This is Instant Coffee, your quick fix of everything Middle East. This new podcast brought to you by the LSE Middle East Centre, features 20-minute conversations with activists, artists, journalists and more from the region.

Instant Coffee - Season 1

Welcome to Season 2 of Instant Coffee, your quick fix of everything Middle East. We’re very excited to be back and this time round, we’re exploring our favourite topic: food. 

On this season, we are going beyond the plate to understand how the complexities of food, farming, and cuisine in the region, are shaping peoples’ writing, thinking, cooking, and organising.

We will be speaking with inspiring individuals who are grappling with culinary appropriation, access to food and food sovereignty, reconnecting with food in the diaspora, archiving and translating the region’s recipes and more.

Instant Coffee - Season 2

This conference brought together researchers from the Conflict Research Programme Iraq (CRP-I)with other leading experts in the field to assess the situation in Iraq four years on from the programme’s launch. It provides an opportunity to discuss and disseminate the findings of the 30 CRP-I reports published by LSE Middle East Centre since March 2017, assessing the drivers and dynamics of the violent conflict that has come to dominate the country since 2003, as well as prospects for reform. It is also an opportunity to consolidate the centre’s on-going work, critically examining the development of the post-invasion political system and how it has shaped state-society relations 18 years since regime change.

يجمع هذا المؤتمر باحثين من برنامج أبحاث الصراع في العراق مع خبراء بارزين آخرين في هذا المجال لمناقشة الوضع في العراق بعد مضي أربع سنوات على إطلاق البرنامج. يتيح هذا المؤتمر الفرصة لمناقشة وتعميم نتائج 30 تقريراً من تقارير البرنامج التي نشرها مركز الشرق الأوسط منذ آذار/ مارس 2017، والتي تطرقت إلى دوافع وديناميكيات الصراع العنيف الذي ما فتئ يسيطر على البلاد منذ عام 2003، بالإضافة إلى التطرق لإمكانيات الإصلاح. كما يُعد المؤتمر فرصة لتعزيز جهود المركز المستمرة في دراسته النقدية لتطور النظام السياسي بعد الغزو وكيفية صياغته للعلاقات بين الدولة والمجتمع بعد 18 عاماً من تغيير نظام الحكم

Iraq on the Eve of Elections: A new era or return to the status quo?

Welcome to Season 3 of Instant Coffee, your quick fix of everything Middle East.

From fintech to drones, Abbasid-era paper technologies to the Anglo-Iranian oil company, this season is all bout how technology has developed in the region. We speak to people applying, adapting and re-imagining technology in their fields.

Instant Coffee - Season 3

In this first episode, Fadi Kattan speaks with Sara Masry about everything from Palestinian cuisine in Chile and Haiti to why you shouldn't make chocolate or beetroot hummus.

Fadi is a Franco-Palestinian chef from Bethlehem. He opened his own restaurant, Fawda, in Bethlehem in 2016. Alongside his restaurant, he pioneered  the region’s first food tours. Fadi’s approach to food is informed by his passion for sharing the stories of the local  foragers, gardeners, farmers and cooks that have shaped the culinary heritage of Palestine. Learn more about Fadi here: https://www.fadikattan.com/.

Sara is an actor, writer and a partner at Basima's Kitchen, where she and her sister Alia serve up dishes from their Saudi and Palestinian heritage, inspired by their late grandmother Basima. Learn more about Basima's Kitchen here: https://www.instagram.com/basimaskitchen

All artwork by Rawand Issa: https://www.instagram.com/rawand.issa_

Beetroot hummus and culinary appropriation with Fadi Kattan

On episode 2, Professor Madawi Al-Rasheed speaks with Faris Sheibani about the history and culture of coffee in Yemen, and how the drink can be used to connect with, and sustainably support, Yemeni farmers.

Faris is a British-Yemeni social entrepreneur and founder of Qima Coffee, a Yemeni social enterprise that uses coffee as a vehicle for livelihood generation in Yemen. Learn more about Qima Coffee here: https://www.qimacoffee.com/.

Madawi is a Visiting Professor at the LSE Middle East Centre and Fellow of the British Academy. Her research interests include history and politics of the Middle East with special reference to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf. Learn more about Madawi’s work here: https://www.lse.ac.uk/middle-east-centre/people/madawi-al-rasheed.

All artwork by Rawand Issa: www.instagram.com/rawand.issa_

Yemen's Coffee Revolution with Faris Sheibani

This webinar, as part of the LSE Middle East Centre's Kurdish Studies Series, was a discussion around the new and revised edition of David McDowall's book 'A Modern History of the Kurds'.

In this latest edition, McDowall analyses the momentous transformations affecting Kurdish socio-politics in the last 20 years. This fourth edition includes new analysis of the Kurdish experience in Syria; the role of political Islam in Kurdish society and Kurds' involvement in Islamist Jihad; and issues surrounding women and gender that were previously overlooked, from the impact of the women's equality movement to how patriarchal practices within the Kurdish community still limit its progress. The foundation text for Kurdish Studies, this book highlights in detail the changing situation of the Kurds across the Middle East.

The division of the Kurdish people among the modern nation states of Iraq, Turkey, Syria and Iran and their struggle for national rights continues to influence the politics of the Middle East. David McDowall's ground-breaking history of the Kurds from the 19th century to the present day documents the underlying dynamics of the Kurdish question. Drawing extensively on primary sources - including documents from The National Archive and interviews with prominent Kurds - the book examines the interplay of old and new aspects of the struggle, the importance of local rivalries and leadership within Kurdish society, and the failure of modern states to respond to the challenge of Kurdish nationalism.

David McDowall turned to full time writing in 1984 and has written on Lebanon, Palestine, the Kurds and also on Britain and the British landscape since then. The first edition of A Modern History of the Kurds appeared in 1996. The new edition is the first major revision since. McDowall studied Islamic History with Arabic, followed by postgraduate studies in Modern Middle East History. His working life has been varied, with almost seven years in the army, followed by five years with the British Council in India and Iraq, and two years spent with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in Lebanon and Austria. He was also an NGO relief worker in Lebanon during Israel’s invasion in 1982. 

Zeynep Kaya is Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Sheffield. Kaya previously worked at SOAS and the LSE. She holds a PhD in International Relations from the LSE. Her main research areas involve borderlands, territoriality, conflict, peace, political legitimacy and gender. She has recently published a monograph entitled Mapping Kurdistan: Territory, Self-Determination and Nationalism with Cambridge University Press. Zeynep is co-editor of I.B. Tauris-Bloomsbury’s book series on Kurdish studies and co-convenor of Kurdish Studies Series with the LSE Middle East Centre. She is also an Academic Associate at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge.

A Modern History of the Kurds

On episode 3, Taif Alkhudary speaks with Nawal Nasrallah about the history and development of Iraqi cuisine from Mesopotamia to modern day through her own cookbook 'Delights from the Garden of Eden' and her translation of the medieval Arabic cookbook 'Annals of the Caliphs’ Kitchens', an annotated translation of the tenth-century, Abbasid-era cookbook Kitab al-Tabikh by Ibn Sayyar al-Warraq.

Nawal is an award-winning food historian of the Arab world, and translator of major medieval Arabic cookbooks hailing from Baghdad, Egypt, and Al-Andalus.    

Taif is a Research Assistant on the LSE Middle East Centre project 'Managing Religious Diversity in the Middle East: The Muhasasa Ta'ifia in Iraq, 2003–2018'. 

All artwork by Rawand Issa: www.instagram.com/rawand.issa_

Iraqi Cuisine from Mesopotamia to Mosul with Nawal Nasrallah

On this episode, Nadine speaks to artist, storyteller and conservationist Vivien Sansour. Nadine has been trying to grow her own food and vegetable in her small allotment in north London and was very excited to speak with Vivien, who advocates for seed conservation and the protection of agro-biodiversity as a cultural and political act. She is founder of the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library, an interactive arts and agriculture project attempting to record ancient seeds and their stories and put them back into people’s hands.

To learn more about @vivien.sansour and the @palestineheirloomseedlibrary, visit: https://viviensansour.com/Palestine-Heirloom

In the podcast, Vivien mentions Esiah Levy, whose legacy you can read about on @thegreenconspiracy: https://thegreenconspiracy.com/esiah-levy/

Scroll through to see the beautiful design of the yakteen seed labels, that Haya Kaabneh illustrated for the @hudsonvalleyseedco

As always, artwork for the cover is by the brilliant @rawand.issa_

Sowing solidarity with Vivien Sansour

‘UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food’ - who wouldn’t want that job title? 

When we read about Michael, we knew we had to interview him to learn about what he had to do to get this cool job and to know what it actually entails. He talked to us about why food is a human right and how  he uses the case of Lebanon, his home country, as a sounding board for his right to food questions. 

Find Michael on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MichaelFakhri

Food as a human right with Michael Fakhri

This is the English recording of Panel 1 from the 28th September Conflict Research Programme-Iraq Conference 'Iraq on the Eve of Elections: A new era or return to the status quo?'.

In October Iraqis will go to the polls for the sixth time since regime change to vote in early elections, held as a key concession to the demands of the Tishreen protest movement. The elections will be the first to be based on the new Elections Law passed in December 2019. This divides Iraq into 83 electoral districts in a bid to make it easier for smaller parties and independent candidates to run in elections. Despite this, the elections have been marred in controversy, with political activists often becoming the targets of threats and assassinations. This has resulted in widespread calls to boycott elections in protest against the inequitable electoral environment. In this session, panellists will discuss the likely outcome of elections and what they could mean for reform of Iraq’s political system. 

Chair:
• Toby Dodge – LSE Middle East Centre 

Speakers:
• Marsin Al Shamary – Institute of Regional and International Studies 
• Sajad Jiyad – Independent Researcher 
• Lahib Higel – International Crisis Group

Prospects for Reforming the Political System on the Eve of Elections

يمكنكم الاستماع الى التسجيل الصوتي باللغة العربية للجلسة الأولى في يوم 28 سبتمبر/أيلول من مؤتمر مركز الشرق الأوسط "العراق عشية الإنتحابات:بداية عهد جديد أم استمرار 
                                                                                                                   للوضع الراهن؟ 

إخلاء مسؤولية: هذه التسجيلات للترجمة العربية الفورية المباشرة لذلك من الممكن أن تحتوي على بعض الأخطاء أو على فجوات في الترجمة

يدير الجلسة: توبي دودج - مركز الشرق األوسط 
مارسين الشمري - معهد الدراسات اإلقليمية والدولية 
سجاد جياد – باحث مستقل
 لهيب هيجل - مجموعة األزمات الدولية

إمكانيات إصالح النظام السياسي عشية االنتخابات

This is the English recording of Panel 2 from the 28th September Conflict Research Programme-Iraq Conference 'Iraq on the Eve of Elections: A new era or return to the status quo?'.

Iraq has long been on the verge of economic collapse. This was expounded in April 2020, when the fall in oil prices in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic meant that the government struggled to pay public sector workers for several months. In response, Finance Minister Ali Allawi published a White Paper meant as a road map for the country’s economic recovery and later, in January of this year, devalued the dinar by 20% as a means of stimulating internal markets. Yet, 90% of all government revenues continue to come from oil sales leaving Iraq’s economy vulnerable to the volatility of global oil markets and state sanctioned corruption sees up to 30% of public funds lost every year. What is more, while the public payroll has more than tripled since 2003, the development of the private sector continues to be hampered by poor infrastructure and limited access to capital. As a consequence, youth unemployment in Iraq stands at 25.2% and the World Bank estimates that 5.5 million Iraqis are at risk of being pushed into poverty. This panel examines the success of reforms undertaken by Mustafa Al Kadhimi’s government and opportunities for further reforms, as well as the socio-political consequences of economic complacency. 

Chair:
•Chloe Cornish – Financial Times 

Speakers:
• Ahmed Tabaqchali – Institute of Regional and International Studies 
• Ali Al Mawlawi – Independent Consultant 
• Alia Moubayed – Jefferies International

The State of Iraq’s Economy One Year on from Allawi’s White Paper

This is the English recording of Panel 3 from the 28th September Conflict Research Programme-Iraq Conference 'Iraq on the Eve of Elections: A new era or return to the status quo?'.

Since the beginning of mass protests in Iraq in October 2019, the country has seen a sharp increase in the use of violent coercion against government critics. A coordinated campaign of violence, including the use of live bullets, military grade tear gas canisters, targeted assassinations, snipers and enforced disappearances resulted in the extrajudicial killing of over 700 protesters and the injury of at least 25,000 others. While this eventually forced protesters to go home, the campaign led by militias from the Popular Mobilisation Forces (PMF) has continued unabated targeting political activists and forcing many to flee Iraq. In Kurdistan, the government has also launched a crackdown on activists and journalists known to be outspoken government critics, with at least five sentenced to jail terms following flawed trials. This closing up of civic space comes against the backdrop of the increasing power and influence of the PMF with Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi unable to hold them to account despite several attempts to do so. In light of these events, this panel will discuss the role of the PMF in Iraq, the systemic use of violence against government critics and prospects for accountability. 

Chair:
• Jessica Watkins – LSE Middle East Centre 

Speakers:
• Belkis Wille – Human Rights Watch 
• Renad Mansour – Chatham House 
• Inna Rudolf – International Centre for the Study of Radicalization

State Violence in Iraq: The PMF and prospects for accountability

يمكنكم الاستماع الى التسجيل الصوتي باللغة العربية للجلسة الثالثة في يوم 28 سبتمبر/أيلول من مؤتمر مركز الشرق الأوسط 'العراق عشية الإنتحابات: بداية عهد جديد أم استمرار للوضع الراهن؟

إخلاء مسؤولية: هذه التسجيلات للترجمة العربية الفورية المباشرة لذلك من الممكن أن تحتوي على بعض الأخطاء أو على فجوات في الترجمة

LSE تدير الجلسة: جيسيكا واتكينز – مركز الشرق األوسط  • 
بلقيس والي – هيومن رايتس ووتش •
ريناد منصور – تشاتام هاوس • 
إينا رودولف –المركز الدولي لدراسة التطرف •

عنف الدولة في العراق: قوات الحشد الشعبي وآفاق المساءلة

This webinar, as part of the LSE Middle East Centre's Kurdish Studies Series, was the launch of Marouf Cabi's latest book 'The Formation of Modern Kurdish Society in Iran: Modernity, Modernization and Social Change 1921-1979' published by Bloomsbury Publishing.

Although the Kurds have attracted widespread international attention, Iranian Kurdistan has been largely overlooked. This book examines the consequences of modernity and modernisation for Iran's Kurdish society in the 20th century. Marouf Cabi argues that while state-led modernisation integrated the Kurds in modern Iran, the homogenisation of identity and culture also resulted in their vigorous pursuit of their political and cultural rights.

Focusing on the dual process of state-led modernisation and homogenisation of identity and culture, Cabi examines the consequences of modernity and modernisation for the socioeconomic, cultural, and political structures as well as for gender relations. It is the consequences of this dynamic dual process that explains the modern structures of Iran's Kurdish society, on the one hand, and its intimate relationship with Iran as a historical, geographical, and political entity, on the other.

Using Persian, Kurdish and English sources, the book explores the transformation of Kurdish society between the Second World War and the 1979 Iranian Revolution, with a special focus on the era of the 'White Revolution' during the 1960s and 1970s.

Marouf Cabi is a historian focusing on Iran and its ethnic structures from World War II to present day. His most recent articles include “The Roots and the Consequences of the Iranian Revolution: A Kurdish Perspective” (2020) and “The Duality of Official and Local: Historical and Intellectual Foundations” (2021) both published in Middle East Studies. His PhD (2019) thesis explores the impact of the modernisation of Iran on twentieth-century Kurdish society. He has taught both undergraduate and postgraduate courses on Introduction to Middle Eastern History and Middle Eastern Cultural and Literary Contexts at the University of St Andrews. He also regularly presents his research in Kurdish and Iranian communities in Europe. For more on his works see https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7259-4504.

Robert Lowe is Deputy Director of the Middle East Centre and co-convenor of the Centre’s Kurdish Studies Series. His main research interest is Kurdish politics, with particular focus on the Kurdish movement in Syria. Robert was Manager and Research Fellow, Middle East and North Africa Programme, Chatham House from 2001–2010. He held a Research Fellowship from The Leverhulme Trust from 2008 to 2010 and was an Honorary Fellow at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, from 2008 to 2010.

The Formation of Modern Kurdish Society in Iran (Webinar)

This keynote lecture took place at the Gramsci in the Middle East & North Africa Conference organised by the LSE Middle East Centre in cooperation with Ghent University from 9-10 May, 2022. The conference explored, through empirically-grounded research, how Gramsci’s work can help us make sense of our contemporary moment in the region marked by a significant expansion in resistance and uprising.

Alia Mossallam is a cultural historian interested in songs that tell stories and stories that tell of popular struggles behind the better-known events that shape world history. She was previously a post-doctoral fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Berlin where she was writing a book on the visual and musical archiving practices of the builders of the Aswan High Dam and the Nubian communities displaced by it. She is also a visiting scholar at Humboldt University’s Lautarchiv exploring the experiences of Egyptian, Tunisian and Algerian workers and subalterns on the fronts of World War I (and resulting revolts in their regions in 1918) through songs that capture these experiences.

Sara Salem is an Assistant Professor in Sociology at the LSE. Her research interests include postcolonial feminism, Marxist theory, and global histories of anticolonialism. Her recently published book with Cambridge University Press is entitled Anticolonial Afterlives in Egypt: The Politics of Hegemony (2020). Her recent writing has focused on Angela Davis in Egypt; on Frantz Fanon and Egypt’s postcolonial state; and on the ghosts of anticolonialism and Nasserism in Egypt. 

This conference was supported by the Departments of Government, Sociology, and the Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity programme based at the International Inequalities Institute, LSE.

Keynote 2: Alia Mossallam on thinking about counterhegemonic storytelling with Gramsci

In order to survive in a hostile environment in the Middle East, Israeli decision makers developed a regional foreign policy designed to find ways to approach states, leaders and minorities willing to cooperate with it against mutual regional challenges. Examples include the Periphery Alliance with Iran and Turkey until 1979, cooperation with the Kurds, the Maronites in Lebanon, Jordan, Morocco, South Sudan and more. Contacts with these potential partners were mostly covert.

The aim of this lecture, which is part of a Podeh's new comprehensive book on Israel’s secret relations with its neighbours during the years 1948-2022 is two-fold: first, to offer a theoretical framework explaining the way Israel conducted its covert diplomacy; and second, to focus on several less-known episodes of such clandestine activity, such as Israel’s ties with Saudi Arabia and the Gulf more broadly.

Elie Podeh is the Bamberger and Fuld Professor in the History of the Muslim Peoples in the Department of Islamic and Middle East Studies, Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He serves as the President of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Association of Israel (MEISAI) and is a board member of Mitvim – The Israeli Institute for Regional Foreign Policies. His areas of study include Egypt, inter-Arab relations, the Arab-Israeli conflict, education and culture in the Middle East, and Israeli foreign policy. He has published and edited twelve books and more than seventy academic articles in English, Hebrew and Arabic. His recent publications include Multiple Alterities: Views of Others in Middle Eastern Textbooks (edited with Samira Alayan, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018); The Third Way: Protest and Revolution in the Middle East (Jerusalem: Carmel, 2017) [in Hebrew]; Chances for Peace: Missed Opportunities in the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Austin: University Press of Texas, 2015); and The Politics of National Celebrations in the Arab Middle East (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011).

Israel's Covert Diplomacy in the Middle East

This event launched 'Dismantling Green Colonialism: Energy and Climate Justice in the Arab Region' edited by Hamza Hamouchene and Katie Sandwell, published by Pluto Press.

The Arab region is a focus of world politics, with authoritarian regimes, significant fossil fuel reserves and histories of colonialism and imperialism. It is also the site of potentially immense green energy resources.

The writers in this collection explore a region ripe for energy transition, but held back by resource-grabbing and (neo)colonial agendas. They show the importance of fighting for a just energy transition and climate justice - exposing policies and practices that protect global and local political elites, multinational corporations and military regimes.

Covering a wide range of countries from Morocco, Western Sahara, Algeria and Tunisia to Egypt, Sudan, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Palestine, this book challenges Eurocentrism and highlights instead a class-conscious approach to climate justice that is necessary for our survival.

Meet the speakers

Hamza Hamouchene is Programme Coordinator for North Africa at the Transnational Institute (TNI). He is a London-based Algerian researcher-activist, commentator and a founding member of Algeria Solidarity Campaign (ASC), and Environmental Justice North Africa (EJNA). He is the author/editor of two books: 'The Struggle for Energy Democracy in the Maghreb' (2017) and 'The Coming Revolution to North Africa: The Struggle for Climate Justice' (2015). 

Katie Sandwell is Programme Coordinator at the Transnational Institute (TNI). She coordinates and supports work at TNI on a range of issues related to climate, environmental and agrarian justice; public alternatives; energy democracy; land and territories; fair trade medicinal plants; agroecology and food sovereignty.

Michael Mason is Director of the Middle East Centre. At LSE, he is also Professor of Environmental Geography in the Department of Geography and Environment and an Associate of the Grantham Research Institute for Climate Change and the Environment. He is interested in ecological politics and governance as applied to questions of accountability, security and sovereignty. This research addresses both global environmental politics and regional environmental change in Western Asia/the Middle East.

Dismantling Green Colonialism: Energy and Climate Justice in the Arab Region

This event, as part of the LSE Middle East Centre's Kurdish Studies Series, was the launch of 'Voices That Matter: Kurdish Women at the Limits of Representation in Contemporary Turkey' by Marlene Schäfers, published by the University of Chicago Press.

In Turkey, recent decades have seen Kurdish voices gain increasing moral and political value as metaphors of representation and resistance. Women’s voices, in particular, are understood as a means to withstand patriarchal restrictions and political oppression. By tracing the transformations in how Kurdish women relate to and employ their voices as a result of these shifts, Schäfers illustrates how contemporary politics foster not only new hopes and desires but also create novel vulnerabilities as they valorize, elicit, and discipline voice in the name of empowerment and liberation.

Marlene Schäfers is Assistant Professor in Cultural Anthropology at Utrecht University. Schäfers' research focuses on the impact of state violence on intimate and gendered lives, the politics of death and the afterlife, and the intersections of affect and politics. She specializes in the anthropology of the Kurdish regions and modern Turkey. 

Robert Lowe is Deputy Director of the LSE Middle East Centre. He is Co-Convenor of the Centre's Kurdish Studies Series, as well as Co-Editor of the Kurdish Studies Series, published by I.B. Tauris. His main research interest is Kurdish politics, with particular focus on the Kurdish movements in Syria.

Voices That Matter: Kurdish Women at the Limits of Representation in Contemporary Turkey

What kinds of obstacles are people in MENA facing with regards to access to technological opportunity and concerns around digital rights abuses? How are they tied to global challenges? Dr Nakeema Stefflbauer, tech executive, investor and digital rights advocate shares her thinking.

This episode also features comment from Kassem Mnejja and Marwa Fatafta of Access Now, a digital rights advocacy group. They discuss these issues in relation to Tunisia, Sudan and Palestine.

Find out more about Nakeema here: https://www.nakeema.net/
Find out more about Access Now here: https://www.accessnow.org/

Digital Rights and Big Tech in MENA

The Abbasid and British Empires are the nexus through which our two guests, Dr Ahmed Ragab and Dr Katayoun Shafiee explore technology, knowledge production and power. This episode charts medieval paper production and Abbasid-era hospitals to the "discovery" of oil by foreign entrepreneurs in southern Iran, exploring the different ways technological knowledge production developed across empire.

Ahmed Ragab is Associate Professor of the History of Medicine and the Chair of the Medicine, Science and Humanities Programme at Johns Hopkins University. Ahmed works primarily on the history of medieval and early modern medicine in the islamic world and questions of medicine in colonial and post colonial contexts.

Katayoun Shafiee is Associate Professor in the Department of History at the University of Warwick. Katayoun focuses on modern Middle Eastern history and politics, and she teaches on empire and energy.

Knowledge Production Across Empires

Smartphones, food-only debit cards, biometric data checks at border crossings, these are some of the ways refugees and migrants interact with technology in their daily lives both in the region and the diaspora.

This episode unpacks the benefits, ambivalences and concerns surrounding these technologies. Our guests, Dr Reem Talhouk and Dr Yener Bayramoğlu discuss refugee-centered design technologies for humanitarian aid as well as smartphone usage amongst refugees and migrants and how it has given them control over their own lives and narratives as they cross borders. 

Reem Talhouk is an Assistant Professor in Design and Global Develpment at Northumbria University where she co-leads the Design Feminisms Research Group. Reem also leads the Global Development Futures Hub. Her work sits within design, and human and computer interaction. Reem works with communities considered to be ‘on the margins’ to design technologies and counter-narratives with a focus on humanitarianism, activism and social movements. 

Yener Bayramoglu is Assistant Professor in Digital Media at York University. His current research explores the role of digital media in everyday practices of belonging. Yener is particularly interested in the ambivalent meaning and function of digital media for social groups whose lives are marginalised and shaped by intersectional inequalities. Yener has previously explored how digital media technologies turn into self-empowering tools for migrants, refugees and LGBTIQ+ people.

Re-Appropriating Technologies with and for Refugees and Migrants

This event was the launch Eylaf Bader Eddin's new book 'Translating the Language of the Syrian Revolution' published by De Gruyter Press.

For activists, researchers, and journalists, the Syrian Revolution was primarily a revolution in language; a break with the linguistic oppression and rigidity of old regimes. This break was accompanied by the emergence of new languages, which made it possible to inform, tell, and translate ongoing events and transformations. This language of the revolution was carried out into the world by competing voices from Syria, by local and foreign researchers, activists, and journalists.

While the Arab revolutions have triggered extensive social and political changes, the far-reaching consequences of their cultural and discursive changes have yet to be adequately considered. Bader Eddin's book analyses the various translations of the language of the Syrian Revolution (2011–2012) from Arabic to English. By doing so, exploring the discursive and non-discursive dimensions of the revolution as another act of translation, tracing the language of the banners, slogans, graffiti, songs, and their representation in English.

This event will launch Eylaf Bader Eddin's new book Translating the Language of the Syrian Revolution published by De Gruyter Press.

For activists, researchers, and journalists, the Syrian Revolution was primarily a revolution in language; a break with the linguistic oppression and rigidity of old regimes. This break was accompanied by the emergence of new languages, which made it possible to inform, tell, and translate ongoing events and transformations. This language of the revolution was carried out into the world by competing voices from Syria, by local and foreign researchers, activists, and journalists.

While the Arab revolutions have triggered extensive social and political changes, the far-reaching consequences of their cultural and discursive changes have yet to be adequately considered. Bader Eddin's book analyses the various translations of the language of the Syrian Revolution (2011–2012) from Arabic to English. By doing so, exploring the discursive and non-discursive dimensions of the revolution as another act of translation, tracing the language of the banners, slogans, graffiti, songs, and their representation in English.

Meet the speakers

Eylaf Bader Eddin is a Research Fellow on the project 'The Prison Narratives of Assad’s Syria: Voices, Texts, Publics' (SYRASP) and a EUME Fellow at the Forum Transregionale Studien. Bader Eddin is also a Researcher in the Department of Arabic Studies at Philipps-Universität Marburg and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Harmoon Center for Contemporary Studies, Qatar. His current post-doc research explores Syrian prison musical performances. He has studied Arabic, English and comparative literature in Aix-en-Provence, Beirut, Damascus, Marburg and Paris. Bader Eddin's research has been published in Arabic, English and French, including the Arabic book, ‘When They Cried ‘Forever’: The Language of the Syrian Revolution in 2018’, for which he received the Sadiq Jalal al-Azm Award by Etijahat. 

Nesrin Alrefaai is a Visiting Fellow and Arabic Content Editor at the LSE Middle East Centre. She holds a Doctorate degree in Drama and Theatre Education from the University of Warwick, UK. Her research interests are language, arts, and politics in the Middle East with a special focus on Syria.

Translating the Language of the Syrian Revolution

Iraq’s engagement with fintech is new but rapidly developing, amidst a contemporary economic history that has struggled with foreign intervention and internal corruption, while Iranians have been engaging with a form of fintech - alternative digital currencies - for some time, to evade and work around sanctions and a crippled economy.

In this episode we speak to Ali Al-Hilli and Shayan Eskandari, who are working at the intersection of technology and finance, to improve the livelihoods and prosperity in their home countries.

Ali Al-Hilli is a tech entrepeneur from Iraq with over 14 years of experience in business development, telecommunications, and fintech. He is currently Marketing and Communications Director at Miswag, the largest and oldest homegrown e-commerce startup in Iraq.

Shayan Eskandari is a PhD candidate at Concordia University. Originally from Iran, he has a background in blockchain engineering. Shayan is actively involved in creating and supporting open-source projects related to cryptocurrencies. He has been working on nonprofit educational content in Farsi on the topic of blockchain and cryptocurrencies for over a decade.

Find out more about their work here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/alihilli?originalSubdomain=jo
https://shayan.es/

Fintech, Crypto and Sanctions in Iraq and Iran

This event was the launch Zoe Hurley's new book 'Social Media Influencing in the City of Likes: Dubai and the Postdigital Condition'.

Evaluating the cases of multiple influencers, from local to transnational content creators, Hurley reveals how residents, non-citizens and migrant workers survive as influencers in the city of ‘likes.’ Providing de-Westernising perspectives of Dubai’s social media influencing industry within the broader context of global platform capitalism, the book offers an important contribution to the field of social media through illustrating visible economies in a city circuited by social media influencing.

Zoe Hurley is a Visiting Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre and Assistant Professor in the College of Interdisciplinary Studies at Zayed University, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Her research focuses on postdigital cultures, feminist-semiotics and social media in the Arabian Gulf. She has published articles in leading academic journals, including Feminist Media Studies, Visual Communication, New Media + Society, Social Media & Society, Information Communication & Society, Postdigital Science and Education. Her monograph, 'Social Media Influencing in the City of Likes: Dubai and the Postdigital Condition', advances decolonial semiotic theorising.

Sarah Hopkyns is an Assistant Professor/Lecturer at the University of St Andrews, UK. She has previously worked in higher education in the United Arab Emirates, Canada, and Japan. Her research interests include world Englishes, language and identity, language policy, translingual practice, linguistic ethnography, linguistic landscapes and English-medium instruction (EMI).

Polly Withers is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre, where she leads the project “Neoliberal Visions: Gendering Consumer Culture and its Resistances in the Levant”. Polly’s interdisciplinary work questions and explores how gender, sexuality, race, and class intersect in popular culture and commercial media in the global south.

Social Media Influencing in the City of Likes: Dubai and the Postdigital Condition

This event was co-organised by the LSE Middle East Centre and the LSE Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa.

This panel explored the crisis in Sudan through the prism of ‘disconnection’, exploring the various disconnects and discordances that have formed between Sudanese popular groups, state institutions and international institutions. Stopping the violence and addressing Sudan’s trauma will ultimately require domestic and international actors to align formal policy-making processes with popular realities on the ground. Speakers explored this notion of disconnection and consider how the sudden displacement of the Sudanese elite from its capital city might re-orient Sudanese politics in future. The panel finally discussed how such disconnections might be repaired.

Mai Hassan is Associate Professor in the Political Science Department at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Her work examines topics that span across authoritarian regimes, bureaucracy and public administration, and contentious politics.

Kholood Khair is a Sudanese political analyst and the founding director of Confluence Advisory, a "think-and-do" tank based in Khartoum. She is also a radio broadcaster, hosting and co-producing a weekly radio program, Spotlight 249, that is Sudan's first English-language political discussion and debate show aimed at Sudanese youth.

Laura Mann is Associate Professor in International Development in the Department of International Development, LSE and a research affiliate of the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa. Laura is a sociologist whose research focuses on the political economy of development, knowledge and technology. Her regional focus is East Africa (Sudan, Kenya and Rwanda).

Political Elites, Civil Society and the Future of Sudan

Majd Al-Shihabi of 'Palestine Open Maps' and Sana Yazigi of the 'Creative Memory of the Syrian Revolution' talk to us about how they have centered their archiving processes around maps, and what digital archiving can do for Palestinian and Syrian community-building.

This episode also features comment from Dr Sara Salem and Dr Mai Taha of LSE, who explore the importance of creative archiving through their project 'Archive Stories'.

Note: this episode was recorded before October 7, 2023.

Majd Al-Shihabi is a technologist turned urban planner, turned technologisturbanplanner. Majd is co-founder of Palestine Open Maps, a platform for searching, navigating, downloading and digitizing historical maps of Palestine. Majd was the inaugural Bassel Khartabil Free Culture Fellow which enabled him to start Palestine Open Maps.

https://palopenmaps.org/en

Sana Yazigi is a graphic designer and cultural activist. She is the founder of Creative Memory of the Syrian Revolution, a project that documents all types of creative expressions produced since the Syrian Revolution in 2011 until the present day. She is also the founder of The Cultural Diary, Syria's first bilingual monthly cultural agenda (2007-2012).

https://creativememory.org/

https://archive-stories.com/

Archiving and Mapping Technologies in Palestine and Syria

Nearly ten years since the onset of the crisis in Yemen this discussion provided an in-depth assessment of the conflict over the past decade. Panellists examined the local origins of the war, the humanitarian catastrophe that has ensued, and the challenges for sustainable development given the prolonged violence. Regional dynamics fueling the crisis were also analysed, including factors related to the war in Gaza. With the March 2024 milestone approaching, speakers assessed stalled peace efforts and policy options for international stakeholders moving forward.

Ahmed Al Khameri is the Team Leader for the FCDO-funded programme, The Yemen Support Fund at Chemonics UK. Most recently, he was the governance advisor under the DFID Yemen team leading DFID’s stabilization and governance efforts. 

Marwa Baabbad is Director of the Yemen Policy Centre. She is a researcher and development consultant with over ten years of experience working in the fields of community engagement, gender, peace and security, and youth political inclusion. 

Andreas Krieg is Associate Professor at the School of Security Studies at King’s College London and a Fellow at the Institute of Middle Eastern Studies. Andreas is the Director of MENA analytica – a political risk firm – that works on Yemen and the Horn of Africa. 

Greg Shapland is an independent researcher, writer and consultant on politics, security, resources and environment (including water) in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Greg is also a Visiting Senior Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre. From 1979 until 2015, he served in the MENA Research Group in the FCO.

Navigating the Crisis: Yemen 10 Years On

This event, co-organised with LSE IDEAS, was the launch of the special issue ‘Arab Constitutional Responses to the Revolutions and Transformations in the Region’ published in the Journal of Constitutional Law in the Middle East and North Africa. 

The special issue is the result of a two year collaboration between the Carnegie Corporation, the Arab Association of Constitutional Law, and LSE.

In the issue, 22 Arab scholars and experts have worked together to investigate the constitutional responses to the Arab Spring in ten different Arab countries including Bahrain, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and many more. The case studies examined in this special issue explore both the opportunities that were raised by the prospect of a constitutional change in the wake of the Arab Spring, as well as the many challenges they faced.

Meet the Speakers

Rim Turkmani is a Senior Policy Fellow at the LSE, based at the LSE Middle East Centre and LSE IDEAS. She is the Principal Investigator of the 'Legitimacy and Civicness in the Arab World' research project. Her research focuses on legitimate governance in the Middle East with an emphasis on constitutional legitimacy and local conflict and peace drivers.

Nathan J. Brown is a Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University, and Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Among his works are The Rule of Law in the Arab World and Constitutions in a Non Constitutional World. 

Tamara El Khoury is the Executive Director of the Arab Association of Constitutional Law, Editor of the Journal of Constitutional Law in the Middle East and North Africa, and a constitutional expert at the Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law. She has been involved in constitutional and institutional reform processes in Libya, Jordan, Mali, Somalia, and South Sudan, working extensively with both institutional actors and civil society organizations. Tamara teaches Constitutional Law at IE University in Madrid.

Azza Kamel Maghur is a Libyan lawyer, human rights activist, and constitutional law expert. Azza is known for defending political prisoners, advocating for human rights , including women’s rights, NGOs, and openly calling for a constitution in Libya. She spearheaded a legal committee to draft the law concerning NGOs and worked on further legislations, including the election law of 2012. Azza has published numerous legal articles in both Arabic and English.

13 Years After the Arab Spring: What are the Chances for Legitimate Constitutions in the Arab World?

This episode explores the link between technology, warfare and nationalism. Turkey and Israel are two countries in the region who have developed their technological capabilities for both domestic and international conflict. We speak to two researchers who have been tracing the use of military technologies and the effect they have had on a sense of nationalism amongst their populations. 

Digdem Solaytin Colella speaks to the regime-boosting effects of drone production in Turkey whilst Sophia Goodfriend provides a more granular analysis of how military technology has transformed a new generation of Israeli soldiers’ views of Palestinians and Israeli occupation. 

Digdem is Assistant Professor of Politics and Public Policy at the University of Aberdeen. Her research concentrates on the politics of corruption, mechanisms of state capture and regime survival, autocratic bureaucracies & illiberal governance, and Southeast European and Turkish politics. 

Sophia is a PhD candidate at Duke University’s Department of Cultural Anthropology and Fulbright-Hays Dissertation Fellow. Her academic work examines the ethics and impact of new surveillance technologies in Israel and Palestine.

War Tech and Nationalism in Turkey and Israel

This webinar was a launch of 'Industrial Policy in Turkey: Rise, Retreat and Return' by William Hale, Mustafa Kutlay and Mina Toksoz published by Edinburgh University Press.

At a time when many advanced and emerging economies are adopting more active industrial policies, this book provides an in-depth historical–empirical account of industrial policy in Turkey – its rise, retreat and return.

This study adopts a multidisciplinary approach and covers the role of the state in Turkey’s initial industrialisation to the current period of restructuring and potential technological upgrading of its manufacturing base. The analysis traces how industrial policy has been shaped by state capacity, the waves of reforms following economic crises, the dearth of long-term finance for industrialisation and, more recently, the need to address issues such as low-tech industrial structure and pre-mature de-industrialisation.

The book aims to answer questions of what worked and what went wrong with previous policies. It asks how current policies could be shaped to overcome the problems of cronyism and corruption, and also achieve new objectives of technological upgrading and socio-environmental sustainability.

William Hale is an Emeritus Professor at SOAS, having retired as Professor of Politics with Special Reference to Turkey in 2006. His main interests are the modern politics and international relations of Turkey.

Mustafa Kutlay is a senior lecturer in the Department of International Politics at City, University of London. His current research focuses on the comparative politics and political economy of developing countries (with particular reference to Turkey, Turkish politics and foreign policy), institutions and development in the global South, and political risk analysis.

Mina Toksoz is an International Economist having worked at the Economist Intelligence Unit variously as Editorial Director of the Middle East, Europe, and the Country Risk Service.

Arda Bilgen is a Research Officer at the LSE Middle East Centre, where he works on the PeaceRep project ‘Surface Water Changes in the Euphrates-Tigris Basin since 1984 and their Governance Implications for Iraq’, led by Dr Michael Mason. His work mainly focuses on water politics, transboundary water resources management, and hydraulic infrastructure development.

Industrial Policy in Turkey: Rise, Retreat and Return

As of April 2024, according to UN experts, over 80% of schools have been damaged or destroyed by the Israeli assault on Gaza, with 5479 students, 261 teachers and 95 university professors killed and many thousands injured. Every university in Gaza is partially or wholly destroyed, whether by bombing or demolition. Amidst the systematic destruction of lives, communities and environments what possibility, if any, is left for education? What does learning mean under conditions of 'scholasticide'? 

Meet the speakers

Ahmed Abu Shaban is the Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine at Al-Azhar University — Gaza and an Associate Professor of Agricultural Economics. Abu Shaban spent two years as a Visiting Professor in the Department of Environmental Sociology at the University of Wisconsin. In addition to his academic experience, Abu Shaban has conducted several consultancy studies on the socioeconomic assessment of national water and environmental infrastructure programs. He has extensive research and consultancy experience in analysing economic development in the Gaza Strip and designing intervention strategies for humanitarian, early recovery, and development programs.

Esmat Elhalaby is an Assistant Professor of Transnational History at the University of Toronto. He works principally on the intellectual history of West and South Asia, particularly colonial and anti-colonial thought. His writing has appeared in Modern Intellectual History, American Quarterly, Michigan Quarterly Review, Boston Review, The Baffler and elsewhere.

The Palestinian University and Scholasticide

This event was a launch of Professor Christopher Phillips' latest book 'Battleground: 10 Conflicts that Explain the New Middle East' published by Yale University Press.

The Middle East is in crisis. The shocking events of the war in Gaza have rocked the entire region. More than a decade ago, the Arab Spring had raised hopes of a new beginning but instead ushered in a series of civil wars, coups, and even harsher autocracies. Tensions were exacerbated by the meddling of outsiders, as regional and global powers sought to further their interests. The United States, for so long the dominant actor, had stepped back, leaving a vacuum behind it to be fought over.

Christopher Phillips explores geopolitical rivalries in the region, and the major external powers vying for influence: Russia, China, the EU, and the US. Moving through ten key flashpoints, from Syria to Palestine, Phillips argues that the United States’ overextension after the Cold War, and retreat in the 2010s, has imbalanced the region. Today, the Middle East remains blighted by conflicts of unprecedented violence and a post-American scramble for power – leaving its fate in the balance.

Meet the speakers

Christopher Phillips is Professor in International Relations at Queen Mary University of London. Phillips joined the School in January 2012, having previously worked as deputy editor for Syria and Jordan at the Economist Intelligence Unit. He is currently an associate fellow at the Middle East and North Africa programme at Chatham House, working primarily on the Syria conflict and its impact on neighbouring states and the wider Middle East. He is co-curator of ‘Syria: story of a conflict’ a public exhibition at the Imperial War Museum and the Imperial War Museum North. He was a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University in 2014 & 2015. Chris lived in Syria for two years, in Aleppo, Damascus and Latakia, and much of his research focuses on that country. Phillips is also author of The Battle for Syria: International Rivalry in the New Middle East published by Yale University Press in 2016.

Faisal Al Yafai is International Editor at New Lines Magazine. He is a journalist, playwright, and partner at Hildebrand Nord. He was previously an investigative journalist for The Guardian in London and a documentary journalist for the BBC, and has reported from across the Middle East, from Eastern Europe, Russia and Indonesia.

This event was moderated by Rim Turkmani.

Rim Turkmani is a Senior Research Fellow in LSE IDEAS and the Research Director for Conflict Research Programme work in Syria. Rim is also the Principal Investigator of the Legitimacy and Civicness in the Arab World research project at the LSE Middle East Centre. Rim's research focuses on legitimate governance in the Middle East with an emphasis on constitutional legitimacy and local conflict and peace drivers.

Battleground: 10 Conflicts that Explain the New Middle East

This event, as part of the LSE Middle East Centre's Kurdish Studies Series, was the launch of Mustafa Kemal Topal's latest book 'Women Fighters in the Kurdish National Movement: Transforming Gender Politics and the PKK' published by I.B. Tauris.

This book examines how the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has become a platform for shifts in gender politics through its women fighters. Based on fieldwork undertaken in Iraq, Syria and Europe - including in-depth interviews and participant observation within women's camps - the book examines Kurdish women fighters' motivations to join the PKK, as well as their personal life stories and views on gender, patriarchy, and ethnic minority experiences.

This is the largest ethnographic study on the PKK to date and the book argues that in addition to seeking their nation's struggle for survival and a democratic society, Kurdish women fighters are driven by the prospect of improving conditions for themselves and for women across the entire region.

Meet the speaker

Mustafa Kemal Topal is Assistant Professor at the Roskilde University in Denmark, where he also received his PhD. He is a fellow at the Bergen University in Norway, having been awarded the Independent Research Fund Denmark International’s Postdoctoral Grant for his new project ‘Kurdish Women’s Democratic Experiment in Post-Conflict Northern Syria’.

This event was moderated by Robert Lowe.

Robert Lowe is Deputy Director of the LSE Middle East Center and Co-Editor of the LSE Middle East Centre's Kurdish Studies Series published by I.B. Tauris. His main research interest is Kurdish politics, with particular focus on the Kurdish movements in Syria.

Women Fighters in the Kurdish National Movement: Transforming Gender Politics and the PKK

In this lecture, Professor Amnon Aran will explore the interplay between domestic politics and strategy in Israeli foreign policy, from the end of the Cold War to the 2023-24 Israel-Hamas war. Reflecting upon this tumultuous period in Israel’s history, he shall examine key events and foreign policies shaping this era.  

Meet the speaker

Amnon Aran is a Visiting Professor at the LSE Middle East Centre and Professor of International Relations at City, University of London, where he served as Head of the Department of International Politics (2020-2023). His research interests lie in the International Relations of the Middle East and Foreign Policy Analysis. His publications include three monographs, 'Israel's Foreign Policy towards the PLO: The Impact of Globalization' (Sussex Academic Press, 2009); 'Foreign Policy Analysis: New Approaches' (Routledge, 2016), with Chris Alden; and 'Israeli Foreign Policy since the End of the Cold War' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2020).

Strategy and Domestic Politics in Israeli Foreign Policy

This event was a student careers panel, providing an opportunity to hear insights from panellists covering diverse fields of academia and research, journalism and consultancy in/around the Middle East.

Meet the speakers

Richard Barltrop is a Visiting Senior Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre. Since 2001 he has worked for the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in Iraq, Libya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Yemen and regionally, and for the UN peacekeeping mission in South Sudan and the UN political mission in Yemen. He is the author of Darfur and the International Community: The Challenges of Conflict Resolution in Sudan (IB Tauris/Bloomsbury, 2011/2015).

Nada Bashir is an award-winning International Correspondent based at CNN’s London bureau. From reporting on the war in Gaza, to devastating natural disasters, Bashir has delivered distinctive coverage of some of the most consequential stories impacting our world, with a particular focus on the Middle East and Europe. 

Alexandra Gomes is a Research Fellow responsible for coordinating spatial analysis across a range of projects at LSE Cities. Committed to shaping the future of cities through innovative research and education, her focus spans socio-spatial comparative analysis, urban policy, inequalities, health, sustainable mobility, public space, urban sensescapes, and visual communication. 

Mina Toksoz is an International Economist having worked at the Economist Intelligence Unit variously as Editorial Director of the Middle East, Europe, and the Country Risk Service. She was Senior Equity Strategist EMEA at AbnAmro, Senior Manager of Country Risk at Standard Bank and later Lloyds’ Bank.Toksoz is author of The Economist Guide to Country Risk published by Profile Books in 2014, and co-author of Industrial Policy in Turkey, published by Edinburgh University Press in 2023.

This event was chaired by Professor Michael Mason, LSE Middle East Centre.

Michael Mason is Director of the Middle East Centre. At LSE, he is also Professor of Environmental Geography in the Department of Geography and Environment. He is interested in ecological politics and governance as applied to questions of accountability, security and sovereignty

Student Careers Panel

With Israel’s assault on Lebanon increasing and its war on Gaza continuing without a diplomatic resolution in sight, the Israeli government is involved in a multi-front conflict across the Middle East. 

This panel discussion brought together academics and political analysts to discuss the growing regional ramifications of the conflict. How have regional and international responses to the latest Israeli assault on Gaza since October 7 2023 been different to those in the past? What is the likely future trajectory of the conflict in the region; with Hezbollah in Lebanon, the militias groups in Iraq and Iran? What will be the historical consequences of such an extended, multi-state conflict?

Meet the Speakers:

Nicola Pratt is Professor of the International Politics of the Middle East at the University of Warwick. She teaches and researches on the international politics of the Middle East, with a particular interest in feminist, queer and decolonial approaches and a focus on ‘politics from below.’ 

Mohammad Ali Shabani is the Editor of Amwaj.media, a platform focusing on Iran, Iraq and the Arabian Peninsula countries.

Yezid Sayigh is a senior fellow at the Malcolm H. Kerr Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut, where he works on the comparative political and economic roles of Arab armed forces, the impact of war on states and societies, and the politics of authoritarian resurgence. 

https://www.lse.ac.uk/middle-east-centre/events/2024/israel-gaza-probability-broader-war

Israel, Gaza and the Wider Regional Conflict: Assessing the Probability of a Broader War

In this talk, Dr Olivia Mason traced the history of Jordan's nature reserves in the British archives, exploring how nature reserves bring global and situated resource narratives into conversation, how they continue imperial spatial imaginations after periods of administrative colonialism, and the connections between conservation agendas and imperial geopolitical alliances.

Meet the speakers

Olivia Mason is a Lecturer in the school of Geography, Politics, and Sociology at Newcastle University. Her work sits across cultural, environmental, and political geography, and is broadly centred on mobility politics and resource colonialism, and to date has mostly been focused on Jordan. She is currently PI of a research project entitled 'Cultural politics of nature reserves: resource tensions, (post)colonial state making, and Bedouin in Jordan' that explores relationships between Bedouin, environmental changes, and nature conservation.

Frederick Wojnarowski is a British Academy Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Department of Anthropology, LSE. Fred is interested in the political and economic anthropology and history of the Middle East, especially Jordan, as well as broader questions of social change and socio-political categorisation. His research at the LSE examines the intersection of discourses of water scarcity, environmental justice and corruption in rural Jordan.

Michael Mason is Director of the LSE Middle East Centre and Professor of Environmental Geography in the Department of Geography and Environment, LSE and an Associate of the Grantham Research Institute for Climate Change and the Environment. He is interested in ecological politics and governance as applied to questions of accountability, security and sovereignty. This research addresses both global environmental politics and regional environmental change in Western Asia/the Middle East.


An Archival History of Jordan’s Nature Reserves: Conservation, Racial Science and National Identity

This event, organised by the LSE Middle East Centre and the Department of International Relations, LSE was a discussion around the book 'How Sanctions Work: Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare' by Narges Bajoghli, Vali Nasr, Djavad Salehi-Isfahani and Ali Vaez published by Stanford University Press.

Sanctions have enormous consequences. Especially when imposed by a country with the economic influence of the United States, sanctions induce clear shockwaves in both the economy and political culture of the targeted state, and in the everyday lives of citizens. But do economic sanctions induce the behavioural changes intended? Do sanctions work in the way they should?

Meet the speakers

Narges Bajoghli is Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies at the Johns Hopkins-SAIS, is an award-winning anthropologist, scholar, and filmmaker.

Vali Nasr is the Majid Khadduri Professor of International Affairs and Middle East Studies at Johns Hopkins-SAIS, and a Non-Resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center. 

Sanam Vakil is the director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Chatham House. She was previously the Programme’s deputy director and senior research fellow, and led project work on Iran and Gulf Arab dynamics. 

Steffen Hertog is Associate Professor in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics. He was previously Kuwait Professor at Sciences Po in Paris, lecturer in Middle East political economy at Durham University and a post-doc at Princeton University. 

How Sanctions Work: Iran and the Impact of Economic Warfare

This event was the launch of 'Making Sense of the Arab State' edited by Steven Heydemann & Marc Lynch, and published by University of Michigan Press.

No region in the world has been more hostile to democracy, more dominated by military and security institutions, or weaker on economic development and inclusive governance than the Middle East. Why have Arab states been so oppressively strong in some areas but so devastatingly weak in others?  How do those patterns affect politics, economics, and society across the region? The state stands at the centre of the analysis of politics in the Middle East, but has rarely been the primary focus of systematic theoretical analysis.

'Making Sense of the Arab State' brings together top scholars from diverse theoretical orientations to address some of the most critically important questions facing the region today. The authors grapple with enduring questions such as the uneven development of state capacity, the failures of developmentalism and governance, the centrality of regime security and survival concerns, the excesses of surveillance and control, and the increasing personalisation of power. 

Meet the speakers

Lisa Anderson is Special Lecturer and James T. Shotwell Professor of International Relations Emerita at the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs. Anderson’s scholarly research has included work on state formation in the Middle East and North Africa; on regime change and democratisation in developing countries; and on social science, academic research and public policy both in the United States and around the world. 

Steven Heydemann is Ketcham Chair in Middle East Studies, Professor of Government, and Director of the Middle East Studies Program at Smith College. Heydemann is a political scientist who specializes in the comparative politics and the political economy of the Middle East. His interests include authoritarian governance, economic development, social policy, political and economic reform, and civil society.

Salwa Ismail is a Professor of Politics, with a focus on the Middle East, at SOAS University of London. She is a member of the London Middle East Institute and the Center for Palestine Studies. She has authored multiple books, including 'The Rule of Violence: Subjectivity, Memory and Government in Syria' (2018); 'Political Life in Cairo’s New Quarters: Encountering the Everyday State' (2006) and 'Rethinking Islamist Politics: Culture, the State and Islamism' (2003).

Marc Lynch is Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University Elliott School of International Affairs; Director of the Project on Middle East Political Science (POMEPS); and Director of M.A. Middle East Studies. His recent books include 'The Political Science of the Middle East: Theory and Research After the Arab Uprisings' (edited with Sean Yom and Jillian Schwedler) and 'The New Arab Wars: Anarchy and Uprising in the Middle East'.

This event will be chaired by Toby Dodge.

Toby Dodge is a Professor in the Department of International Relations, LSE. He is also Kuwait Professor and Director of the Kuwait Programme, Middle East Centre. Toby's research concentrates on the evolution of the post-colonial state in the international system. The main focus of this work on the developing world is the state in the Middle East, specifically Iraq.

Making Sense of the Arab State

This event was a conversation around the special issue 'The Academic Question of Palestine' published by the journal Middle East Critique. This issue was guest-edited by Walaa Alqaisiya and Nicola Perugini.

Drawing on the various contributions of the special issue, speakers discussed the sense of intellectual and political emergency that has triggered the need for this project—the emergency produced by thousands of instances of repression against scholarship, scholars, and students working on the question of Palestine across the world. 

Bringing together students and scholars, this event engaged with the epistemic ramifications of the question of Palestine, especially its theoretical and political relevance to freedom of speech, student mobilisation and academic boycott.

Meet the speakers:

Walaa Alqaisiya is a Marie Curie Global Fellow working across Ca' Foscari University of Venice, Columbia University and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Walaa is author of Decolonial Queering in Palestine (Routledge), which examines queer politics and aesthetics from a Palestinian native positionality. 

Dasha M is the former president of Columbia Law Students for Palestine, a constituent organization of the Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) coalition. Along with student peers in and outside CUAD, she co-wrote the article “Palestine is the Vanguard for Our Liberation: Insights from the Students’ Intifada at Columbia University” featured in this special issue.

Nicola Perugini is Senior Lecturer in International Relations at the University of Edinburgh. His research focuses mainly on the politics of international law, human rights, and violence. 

Lara Sheehi is an Assistant Professor of Clinical Psychology at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, Qatar. Lara’s work takes up decolonial and anti-oppressive approaches to psychoanalysis, with a focus on liberation struggles in the Global South. 

Anna Younes is a German Palestinian scholar. Her focus rests on what she has coined the "war on antisemitism" in her 2015 PhD dissertation, a counterinsurgency war following in the footsteps of a post-WWII new world order, framed by tactics used in the War on Drugs and most prominently the War on Terror. 



The Academic Question of Palestine

This event brought together academics and healthcare professionals to shed light on the healthcare crisis in Sudan.

With more than 70% of Sudan’s healthcare facilities currently non-functional according to the International Rescue Committee, speakers will discuss the challenges of delivering care during this increasingly protracted conflict, with insights from research and experience. The event will provide an opportunity to share reflections about what political and humanitarian responses, at local and international levels, may be helpful.

Meet the speakers

Ibrahim Bani is Associate Professor Adjunct at the Yale School of Public Health. Bani is a public health physician by training with over 20 years of experience in International Public Health. 

Eva Khair is a British-Sudanese medical doctor, global and humanitarian health consultant as well as a political and parliamentary advisor on Sudan.

Majdi Osman is a doctor and scientist at the University of Cambridge and the Wellcome Sanger Institute. He founded Nubia Health in Wadi Halfa, Sudan building community health worker programs and primary health care centres in the Northern State.

Nahid Toubia is a researcher, practitioner and activist in the field of sexual & reproductive health and rights.

Healthcare Under Conflict in Sudan

This event, as part of the LSE Middle East Centre's Kurdish Studies Series, discussed the online exhibition and research project 'Bridging Identities: The Cultural Odyssey of Kurdistani Jews' exploring the identity and heritage of Kurdistani Jews.

The stories in this research project shed light on this community's past through the lens of their memories and nostalgic ties to the homeland they left behind as they migrated to Israel/Palestine, and reveal if and how the markers of Kurdishness are transmitted to generations next.

Meet the speakers

Bahar Baser is Professor in Politics and International Relations at Durham University. Bahar is an expert in the area of diaspora studies, peacebuilding and conflict transformation, with a regional focus on the Middle East. She has conducted extensive research on diaspora engagement in peace processes, post-conflict reconstruction and state-building in the Global South. 

Duygu Atlas is part of the research team of the 'Bridging Identities' project. She is a historian and documentary maker and completed her doctoral studies at Tel Aviv University's School of History in 2019, with her dissertation titled 'Turkey’s Jewish Minority between Turkey and Israel from 1948 to the 1990s: Israel’s Impact on a Diaspora Community and its Identity Formation'.

Mesut Alp is part of the research team of the 'Bridging Identities' project. He is a photographer and documentary maker, and is also a graduate of Ege University's Department of Near Eastern Archaeology. 

Moayed Assaf is part of the research team of the 'Bridging Identities' project. He is a Kurdish academic and photographer. 

https://www.lse.ac.uk/middle-east-centre/events/2024/bridging-identities-cultural-odyssey-kurdistani-jews

Bridging Identities: The Cultural Odyssey of Kurdistani Jews

There has been much discussion whether the 1953 should be understood in the context of the Cold War or that of economic conflicts between the industrial West and developing countires--in other words, as precursor of the rise of OPEC and oil nationalisation by emerging states in the 1960s and 1970s. In this talk, Professor Abrahamian will focus on how far the newly released State Department and CIA documents help answer this question.  Recorded on 29 May 2019.
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Ervand Abrahamian is Professor Emeritus of History at Baruch College and the Graduate Center in the City University of New York. He is also the author of: Iran Between Two Revolutions (Princeton University Press, 1982); The Iranian Mojahedin (Yale University Press, 1989); Khomeinism (University of California Press, 1993); Tortured confessions: Prisons and Public Reactions in Iran (University of California Press, 2004); A History of Modern Iran (Cambridge University Press, 2008); and The Coup: 1953, The CIA and the Roots of Modern US-Iranian Relations (The New Press, 2013). Some of his books have been translated and published in Persian, Turkish, Arabic, Italian, and Polish.He is now writing a book on the 1979 revolution in Iran. In 2011, he was elected Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. 

Massoumeh Torfeh is a research associate at the London School of Economics and Political Science and at the School of Oriental and African Studies specialising in the politics of Iran and Afghanistan.  She is a regular media commentator analysing developments in both countries. She was formerly the director of communications and spokesperson for the United Nations in Afghanistan, and a BBC World Service senior producer. She has published several papers about Iran in academic journals and co-authored two books on Iran.  Her main focus of research has, however, been the causes of the repeated failure of democracy in Iran. Her PhD in Political Science is from LSE and on that subject.

Image: Banner featuring Mohammad Mosaddeq during Iran's 1953 Coup. Source: Popularresistance.org

The 1953 Coup in Iran: About Oil or Communism?

Women have been at the forefront of many of the political and military struggles in the Kurdish Middle East, most visibly so since the outbreak of the ‘Rojava Revolution’ in 2012. But women have in fact since the foundation of the PKK in 1978 played an integral role in the ideological and political development of the Liberation Movement as a whole; as guerrillas, activists, politicians, mothers and prisoners. Isabel Käser will trace the complex history of the Kurdish Women’s Liberation Movement, discuss how women’s autonomous organisational structures have emerged and how they operate today between the mountains and the cities of the four different parts of Kurdistan. Her talk analyses the emancipatory power this movement holds but also unpacks some of the tensions that emerge from the interplay between militarism, the party’s body politics and the movement’s revolutionary quest for a more democratic Middle East. Recorded on 4 June.
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Isabel Käser holds a PhD from SOAS where she worked on the Kurdish Women's Movement. Her work contributes to debates around gender and war, feminism and nationalism, as well as conflict and body politics.

Zeynep Kaya is Research Fellow at the LSE Middle East Centre. She is part of the UK DFID-Funded Conflict Research Programme and is leading projects on gendered drivers of conflict in Iraq, the impact of genocide on the Yazidi community, responses to internal displacement in Iraqi Kurdistan, WPS and displacement in the Middle East, and women’s political participation in Kuwait. She is also a Lecturer at the Pembroke-King’s Programme, University of Cambridge.
Image: 2016, Asos Mountains (Iraq). Two guerrillas during a tea break at the training camp. Image courtesy of Isabel Käser

The Kurdish Women’s Movement: On Revolution, Militarism and Body Politics

On this first episode of Instant Coffee, Omar al-Ghazzi (@omar_alghazzi) talks to Jean Kassir about covering the Lebanese revolution in times of Coronavirus. Jean is co-founder of Megaphone news, an independent media platform covering Lebanon and the region.

You can find Megaphone on: 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/megaphone.news/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/megaphone_news
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/megaphonenews/

Episode 1: Reporting the Lebanese Thawra with Megaphone's Jean Kassir

On the second episode of Instant Coffee, Sinéad Murphy (@DrS1neadMurphy) talks to Ahmed Masoud (@masoud_ahmed) about 'Obliterated', the play that never happened. Ahmed is a Palestinian & British writer from Gaza, living in London/UK. Author of the mystery novel Vanished & The Shroud Maker.

Episode 2: Arts under occupation with Ahmed Masoud

In episode 3 of Instant Coffee, Rasha Obaid Ba Sabih (@Rasha7Rasha) talks to Hafez Al-Bukari of the Yemen Polling Centre (@yemenpolling)about the challenges of researching in Yemen. The Yemen Polling Centre is an independent research centre which aims to impact local and international policymaking with the ultimate goal of improving the living conditions of the Yemeni people.

Episode 3: Challenges of researching in Yemen with Hafez Al-Bukari

On the fourth episode of Instant Coffee, LSE Middle East Centre's Jack McGinn talks to Alon-Lee Green about the future of the Israeli Left. Alon-Lee is National Director of Standing Together, a Jewish-Arab grassroots movement organising in Israel.

You can find Standing Together on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/standingtogetherenglish/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/omdimbeyachad
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/standing.together.movement/
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEE8M44MkYm6wqN8HN98jnA

Episode 4: The Future of the Israeli Left with Alon-Lee Green

On the fifth episode of Instant Coffee, LSE Middle East Centre's Muna Dajani talks to Salem Barahmeh about technology and activism in Palestine. Salem is Executive Director of the Palestine Institute for Public Diplomacy (PIPD) and an advocate for Palestinian freedom and rights.

You can find the PIPD on:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ThePIPD/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/thepipd
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thepipd/?hl=en
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI1faJEQi3ZG-WkPLIBIS-g/featured 

You can also download Palestine VR app from Google Play and the Apple App Store.

Episode 5: Technology and activism in Palestine with Salem Barahmeh

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