On this episode, Simon speaks with Javier Guirado, PhD candidate at Georgia State University, a Visiting Doctoral Researcher at the Orient-Institut Beirut, and a SEPAD Fellow. His work explores the historically changing relation between society, urban space, and narratives of modernity in the Gulf. He is writing his dissertation about social movements and urbanization in Qatar during the Long Sixties.

Javier is a the editor of a new report on the political economy of infrastructure in the Middle East which can be accessed here: https://www.sepad.org.uk/files/documents/infrastructure_sepad-compressed.pdf 

On this episode, Simon and Javier discuss the report at length, the importance of infrastructure and the need for an approach that focusses on the social components of infrastructural projects.

SEPADPod - The Political Economy of Infrastructure, with Javier Guirado

On this episode of SEPADPod Simon speaks with Professor Andrea Teti. Andrea looks at connections between the production of knowledge and relations of power, and second, the use of discourse analysis to examine how political actors conceive of and act in pursuit of key goals such as democracy. He is on twitter (X) at a_teti.

On this episode Simon and Andrea speak about his journey into scholarship, studying at St Andrews', Die Hard (you'll have to listen!), discovering continental philosophy, IR-Area studies, and critical scholarship on the Middle East.

SEPADPod With Andrea Teti

On this episode of SEPADPod Simon speaks with Raihan Ismail, His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies at Oxford University. Raihan is the author of two fabulous books published by OUP: 2021's Rethinking Salafism: The Transnational Networks of Salafi ‘Ulama in Egypt, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia, and 2016's Saudi Clerics and Shi‘a Islam. 

On this episode, Simon and Raihan talk about a personal journey from Malaysia to Oxford, the influence of her father, Salafism, Saudi Arabia, ulema, the interplay of intimately tiny and hegemonic dynamics, and much more.

SEPADPod With Raihan Ismail

On this episode of SEPADPod Simon speaks with Gerasimos Tsourapas, Gerasimos Tsourapas is Professor of International Relations at the University of Glasgow. He is also the Chair of the Ethnicity, Nationalism, & Migration Studies (ENMISA) Section of the International Studies Association. He works on the international relations of the Middle East and the broader Global South, with a particular focus on the politics of migrants, refugees, and diasporas.

On this episode, Simon and Gerasimos talk about a movement, scholarship in the US and the UK, Fred Halliday, migration, Egypt, the state and so much more.

SEPADPod With Gerasimos Tsourapas

On this episode of SEPADPod Simon speaks with Edward Wastnidge, Deputy Director of SEPAD about 2023 and the various activities, publications, workshops, and more. It's a deep dive into the many things that SEPAD and the wonderful people that are involved in our project have been up to. We're very lucky to have such a great group of people involved with us. Here's an overview of what we've been up to.

SEPADPod 2023

On this episode of SEPADPod Simon speaks with Satgin Hamrah, PhD Candidate in History at Tufts University and editor of Contextualizing Sectarianism in the Middle East and South Asia: Identity, Competition and Conflict. On this episode, Simon and Satgin talk about rejecting the lived experiences of the 'ancient hatreds' narrative and the lessons taken from non-MENA cases

SEPADPod with Satgin Hamrah

On this episode of SEPADPod Simon speaks with Shabnam Holliday, Associate Lecturer at the University of Plymouth. Shabnam is the author of a number of books and articles on Iran, global IR and the wider Middle East. On this episode Simon and Shabnam talk about living across the region, working in Gaza, the Islamic Republic, the current situation and much, much more.

SEPADPod with Shabnam Holliday

On this episode of SEPADPod Simon speaks with Professor Christopher Phillips of Queen Mary University about his fantastic new book Battleground: Ten Conflicts that Explain the New Middle East. The book, out on 27th February 2024 with Yale University Press, builds on Chris' earlier work and applies it to 10 'battlegrounds' across the Middle East and its neighbours in a provocative and timely analysis of conflict in the region. On this episode Simon and Chris speak about the book, its themes, the changing nature of the region and much more.

SEPADPod with Chris Phillips - Battleground

On this episode of SEPADPod Simon speaks with Erwin van Veen, senior research fellow at Clingendael’s Conflict Research Unit (CRU). He is an experienced professional who delivers high quality and insightful strategic advice that helps mitigate violent conflict. His direct area of expertise are the relationships between political order, protest and violence in countries like Iraq, Israel/Palestine, Syria and Turkey. On this episode, Simon and Erwin talk about travelling in the region, balancing policy and academic interests, the interplay of ideational and material factors, violence, Erwin's new book and much more.

SEPADPod With Erwin Van Veen

The Richardson Institute is the oldest Peace Studies centre in the UK and was established in 1959 in the spirit of the Quaker scientist, Lewis Fry Richardson. The Richardson Institute is an interdisciplinary forum for research on peace and conflict based within the Department of Politics, Philosophy and Religion at Lancaster University.

Run by Dr Simon Mabon, the Institute has a number of podcasts available on this channel. The first is SEPADPod, part of SEPAD, the Sectarianism, Proxies and De-Sectarianisation Project (www.sepad.org.uk), funded by Carnegie Corporation. SEPADPod features conversations with academics working on contemporary issues in Middle East politics. The second is The Impact Narrative, where Simon speaks with Dr Mark Garnett about UK and global politics.

SEPADPod - The Political Economy of Infrastructure, with Javier Guirado

Richardson Institute

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