News Archive January 2009
31/01/2009
Second "Beirut Exchange" for undergraduate and masters level students from around the world, Beirut, January 4-18, 2009
In an effort to further its commitment to promoting dialogue and understanding, Mideastwire.com is pleased to announce the second "Beirut Exchange." The two-week program January 4-18, 2009 will engage undergraduate and masters level students from around the world in a multifaceted discussion of some of the key issues facing the region.
The program rests on three tracks:
Academic - Participants will attend a series of lectures and colloquia led by leading academics and public intellectuals. Topics will include: International law in theory and practice in the Middle East; The United Nations as peacekeeper and mediator; Engaging political Islam; Pax Syriana in Lebanon; Asymmetrical conflict: the July 2006 Lebanon war; The Dubai model and its impact on the Middle East.
Language - Participants will have the option of attending 30 hours of Arabic language instruction at the Saifi Institute for Arabic Language in Beirut. Modules for both colloquial and formal Arabic will be available at different levels.
Dialogue with Leaders - Participants will have the opportunity to meet, listen and engage social, political and economic leaders from across the spectrum in Lebanon - with a particular (though not exclusive) emphasis on exposure to leading Islamist and opposition currents.
Scheduled Speakers:
*Omar Bakri, Iqra Islamic Trust for Research and Islamic Studies, *Bilal Baroudi, As-Salam Mosque Tripoli, *Nicholas Blanford, Times of London, *Richard Chambers, International Foundation for Electoral Systems, *Alastair Crooke, Conflicts Forum, *Robert Fisk, The Independent, *Timur Goksel, American University of Beirut , *Judith Palmer Harik, Matn University, *Nadim Houry, Human Rights Watch, *Karim Makdisi, American University of Beirut, *Michael Miller, European Commission, *Ibrahim Mussawi, Al-Intiqad, *Nir Rosen, Journalist , *Osama Safa, Lebanese Center for Policy Studies, *Paul Salem, Carnegie Middle East Center, *Milos Struger, UNIFIL, *Rami Khouri, American University of Beirut, *Additional speakers TBA
Costs: $2,000 (Tuition); $1,500 (Estimated accommodation and airfare from the European Union. Please note that only breakfast is provided as a part of the accommodation fee). All academic and language programming will take place at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Hamra, Beirut. Tuition is 90% refundable, should the situation in Lebanon warrant a cancellation. (Airline tickets and accommodation should be purchased with travel insurance.)
Apply before November 15, 2008: To request a downloadable application or financial aid information, please email info@mideastwire.com.
About the Organizations:Mideastwire.com is a Beirut-based media monitoring company that translates the Arabic and Persian language press into English.
The Saifi Institute for Arabic Language offers intensive Introductory and Intermediate courses designed to deepen the learning experience for students. The curriculum emphasizes the instruction of Modern Standard Arabic (Fous7a) while also giving students the colloquial tools they need to take the most away from their time in Beirut.
29/01/2009
Applications are invited for a 15-day orientation course on Forced Migration
To be held in Kolkata, India (1-15 December 2009).
The Course, certified by the UNHCR and Calcutta Research Group, will be
preceded by a two and a half month long programme of distance education.
The course is intended for younger academics, refugee activists and
others working in the field of human rights and humanitarian assistance
for victims of forced displacement. The curriculum deals with themes of
nationalism, ethnicity, partition, and partition-refugees, national
regimes and the international regime of protection, issues relating to
regional patterns of forced migration in South Asia, internal
displacement, the gendered nature of forced migration and protection
framework, resource politics, climate change and environmental
degradation, and several other themes related to the forced displacement
of people. The course puts emphasis on experiences of displacement,
creative writings on refugee life, critical legal and policy analysis,
and analysis of relevant notions such as vulnerability, care, risk,
protection, return, and settlement. The course also includes fieldwork
and various assignments.
Last date of application reaching CRG is 31 May 2009.
To download the application form and to get details of the course please
visit: http://www.mcrg.ac.in/wc.htm
For any further inquiry, contact:
forcedmigrationdesk@mcrg.ac.in
28/01/2009
New Book: Forced Displacement: Why Rights Matter?
Edited by: Katarzyna Grabska and Lyla Mehta.
Palgrave Macmillan 2008
Announcement made by the American University in Cairo Center for Migration and Refugee Studies Program
Uprootedness, exile and forced displacement, be they due to conflict,
persecution or even so-called \'development\', are conditions which
characterize the lives of millions of people across the globe. While the
international community has largely been concerned with refugees
crossing borders to flee persecution, violence, impoverishment and
brutal regimes, less attention has been paid to internally displaced
populations. This book problematises both policies and rights frameworks
in processes of displacement, while bridging the divide that exists
between refugee and development induced displacement studies.
This edited volume is the outcome of a collaborative research on forced
migration and rights undertaken by five research centers including CMRS.
The collaborative research was coordinated by the Development Research
Centre on Migration, Globalization and Poverty (DRC) at Sussex
University (http://www.migrationdrc.org/).
The edited volume can be accessed and ordered by clicking the below link:
http://www.palgrave.com/products/title.aspx?PID=279069
Source: Forced Migration list & Refugee Studies Centre (RSC), Oxford Department of Interna tional Development, University of Oxford.
27/01/2009
New book: Migrating to America: Transnational Social Networks and regional Identity among Turkish Migrants. Dicarlo, L. 2008 (IB Tauris, London)
Why do so many Turkish migrants choose to make their fortune in America when the proximity of Europe makes it a less costly risk? In Migrating to America Lisa DiCarlo offers new insights into the study of identity and migration. She draws on research and the history of the Black Sea region going back to the early years of the modern Turkish Republic, to explain current Turkish labour migration trends.
The forced ethnic migration between Greece and Turkey at the end of the Ottoman Empire
stripped the Black Sea region of its artisans and merchants, weakening the economy and resulting in a trend of migration from this area. Through extensive field research DiCarlo reveals the kinship between Greeks and Turks originally from the Black Sea region. She argues current transnational chain migration is led by regional identity over ethnicity. This strong regional bond leads Turkish migrants from the Black Sea region to follow Greek Black Sea migrants across the Atlantic to America, rather than their Turkish compatriots to Europe.
Lisa DiCarlo is Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Babson College,Massachusetts.
200 pages 216 x 134mm
March 2008
Hardback £52.50
978 1 84511 656 0
Tauris Academic Studies
International Library of
Migration Studies, Vol. 1
27 /01/2009
New journal: Migrations & Identities: a journal of people and ideas in motion
ISSN 1753-9021(print) 1753-903X (online)
migrations & identities is a new journal published bi-annually by
Liverpool University Press. The title represents a programme: We aim to
interrogate notions of 'identity' while asking how the fact of mobility
and displacement does shape understandings of self and the wider world,
among both migrants and 'host' societies. By the same token, we seek to
understand how ideas and concepts are transformed as they 'migrate' from
one place and culture to another. These issues have been, and continue
to be, addressed under a number of rubrics and through a number of
approaches in the humanities and social sciences. In acknowledgement of
this, migrations & identities is multi- and interdisciplinary in its
conception and management. It also aims to cover the widest possible
range of places, periods and methods, subject only to a shared curiosity
and enthusiasm about the possibilities of working at the interface
between the investigation of the material conditions of migration
processes and the study of ideas and subjectivities. In particular, we
hope that scholars working in many fields will find in migrations &
identities a forum for discussion of the methods appropriate to a
project of linking observable experience and mentalities in different
times and places, and that among the topics of discussion will be the
real challenges involved in conversing across disciplinary boundaries.
We invite manuscripts from scholars representing all disciplines and
methodologies which can contribute to this discussion. These might
include case studies based on empirical research which are framed by and
reflect on the methodological and theoretical issues set out above,
essays which focus on questions of theory and methodology, or review
articles. The journal will be published twice a year.
Volume 1 Issue 1 2008 now available
Introduction
The Editors
Investigating Language and Identity in Cross-Language Narratives
Bogusia Temple
Greek Identity and the Settler Community in Hellenistic Bactria and
Arachosia
Rachel Mairs
'Writing My History': Seven Nineteenth-Century Scottish Migrants to New
Zealand Revisit their Pasts
Rosalind McClean
Immigrant Attachment and Community Integration: A Psychological Theory
of Facilitating New Membership
Stanley A. Renshon
Volume 1 Issue 2 forthcoming...
Highlights to include:
Emotional Attachment ... to What? A Comment on Renshon
Harald Bauder
Representations of Diasporic Unbelonging: Surrealism in the Work of Biyi
Bandele-Thomas & Yinka Shonibare
Jen Westmoreland Bouchard
Methodological issues in studying the identity of long-established ABC
Lucille Ngan
Find out more about the journal at:
http://migrationsandidentities.lupjournals.org/
Alternatively visit
http://www.migrationsandidentities.org/default.aspx?content=Subscriptions
to subscribe
Clare Hooper
Journals Executive, Liverpool University Press
clare.hooper@liverpool.ac.uk
http://www.liverpool-unipress.co.uk
26/01/2009
8th Biennial Conference of the Association for the Study of Travel in Egypt and the Near East (ASTENE)
Collingwood College, Durham University, UK, 10-13 July 2009
The conference aims to explore the impact of travellers in, to, and from the Near East and Egypt from earliest times until the middle of the twentieth century.
Contributions are welcomed from a wide range of disciplines, and it is envisaged that the conference will cover many fascinating themes, including but not limited to the following: Travellers' Experiences: caravanserai, hotels and encampments; travel by rail in the Near East; travel guides routes and seaways; dahabiyyah and other boats | Travellers in Specific Periods: Classical; Mediaeval; 18h century; early twentieth century | Travellers in Specific Locations: in the Ottoman Balkans and Greece; in Egypt and around the Red Sea; on the rivers of Mesopotamia; through 'Kurdistan'; to the Arabian Peninsula; in deserts; in specific towns in the region; on Grand Tour to Constantinople; Smyrna; Arab travellers en route to and from Europe; guidebooks before 1880 | Travellers' Observations of: topography - archaeology - popular culture-- scientific topics (natural history, science, medicine etc.) - languages, literature and dialects | Travel and Religion: Pilgrimage and Pilgrims - Travellers' understanding of Islam - Experience of the Hajj; Missionary travellers - Travels of Biblical Scholars/Historians - monasteries, monks and hermits.
Contributions can be presented either as papers, which will not exceed 25-minutes duration. The language of the conference will be English. Expressions of interest and inquiries can be directed to Mrs Janet C.M. Starkey (address below). Abstracts for consideration should be submitted to Janet Starkey by 28 February 2009. Programme details and booking forms will be available on the ASTENE website early in 2009.
Please send titles, abstracts, ideas for panels to Mrs Janet C.M. Starkey, School of Modern Languages and Cultures, Durham University, Elvet Riverside, New Elvet, Durham DH1 3JT, UK. Tel: +44 (0)191 334 1414; Fax: +44 (0)191 334 3421; Email: j.c.m.starkey@durham.ac.uk
25/01/2009
Mobility and Creativity: Narrative, Representation & Performance
3rd-4th July
Department of English, University of Surrey, UK
Keynote Speakers include: Prof. John Urry, Lancaster University
Mobilities has increasingly become central to the analysis of social relations in contemporary society where it often appears that 'all the world is on the move,' from the movement of diasporas, tourists, migrants and refugees. While the emergence of this new 'mobility paradigm' (Sheller and Urry, 2006; Urry 2002, 2007) originated within the social sciences, this conference focuses on how such a 'mobility turn' has been narrated, represented and performed within the arts and humanities. The two-day international conference aims to explore creative responses to these diverse mobilities in literature, art, film, and theatre for example. How have these complex mobilities been negotiated and critiqued through
creative practice? Is creativity dependent upon mobility?
The conference aims to explore themes such as: Narratives of movement (How are mobilities narrated? Do different mobilities demand different forms of narrative?) | Moving narratives (How are narratives moved from one medium to another? What is the role of translation for mobilities? Is adaptation a form of mobility? How do texts move us/fail to move us as readers?) | Experiences of movement and dislocation (How have writers, artists, photographers, film-makers, etc. responded to such experience of mobility? How does their creative practice relate to the work of the academy?)
We invite papers from a wide-range of disciplines, including: Travel writing | Intercultural narratives | Translation studies | Gender studies | Cultural Geography | Postcolonial Studies | Film Studies
Papers are invited from colleagues with an interest in any of these or other related areas. Proposals should be submitted to the conference email address by Friday 30th January 2009 (mobilities@surrey.ac.uk
<mailto:mobilities@surrey.ac.uk> ). Proposals should be a maximum of 300 words, and include full contact details. It is expected that a selection of conference papers will be published in an edited collection.
Conference Organisers: Dr. Sarah Gibson and Dr. Churnjeet Mahn. Email: mobilities@surrey.ac.uk <mailto:mobilities@surrey.ac.uk>
Webpage: http://www.surrey.ac.uk/english/conferences/mobilities/index.htm
<https://outlook2003.surrey.ac.uk/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.surrey.ac.uk/english/conferences/mobilities/index.htm>
24/01/2009
Hospitality and regeneration | Conference panel | Royal Geographical Society and the Institute of British Geographers Annual Conference
Manchester, 2009 26th-28th August
Hospitality can play an important role in the regeneration process (Bell, 2007). Bars, cafes, restaurants, hotels and clubs provide the contexts for interaction, and transactions of hospitality facilitate the formation of networks and cultural practices that transform urban and suburban spaces (Latham, 2003; Lugosi and Lugosi, 2008). The provision and consumption of hospitality can become drivers of change in urban contexts; hospitality can provide the social and economic underpinning for ongoing regeneration, and its particular forms, for example culinary culture, offer 'powerful symbolic statements about urban fortunes' (Bell and Binnie, 2005, p. 80). The location of hospitality venues can be used as part of a civilising or rehabilitation process, and venues often reflect an area's cosmopolitanism; social and commercial practices of hospitality can encourage visitors or residents into an area, and its provision may form part of a broader strategy for capital and employment generation. However, certain forms of hospitality can disrupt the social practices of existing residents or visitors: for example, the emergence of branded hospitality venues can undermine the unique characteristics of an area; new venues may displace existing providers, and activities such as vertical drinking can create a range of social problems. This session welcomes papers that help to develop a greater understanding of the relationship between hospitality and regeneration, and we particularly welcome theoretical and empirical papers that explore one or more of the following issues:
The role of hospitality in policy, planning and regeneration | Hospitality-led regeneration
Creative cities, creative classes and hospitality | Hospitality, place-marketing and promotion | The economic, social and environmental impacts of hospitality provision in urban, suburban and rural contexts | Hospitality, culture and regeneration |
Hospitality and gentrification | Hospitality, community and identity | Hospitality provision and building reuse | Entrepreneurship and hospitality | Heritage, hospitality and conservation | Aesthetics and hospitality | The entanglement of social and commercial forms of hospitality in regeneration.
Authors should submit a 200-word abstract by Friday 16th of January to Peter Lugosi via email plugosi@bournemouth.ac.uk<mailto:plugosi@bournemouth.ac.uk>. Authors of accepted papers will be notified by the 22nd of January.
23/01/2009
11th RAI International Festival of Ethnographic Film hosted by the Centre for Tourism and Cultural Change at Leeds Metropolitan University
Leeds, England, from 1st to 4th July 2009.
Festival website:
http://raifilmfest.org.uk/film/festival/2009/home.
The film festival will be followed by a thematically linked
interdisciplinary conference, 'Emotions in Motion: The Passions of
Tourism, Travel and Movement' (4th to 7th July) for which I am the
administrator. To present a paper in this conference, please send me an
abstract of no more than 300 words together with your full address
details and an abstract title. The official deadline to submit abstracts
is 1st May 2009. However, in order to facilitate travel and funding
arrangements for delegates, we offer a pre-admission deadline already on
28th February 2009.
The conference is broadly interested in the relationship between motion
and emotions, especially in the social fields of tourism and travel. In
the latter, bodies and matter are set in motion; people move through
unfamiliar grounds and are exposed to exotic sensations, to the heat or
cold of water, snow and sunshine, to odours, tastes, smells, colours,
and forms that contrast with the aesthetics of their quotidian
environments. Tourism and travel make them leave their secure spaces of
the familiar and expose them, in secure doses, to the unfamiliar. They
involve a somehow calculated transgression of the ordinary, a ritualised
temporary liquefaction of moral and aesthetic rules that frame everyday
life. Motion disturbs the order of those in movement and challenges them
to discover the familiar in the unfamiliar, to reconstruct and
reconsider normality through the encounter of the extraordinary. It
challenges them to repossess their bodies, to rethink the fundament of
their being, to reassess the separations that configure the natures and
identities of their belonging.
For more information on the conference themes, please visit our website:
www.tourism-culture.com <http://www.tourism-culture.com/> .
With best wishes and on behalf of my colleagues and conference
convenors, David Picard, Simone Abram and Mike Robinson,
Jeremie Kuster | Conference administrator
Centre for Tourism and Cultural Change | Leeds Metropolitan University| Old School Board 209 | Calverley Street – Leeds | LS1 3ED United Kingdom | j.kuster@leedsmet.ac.uk | www.tourism-culture.com
22/01/2009
19th Annual Conference of the Association for the Study of Ethnicity and Nationalism (ASEN): Nationalism and Globalisation
London School of Economics, 31 March - 2 April 2009,
Nationalism and globalisation are complex phenomena generating vigorous academic debates. Yet, there has been little sustained theoretical and empirical consideration of their relationship, and no framework devised capable of satisfactorily dealing with the interactions between the two, especially as these change over time and vary from place to place. Yet nationalism has both shaped, and been shaped byglobalization. This conference seeks to explore the relationship between nationalism and globalisation in its various forms, primarily focusing on the impact of globalisation on national identity, national sovereignty, state-formation, and the ways in which nationalism has shaped globalising processes.
The conference will include keynote addresses from leading scholars in the field, along with opportunities for scholars from various disciplines to examine the relationship between nationalism and globalisation in a series of panel sessions. Suggested themes include:
* Conflicting or complementary phenomena?
* Nationalism and global political conflict
* Global migration patterns and national identities
* Globalisation and the emergence of new forms of nationalism
* The impact of globalisation on national culture
* Nationalism versus supranationalism
* Pan-nationalism
The conference will adopt a multi-disciplinary approach focusing on historical, theoretical and contemporary aspects of the theme.
The abstracts of the proposed papers should not exceed 500 words and are expected by November 1st, 2008. Please see the ASEN website (http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/ASEN/)
for more information and to submit your proposal.
21/01/2009
9th International Conference: "Migration, Politics, and Work"
Trier/Germany and Dudelange/Luxembourg, 25 - 27 June 2009
Organizers: Institute for Regional and Migration Research (IRM) (Trier, Germany), Centre de Documentation sur les Migrations Humaines (Dudelange, Luxembourg), Institute of Integration and Participation at the School for Social Work (FHNW) (Olten, Switzerland)
Invitation to submit a proposal dealing with "Migration, Politics, and Work" in reference to one of the following topics. Please indicate the topic to which your proposal refers: Migration and global market for labor | Historical development of labor migration
?? Labor migration in exhibitions and museums | Migrational and labor market politics in Europe | Undocumented labor migrants in Europe - social, legal, and economic aspects | Feminization of migration and labor migration | Self-organization of labor migrants | Migration and labor unions | Migration and the social state
If you are interested in giving a speech, we kindly ask you to submit a short abstract (max. of 500 words) with the title of your speech, a short biography, and contact details (e-mail, mobile/telephone, and postal address). Deadline for proposals: 21st December 2008
Conference languages: German and English. Information and contact: www.irm-trier.de; Tagung2009@irm-trier.de
20/01/2009
International Conference: "Judaism, Christianity, and Islam in the Course of History: Exchange and Conflicts"
Munich, March 16 - 18, 2009
"Jihad", "Holy War" and "Crusade" - almost every day these terms are being used and abused by the Media. Emotionally charged and often used as catchphrases they cannot objectify and differentiate the events in the current debates. The latest concentration on the history of conflict also blocks the view on times of peaceful coexistence as well as phases of productive exchange.
The conference will analyse and explore the exchanges and conflicts between the religions from the time of the Middle Ages up to the present day. The main focus will be on the following topics: Religion & religious learning | Culture, Education & the perception of others | Law & Economy | Exchange & Conflicts.
The conference convenes scholars of outstanding reputation in the field of historical and intercultural religious studies. It is organized by the Historisches Kolleg in cooperation with the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich and is generously supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
The conference will be organized in eight sections comprising twenty-four lectures (programme/schedule). The conference will be rounded off by a roundtable discussion among the panel chairs. Presentations are given in either English or German (simultaneous translation).
The conference is open for interested experts. Further information and registration: www.historischeskolleg.de , E-Mail: elisabeth.huels@historischeskolleg.de
18/01/2009
International Conference: "Ships, Saints and Sealore: Maritime Ethnography of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea"
Malta, 16 - 19 April 2009
Sponsored by The National Maritime Museum of Malta, the Centre for Maritime Historical Studies, University of Exeter and the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter. Convenors: Dr Timmy Gambin (Malta), Professor Dionisius A. Agius (Exeter)
Themes: For centuries the Mediterranean and Red Sea peoples worked in harmony with the longue durée, sailing and keeping to a seasonal rhythm of trade and fishing. It is within this rhythm of nature that these peoples travelled and came in contact with each other. What data do we have to support contact and did this contact have a significant impact on the cultures involved? The boat is the life of a seafaring community; its development has been conditioned by the geography of the local waters, climate and craftsmanship. So what remains of that past sea heritage?
The three-day interdisciplinary seminar seeks to bring together new research that explores questions on maritime ethnography and oral history of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea. The aim of the seminar is to promote innovative research, create a forum of ideas, encouraging debate, focusing on new or revised theoretical approaches and methodologies.
We want to explore this heritage through: Sea People and Trade -
Sea captains, navigators, mariners, fishermen, pearldivers, merchants, commercial transactions, shipping, customs, taxes, slaves, death and burial
Folklore and Belief - songs of the sea, tales and legends, superstitions, hymns, litanies and prayers, icons, votive paintings
Technology - shipbuilding, ship typology, navigation, sails, anchors, shipwrecks
Venue: The National Maritime Museum, il-Birgu, Malta
Conference Website: www.um.edu.mt/events/maritimethnography2009/maritimeconf_index.html
17/01/2009
Colloque international ‘Le Sahara et ses marges : enjeux et perspectives de territoires en mutations’
Université de Franche-Comté, Besançon, France, 18 - 20 juin 2009
Colloque international organisé dans le cadre du PHC Tassili n°07MDU710 Entre le Laboratoire ThéMA UMR 6049 CNRS (France) - et le Centre de Recherche en Anthropologie Sociale et Culturelle d'Oran (Algérie)
Ce colloque s'inscrit pleinement dans cette optique de synergie pluridisciplinaire en faisant des territoires sahariens - qu'ils soient ruraux, urbains, centraux ou périphériques - l'objet essentiel des débats. Disciplines privilégiées (liste non exhaustive) : Géographie, Histoire, Sociologie, Anthropologie, Urbanisme, Architecture, Économie, Géopolitique, Agronomie... Aire géographique concernée : Sahara et ses marges du Maghreb au Sahel, de l'Atlantique à la Mer Rouge.
Date limite d'envoi des propositions de communication : 30 janvier 2009
Les propositions de communication sont à adresser par mail aux deux adresses suivantes : M. Jacques Fontaine : jacques.fontaine@univ-fcomte.fr
Les articles feront l'objet d'une publication en ligne dans un premier temps, une sélection de texte sera proposée pour publication ultérieurement.
Information http://ykouzmine.free.fr/spip.php?article126
16/01/2009
International Conference: "Merchants, Mercenaries and Missionaries: The Society and Culture of the Medieval Mediterranean, c. 500-1500"
Exeter, 9-12 July 2009
The conference is hosted by the Society of the Medieval Mediterranean, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, Centre for Medieval Studies, Centre for Mediterranean Studies, and Centre for Maritime Historical Studies at University of Exeter. Convenor, Professor Dionisius A. Agius: d.a.agius@exeter.ac.uk
The doyen of Mediterranean History, Fernand Braudel, has described the Mediterranean as "the greatest document of its past existence". The Medieval Mediterranean has been perceived as a crossroads to which many peoples, in particular missionaries, merchants and mercenaries have flocked. The land divides, the sea unites; or, to paraphrase Braudel, the sea represents not only the greatest feature of the Mediterranean, but also its unity and coherence.
This three-day conference will explore the activities of such people and show that the Medieval Mediterranean was very much one world despite the religious and cultural differences commonly supposed to have divided the region. Our conference will seek to highlight these differences and similarities in a true illustration of diversity within a unity. We invite papers, together with abstracts, in the fields of archaeology, art and architecture, ethnography, history (including the history of science), languages, literature, music, philosophy and religion.
Deadline for abstracts 15 February 2009. Further information: www.huss.ex.ac.uk/iais/all-events/conferences/smm-conf.php
15/01/2009
Research Associates/Fellows in Sustainable Mobilities and Travel Behaviour (up to 4 posts)
The Centre for Transport & Society (CTS) is recognised for its
particular focus upon changing travel behaviours and sustainable
mobility. Bringing together expertise in transport and in social
sciences CTS aims to improve and promote understanding of the inherent
links between lifestyles and personal travel in the context of
continuing social and technological change.
Further to securing substantial involvement in four new research
projects to be pursued in 2009 and beyond, CTS is seeking to make a
number of Research Associate or Research Fellow appointments. The four
projects are as follows:
* Renaissance - a European Union demonstration project focused
upon urban transport sustainability. in which CTS will be involved in
designing and evaluating measures to be implemented in the city of Bath
* Grey and Pleasant Land?: An interdisciplinary exploration of the
connectivity of older people in rural civic society - CTS will be
examining the mobility needs of older citizens and how they can be
provided for in a sustainable way.
* A new study exploring how information on the environmental
'costs' of journeys can influence travel choice - CTS will be
investigating socio-psychological factors that govern individuals'
propensity to change their travel behaviour and considering the formats
of information provision that may be effective in encouraging behaviour
change.
* A new study into the role of non-transport technologies in
shaping patterns of travel - this collaborative research will aim to
chart past and present and especially future non-transport technologies
and their (potential) impacts upon social practices and patterns of
transport and mobility.
We look forward to receiving applications from strongly-motivated
individuals seeking to extend and develop their research skills in a
dynamic academic environment.
For further details see www.transport.uwe.ac.uk
Closing date for applications: 15 February 2009 | Expected date for interviews: 27 February 2009
Professor Glenn Lyons
Centre for Transport & Society
Faculty of Environment and Technology
University of the West of England
Frenchay Campus
BRISTOL BS16 1QY
Tel 0117 32 83219
Mobile 07748 768404
Fax 0117 32 83899
Email Glenn.Lyons@uwe.ac.uk
14/01/2009
Summer Programme for Students in Political Sciences & Middle East Studies, Galillee College
Israel, July 1 - August 4, 2009
Galillee College, Israel has developed a summer programme for students from around the world who are interested in the Middle East. The programme focuses on the Israeli - Palestinian conflict, its roots, background and current situation.
The programme begins with an overview of the Land of Israel-Palestine region, presenting the historical background of the region, as well as an overview of social and economic conditions, ethnic and religious backgrounds. The lectures are supplemented by Study Tours to enable students to experience these issues at first hand.
A large part of the programme is dedicated to the Israeli - Palestinian conflict. Different aspects of the conflict are examined by Palestinian and Israeli lecturers and the different points of view are discussed. Additional processes in neighbouring countries, which affect Israel and the Palestinian Authority, are presented as well.
The programme seeks to deepen the participants' knowledge of conditions, developments and trends in Israel, the Palestinian territories and the surrounding lands and to highlight some of the diverse issues at the centre of the political, social and religious divides in the Middle East.
The duration of the programme is five weeks and it comprises 150 academic hours of lectures by Palestinian and Israeli academic and experts, offering their respective points of view. Study Tours to historical sites and Arab and Jewish settlements will offer the students additional first hand experience of the region.
The programme aims to: Present an overview of the history of the Land of Israel-Palestine. Acquaint the students with the different ethnic and religious groups in the region, their way of life, beliefs, views and inter-relations. Present different perspectives and views regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Deepen participants' understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and current issues.
The summer programme is intended for graduate students preferably, though not essential, who are in the process of studying courses associated with the Middle East. All participants must be fluent in English.
Information: Mrs. Shoshi Norman, Programme Director, E-mail: snorman@galilcol.ac.il Galillee College website: www.galilcol.ac.il
12/01/2009
New Book : 'Unprotected: Palestinians in Egypt Since 1948'
Author: Oroub El-Abed
Institute for Palestinian Studies/IDRC 2009
ISBN 978-0-88728-313-0
e-ISBN 978-1-55250-443-7
288 pp.
Oroub El-Abed’s excellent work casts a new and extremely useful light on the situation of a rarely studied segment of the Palestinian diaspora. Without a doubt, it is the seminal work on Palestinian refugees in Egypt.
– Rex Brynen, Coordinator, Palestinian Refugee ResearchNet, McGill University, Canada
Based on personal interviews with Palestinian families, Oroub El-Abed examines the effects of displacement and the livelihood strategies that Palestinians have employed while living in Egypt. The author also analyzes the impact of fluctuating Egyptian government policies on the Palestinian way of life. With limited basic human rights and in the context of very poor living conditions for Egyptians in general, Palestinians in Egypt have had to employ an array of both tangible and intangible assets to survive. By providing an account of how they marshalled these assets, this book aims to contribute to the expanding literature on forced migration and the theoretical understanding of the livelihoods of Palestinians in their “host” countries.
THE AUTHOR
Oroub El-Abed is currently working on her PhD at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. Since 1999, she has taught at the American University in Cairo and worked in various capacities for the Jordanian government’s Department of Palestinian Affairs, the World Bank, the United Nations, the French Institute for the Near East (IFPO) in Amman, and several international NGOs.
CONTENTS
Abbreviations and Terms Used in the Text
Acknowledgments
Timeline
Maps
Introduction
Chapter 1: Arriving in Egypt
Chapter 2: Politics, Policies, and Attitudes in the Host State
Chapter 3: Settling and Surviving in Egypt
Chapter 4: Residency and Employment
Chapter 5: Education, Health, and Financial Assets
Chapter 6: Egypt and the PLO: Politics and Privileges
Chapter 7: Palestinian Protection under International and Regional Conventions
Conclusion: Refl ections on Identity and the Future
Appendix 1: Research Sources and Methodology
Appendix 2: Questionnaire
Appendix 3: The 1965 Casablanca Protocol on the Treatment of Palestinian Refugees
Appendix 4: Note on the Applicability of Article 1D
Bibliography
Index
See:
http://www.idrc.ca/en/ev-134662-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html
or
http://www.palestine-studies.org/books.aspx
11/01/2009
New Cosmobilities Book : 'Aeromobilities'
Editors: Saulo Cwerner, Sven Kesselring and John Urry.
Now available from all good bookstores or direct from the Routledge website.
Aeromobilities is based on the 2006 Cosmobilities conference on Air Time Spaces in Lancaster. It provides a broad introduction to the study of air travel, airspaces and aviation from the perspective of the social sciences and the humanities. The book makes a strong case for a systematic, interdisciplinary study of some of the most powerful forces that have shaped our mobile globalization.
For more information about this new book, including a table of contents, the first chapter online or to order your copy see the link below:
http://www.routledge.com/books/aeromobilities-isbn9780415449564
10/01/2009
L'Anuari de la Mediterrània Med.2008 | Mediterranean Yearbook 2008
Consultable en línia
L’IEMed i la Fundació Cidob han publicat l’anuari de la Mediterrània Med.2008, que reuneix més de seixanta experts i analistes internacionals per fer balanç i analitzar els principals esdeveniments i tendències polítiques, socials, econòmiques i culturals que s’han registrat durant l’any 2007 a l’àrea euromediterrània.
http://www.iemed.org/anuari/aindex2008.php
The Mediterranean yearbook Med. is a joint publication of the European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed) and the Fundació CIDOB in Barcelona that analyses the most outstanding events that took place in the Euro-Mediterranean space along the year. This work is published in three editions: Spanish, Catalan, English and French.
This yearbook offers political, economic, social and cultural keys to the Mediterranean agenda. Indispensable for all those interested in the Mediterranean and its future, the Mediterranean yearbook Med. includes contributions by international authors who present their analyses from a diverse and plural perspective and with a wide selection of data and complementary information that result in a wide range of tables, graphics, maps, information boxes and web links.
1/01/2009
INSTITUTE FOR ADVANCED STUDIES ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND SOCIETY (IAS-STS), GRAZ, AUSTRIA - IAS-STS Fellowship Programme 2009-2010
The IAS-STS in Graz, Austria, promotes the interdisciplinary investigation of the links and
interactions between science, technology and society as well as technology assessment and
research into the development and implementation of socially and environmentally sound technologies. The IAS-STS is broadly speaking, an institute for the enhancement of science and technology studies.
The IAS-STS invites researchers to apply for a stay between 1 October 2009 and 30 June 2010 as a Research Fellow (up to nine months) or as a Visiting Scholar (shorter period, e.g. a month).
The IAS-STS offers excellent research infrastructure. Close co-operation with researchers
at the IFZ (Inter-University Research Centre for Technology, Work and Culture;
see: www.ifz.tugraz.at), guest lectures, workshops and conferences provide an atmosphere of
creativity and scholarly discussion.
Furthermore we can offer five grants (up to EUR 1,000 per month) for long-term Research Fellows at the IAS-STS.
The Fellowship Programme 2009-2010 is dedicated to projects investigating the following
issues:
1. Gender – Technology – Environment
Women with their various interests, competencies and potentials play an important part in the
process of shaping socially sound and environmentally friendly sustainable technologies
– as users and consumers or experts. Applications should focus on research in the field of women in traditionally male fields of engineering, on ways of creating cultures of success for women engineers (students, graduates), and on masculinity and the culture of engineering.
2. New Genetics and Modern Biotechnology
A focus of the Fellowship Programme lies on research providing a critical analysis either of
human genetic research or of modern biotechnology. Researchers investigating either ethical, legal and social aspects of genetic testing n the medical domain or risk policy and wider governance issues related to agricultural biotechnology are especially encouraged to apply.
3. Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP)
SCP seeks to promote social and economic development within the carrying capacity of
cosystems. New strategies and concrete tools are needed to change individual and institutional
patterns of consumption and to enhance corporate responsibility (CR) of organisations. Researchers investigating patterns of consumption and intervention strategies to promote sustainable lifestyles among both public and private consumers or working within the thematic field of ecological product policy are encouraged to apply. Research projects integrating product assessment tools such as LCA, carbon footprint, MIPS or related methods are also of special interest.
4. Energy and Climate
Projects in this field should aim at socio-economic aspects of environmental technologies or at
strategies of environmental technology policy, such as user participation or strategic niche
management. They should develop measures and strategies for the promotion of renewable
energy sources and for the transition to a sustainable energy system. Regional governance,
climate policy strategies, innovation policy and the role of users in the area of energy technologies play an important role. In addition, the Manfred Heindler Grant is awarded for research projects on the increased use of renewable energies and on a more efficient use of energy.
5. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)
A focus of the Fellowship Programme will be put on novel developments based on ICT from an
STS point of view. Topics like ICT and agency, ubiquitous computing or ICT and mobility shall
be analysed with respect to their wider social and political implications. Further issues of interest
are the social shaping of ICT developments, innovation policies, risk management and participatory approaches to the design of ICT systems and applications.
Applications must be submitted to the IAS-STS by 31 December 2008.
For application forms and further information: Please visit our website: www.sts.tugraz.at
Institute for Advanced Studies on Science, Technology and Society (IAS-STS) Attn. Guenter | Getzinger Kopernikusgasse 9 | 8010 Graz – Austria | E-mail: info@sts.tugraz.at
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