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801. For the Love of Music

Author:
Isabel Roemer
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Contemporary Arab Studies
Abstract:
MAAS alum combines language skills, industry savvy, and a bit of “wasta” to bring Arab musicians to Washington audiences. In 2003, MAAS alum David Chambers (‘88) received a call from the family of the late Munir Bashir, the celebrated Iraqi musician widely regarded as “King of Oud.” Chambers had spent much of the 1990s in the entertainment industry in the Arab world—notably, for the Showtime Arabia satellite TV network. Now back in Washington, D.C., he faced a challenge: how to arrange a gig for Omar Bashir, Munir’s son, in the nation’s capital?
Topic:
History, Culture, Higher Education, and Music
Political Geography:
Iraq, Middle East, North America, Washington, and D.C.

802. Saudi Arabia’s Artists of Change

Author:
Sean Foley
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Center for Contemporary Arab Studies
Abstract:
MAAS alum Sean Foley (‘00) discusses his forthcoming book, Changing Saudi Arabia: Art, Culture, and Society in the Kingdom.
Topic:
Civil Society, Gender Issues, Arts, Natural Resources, Culture, and Authoritarianism
Political Geography:
Middle East, Saudi Arabia, North America, United States of America, and Gulf Nations

803. The Revolutionary Seeds of Mass Media

Author:
Sania El-Husseini
Publication Date:
04-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Contemporary Arab Studies
Abstract:
The development and spread of mass media throughout the Middle East over the past two decades—starting with satellite television stations, which took national narratives out from under state control, and followed by social media, which gave voice to the masses—is widely considered a key factor leading to the eruption of the Arab revolutions.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Mass Media, Democracy, Internet, Arab Spring, Journalism, and Revolution
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, Iraq, Middle East, North America, Qatar, and United States of America

804. MESA and the Muslim Ban

Author:
Beth Baron and Judith Tucker
Publication Date:
04-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Contemporary Arab Studies
Abstract:
The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) recognized early on that the “Muslim Ban”—so called for its banning of individuals from predominantly Muslim countries from entering the United States—posed specific threats to its mission and its commitments to academic freedom, intellectual exchange, and the fostering of scholarly research. As the current and past presidents of MESA, we take great pride in the fact that the association decided to take a clear and active stand against all iterations of this ban.
Topic:
Government, Border Control, Courts, Trump, Borders, and Higher Education
Political Geography:
Middle East, North America, and United States of America

805. Preserving a Genre under Duress

Author:
Brittni Foster
Publication Date:
12-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Contemporary Arab Studies
Abstract:
How a class assignment led to MAAS alum Dan Walsh’s lifelong passion for preserving Palestine’s visual heritage. When Dan Walsh (MAAS ’11) was serving as a Peace Corps volunteer in Marrakesh in the early 1970s, his language tutor encouraged him to practice his budding Arabic and Moroccan Darija skills by translating the posters that papered the buildings around town. Walsh, now the curator of the world’s largest collection of posters on Palestine, remembers how grateful he was for the break from verb conjugations but says he never could have imagined how that assignment would change the course of his career. He credits his hours spent walking the streets of Marrakech and Rabat reading posters—Arabic dictionary in hand—with not only improving his language skills, but also igniting what has become one of his life’s passions.
Topic:
Culture, Media, Peace Corps, and Higher Education
Political Geography:
Middle East, Israel, Palestine, North America, and United States of America

806. MAAS in and on the Media

Author:
Nadine Cheaib, Timothy Kaldas, Bassam Haddad, Laila Shereen Sakr, and Samia Errazzouki
Publication Date:
04-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Contemporary Arab Studies
Abstract:
Graduates of the MAAS program have distinguished themselves in many professional fields, including the media. We hear below from alums who work in the media—as journalists and producers—and on the media—as expert commentators, knowledge archivists, and scholars.
Topic:
Science and Technology, Social Movement, Media, Social Media, Protests, Journalism, Revolution, and Interview
Political Geography:
Middle East, Arab Countries, North America, Morocco, and United States of America

807. Love, Death, and a Day’s Work

Author:
Majd Al Wahaidi
Publication Date:
04-2018
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Center for Contemporary Arab Studies
Abstract:
Majd Al Wahaidi, a first-year MAAS student, was born in Gaza to a Bedouin family from Beersheva. Before joining MAAS, Majd worked in Gaza as a reporter for the New York Times. She shares some reflections on her life as a journalist.
Topic:
Media, Conflict, Journalism, and Memoir
Political Geography:
Middle East, Palestine, Gaza, North America, and United States of America

808. HOW LIBERAL IS NEOLIBERALISM? RETHINKING THE CONCEPTIONS OF THE WELFARE STATE, LEGISLATIVE ORGANS, SOCIAL JUSTICE, AND COMPETITION IN HAYEK’S THOUGHT

Author:
Selma TOKTAŞ
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Alternative Politics
Institution:
Department of International Relations, Abant Izzet Baysal University, Turkey
Abstract:
With the expansion of US-led economic policy following the economic depression of the 1970s and the proliferation of new information and communication technologies, the 1980s became a crucial period signaling dramatic changes all around the world. By the end of these years, the Keynesian economy, which accredited states as active and interventionist players in the economy in order to ensure both growth and equity, began to break down. In this period economic liberalism gained power again and political and economic theories and practices turned towards neoliberalism. As a result, deregulation, privatization and the withdrawal of the state from many areas were accelerated. All these changes were significant and affected the structure of almost everything, including education, culture, life and trends in thought. Friedrich A. von Hayek was one of the pioneers of this transformation. Therefore, this descriptive study attempts to understand the points where neoliberalism combines with liberalism and how it is separated from liberalism through Hayek's views about the welfare state, legislative body, social justice, and competition terms. In other words, this study aims to explore the extent to which Hayek’s neoliberalism is a continuation or a break from liberalism.
Topic:
Economic structure, Neoliberalism, Social Justice, Welfare, and Liberalism
Political Geography:
United States, North America, and Global Focus

809. ACKNOWLEDGING THE FLEXIBILITIES OF THE TRIPS AGREEMENT: ENSURING THE RIGHT TO ACCESS TO MEDICINES OR A STRATEGY OF PASSIVE REVOLUTION?

Author:
Sevgi BALKAN-ŞAHİN
Publication Date:
10-2018
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Alternative Politics
Institution:
Department of International Relations, Abant Izzet Baysal University, Turkey
Abstract:
The Doha Ministerial Declaration on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement and Public Health adopted in November 2001 clarified the right to use the TRIPS flexibilities to promote public health. Examining the hegemonic struggle of opposing social forces from a neo-Gramscian perspective, the paper attributes this outcome to the strategy of trasformismo used by market-oriented social forces to legitimize the policies of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and prevent resistance against the market-driven TRIPS Agreement. It argues that although non-governmental organizations (NGOs) such as Medecins Sans Frontieres, Third World Network, and Oxfam worked as a counter-hegemonic force to ensure the access of least developed countries to generic versions of patented drugs, flexibilities confirmed by the Doha Declaration can be seen more as a strategy of trasformismo to absorb counter-hegemonic ideas than the counter-hegemonic groups’ successful incorporation of the right to ensure public health into the TRIPS Agreement.
Topic:
Health, World Trade Organization, Hegemony, Health Care Policy, NGOs, and Public Health
Political Geography:
United States, Europe, Asia, and North America

810. What We Know About Race and Ethnicity

Author:
Michael Banton
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Book
Institution:
Berghahn Books
Abstract:
Attempts of nineteenth-century writers to establish “race” as a biological concept failed after Charles Darwin opened the door to a new world of knowledge. Yet this word already had a place in the organization of everyday life and in ordinary English language usage. This book explains how the idea of race became so important in the USA, generating conceptual confusion that can now be clarified. Developing an international approach, it reviews references to “race,” “racism,” and “ethnicity” in sociology, anthropology, philosophy, and comparative politics and identifies promising lines of research that may make it possible to supersede misleading notions of race in the social sciences.
Topic:
Race, Sociology, and Ethnicity
Political Geography:
United States and North America