At a time when the social fabric of the Arab nation-state and its ability to successfully forge a national identity and concept of citizenship that supersedes ethnic and confessional identities is being severely tested, an upcoming academic conference will examine the pressures facing Shia Muslim Arabs. “The Shia Arabs: Questions of Citizenship and Identity” will be held over February 27-28 in Doha, Qatar. The meeting elaborates on themes which were previously explored at two previous events hosted by the ACRPS: the Second Annual Conference on the Social Sciences and the Humanities, (2012) which addressed social integration within the Arab nation-state as one of its main themes; and the Third Annual Conference on the Democratic Transition (2014), which took sectarianism and the creation of religious minorities as one of its main themes. This meeting will give scholars the opportunity to focus clearly on the same themes, through exploring the experiences of Shia Muslim Arabs living in the Arab Mashreq, a complex and pluralist region in which they constitute a demographically and historically significant community.

Scholars interested in participating in this conference are invited to review the detailed synopsis and list of themes under consideration in the background paper (click here). Research proposals no longer than 800 words and proposed bibliographies should be submitted to Dr. Haider Saeed, the Coordinator of the Conference at arabshia@dohainstitute.org

Please note that the deadline for submission of research proposals to this conference was extended to Tuesday, October 20, 2015. Read the background paper for more details.