On Saturday 2 March 2024, the fourth Arab Graduate Students Conference (AGSC), held by the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, was launched at the Center’s headquarters in Doha. This year, 67 researchers who are completing or have recently completed their doctoral studies in social sciences and humanities at Western universities have been selected to participate in the conference.
The conference began with opening remarks by Dr. Ayat Hamdan, ACRPS Researcher, Editorial Manager of the Ostour Journal for Historical Studies, and the Coordinator of the AGSC. This was followed by the opening lecture titled “The Palestine Question, Anti-Semitism and the New McCarthyism” delivered by Azmi Bishara, General Director of the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies.
Day 1
The first day of the conference included 26 interventions, with participants presenting papers based on their doctoral theses, and receiving comments from academics specialized in various fields of their research, in addition to the comments of and attendees. The interventions, which were held in parallel, were divided into seven topics: politics and international relations; security and migration/refugee studies; literature and cultural studies; gender and citizenship studies; health, development, and urban studies; history, philosophy, and law; education, media, linguistics, and translation studies.
On the subject of politics and international relations, Ali Alsayegh presented "The Content of Ayatollah Sistani's Charisma: An Alternative Approach,” which conceptualized the process and content of Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani’s charisma production, to the emulators, and how that authority translates to an emotional urge to answer the Ayatollah's calls to action. In a paper titled “Bottom-Up Transformative Justice: An Alternative to the Liberal Peace Paradigm in the Question of Palestine”, Tamara Tamimi presented an original proposal for bottom-up transformative justice as a decolonial alternative to the liberal peace paradigm that characterizes Western engagement with the question of Palestine. Rafaa Chehoudi, in his paper "The United Nations and Democratization in the Middle East and North Africa” evaluated the impact of the United Nations Democracy Fund (UNDEF) on the democratization processes within the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) between 2000 and 2020. Finaly, Hood Ahmed’s paper, “Origins of Political Trust in the Arab World” explored the origins of political trust in the Arab world and why it varies significantly across political institutions in the region.
Under the security and migration/refugee studies topic, Laila Omar presented “Syrian Refugee Teenagers' Experiences with Time and Future Projections in Canada,” interrogating the importance of age and life stage at the moment of migration for imaginations of the future after resettlement in the host country by examining Syrian refugee teenagers' experiences. Elsayed Abdelhamid presented “Pursuing Stability through Perpetual Im/mobility: Spatial and Temporal Entrapments in Counter-Revolutionary Egypt and Exile,” demonstrating how experiences of political confinement and their enduring consequences shape former prisoners' post-release trajectories and their socialities in exile. Nerouz Satik followed with, “The Revolutionary Practices of Syrians during the Refugees' Voyages to Europe: The Dead and Alive Bodies,” which examined the death and life stories of Syrian refugees in their voyages to exile to draw out their embodied revolutionary practices.
Within the literature and cultural studies workshop, Amira Farhani presented “The Return of Kahina in Arabic Novels of National Resistance and Popular Protest,” which retrieved the archetype of the Amazigh queen and warrior Kahina as a postcolonial uncanny trope of women's resistance. Sara Aljuaid followed with “Reimagining the Orient: Revisiting the Ontological Representations of the Middle East in Post 9/11 American Literature,’” seeking to examine the narrative pertaining to the Middle East's cultural, social, and political representations in American literature. Shadi Rohana presented “The Morisco Question in Cervantes’ Don Quixote,” introducing the Morisco characters in Don Quixote and demonstrating how they contribute to the fiction. Finally, in his paper “Settler Nations and the Decolonial Impasse in JM Coetzee’s Waiting for the Barbarians,” Abdelbaqi Ghorab explored how the construction of collective identities performed under extreme forms of coloniality continues to inform contemporary politics of settler nations.
On the subject of gender and citizenship studies, Amal Miri presented “Rethinking Gender Empowerment in a Non-Western Context: Participatory Research with Muslim Women in Civil Society Organizations in Flanders,” in which she studied the different understandings and lived experiences related to the gender empowerment of Muslim women with a migration background in Belgium using a “situated intersectional” perspective. Next, Muznah Madeeha, in her paper “Generational Changes and Qatari Women's Economic Participation: A Postcolonial Feminist Approach”, used postcolonial feminism to examine the relationship between Qatari women's economic participation and generational changes taking place in Qatar. Imad Rasan followed with “Exploring the Distinction between Exclusion and Marginalization, and Mediated Visibility in the Public Sphere: A Study of Women Activists in Egypt,” which explored the distinction between the exclusion and marginalization of women activists in the public sphere in Egypt from 2011 to 2014, as well as how they strategically mediated their visibility to overcome these constraints.
Within the health, development, and urban studies track, Yazid Zahda presented “Neoliberalization in Palestine: The Emergence of Palestinian National Development Plans,” which examined the emergence of National Development Plans (NDPs) from 1994 to 2023 to understand neoliberalism in the unique context of Palestine. Wassim Naboulsi followed with his paper, “Rural-Urban Relations in Syria: The 2011 Uprising and Beyond,” in which he analysed various drama and cinema productions to present a new understanding of rurality and urbanity in Syrian society. Saleh Almogrbe presented “Post-Conflict Reconstruction: Lessons for Benghazi from Beirut,” scrutinizing the urban redevelopment process in Benghazi following Libya's civil conflict of 2014-2017. Finally, Meryem Belkadi presented, “Different Outcomes of Displacement: What Factors Shape the Trajectories of Displaced Households? The Case Study of Tangier, Morocco,” used a case study of Tangier, Morocco, to emphasize the post-displacement transition phase and analyse the trajectories and experiences of displaced individuals and households, as well as the key factors shaping these trajectories.
In the history, philosophy, and law workshop, Mohammad Lari presented “The Effect of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Contractual Obligations under the Kuwaiti Civil Law of 1980,” which scrutinized legal doctrines within Kuwaiti civil law and explored avenues for devising equitable and sustainable solutions conducive to enhancing social justice. Mahmoud Emam presented on “Meroitic Funerary Amulets: A Multi-Approach Study for Uncovering Technology, Production Workshops, and Distribution in Ancient Sudan,” presenting the first large-scale classification attempt that combined theoretical and applicable methodology for the Meroitic funerary amulets that were found in royal and non-royal tombs. Gokh Alshaif discussed her paper titled “Rumours in the Night: The Street Sweepers of Aden”, unpacking the “riot” of 1906 that followed to consider how this marginalized community of labourers has long been racialized as “black” and "outsiders.” Lastly, Salma Shash presented “Policing the Village: Violence, Bureaucracy and Political Economy in Nineteenth-Century Egypt,” exploring justice in the everyday life of rural Egypt between 1850-1914.
Within the education, media, linguistics, and translation studies workshop, Ahmad Alzoubi presented on “Moving the Brazilian Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem – President Jair Bolsonaro's Retreat and its Repercussions in the Brazilian Press”, investigating how the Brazilian media covered the move of Brazilian Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, especially Bolsonaro's rhetoric, which was inconsistent with the Brazilian diplomatic line. Imad Al-Khshali discussed his paper titled “The Role of the Embedding Programme in Disseminating Misinformation and Disinformation about the Iraq War,” which examined the role of the embedding programme in disseminating misinformation and disinformation about the Iraq war. Mohammed Abuarqoub’s paper titled “Diffusion of Innovations in the Arab Newsrooms: Opportunities and Obstacles of Adopting Generative AI to Enhance Digital Storytelling” delved into opportunities and challenges associated with the decision-making processes employed by Arab media organizations, journalists, and newsroom leaders when considering the adoption or rejection of generative AI innovations. Lastly, Ghadeer Awwad presented “Digital Repression in Palestine”, which used semi-structured interviews and purposive sampling to engage 19 political activists to uncover experiences of confronting local authorities online in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
The conference will continue until Monday, 4 March 2024, featuring additional participant presentations held in parallel sessions.
For more information, please see the AGSC Booklet and Timetable.
