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CMES

Newsletter #28

May 2022

The CMES building and a tree with pink flowers.

Message from the Director

Come mingle on Finngatan 16 with CMES scholars who are showcasing their research!

Warm, sunny weather has arrived in Lund just in time for the Lund University Carneval and the CMES Open House on Wednesday. Come mingle with CMES scholars who are showcasing their exciting research with posters on display! You can also enjoy some snacks and drinks in our beautiful garden on Finngatan 16. All are warmly welcome ☀️🌼

While we are moving with speed towards the end of the semester, CMES is still buzzing with a broad range of activities. In addition to the Open House this week, CMES is hosting a roundtable on transnational Twelver Shiism in conjunction with the inaugural lecture by the new professor in Islamology Oliver Scharbrodt. The final CMES research seminar is focused on human rights in Egyptian feminist activism with Emma Sundkvist presenting her PhD thesis. We also have two PhD vivas coming up in June on cyberconflict in Palestine and on water and remote sensing precipitation in Iran.

CMES is participating in two big outreach activities before the summer break. In mid-June the inaugural conference of the Swedish National Network on the Middle East and North Africa (SWEMENA) will be held in Gothenburg as a way to strengthen networking and research on the Middle East in Sweden. In early July CMES is participating with two panels on the Middle East in Almedalen on Gotland.

So many research activities still in the making - stay tuned on the CMES website, social media and by subscribing to the Newsletter!

Karin Aggestam

CMES Director and MECW Coordinator

Latest Research News

Open CMES Calls: Writing Retreats, Travel Grants and Research Initiation

Applications are open to employees at Lund University. Application deadline: May 30, 2022

Writing Retreats: CMES supports writing retreats on Middle East research with the aim to finalise an article, book chapter, edited volume or a book for publication in peer-reviewed outlets.

Travel Grants: CMES provides travel grants for conducting field work in the Middle East and conference/workshop participation with paper presentations focused on Middle East research.

Research Initiation: CMES provides seed money for research initiation and preparation of applications for national and international research calls.

The logos for CMES and YouTube side by side

Launch of New CMES YouTube Channel

We are happy to announce the launch of the CMES YouTube channel with brand new content on the latest in Middle East research! Want to learn more about what is happening in terms of climate change, authoritarian regimes or migration? Or perhaps you are interested in democratic reform, the war on terror or hydrosolidarity and peacebuilding in the MENA region? Then the CMES YouTube channel is the perfect place for you! Subscribe to the channel so you don’t miss any of our future videos!

A city landscape in front ot the pyramids at Giza

SWEMENA Conference 2022: June 13-14

The 2022 SWEMENA conference will bring together researchers and practitioners from institutions across Sweden to discuss contributions presented by researchers working on MENA-related topics. The conference will be held at the University of Gothenburg's School of Global Studies.

Internship at The Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul (SRII)

SRII receives interns for at least one shorter (6–8 weeks) or one longer (2–3 months) period in the fall term of 2022. Interns get the opportunity to interact with a dynamic scholarly environment in the heart of Istanbul while developing their own research and assisting the institute staff. Interns should be affiliated to a Nordic university, have an academic interest within the same areas as those studied at the institute, and preferably make their internship as part of a master program. Applications should be sent to Anders Ackfeldt by June 15, 2022 at the latest.

The UN building in New York and a tree with white flowers.

Peace Mediation Dialogue at the UN

CMES Director Karin Aggestam participated in a policy-research dialogue on peace mediation together with UN diplomats and international mediation practitioners in New York City. Theevent was organized by the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) on April 26-27. FBA, the Swedish government agency for peace, security and development, conducts training, research and method development in order to strengthen peacebuilding and state building in conflict and post-conflict countries, in addition to supporting international peace operations and development cooperation.

Maria Malmström on a roof overlooking the demonstrations in Egypt during the Arab Spring

Masculinities, Incarcerated Men and Urban Bodies in Cairo

CMES scholar Maria Malmström has received an Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility grant to spend time at the American University of Beirut (AUB). During her time at AUB, she has given three talks: “The Living Dead, or the Sonic Story of Male Bodies Behind Bars” at AUB on April 19; “Urban Bodies in the Cityscape of Cairo: Passion, Despair and Entanglement” at New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) on April 27; and “The National Prison of Politics: Masculinities, Affect and Everyday Authoritarianism” at NYUAD on April 28.

Turkey Beyond Borders and Turkey-Syria-EU Nexus

CMES scholar Pinar Dinc has received a Swedish Institute Creative Force grant for the project Turkey Beyond Borders 2.0, aiming to foster collaboration between academics in Sweden and scholars from Turkey. Together with CMES Board Member Rouzbeh Parsi, Pinar gave lectures on May 13 at Katedralskolan in Lund about Conflict and Foreign Policy, focusing on the Turkey-Syria-EU nexus.

Climate Security Hotspots

On May 2-3, a hybrid Ministerial Conference was organized in Berlin: "Sustaining Peace Amidst the Climate Crisis - The Role of Data Science, Technology and Innovation". CMES scholar Lina Eklund participated in a panel on determining climate security hotspots - "Impact Regions and Climate Change Phenomena".

Transnational Diaspora Research

CMES scholar Dalia Abdelhady recently gave a keynote speech at the International Workshop on Doing Transnational Research organised by the Department of Sociology at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany on April 28-29. Dalia's talk was titled: "Between Diaspora and Cosmopolitanism: A Reflection on Methodological Approaches in a Mobile World".

Arab Spring Youth Activists and Action Research

CMES scholar Sarah Anne Rennick, and her research on youth activism in the Middle East, has recently been featured in the Lund University Magazine. In addition to this, Sarah will be presenting a paper at the International Communications Association's annual conference. On May 30, she will participate in a panel titled "The Challenges and Opportunities of Activist Scholarship", presenting the paper "Action-Research Methods and Arab Spring Youth Activists: Using Engaged Scholarship to Accompany the Transition to Political Participation".

The Lebanese Election

CMES scholar Rola el-Husseini Dean has been interviewed about the May 2022 general election in Lebanon. The article (in Swedish), "Libanons fifflande elit tros behålla makten", was published in Göteborgs-Posten on May 14. In it, Rola predicts that the current elite politicians will be re-elected, if not so then their sons. An English translation of the article can be found here.

Upcoming Events

The CMES building on a lawn of blue spring flowers

May 18: Open House at CMES

CMES scholars will be showcasing their ongoing Middle East research with posters on display. At CMES, 13:00-16:00.

The roof of two mosques, one in yellow brick and one with blue and yellow mosaic patterns

May 19: Resistance, Diaspora and Sensory Material Culture - New Insights from Current Research on Transnational Twelver Shiism

CMES Roundtable with Oula Kadhum, Fouad Marei, Stefan Williamson Fa, Nada Al-Hudaid and Yafa Shanneik. At CMES and on Zoom, 15:00-16:30.

May 19: ‘Neither of the East nor of the West’ - Crossing and Dwelling in Islamic Studies

Inaugural Lecture with Professor Oliver Scharbrodt. At LUX (LUX:C121), 17:15.

June 2: PhD Defence with Focus on Palestine

Fabio Cristiano, doctoral student funded by CMES, will defend his thesis The Blurring Politics of Cyber Conflict in Palestine and Beyond. At Eden (Hörsalen, Paradisg. 5C), 10:15.

June 9: Law, Language and Space Making - Three Dimensions of Human Rights in Egyptian Feminist Activism Post-2011

CMES Research Seminar with Emma Sundkvist (Lund University). At CMES and on Zoom, 13:15-14:30.

June 16: PhD Defence with Focus on Iran and Sweden

Hasan Hosseini, doctoral student at CMES, will defend his PhD thesis Advanced Remote Sensing Precipitation Input for Improved Runoff Simulation. At V-huset (room V:C), 10:00.

Lund University building behind a cityscape of Visby

July 6: Demokratispaning i Mellanöstern

CMES event in Almedalen with Cecilia Uddén, Dalia Abdelhady, Rouzbeh Parsi, Isabell Schierenbeck and Karin Aggestam. In Visby (Hästg. 13), 11:15-12:15.

July 6: Jämställd fred i Mellanöstern - är det möjligt?

CMES event in Almedalen with Charlotta Sparre, Emma Sundkvist, Joel Abdelmoez, Marie Wikström and Karin Aggestam. In Visby (Hästg. 13), 13:45-14:45.

Recent Publications

"Urban Flood-Risk Assessment: Integration of Decision-Making and Machine Learning"

Authors: Fereshteh Taromideh, Ramin Fazloula, Bahram Choubin, Alireza Emadi and Ronny Berndtsson

"Can Potato Crop on Sandy Soil Be Safely Irrigated with Heavy Metal Polluted Water?"

Authors: Tarek Selim, Samah M. Elkefafy, Ronny Berndtsson, Mohamed Elkiki and Ahmed A. El-kharbotly

Cover of the PhD dissertation "Blurring politics of cyber conflict"

The Blurring Politics of Cyber Conflict: A Critical Study of the Digital in Palestine and Beyond

Author: Fabio Cristiano

Advanced Remote Sensing Precipitation Input for Runoff Simulation

Author: Hasan Hosseini

"Human Interest Stories in the Coverage of Syrian Refugees: A Case Study from Turkey"

Authors: Dalia Abdelhady and Fatmanur Delioglu

Find Out More About Middle East Research at Lund University

Lund University conducts Middle Eastern research of international quality and with a societal relevance across and between faculties. To find out more about the Middle East research being conducted at LU in Science, Medicine, Engineering, Humanities and Theology, and Social Sciences, please visit our website.

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About This Newsletter

This is a newsletter from the Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University. With the objective to provide an overview Middle Eastern studies undertaken at Lund University, this newsletter is intended to give updates on research, events, and other related news. It is also intended to form a window towards the society, showcasing important Middle Eastern research conducted at Lund University.

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