The Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies Unit at the Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies is organizing an academic symposium titled “The Discourse on the Qatar 2022 World Cup: Power, Politics, and Aspiration”.

The event, to be held on Thursday, 16 March 2023, at the ACRPS in Doha, will examine the cultural discourse surrounding the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup, hosted by Qatar in November-December 2022. The symposium will adopt an approach that deepens the understanding of sport and its intersection with politics, culture, and society. The event represented a fascinating vehicle for the flow of symbols, values, and meanings, in turn, revealing existing power balances and aspirations in the realm of sport.

The agenda includes 4 panels, featuring 9 expert participants. The sessions will examine the questions of identity, globalization, cultural relativism, multiculturalism, and the various narratives about this mega-event, as well as its background, orientalist discourse, the post-independence era, soft power, small states, and how frameworks of international relations and geopolitical economy are utilized in understanding sports.

The symposium will be held in person at the Arab Center headquarters in Doha starting on 10 AM and will run throughout the day. The sessions will be livestreamed on ACRPS social media.

*Simultaneous translation between Arabic and English will be available throughout.

* Symposium timetable attached.