Since the Arab uprisings of 2010/2011, the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region has not stopped of being the focus of media and scholarly attention. The uprisings have brought about major transformations and called into question the Westphalian national state order in the region. The emergence of the Islamic State as an anti-systemic force has strengthened this reality, while re-surfacing Kurdish nationalism and escalating sectarian conflicts have added momentum to the fragmentation and re-composition of the regional order. Displaced populations and migrants contribute to reshuffle previously configured polities and communities.
The Parisian attacks of January 2015 raise issues of socio-economic integration, political conflicts and transnational ideologies intertwined with contemporary migration. The drama of thousands of people crossing the Mediterranean at the risk of their life makes Sicily a special location for debating migration and human mobility. The upcoming SeSaMO conference, which will take place at the University of Catania, Sicily, on 17-19 March 2016, puts the spotlight on migration meant as a general phenomenon that has affected Muslim societies across history and can be approached from different disciplinary perspectives.
Scholars are invited to present a panel. Interdisciplinary proposals are welcome as well as proposals focusing on distinct areas of interest in the field of Middle Eastern studies. With the aim of encouraging scientific interaction with the international scholarly community, the conference will host keynote speakers who will lecture on topics of interest for the Conference and who will have the opportunity to listen to paper presentations. Panels in Italian, English or French are welcome.
Each panel proposal should include two workshop directors who ought to come from different institutions. Ideally, at least one director should be based outside of Italy so as to foster research collaboration and to promote the publication of the proceedings in international venues. The presence of a discussant is also strongly encouraged. The proposal should include a summary (no more than 4000 characters) outlining the objectives and scope of the proposed panel. The panel description should also include a section on research dissemination, where proponents should detail their plans for journal article submissions or book proposals. In addition, the panel proposal should include a description of the kind of papers that the directors would like to attract or, in case of pre-arranged panels, the titles of the papers, their authors and the authors’ affiliation. CVs of both directors should also be submitted. It is envisaged that each panel will include five to six paper givers including the directors. Further details are available at
Please send your panel proposals to Dr. Paola Rivetti at paola.rivetti@dcu.ie before August 30, 2015.
This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:
http://www.sesamoitalia.it/