Cambridge in Sharjah: Perspectives on Middle Eastern Studies
Cambridge in Sharjah: Perspectives on Middle Eastern Studies
10-11 March, 2013
Parody as resistance, religious broadcasting in the Arab world and China’s relationship with the Gulf will all come under scrutiny as academics from Cambridge’s Centre of Islamic Studies gather in the Gulf on March 10.
“We can have conversations that we would not have in Cambridge, with people we might otherwise never meet – and build networks that have foundations all over the world.”
Yasir Suleiman
Attempts to bring the work of the Centre to an ever-increasing global audience will see more than a dozen academics and PhD students travel to the American University of Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates, for a two-day symposium.
The March 10/11 event – Cambridge in Sharjah: Perspectives on Middle Eastern Studies – is the latest attempt to foster new dialogues, partnerships and knowledge exchange beyond the boundaries of Cambridge after previous Centre visits to Sarajevo, Morocco and China.
Director Professor Yasir Suleiman believes his approach of ‘taking the mountain to Muhammad’ is the surest means of building long-standing and meaningful partnerships around the world.
He said: “We care about engaging with people on their home turf, not just ours; people who want to come together and work with us as a team. This is all about connections and conversations.
“We believe Cambridge is globally recognised as a leading centre for Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies. Cambridge in Sharjah is a celebration of the best traditions of learning and scholarship between the River Cam and the shores of the Arabian Gulf.
“By holding these seminars and symposia abroad, we can talk to people and engage in discussions in different parts of the world; interacting with people from the host countries on a much wider scale – not just with academics.
“We can have conversations that we would not have in Cambridge, with people we might otherwise never meet – and build networks that have foundations all over the world. To Sharjah we’ll be taking speakers from our prior visits to Sarajevo, China and Morocco – and so it will go on.”
The programme for Sharjah is wide-ranging. Professor Suleiman himself will speak about the Arabic language and ‘language anxiety’; examining how concerns about the influence (or waning influence) of the language can become politicised in times of stress, tension or crisis in society.
Other speakers include Hawraa Al-Hassan, who looks at parody and irony in the literature of Iraqi writer Sinan Antoon, and Dr Khaled Hroub, who will examine the social, political and cultural impact of religious satellite broadcasting in the Arab world.
Added Professor Suleiman: “The American University of Sharjah (AUS) is one of the leading institutions of higher education in the Middle East and beyond. Its international student body and faculty make AUS an excellent partner in our effort to build a network of institutions that can share intellectual pursuits across different regions of the world. The Ruler of Sharjah and President of the University, His Highness Sheikh Dr Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qassimi, is a friend of Cambridge. Holding ‘Cambridge in Sharjah’ at AUS pays tribute to this friendship.”
Dr Paul Anderson, Assistant Director of the Centre of Islamic Studies, who will also speak at the symposium, said: “This is an international symposium with a difference. Last month saw the Centre of Islamic Studies sign a three-year agreement with the British Council and Moroccan British Society to further academic cooperation with Moroccan universities. This came out of the “Cambridge in Morocco” symposia which the Centre initiated in 2012. We hope that bringing Cambridge to Sharjah will also be the start of continuing friendship there.”
Meanwhile, the Sharjah event will also feature the first public presentation of the Narratives of Conversion to Islam in Britain project – ahead of its full UK launch later this spring.
The landmark project has sought to map out the different routes through which women convert to Islam, and describe their experiences on entering the faith.
It is being run at the Centre of Islamic Studies in association with the New Muslims Project at Markfield, Leicester, collating the views and narratives of female converts in an effort to provide an insider’s view of what the experience is really like.
Meanwhile, the British Council in the United Arab Emirates will host a reception in honour of the visiting Cambridge delegation.
Gordon Slaven, Director of the British Council, United Arab Emirates, said: “On behalf of the British Council it is a great pleasure to welcome the Director and academic staff of HRH Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Centre of Islamic Studies at Cambridge to the UAE and Sharjah.
“Cambridge’s initiative in reaching out to academics in other countries through in-depth collaboration and sharing is to be applauded, and I hope that this initial visit to the UAE will plant the seeds of a blossoming relationship between Cambridge and Universities in the UAE.”
- Day One – Sunday, 10 March
- Day Two – Monday, 11 March
09:00 – 10:30 Narratives of Conversion to Islam in Britain: Female Perspectives (Lecture Hall B)
LecturesYasir Suleiman, Director of the Centre of Islamic Studies, Cambridge
Batool Al Toma, Personal Testimony of Conversion
Kevin Gray, Assistant Professor of International Studies, CAS, AUS
Moderator: Nawar Al-Hassan Golley, Associate Professor in Literary Theory & Women Studies, CAS, AUS10:30 – 11:00 Coffee Break
11:00 – 11:15 Opening Address
Yasir Suleiman, Director of the Centre of Islamic Studies, Cambridge
Mark Rush, Dean of College of Arts and Sciences (CAS), AUS11:15 – 12:30 Panel 1: Gulf Cooperation Council & Beyond
LecturesAbdullah Baabood Gulf Cooperation Council Integration: from Cooperation to a Union
Othman Wu Bingbing China-Gulf Relations
Mona Hamade Emiratisation, Gender and Emirati Youth
Moderator: Mark Rush
12:30 – 14:00 Lunch Break – AUS Main Building
14:00 – 14:45 Panel Two: Syria
LecturesPaul Anderson Syria’s Social Imaginary in 2009: Spheres of Solidarity?
Line Khatib The Desecularization of Syrian Society
Moderator: James Toth
14:45 – 15:45 Panel Three: Broadcast Media in the Middle East
Lectures
Mohammed Ayish The Future of Public Broadcasting in the Middle East
Khaled Hroub Religious Broadcasting in the Middle East
Moderator: Abeer AlNajjar
15:45 – 16:00 Coffee break
16:00 – 17:15 Panel Four: Doing Business the Islamic Way
LecturesIsmail Genc The Concept of “Equity” in Islamic Economics Literature
Mohammed Ibahrine Glocalisation and Islamic Branding
Abdelaziz Chazi Doing Finance the Islamic Way
Moderator: Ismail Genc
09:00 – 10:30 Panel Five: The Shaping of Arab Cultural Identity in Different Contexts.
LecturesAlice Wilson The Anthropology of Customary law in the Middle East and North Africa
Yonatan Mendel Putting the Arab back into the Arab: Israeli Strategies of Rearabisation
Ishaq Tijani The Ladies’ Fitting Room: Exploring Cultural Issues in Contemporary Emirati Women’s Fiction
Hawraa Al-Hassan Parody as Resistance in Sinan Antoon’s Debut Novel I‘jām
Moderator: Nuha AlShaar
10:30 – 11:00 Coffee Break
11:00 – 12:15 Panel Six: Rethinking Heritage in the Arabian Peninsula: Intangible and Tangible Cultural Heritage Reconsidered
LecturesZaki Aslan The Role of the ATHAR Regional Centre in Rethinking Heritage in the Arabian Peninsula: Dimensions of Authenticity for the Protection of Cultural Heritage in the Arab Region Reconsidered
Manal Ataya Developing New Heritage Museums in the Gulf: The importance of local community involvement in articulating a collective memory
Seth Thompson Digitally Preserving Heritage of the Arabian Peninsula: Al Jazeera Al Hamra Considered
Moderator: Sarina Wakefield
12:15 – 13:00 Panel Seven: Urban Studies in the Middle East
Lectures
Wendy Pullan Conflict in Cities and the Contested State
Harris Breslow Dubai: City of Flow
Moderator: Amer Mustafa
13:00 – 14:30 Lunch Break AUS Main Building
14:30 – 15:45 Panel Eight: Language & Identity
LecturesYasir Suleiman Language Anxiety and the Arabic Language
Chaoqun Lian Language (counter-) Modernisation in the Discourse of Arabic Language Academies
Ilhem Allagui Wikipedia Arabic and Narratives of Identity
Moderator: Imed Nsiri
15:45 – 16:00 Coffee Break
16:00 – 17:15 Panel Nine: Islamic Spirituality
LecturesMirza Sarajkic Sufi Ghazals in the Bosnian Poetic Tradition in Arabic: The Case of Ahmad Khatam Akowalizade
John J. Curry From Bosnian Sipahis to Sufi Institution: Revelations from the Personal Library of the Nasuhi Branch of the Khalwati Tariqa
Gavin Picken Is there really a ‘spiritual jihad’ or are the Sufis ‘faking it’?
Moderator: Imed Nsiri
17:15 – 18:00 Panel Ten: Maritime Studies in the Middle East & Beyond
Lectures
David Abulafia New Approaches to Maritime History
Joseph Gibbs Towards Piracy Studies: ‘New’ Sources and Modern Interpretations
Moderator: David Lea
Please click on the links below to read more news stories:
- Sheikh Sultan receives update on Cambridge in Sharjah conference held at AUS
- Cambridge cultivating academic links with the Gulf (Varsity News story)
- Meeting and Tour of Dr Sultan Al Qassimi Gulf Centre with His Highness Sheikh Sultan (English story)
- Meeting and Tour of Dr Sultan Al Qassimi Gulf Centre with His Highness Sheikh Sultan (Arabic story)
- Narratives of Conversion to Islam (Arabic story)