators to the screenings of football matches. Shifting the focus to Turkey, it was maintained that football has been used by authoritarian regimes to build political support. This in turn has paved the way for the politicization of the football industry in Turkey and the mobilization of football fans to publicly express their dissent against these regimes. The discussion was brought to a close by exploring how Islamist movements in the Middle East namely, Saudi Arabia, Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Hezbollah, deal with football. It was stated that in order to avoid alienating the region’s youth a profound cultural adjustment process has been initiated in many countries apart from Iran.

The organizers thanked the participants for their contribution to the robust and productive discussions. Participants will make revisions to their papers based on the feedback received. The collection will be co-edited by POMEPS and CIRS and jointly published in POMEPS Studies Journal in the near future.

To view the working group agenda, click here

To read the participants’ biographies, click here

Participants and Discussants:

Majd Abuamer, Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies

Abdullah Al-Arian, Georgetown University Qatar

Zahra Babar, CIRS – Georgetown University Qatar

Misba Bhatti, CIRS – Georgetown University Qatar

Ronnie Close, American University in Cairo.

Eman Demerdash, Ph.D. candidate Cairo University

Saleh Elghamrawi, American University of Cairo.

Sami Hermez, Northwestern University in Qatar

Marc Owen Jones, Hamad bin Khalifa University in Doha, Qatar

Ehsan Kashfi, University of Alberta

Marc Lynch, The George Washington University

Yara Nassar, Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies

Suzi Mirgani, CIRS – Georgetown University Qatar

Ibrahim S.I. Rabaia, Palestinian Research Center

Danyel Reiche, Georgetown University Qatar

Curtis Ryan, Appalachian State University- North Carolina

Sefa Secen, Ohio State University.

Nazanin Shahrokni, London School of Economics

Dag Tuastad, University of Oslo.

Elizabeth Wanucha, CIRS – Georgetown University Qatar

Article by Misba Bhatti, Research Analyst at CIRS

The Evolution of African Regional Organizations Working Group I
2023-01-29 08:00 - 2023-01-30 17:00 (Europe/Moscow)
On January 29 and 30, 2023, the Center for International and Regional Studies (CIRS) at Georgetown University Qatar held a book manuscript workshop under its project, “The Evolution of African Regional Organizations.” Several international and regional scholars were invited to present their papers on various African Regional Organizations (ROs) operational on the African continent. During the meeting, they discussed various issues such as regionalism, African voices, and problems, gender, colonial legacies, Pan-Arabism, and Pan-Africanism and received extensive and in-depth commentary from the group.

The initial discussion was initiated by Lynda Iroulo, with her paper, “From the Organization of African Unity to the African Union.” She outlined the transition of the African Union (AU) from the Organization of African Unity (OAU) and argued that the Pan-African solidarity norm is a double-edged for the AU. Iroulo highlighted that while solidarity norms were at the heart and center of AU and bound the members together, it was also detrimental to them. Thus, she argued it is important for the organization’s future to not only continue on the solidarity path but to strengthen and advance it to other levels of interaction that would bridge the gap between talk and action.

Densua Mumford, then discussed the issues related to the “Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).” Providing a comprehensive analysis of ECOWAS, she argued that since its establishment in 1975, the regional organization has had a complex history of innovation and triumph, inertia and tragedy. She examined the primary aims of the political leaders and bureaucrats steering the ECOWAS, the regional organization’s fragile relationship with West African citizens, and its inventive institutional changes over time. Her paper aims to study these various interactions in light of the shifting global and regional political-economic landscapes.

The focus of the discussion was then shifted to Afro-Arab relations, with a paper on “Evolution of the Afro-Arab Region and the Creation of the Arab League,” by Ahmed Salem & Mohamed Ashour. They began by explaining the inclusion of the Arab League and its importance within the African ROs. Outlining the relevance of the Arab League to the African continent they argued that Afrabia is an integral part of Africa and the pan-African concept of unity. They discussed the league’s history, background, and functions and analyzed the league’s past and present contributions to African-Arab cooperation on the continent and on the global scale.

Shifting the focus back to regional ROs Donnet-Rose Odhiambo and Christopher Otieno presented their paper on “Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD).” Established in 1996 as a successor to Intergovernmental Authority on Drought and Development (IGADD), IGAD changed its mandate from focusing on droughts and other natural disasters to promoting and maintaining peace and security in the region. Tracing this transformation, they looked at IGAD’s political role in conflict management and examined the international community’s role in its establishment. They argue that this change in its mandate enabled its robust reemergence as a legitimate regional actor in Eastern Africa.

William Arrey then presented his chapter on “Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS).” Tracing the historical development and the goals and functions of the RO, Arrey stated that ECCAS was created to promote and strengthen harmonious cooperation and self-sustained economic development of the Central African Sub-region. These economic objectives were revitalized and expanded to include the promotion of cooperation, peace, and security in Central Africa. However, the organization is still struggling to achieve its ambitious objectives which he argued is a result of many structural and operational challenges. The chapter provides certain policy recommendations to overcome these challenges by suggesting a strategic use of its opportunities and strengths.

Norman Sempijja and Houyame Hakmi then discussed their chapter on “Arab Maghreb Union (UMA).” Detailing the creation of the organization, they stated that the Union was created to address several internal and external challenges that had marginalized the Maghreb countries. UMA’s main objectives were establishing cooperation, good governance, and peace and security. However, to the present day, the organization has failed to achieve true political or economic integration and is riddled with many challenges and intra-regional crises. Building on existing literature, the chapter aims to highlight the role of UMA, and its geostrategic importance and reconsider its institutional blockage and asymmetric functioning.

Henry Berrian led the discussion on his chapter titled “Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA).” Documenting the historical developments of COMESA, he analyzed the economic and political developments that have occurred within the organization since its inception in 1994. Using a comprehensive examination Berrian questioned how COMESA had played a role of a transformative institution in Africa to promote regional trade and investment in areas of customs management, trade facilitation, project finance, and technical cooperation. He argued that despite many achievements, COMESA has faced numerous challenges and finds itself in a unique position as one of the key institutions in the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area.

The next session was led by Jacob Lisakafu and looked at the role and development of “East African Community (EAC).” Analyzing the evolution of EAC from the colonial period with a focus on its political and economic integration agenda Lisakafu questioned its key roles and responsibilities in the region. Using the theory of liberal institutionalism, he argued that EAC is a unique RO in terms of its set-up, historical background, and mode of functioning. He stated that EAC’s fundamental principles of social, cultural, and economic integration and prosperity can be used as a model for other ROs in Africa for establishing foundations for effective integration.

John Paul Banchani & Sebastian Pablo then discussed their paper on “Community of Sahel-Saharan States (CEN-SAD).” Addressing the question of security in the region the paper traced the history, goals, general mandate, and operations of CEN-SAD. The authors explained that in recent times the Sahel region has become a hotspot for incidents of terrorism, Islamic radicalization, illicit drug traffic, and fragile states. Tackling these security challenges in the region has shaped the evolution of CEN-SAD. The paper aims to analyze the successes and challenges of CEN-SAD as a regional organization within the context of regionalism in Africa in an era of de-globalization and tries to answer questions regarding the CEN-SAD’s navigation of the challenging security situation in Sahel and its current organizational form.

The discussion then focused on African ROs and International Organizations (IO) with Oheneba Boateng’s chapter, “Relationship between African regional orgnaizations in international organizations.” Examining the mandates of African ROs and how they cope with changing regional and global political and economic environments, Oheneba reflected on the African ROs global presence. He stated that African ROs have acted as mobilizing forces in international affairs on behalf of their member states, however despite their efforts, their role in international affairs often causes tensions with member states, individual bureaucrats, as well as global actors. The paper seeks to reflect on ways regional ROs can maximize their global presence in a manner that benefits member states and the wider African diaspora.

The discussion was brought to a close with Lidet Tilahun’s chapter titled, “Voices of the Pioneers: The Vision of African Integration.” Tilahun’s piece contextualizes the interviews she conducted with two pioneers of the African Union, Dr. Nkosazana Clarice Dlamini-Zuma and Ambassador Konjit Sinegiorgis. The paper looks at OAU’s inception, OAU’s transformation into the AU, and both their roles and efforts in shaping Agenda 2063.

The authors will revise their chapters based on the feedback received. CIRS will collect the chapters and publish the outcome of the project as an edited volume.

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

William Hermann Arrey, Protestant University of Central Africa, Cameroon

Mohamed Ashour, Zayed University, UAE

Zahra Babar, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar

John-Paul Banchani, Kwame Nkwame University of Science and Technology, Ghana

Henry Berrian, development consultant, South Africa

Misba Bhatti, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar

Oheneba Boateng, Bucknell University, USA

Houyame Hakmi, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), Morocco

Lynda Cinenye Iroulo, Georgetown University in Qatar

Jacob Lisakafu, Open University in Tanzania

Suzi Mirgani, CIRS – Georgetown University in Qatar

Yehia Mohamed, Georgetown University in Qatar

Densua Mumford, Leiden University

Donnet-Rose Adhiambo Odhiambo, Technical University of Kenya

Christopher Otieno Omolo, Eberhard Karls University Tubingen, Germany

Sebastian Angzoorokuu Paalo, Kwame Nkwame University of Science and Technology, Ghana

Dalva Raposo, Georgetown University in Qatar

Ahmed Ali Salem, Rhodes University in South Africa

Norman Sempijja, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), Morocco

Lidet Tilahun

Elizabeth Wanucha, CIRS – Georgetown University Qatar

Article by Misba Bhatti, Research Analyst at CIRS

African Regionalism: Achievements, Challenges, and Prospects
2023-01-29 18:00 - 19:00 (Europe/Moscow)
This CIRS panel offers a discussion of the history and politics of African Regional Organizations.

Moderator: Lynda Iroulo (Georgetown University in Qatar)

Panelists: Norman Sempiija (Mohammed VI Polytechnic University), Oheneba Boateng (Bucknell University), Densua Mumford (Leiden University), and Dalva Raposo (Georgetown University in Qatar, Class of 2024).

Location: CIRS Conference Room, Georgetown University in Qatar).
