 Tadween Publishing is happy to announce the 2017 Summer Sale! Today through July 12th, receive 15% off all Tadween Publishing titles with code TADSUMMER17! The Political Theology of ISIS: Prophets, Messiahs, & "the Extinction of the Grayzone" By Ahmad Dallal  More than any other actor on the contemporary Arab political landscape, ISIS represents the most expansive and potent threat to the territoriality of the modern Arab nation states, and it has exceeded the expectations of all observers in its expansiveness and resilience. While it is true that the rise of ISIS was enabled by a confluence of interests, it is now abundantly clear that ISIS has a dynamic project of its own and is not a mere proxy for such interests. ISIS entirely rejects the current order and its beneficiaries, and as such, it claims to carry the revolutionary project to its conclusion. The ISIS alternative to the failed Arab states is not just a normative Islamic cultural identity that guides the actions of the state, but an Islamic State that is itself the embodiment of the imagined new order. By examining the political theology of ISIS, this essay aims to understand the challenge posed by ISIS to the struggle for justice in the contemporary Arab and Muslim World. A Life in Middle East Studies Memoir by Roger Owen  Roger Owen’s first encounter with the Middle East was as a young soldier during his national military service in Cyprus from 1955-6. During this time, he visited Cairo, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Beirut before deciding to spend the rest of his academic and professional life at Oxford and Harvard Universities, where he taught, studied, made friends and tried to understand the region via its politics, economic life, history and popular culture. Providentially, he also decided to keep an almost daily journal recording his thoughts and feelings, as well as being fortunate to be asked to write a regular op-ed column for the London- and then Beirut-based Arabic newspaper Al-Hayat beginning in 1986. Hence this memoir, an attempt to record and to make sense of a life spent studying a culture very different from his own. NGOs in the Arab World Post-Arab Uprisings: Domestic and International Politics of Funding and Regulation Edited by Noura Erakat & Nizar Saghieh  NGOs in the Arab World Post-Arab Uprising is a collection of field-based research that contributes to the literature on the impact of the Arab Uprisings on civil society throughout the Middle East. It does so by examining the development of non governmental organizations in Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, and Palestine. Critical Voices Edited by Ziad Abu-Rish & Bassam Haddad  Comprised of twenty-seven interviews with leading researchers, intellectuals, artists, and activists, Critical Voices explores the ways in which power and popular mobilizations manifest in the contemporary region, as well as the representation of key dynamics, experiences, and figures. Through their own unique perspectives and possibilities, the interviewees and interviewers challenge the ways in which the region is studied, discussed, and represented.
Contributors: Awad Abdel Fattah, Sarah Al Abdali, Talal Asad, George Azar, Asli Bali, Nar Photos Collective, Angela Davis, Wael Gamal, Justin Gengler, Nigel Gibson, Nile Green, Ahmad Habib, Bassam Haddad, David Harvey, Jim House, Sonallah Ibrahim, Matan Kaminer, Leila Khaled, Nancy Kricorian, Driss Ksikes, Haytham Manna', Nabeel Rajab, Eastern Province Revolution, Ella Shohat, Zaid Shuaibi, Tariq Tell
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Join the cohort of the 2017 Political Economy Summer Institute for two public events at George Mason University from June 10th - 13th:  Political Economy Summer Institute Two Public Events | GMU Keynote Lecture by Robert Vitalis OILCRAFT Sunday, 11 June, 6:45 PM Merten Hall 1201 ———————————————-- The Political Economy of the Arab Uprisings Monday, 12 June, 6 PM Merten Hall 1202 Sandra Halperin Reflections on Political Resistance & the Roots of Power Joel Beinin Labor Movements and Popular Uprisings in Tunisia and Egypt Bassam Haddad Political-Economy and the Roots of the Syrian Uprising Shana Marshall The Military and the State Moderator: Sherene Seikaly Discussant: Samer Abboud These public events are presented by the Arab Studies Institute and Middle East and Islamic Studies Program and co-sponsored by Philosophy and Political Economy, Schar School of Policy and Government, Center for Global Islamic Studies, History Department, and Global Affairs. RSVP to [email protected] Issue 4.1 of Status/الوضع Audio Magazine is live on StatusHour.com! Read about the new issue below and visit the website to listen:  Status/الوضع Audio Magazine Issue 4.1
"With the Middle East and North Africa facing social and political convulsions resulting from a muscular resurgent authoritarianism, a mobilization of fractious divisive sectarianism, and a resistant revolutionary impulse that admonishes both, there is an urgent need to document and deliberate, archive and articulate. It is during these times, and in response to six years of impulsive reportage about the region which has eviscerated context and effaced complexity, that we must be committed to an unabashed anthropological sensitivity to lives forged under these circumstances in locales. That is why this issue of Status, more so than any previous one, was curated with a clear and present desire to situate abstract phenomena in local situations, localize the regional, locate the voices that speak to communities in flux, and see the local for what it is—simultaneously rooted and uprooted. For us in Status, understanding what is taking place in the region necessitates throwing away the broad brush altogether and instead using fine lines to dialogue with subnational, municipal, familial, solidaristic, and even solitary experiences. It is in the magnificence of minutia that we are able to truly appreciate the changes—simultaneously cataclysmic and exuberant--currently taking place in locales from besieged Yemeni mountain villages, politically disparaged Palestinian municipalities, and resistant Syrian archaeological communities to victimized Mosul families, embattled Turkish dissenters, and virtually-extinct Egyptian journalists. Yet one should not mistake commitment to amplifying locale with the dislocation of intersectionality nor with the absence of translocal commitments. To the contrary, we are convinced that solidarity must be grounded in a genuine commitment to locale. One can no longer discuss Syria’s catastrophic war without comprehending mass suffering in Yemen. One can longer discuss the calamitous experiences of First Nations communities of the Americas without contemplating the settler colonial project in Palestine. Poetry written by Arab Americans is at once located here, there, and in the interstitial spaces between them. We hope that you will take the time to peruse and be in dialogue with, not simply listen to, the expressive, informative and inspiring interviews that we carefully, painstakingly and meticulously curated in this most local of Status issues." Continue reading on Jadaliyya: STATUS/الوضع: Issue 4.1 is Live! Issue 4.1: Status/الوضع Issue 4.1  The Spring 2017 issue of Arab Studies Journal (Volume XXV, no. 1) is available for purchase online now. Read the editor's note below, visit Jadaliyya to peruse the table of contents, and head to TadweenPublishing.com to subscribe:
EDITOR'S NOTE Since the November 2016 elections, the dying gasps of US exceptionalism has meant the intensification of attacks on the lives and movement of people from the Arab world. The travel ban constitutes a US policy to sanction the very people that previous administrations as well as the current one have bombed. As borders close, the number of refugees fleeing the horrors of war in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq increases. In this tautology, the new US administration has resoundingly adopted policies of blaming the victims of decades of US war and hegemony. Within this constellation, the production of knowledge as well as higher education more broadly are more crucial than ever. In an era when the status of the fact has eroded at rapid speed, scholars and educators are on the frontlines of guarding the need for empirically grounded and theoretically sound research and scholarship. It is in this spirit that we offer our most recent issue of Arab Studies Journal. Ghenwa Hayek sheds new light on the notion of the “ordinary” and provides an innovative view on contemporary Beirut by tracing a young generation of novelists. Geoffrey P. Levin traces the trajectory of the Organization of Arab Students in the United States as it shifted from mainstream Arab nationalism supportive of US-Arab ties to anti-imperial radicalism. We are also honored to include a special section on the state in Lebanon. The past few years have featured renewed elite and popular mobilizations around particular state institutions and services: waste management, municipal elections, taxes, and more. The existence, nature, and role of al-dawla (the state) has been a persistent feature of public discourses about contemporary politics in Lebanon. In this special section, we feature a number of historical, contemporary, and theoretical considerations of the Lebanese state. Jamil Mouawad and Hannes Baumann, this special section’s co-editors, introduce the articles by considering the need for and stakes of taking more seriously this ephemeral and nebulous network of institutions and individuals. The section features three articles, each making a unique and productive intervention into the broader scholarship on Lebanon as well as that of the state. Complementing the special section is a critical assortment of book reviews of recent works on Lebanese history, contemporary politics, and their implications for the state in Lebanon. For more information visit Jadaliyya: Arab Studies Journal Announces Spring 2017 Issue: Editor's Note and Table of Contents  2017 BOOK PRIZE COMPETITION
The Political Economy Project (PEP) is pleased to invite nominations for our 2017 Middle East Political Economy Book Prize. The book prize aims to recognize and disseminate exceptional critical work on the political economy of the Middle East. While the book must have a political economy theme, we welcome nominations from across academic disciplines. Submissions will be read and judged by a committee drawn from PEP’s membership. Eligible texts must have been published in 2016 and can be either Arabic or English language. The book must make an original contribution to critical political economy research. The author(s) of the winning book will receive a prize of US$1000 and will be invited to give a talk at a PEP affiliated University. The author(s) will also be interviewed by the Arab Studies Institute’s Audio Magazine, Status/الوضع. EXTENSION: The deadline for submission is 30 June 2017. If you intend to participate, please notify us at: bookprize@politicaleconomyproject.org. To be considered, you must send an electronic copy of the book to bookprize@politicaleconomyproject.org or two hard copies of the text to the address below. One copy will be returned once the committee has reached a decision. Arab Studies Institute 4087 University Drive Commerce Building 3rd Floor, Suite 3200 Fairfax VA 22030 USA 
The Political Economy Project (PEP) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2016 Middle East Political Economy Book Prize. With this prize, PEP aims to recognize and disseminate exceptional critical work on the political economy of the Middle East. For its inaugural award, the selection committee welcomed nominations for books on political economy published between 2013-2015 from a range of publishers and across academic disciplines. After reviewing a dozen submissions, the 2016 selection committee recognizes two co-winners for their original contributions to critical political economy research: Jamie Allinson’s The Struggle for the State in Jordan: The Social Origins of Alliances in the Middle East & Sherene Seikaly’s Men of Capital: Scarcity and Economy in Mandate Palestine The Struggle for the State in Jordan: The Social Origins of Alliances in the Middle East by Jamie Allinson
Men of Capital: Scarcity and Economy in Mandate Palestine by Sherene Seikaly
As co-winners, each author will receive 750 US dollars and will be invited to speak at a university affiliated with PEP. Each winning author will also be interviewed by PEP’s affiliate audio journal, Status/الوضع.
A call for nominations for the 2017 Middle East Political Economy Book Prize will be issued shortly. Books published in 2016 will be eligible. F A M A - M E S A 2 0 1 6 Thank you to all who visited the Tadween Publishing-Jadaliyya book exhibit at MESA 2016-Boston and joined us for the Arab Studies Institute’s launch of the Knowledge Production Project! For a review of ASI's public events and affiliated panels at MESA 2016, as well as for information on the progress of ongoing Forum on Arab and Muslim Affairs projects, please read the Arab Studies Institute at MESA 2016-Boston report below:  The Forum on Arab and Muslim Affairs & Status/الوضع are proud to announce the official launch of Issue 3.2 on the audio journal's brand new platform! Check out the new issue here and customize your experience now: http://statushour.com/
"This holiday season, the Arab Studies Institute (ASI) is pleased to announce the official launch of its most ambitious project to date! Meet Status الوضغ Audio Magazine!! A bilingual Arabic and English audio site with interviews and programs about the region unrivaled in their depth and scope. This first 'official' issue on our spanking new interactive and fully customizable website includes twenty interviews with forty-one guests on twenty-two topics! But first for the backstory! For a little over a year, we have been toiling away producing the beta version of Status—a quiet avalanche of media production that goes against the grain in every conceivable way! Some of you may have come across or listened to our incredible interviews with some of the most compelling artists, musicians, activists, and academics in and on the region. These are all archived by issue and searchable by topic, theme, country, and other categories for your easy perusal on the Status website. In the tradition of Jadaliyya, Quilting Point, The Forum on Arab and Muslim Affairs (FAMA),Tadween Publishing, the Knowledge Production Project (KPP) and many other programs of ASI, Status الوضع is a turning point in the way the Middle East and North Africa are being mediated, as well as a sophisticated challenge to the mainstreamed oversimplification, myopia, and dehistoricization of a region in turmoil. Status aims to do things differently by offering a unique model of online audio production that is decidedly analytical and markedly connected to the life experiences of communities in the Middle East and North Africa. Creative production and in-depth discussions about these locales have not been forged in such an amalgamated way before—particularly that which combines scholarly inquiry with local activism, the arts, and culture." Read more at Jadaliyya: Status/الوضع Launched! A New Bilingual Audio Platform and Issue 3.2! Join us for the launch of the Arab Studies Institute's Knowledge Production Project in Beirut, at the American University of Beirut on 6 December 2016, 5:30 pm, Boustany Hall. Bassam Haddad will be introducing the project and the patform in BETA form and holding a discussion henceforth on its origin, nature, and function in relation to Middle East Studies and the (politics of) process of knowledge production. For more information visit Jadaliyya: Knowledge Production Project Launch in Beirut at AUB!  Join the Forum on Arab and Muslim Affairs at MESA 2016! The Arab Studies Institute will hold a reception for the announcement of the Knowledge Production Project on Friday, November 18th from 9-10:30 pm in Salon D on the Fourth Floor. Be sure to also visit the Arab Studies Institute's booth at the MESA Book Bazaar (booths 14-15) to learn more about Tadween's Fall 2016 lineup and other ongoing activities. Looking forward to seeing you all there! ASI-FAMA Public Events ScheduleASI-Tadween Publishing Book Exhibit @ MESA 2016 Book Bazaar: Location: Third Floor, Back Bay Conference and Exhibition Center Booth #: 14-15 Open to Public: 4:00 pm-7:00 pm on Thursday, November 17th 8:30 am-5:30 pm on Friday, November 18th 8:30 am-5:30 pm on Saturday, November 19th ASI-KPP Reception: Knowledge Production Project Launching Reception Date: Friday, November 18th Time: 9:00-10:30 pm Location: Fourth Floor, Salon D Knowledge Production Project Launching Reception ASI-Tadween Publishing Book Bazaar Exhibit The Political Economy Project @ MESA 2016 |
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