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CMES

Newsletter #45

May/June 2024

Photo: Linda Eitrem Holmgren

Message From the Director

Summer greetings from the team at the Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies!

The spring semester is concluding, and a well-deserved summer vacation is approaching! Still to come are two highly topical panels scheduled to take place in Almedalen at the end of June. The first panel will address the intractable nature of the Israel-Palestine conflict while the second will focus on the management of climate change and prevention of water scarcity.
This academic year has been particularly intense at CMES due to the violent escalation in the Middle East. In response to numerous requests for knowledge and analysis, CMES has expanded its offerings by providing a broad range of activities and facilitating knowledge-based dialogues and in-depth analyses. These efforts include public events, academic articles, policy-research reports, podcasts, a new research project, and an educational course running during the spring semester. This course was accessible to all students and staff at Lund University, aiming to deepen their understanding of the complex dynamics in Israel and Palestine. As Director, I am immensely grateful for the constructive engagement and commitment of CMES researchers, who have made these extra efforts despite their hectic workloads 🙏
CMES is also thrilled and excited that the Middle East correspondent Samir Abu Eid has been promoted to honorary doctor at Lund University. We look forward to further collaboration in the years ahead.
Coming up after the summer vacation, in late August, CMES will host the annual interdisciplinary Swedish Middle East & North Africa Network (SWEMENA) conference. This year’s conference will see a record number of scholars presenting their research, promising two days of intellectually stimulating discussions.
CMES continues to expand in terms of both research and staff. We are delighted to welcome Dr. Sami Al-Daghistani, who will begin a tenure track position in Islamic studies, and Dr. Adam Almqvist, who will start a postdoctoral position focused on political youth in conflict. Additionally, Dr. Sinem Kavak from the Centre for Sustainability Studies (LUCSUS) will join CMES for a writing retreat in the autumn. Finally, a new three-year project within the Strategic Research Area (SRA) on the Middle East is set to commence. This research project will examine Swedish civil society actors in the Occupied Palestinian Territories from 1967 until today and will run from 2024 to 2027.

So many research activities in the making! A new exciting CMES seminar program for the autumn will shortly be posted on the website. So for the latest stay tuned on CMES website, social media and by subscribing to the Newsletter!

Karin Aggestam

CMES Director and MECW Coordinator

Latest Research News

A collage of three photos. A photo of a large room filled with people sitting in the audience. A photo of Samir standing next to Karin. A photo of the poster for the event.

An Evening with Samir Abu Eid: Inside the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

On 30 May, CMES organized a public seminar with Samir Abu Eid, Honorary Doctor in Social Science at Lund University and Foreign Correspondent in the Middle East for Swedish Public Service Television (SVT). The event was chaired by CMES Director Karin Aggestam and was co-organized with the Department of Political Science and the Association of Foreign Affairs in Lund (UPF). At the event, Samir spoke about his experience of being a war correspondent in the Middle East and reporting on the ongoing war on Gaza.

AI generated image.

CMES Regional Outlook: Dust Storms in the Middle East - Insights from Satellite Data and AI

This Regional Outlook, written by CMES researcher Hossein Hashemi, provides insight into an emerging environmental hazard: dust storms in the Middle East, one of the driest regions in the world. It also sheds light on the typical drivers and new technologies that can help investigate this phenomenon. Some sustainable mitigation measures are also discussed.

Photo of the city of Ramallah and mountains.

Photo: Nour Tayeh/Unsplash

New MECW Project on Frictional Homebuilding: Swedish Civil Society Actors in the Occupied Palestinian Territories 1967-

CMES is happy to announce the new MECW project for 2024-2027 which will focus on the complex history of Swedish humanitarian initiatives in the occupied Palestinian territories. The research team consists of Maria Småberg (History), Nina Gren (Social Anthropology), Lisa Strömbom (Political Science) and Elsa Hedling (Languages and Literature).

A map of Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories

Media Interviews and Articles by CMES Researchers on the War in Gaza

Read and listen to CMES researchers' media comments and analyses on the war between Israel and Hamas in newspapers, magazines, on TV, online discussions, podcasts and radio shows.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

The committee sitting around a table listening to Karin make a presentation.

Swedish Foreign Affairs Committee Visits Lund University

The Foreign Affairs Committee from the Swedish parliament (Riksdagen) visited Lund University on May 27. CMES Director Karin Aggestam was invited to give a presentation about CMES and Middle East research at Lund University. The committee was also briefed on several other issues at Lund University, ranging from cooperation with Ukraine to international recruitments.

Photo: Wafa/Wikimedia Commons

Geopolitics and Diplomacy in the Wake of the Gaza War

The war in Gaza is testing alliances and shaking up politics, both globally and regionally. What does this mean for the West's relationship with the Middle East? How are inter-regional dynamics affected? And what is the impact of the war in Israel? Read an interview with Karin Aggestam, Political Scientist and Director of the Centre for Advanced Middle Eastern Studies.

On Protracted Conflict, Negotiation and Water Cooperation in the Middle East

Watch an interview by the Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy in Abu Dhabi with CMES Director Karin Aggestam on managing conflicts and different approaches to rethink and reframe conflicts, especially in the Middle East.

A red flower growing in a rocky desert landscape.

Photo: Lotta Lundmark

The Prospect for Peace in the Middle East

CMES Director Karin Aggestam participated in a podcast together with Aron Lund, Analyst, Swedish Defence Research Agency (FOI) hosted by Folk och Försvar. This podcast (in Swedish) tries to understand the regional dynamics of the Middle East and where the keys to peace and stability are to be found. How can we understand the ongoing war in Gaza in the context of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the wider regional dynamics?

Samir Abu Eid, Honorary Doctor at Lund University

Samir Abu Eid was recently awarded his Honorary Doctorate at Lund University. He was interviewed about his excitement over receiving an honorary doctorate and how he looks forward to future collaboration with researchers at CMES. Watch the video interview in Swedish with English subtitles.

A collage of photos: Rafah standing next to a table filled with food; Rafah and Maria standing infront of a group of people; and a group of people sitting at tables.

Photos: Linda Eitrem Holmgren

CMES Certificate Ceremony

On 31 May, CMES hosted an end-of-semester lunch for our students, interns and staff. The participants of the Israel-Palestine reading course, our various Arabic language classes and our research interns were given certificates for their work this semester. Together with CMES staff, they enjoyed some delicious Levantine cuisine in the beautiful CMES garden at Finngatan. The event was organized by our language training expert Rafah Barhoum.

A boy standing on a rock in the middle of a muddy puddle.

Photo: Ahmed Akacha/Pexels

PhD Course: Environment and Sustainable Development in MENA

CMES researcher Hossein Hashemi is coordinating a course for PhD students offered by the Faculty of Social Sciences as an interdisciplinary single–subject course next academic year. The course runs between 4 December 2024 and 15 January 2025. The course is open for PhD students in Sweden and beyond. Application deadline: 4 November 2024

Upcoming Events

A pair of cupped hands filled with water. Barbed wire. A coral reef with fish. The planet seen from space. A river running through a parched landscape.

Illustration: Catrin Jakobsson

26 June: Kriser, krig och klimatförändringar – hur tar vi hand om begränsade vattenresurser?

CMES and LTH in Almedalen. Panel discussion (IN SWEDISH) on management of limited global water resources with Karin Aggestam (CMES), Kenneth M Persson (Water Resources Engineering), Catarina Hedar (Havs- och vattenmyndigheten) and Louise Pierce (LTH). At Hästgatan 13, Visby, Gotland, 12:00-13:00.

A white dove flying above a desert landscape.

Illustration: Catrin Jakobsson

26 June: Israel Palestina – en olöslig konflikt?

CMES in Almedalen. Panel discussion on the Israel-Palestine conflict (IN SWEDISH) with Samir Abu Eid (SVT), Nina Gren (CMES), Torsten Janson (CMES), Michael Schulz (University of Gothenburg), Lisa Strömbom (CMES) and Karin Aggestam (CMES). At Hästgatan 13, Visby, Gotland, 13:15-14:30.

Recent Publications

Cover of the journal Political Geography

"Temporality, nationalism and the territorialisation of public space - Commemorational presences in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv"

Author: Mattias Kärrholm

"The Rise and Fall of Assyrian Nationalism"

Author: Svante Lundgren

Cover of the journal "Environmental Science and Pollution Research"

"A machine learning framework for spatio‑temporal vulnerability mapping of groundwaters to nitrate in a data scarce region in Lenjanat Plain, Iran"

Author: Reza Jalali, Parvaneh Tishehzan and Hossein Hashemi

"Violence Against Women in Lebanon: The Challenge of Legislative Action"

Author: Rola El-Husseini

Cover of the book "Knowledge as a Public Good"

Knowledge as a Public Good: Reconceiving the Purpose and Methods of Knowledge Production

Editors: Jamil Mouawad, Sarah Anne Rennick and Andrew Findell-Aghnatios

"Att undervisa om Israel-Palestinakonflikten efter den 7 oktober"

Author: Maria Småberg

Looking for an Expert on the Middle East and North Africa?

CMES researchers conduct research on a range of themes related to countries in the MENA region: democratization, migration and sustainable socio-economic development; environment and sustainable development; religion, identity and culture; and security and sustainable peace. To find out more, please visit our website's list of experts.

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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