On Oct. 10 to 13, Professors Ranjit Singh, political science and international affairs, and Nabil Al-Tikriti, history and American studies, attended the 2013 Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Conference in New Orleans, LA. The conference is the primary professional event for Middle East Studies in North America. On Oct. 11, Nabil Al-Tikriti chaired a panel entitled “Empire and Belonging: Ottoman Empire to Modern Turkey,” which brought together four scholars offering papers concerning intellectual luminaries in the late Ottoman Empire and early Republican Turkey. On Oct. 12, Ranjit Singh’s presentation on the “Teacher’s Dilemma” presented by new media was part of the “Media, Media Literacy, and Teaching Middle East Studies” panel sponsored by MESA’s Committee for Undergraduate Middle East Studies (CUMES).
Ranjit Singh Coauthors Article
UMW Faculty to Discuss Anniversary of Iraq War
UMW faculty members will discuss the 10 year anniversary of the Iraq War during a roundtable on Wednesday, Feb. 13. The discussion will begin at 4 p.m. in Combs Hall, Room 139 and is free and open to the public.
The roundtable will feature Nabil Al-Tikriti, associate professor of history, Eric Bonds, assistant professor of sociology, Jason Davidson, associate professor of political science and Stephen Farnsworth, professor of political science and director of the Center for Leadership and Media Studies. All four faculty members have published scholarly research on aspects of the war. Ranjit Singh, associate professor of political science, will serve as the moderator.
For more information, contact Jason Davidson at jdavidso@umw.edu or (540) 654-1509.
Ranjit Singh to be Featured on Public Radio Program
Ranjit Singh, associate professor of political science, will reflect on his experience with Bahrain’s royal family in relation to last year’s uprising in the Middle East during an interview on the “With Good Reason” public radio program beginning Saturday, January 7.
The interview can be heard on January 7 at 4:30 p.m. on WCVE 88.9 FM and on Sunday, January 8 at 7 p.m. and Monday, January 9 at 12:30 a.m. on WAMU 88.5 FM. The segment, “Reflections on Arab Spring,” is expected to be online beginning the week of the show at http://withgoodreasonradio.org/2012/01/reflections-on-the-arab-spring/.
Ranjit Singh to Deliver Addresses in Japan
Ranjit Singh, associate professor of political science and international affairs, will deliver the keynote address opening a two-day workshop titled “Conflict, Collapsed States, and Social Movements in the Contemporary Middle East and Asia,” which will be held in Kyoto on October 8.
The workshop is jointly organized by Kyoto University’s Center for Islamic Area Studies, the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies and an organization called Humanosphere. Singh’s address, “Reflections on the Arab Spring,” focuses on the recent popular uprising in Bahrain, and recalls a period, twenty years ago, when he worked as a ghostwriter for a member of that country’s ruling family. His address provides a glimpse into the life of a now-prominent Bahraini minister and the inner workings of the monarchy. It will appear in the workshop’s published proceedings.
Singh will deliver the same talk a few days later to another audience at Tokyo University. At the Kyoto workshop, he will also formally comment on the research papers on Middle East topics delivered by Japanese MA and Ph.D. students. Kyoto and Tokyo Universities are sponsoring the week-long trip.