April 20, 2024

Singh and Al-Tikriti Participate in Middle East Studies Association Conference

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

Ranjit Singh, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs, coauthored with U.S. Navy Commander Youssef Aboul Enein an article titled “After Checkmate: The Use and Limits of the Chess Analogy Regarding Syria,” which appeared in the Small Wars Journal. The article examines frequent assumptions in the use of the chess analogy to describe the risks and benefits of intervention in Syria, and cultural differences in how the game is played. The article germinated from discussions that followed Dr. Singh’s formal lecture on “Political Islam and the Arab Spring,” delivered in May as part of the ongoing National Security Lecture series hosted at UMW’s Dahlgren campus.

 

UMW Faculty to Discuss Anniversary of Iraq War

Nabil Al-Tikriti

Nabil Al-Tikriti

Eric Bonds

Eric Bonds

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.

Jason Davidson

Stephen Farnsworth

Stephen Farnsworth

Ranjit Singh
Ranjit Singh

Ranjit Singh to be Featured on Public Radio Program

Ranjit Singh

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/.

Read the full news release.

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.