Description:

The Program in Middle East and North African Studies (MENA) will be holding its inaugural conference, “Theorizing Transformations in the Middle East and North Africa,” from October 21-24, 2015. During conference proceedings, national and international scholars will discuss scholarship of the modern Middle East, critiquing and expanding upon existing models in addition to proposing new approaches for understanding the rich and complex region through a wide variety of lenses and methodologies.

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 21

Opening Session:
3:30 pm – 6:00 pm
Harris Hall 108, 1881 Sheridan Road

Welcome and Remarks:
Brian Edwards and Jessica Winegar, Conference Co-Chairs

Session 1: Borders, Areas, Regions
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Harris Hall 108, 1881 Sheridan Road
Panel Chair: Brian Edwards, Crown Professor in Middle East Studies, Professor of English and Comparative Literary Studies and Director of MENA, Northwestern

Sean Yom, Temple University: “Authoritarianism after the Arab Spring”

Jonathan Wyrtzen, Yale University: “Reimagining Political Space: Empire, Jihads, and the Interwar Making of the Modern Middle East and North Africa”

Paul Silverstein, Reed College: “A Global Maghreb: Crossroads, Borderlands, and Frontiers in the Rethinking of Area Studies”

Reception to follow