Karl Sharro (architect, satirist and Middle East commentator), gives a seminar for the Middle East Studies Centre. Chaired by Walter Armbrust (St Antony's College). The Middle East is the mysterious land of veils, minarets and Orientalist cliches. Karl Sharro, aka Karl reMarks, talks about his seven year journey of satirising how his enchanted native land is represented in Western media and punditry. From the Arab Spring to the rise and decline of ISIS, Sharro discusses how his online alter ego ...
Dec 07, 2018•38 min
Panel discussion with Harith Hasan (Central European University), Hayder al-Khoei (University of Exeter), Renad Mansour (Chatham House) and chaired by Toby Matthiesen (St Antony's College).
Dec 07, 2018•58 min
Dr Kamiar Alaei (Co-president, Institute for International Health and Education), gives a talk for the Middle East Studies Centre. Chaired by Dr Nazila Ghanea (Associate Professor in International Human Rights Law, Department for Continuing Education). Dr Kamiar Alaei's academic, medical and international public health project work has all navigated the art of advancing health (and later, also educational) concerns in conservative settings. When patients are condemned for having certain conditio...
Nov 26, 2018•47 min
Professor Edmund Burke III (UC Santa Cruz) gives a talk for the Middle East Studies Centre. Who was Marshall Hodgson and should he have a claim on our attention today? In a moment of populist nationalisms and deepening Islamophobia, Hodgson’s humanistic vision is once again of interest. Primarily known as the author of the innovative three volume textbook, The Venture of Islam: Conscience and History in a World Civilization (Chicago, 1974), Hodgson proposes a vision of the unfolding of Islam tha...
Nov 26, 2018•34 min
Dr Christian C Sahner (Associate Professor of Islamic History, Faculty of Oriental Studies), talks about his new book, the discussants are Phil Booth (Faculty of Theology) and Professor Julia Bray (Oriental Institute). Chaired by Professor Bryan Ward-Perkins (Faculty History, Oxford). How did the medieval Middle East transform from a majority-Christian world to a majority-Muslim world, and what role did violence play in this process? Christian Martyrs under Islam explains how Christians across t...
Nov 26, 2018•33 min
Dr Seth Anziska (Mohamed S. Farsi-Polonsky Lecturer in Jewish-Muslim Relations, University College London), gives a talk for the Middle East Studies Centre. Based on newly declassified international sources, Preventing Palestine charts the emergence of the Middle East peace process, including the establishment of a separate track to deal with the issue of Palestine. At the very start of this process, Anziska argues, Egyptian-Israeli peace came at the expense of the sovereignty of the Palestinian...
Nov 26, 2018•56 min
Dr Naysan Adlparvar (Yale University), gives a talk for the Middle East Studies Centre. Marriage, in Afghanistan, is a highly strategic affair. In most cases, Afghan parents carefully manage who their children marry. This is done to forge alliances and accrue financial benefits. At the same time, marriage also serves to maintain community boundaries - be they familial, religious or ethnic. These boundaries are often stark; with prolonged conflict making interethnic and intersectarian marriage un...
Nov 26, 2018•40 min
Dr Homa Katouzian (Iran Heritage Foundation Research Fellow, St Antony's) gives a talk for the Middle East Centre. Chaired by Stephanie Cronin (St Antony's College). Khalil Maleki (1901-1969) was a selfless campaigner for democracy and social welfare in twentieth-century Iran. His was a unique approach to politics, prioritising the criticism of policies detrimental to his country's development over the pursuit of power itself. An influential figure, he was at the centre of such formative events ...
Nov 13, 2018•20 min
Zach Vertin (Princeton University) on a joint event with Sudanese Programme, African Studies Centre and the Centre for International Studies. Chaired by Dr Ahmed Al-Shahi (Sudanese Programme).
Nov 13, 2018•32 min
James Barr (King's College London) gives a talk for the Middle East Centre, chaired by Eugene Rogan (St Antony's College). Thanks to the now-infamous 1953 conspiracy to oust Iran’s prime minister, Mohammed Mosaddeq, the prevailing wisdom is that Britain and America colluded in the Middle East. In his talk James Barr will challenge this assumption, arguing the opposite was in fact the case: in the quarter century following the battle of El Alamein in 1942, Britain and America were invariably comp...
Nov 13, 2018•51 min
Jacqueline Rose (Birkbeck), Kfir Cohen (Van Leer Jerusalem Institute), Moshe Behar (The University of Manchester), Hakem Al-Rustom (Michigan), Ella Shohat (New York University) discuss at the book event. Chaired by Eugene Rogan (St Antony's College).
Aug 28, 2018•1 hr 15 min
Ella Shohat (New York University) and Avi Shlaim (St Antony's College) give the second of two workshops for the middle east centre.
Aug 28, 2018•48 min
Ella Shohat (New York University) and Avi Shlaim (St Antony's College) give the first of two workshops for the middle east centre.
Aug 28, 2018•33 min
Ella Shohat (New York University) gives a lecture for the middle east centre, chaired by Yaacov Yadgar (Stanley Lewis Professor of Israel Studies, St Anne's). Comments by Yuval Evri (SOAS).
Aug 28, 2018•1 hr
Moncef Marzouki (Former President of the Republic of Tunisia, 2011-2014) gives the annual George Antonius Memorial Lecture.
Aug 28, 2018•36 min
Deena Al Asfoor (St Catherine's College) gives a talk for the Middle East Centre. Chaired by Nazila Ghanea (Kellogg College).
Aug 28, 2018•23 min
George Hawatmeh (Jordan Radio and Television Corporation) gives a public lecture on Arab media in the new age. Chaired buy Philip Robins (St Antony's College). George Hawatmeh is currently the Chairman of the Board of Jordan Radio and Television Corporation. Before his appointment to head the state-owned JRTVC in June 2016, he was an independent communications and media consultant. In this capacity, and as president of AWAN, Arab Media Consultants, a firm he founded in 2007, Hawatmeh publishes t...
Jun 01, 2018•30 min
Sir Vincent Fean KCVO, gives a talk for the Middle East Studies seminar series.
Apr 03, 2018•24 min
Alexandre Toumarkine (INALCO, Paris) talks about religious freedom in Turkey.
Apr 03, 2018•16 min
Richard Guy (Consultant Surgeon), Omar Abdel-Mannan (Paediatrician), and Debbie Harrington (Consultant Obstetrician) talk about the challenges of healthcare in Gaza.
Apr 03, 2018•1 hr 6 min
Norman G Finkelstein gives a talk for the Middle East Studies seminar series. Norman G. Finkelstein received his PhD from the Princeton University Politics Department in 1988. He is the author of ten books that have been translated into 50 foreign editions, including THE HOLOCAUST INDUSTRY: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering and, most recently, GAZA: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom.
Apr 03, 2018•38 min
Mariam Memarsadeghi (Tavaana) gives a talk for the Middle East Centre seminar series. Mariam Memarsadeghi is co-founder and co-director of Tavaana: E-Learning Institute for Iranian Civil Society. Launched in 2010, the virtual institute offers secure democracy and human rights educational opportunities, from graduate level seminars to animated PSAs, short tutorials, case studies of democratic transitions, panel discussions, translated ebooks, comedy skits and more. Now a household brand, Tavaana ...
Apr 03, 2018•19 min
Anne Sa'adah (Dartmouth College) gives a talk for the Middle East Centre Seminar series. Anne Sa'adah holds an A.B. in Social Studies and a Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University and is the Joel Parker Professor of Law and Political Science Emerita at Dartmouth College, where she taught from 1984 to 2017. She is currently writing a book about the Middle East, States of Disorder: Explaining the Vicious Circles of Middle East Politics; the book explores institutional paths, leadership ...
Apr 03, 2018•44 min
Dr Elife Bicer-Deveci, postdoctoral fellow of Swiss National Science Foundation and academic visitor at the Middle East Centre, St. Antony’s College, gives a talk for the Middle East Centre seminar series. Bicer-Deveci is specialised in the field of gender studies, history of women’s movement, history of Iran and Turkey. She published several papers and a peer-reviewed monography based on her Phd-project about the history of the Ottoman-Turkish women’s movement and international women’s organisa...
Apr 03, 2018•43 min
Madawi al-Rasheed (LSE) and Courtney Freer (LSE), give a talk for the Middle East Centre Seminar Series at St Anthony's College Oxford, chaired by Toby Matthiesen (St Anthony's College). Dr Courtney Freer is a Research Officer at the Kuwait Programme at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). Her work focuses on the domestic politics of the Arab Gulf states, with a particular focus on Islamism and tribalism. Her DPhil thesis at the University of Oxford revised rentier state t...
Jan 29, 2018•56 min
Ziad Majed discusses his research on the political situation in Syria, which is the focus of his latest publication. Ziad Majed, a Lebanese/French political scientist, is an associate professor of Middle East studies and International Affairs at the American University of Paris. His research focuses on Lebanon, Syria, Political transitions, Consociationalist systems and Political Islam. In 2007, he co-founded the Arab Network for the Study of Democracy. Dr. Majed’s latest publication: Syrie, La ...
Dec 22, 2017•48 min
Dr Hatsuki Aishima (National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka) gives a talk for the Middle East Studies Centre seminar series. This paper explores karate as a cultural practice of Egyptian middle classes in which they experiment on a variety of ways to be 'global'. They perceive karate as a means to join the global community, which is a rare opportunity for citizens who are situated at the margins of international political economy. I will focus on the aspirations of Egyptian Traditional Karate Federa...
Dec 11, 2017•41 min
Dr Hugh Roberts gives a talk for the middle east studies centre seminar series. Dr Hugh Roberts is the Edward Keller Professor of North African and Middle Eastern History at Tufts University, Medford, Massachusetts, USA and a specialist on North African history and politics. He took up his post at Tufts in January 2012. For academic year 2015-2016 he was also the Simons Visiting Professor in Dialogue on International Law and Human Security at Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada. Between 1...
Dec 08, 2017•53 min
Noa Landau (Editor-in-Chief at Haaretz English Edition) gives a talk for the middle east studies centre seminar series. In her talk she is going to address some of the key challenges modern Israel is faced with: How is Israel's relationship with the US changing in the Trump era? What is the future of Israel's relationship with the Jewish Diaspora? What are the key issues affecting the political climate in Israel? How can traditional media stay relevant and authoritative today?
Dec 08, 2017•9 min
Professor Robert Springborg (Italian Institute of International Affairs, Rome), gives a talk for the Middle East Centre seminar series. Robert Springborg is a non-resident Research Fellow of the Italian Institute of International Affairs, Rome. Until October 2013, he was Professor of National Security Affairs at the Naval Postgraduate School, and Program Manager for the Middle East for the Center for Civil-Military Relations. From 2002 until 2008, he held the MBI Al Jaber Chair in Middle East St...
Nov 17, 2017•43 min
