Call for Papers - Understanding Today’s Middle East: Peoples And Places Of The Arab Spring

BOSTON CONSORTIUM FOR ARAB REGION STUDIES  (BCARS)

Graduate Student Conference

Northeastern University, Boston

April 12, 2014

Deadline for abstracts: February 16, 2014

The Arab World has witnessed historic transformations since December 2010 through the so-called “Arab Spring” or “Arab Awakenings.” Some revolutions have led to democracy-building projects. Some have given way to counter-revolutionary forces, and others have experienced stalemate and tragedy, even civil war. In many cases, the economic underpinnings of political discontent continue to decline, and the roles of Islamists vary across both time and space. Women and youth continue to be vital in social and cultural mobilization and meaning-making, while the new media serve simultaneously as a place for elucidation and contestation.

BCARS’ First Graduate Student Conference aims to illuminate the important and evolving impacts of the Arab Spring on today’s Middle East by exploring the following questions: Why did the “Arab Spring” or “Uprisings” happen where and when they did? Why did revolts and revolutions affect certain Arab states, leave others alone, and come and go in still others? What external actors are “meddling” in the internal affairs of various Arab states and why? In the seeming cacophony of the “Arab Street,” whose voices are being drowned out?

Proposals for paper presentations are invited for the BCARS conference at Northeastern University in Boston on April 12, 2014. We welcome proposals from a variety of disciplines and perspectives that will contribute to the conference discussion. We encourage faculty and students to submit joint proposals for paper presentations. We especially seek proposals that address issues of the Arab Spring and its aftermath through one of the following categories:

Theme 1: Historical Context and Underlying Causes of the Arab Spring

Theme 2: Outcomes and Impacts in the Region and Beyond

Theme 3: Religion, Politics, and Society

Theme 4: Women, Youth, and Minorities

Theme 5: Social Media, Art, and Literary Representations

To apply, send a 250-350 word abstract by Sunday, February 16, 2014 to: bostonconsortiumarab@gmail.com. 

In your submission, be sure to include your name and institutional affiliation, discipline of study, current educational status, faculty advisor (for graduate student submissions), and the conference theme in which your paper best fits. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by March 1 with further paper submission details. Full papers are due April 1, 2014.

Final papers will be peer-reviewed and a small selection published on the BCARS website.

A Carnegie Corporation Project, the Boston Consortium for Arab Region Studies (BCARS), seeks to provide an international forum through which Arab region scholars from Boston and Arab institutions will meet and work collaboratively to advance research, build community, and mentor the next generation of scholars, as well as amplify and mainstream Arab region scholarship, increasing public knowledge and, eventually, informing public policy, both in the United States and in the Arab region, illuminating and supporting those developments in the Arab Awakening that promote social justice, peace, and democracy. 

Any questions can be directed to s.tobin@neu.edu.