ACADEMIC ACTIVITIES AND INITIATIVES

In addition to their publications, faculty research and expertise is disseminated in a variety of other ways in Qatar and beyond. As members of the global intellectual community, faculty members regularly deliver keynote addresses and are invited to lecture on their areas of expertise. They both participate in and host international conferences, symposia, workshops, and study groups.

Initiatives and activities hosted by GU-Q provide opportunities to invite renowned colleagues from leading global institutions to speak and interact with faculty and students, those of other academic institutions in Qatar, as well as members of the Qatari public. The public is also invited to participate in book launches by GU-Q faculty members and benefit from faculty expertise at the Faculty Seminar Series.

Online and media presence furthers the university’s aims of disseminating knowledge and bringing together scholars, the business community, and other members of the public across the region and beyond. GU-Q builds and maintains a number of websites, provides expert opinions for the media, and maintains an active social media presence.

Faculty Seminar Series event hosted by Max Oidtmann.

KEYNOTE SPEECH

Oidtmann, Max. 2019. “Legislating the Possible: How the Qing State Attempted to Eliminate the Oracles of Tibetan Buddhism.” Keynote speech at Leiden University, November 8, 2019.

INVITED LECTURES

Al-Arian, Abdullah. 2020. “Football as a Form of Regime Legitimation.” Invited virtual lecture, Center for Islam and Global Affairs, Istanbul Zaim University, Istanbul, Turkey, May 4, 2020.

Al-Arian, Abdullah. 2019. “Brothers Behind Borders: Islamism and Nationalism in the Middle East.” Invited lecture, Duke University, Durham, USA, November 8, 2019.

Al-Arian, Abdullah. 2019. “Narratives of the 2013 Egyptian Coup.” Invited lecture, Duke University, Durham, USA, November 7, 2019.

Al-Arian, Abdullah. 2019. “The Evolution of American Muslim Politics: 1965-2015.” Invited lecture, Center for Islam and Global Affairs, Istanbul Zaim University, Istanbul, Turkey, July 17, 2019.

Al-Arian, Abdullah. 2019. “Political Islam and the Challenge of Nationalism.” Invited lecture, Center for Islam and Global Affairs, Istanbul Zaim University, Istanbul, Turkey, July 16, 2019.

Al-Arian, Abdullah. 2019. “Political Islam and the Question of Political Violence.” Invited lecture, College of William & Mary, Williamsburg, USA, June 26, 2019. Antoniades, Alexis. 2019. “Qatar 2020.” Invited lecture, Euromoney Qatar Conference: Qatar and the Future, Doha, Qatar, December 8-9, 2019.

Asturias, Jose. 2020. “Competition and the Welfare Gains from Transportation Infrastructure: Evidence from the Golden Quadrilateral of India.” Invited virtual lecture, World Bank Office of the Chief Economist of Middle East & North Africa, May2020.

Oidtmann, Max. 2020. “The Legal Culture of Qing-period Tibetan Areas and Social Change.” Invited lecture delivered in Chinese, Institute for Modern History, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan, March 6, 2020.

Oidtmann, Max. 2019. “When Tibetans Came to Court: Indigenous Agency and Colonial Anxieties on the Sino-Tibetan Frontier.” Invited lecture, Ludwig Maximilian University, Institute for Sinology, Munich, Germany, November 11, 2019.

Pirbhai, M. Reza. 2020. “Fatima Jinnah: Mother of the Nation.” Invited lecture, Adab Festival Pakistan, Karachi, Pakistan, January 31-February 2, 2020.

Siddiqui, Sohaira. 2019. “Epistemology in Islamic Intellectual History.” Invited lecture, University of Notre Dame Madrasa Discourses, Hamad bin Khalifa University, Doha, Qatar, December 28, 2019.

Siddiqui, Sohaira. 2019. “Classical Islamic Family Law and Contemporary Challenges.” Invited lecture, University of Oxford, Oxford, England, September 26, 2019. Siddiqui, Sohaira. 2019. “Methodologies in Feminist Approaches to the Quran.” Invited lecture, University of Tubingen, Tubingen, Germany, December 18, 2019.

PRESENTATIONS

Akinade, Akintunde. 2020. “Beyond Exclusivism: Exploring, Engaging, and Expanding Interreligious Hospitality in Yorubaland.” Paper presented at the Inaugural Conference, Lamin Sanneh Institute, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana, February 26-29, 2020.

Akinade, Akintunde. 2019. “The Almajiri System. Violence, and Peace in Northern Nigeria.” Paper presented at the Conference on Peace and Conflict Resolution, Bangkok, Thailand, November 15-17, 2019.

Akinade, Akintunde. 2019. “An Abiding Engagement” Prayer, Power, and Politics in Pentecostal Spirituality in Africa.” Paper presented at the Ninth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality, University of Granada, Spain, April 25-57, 2019.

Antoniades, Alexis. 2019. “Distribution as Expenditure.” Paper presented at Peking University, Peking, China, September 20, 2019. Asturias, Jose. 2019. “Endogenous Transportation Costs.” Paper presented at the Urban Economics Association Conference, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, USA, October 1112, 2019.

Googasian, Victoria, and R. Heuser. 2019. “Digital Animal Studies: Modeling Anthropomorphism in Animal Writing, 18701930.” Paper presented at the Digital Humanities Conference, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands, July 9-12, 2019.

Oidtmann, Max. 2020. “Introducing ManchuLanguage Archival Sources Concerning Qinghai.” Paper in Chinese presented at the Manchu Documents Workshop, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, April 24, 2020.

Oidtmann, Max. 2019. “The Laws of the Kökenuur Oirats: Ramifications for the Legal Culture of Amdo.” Paper presented at the International Association for Tibetan Studies, Triennial Conference, Paris, France, July 9, 2019.

Oruc, Firat. 2020. “On the Shore: Indian Ocean Littoral Life in Film.” Paper presented at the GU-Q Annual Faculty Conference, Oceanic Circularities: The Indian Ocean in the Modern World, Doha, Qatar, February 16-18, 2020.

Shabana, Ayman. 2020. “Shari`ah, Law and Bioethics: Regulating Assisted Reproductive Technologies in the Muslim World.” Paper presented at the 2nd International Bioethics Conference: Ethical and Legal Issues of Emerging Biomedical Sciences and Research, Sultan Qaboos University, Muscat, Oman, February 2-4, 2020.

Shabana, Ayman. 2020. “Islamic Discourses on Bodily Enhancement in the Wake of the Genetic Revolution.” Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for the Study of Muslim Ethics, Washington, DC, USA, January 9-12, 2020.

Shabana, Ayman. 2019. “Islamic Moral Principles Undergirding Fatwas on Assisted Reproductive Technologies.” Paper presented at the Symposium on Challenges of Developing Fatwa-Making Methodology for Medical Issues, Istanbul Foundation for Research and Education (ISAR), Istanbul, Turkey, December 21-22, 2019. Shabana, Ayman. 2019. “The Mental Health of the Elderly from an Islamic Perspective.” Paper presented at the Religion and Medical Ethics Symposium, Pontifical Academy for Life, Rome, Italy, December 11-12, 2019.

Walther, Karine. 2019. “‘To the Slave in Bondage Bleeding’: The Reformed Church of America and the Freed Slave School in Muscat, Oman, 1896-1901.” Paper presented at the Association for the Study of the Worldwide African Diaspora Annual Conference, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, USA, November 5-9, 2019.

Walther, Karine. 2019. “Teaching Imperial Subjects: Moro Industrial Schools and the Global History of Industrial Education.” Paper presented at the Annual Philippines Studies Conference, Mindanao: Cartographies of History, Identity and Representation, SOAS University of London, London, U.K., July 5-6, 2019.

Annual Faculty Conference

CONFERENCES, WORKSHOPS, AND SYMPOSIA

“OCEANIC CIRCULARITIES: THE INDIAN OCEAN IN THE MODERN WORLD” ANNUAL FACULTY CONFERENCE

February 16-18, 2020 Conference Chair: Uday Chandra

This conference brought together new and established scholars producing cutting-edge research on topics ranging from the political economy of trade to the sociocultural dynamics of interlocking littoral societies across this vast oceanic space. Conference organizers received an overwhelming number of excellent abstracts from around the globe. The selected papers represented the very best of scholarship in the emerging field of Indian Ocean studies. The papers and panels in the conference centered around the theme of "circularities," encompassing the mobile connections between people as well as their literary, aesthetic, and religious worlds. Thinking through the myriad crisscrossing circularities that define the Indian Ocean, the conference explored new core concepts and theories of culture, society, migration, diaspora, diversity, hybridity, and postcoloniality.

“ECONOMY IN THE MIDDLE EAST” WORKSHOP

March 1, 2020 Convener: Karine Walther Guest speaker: Laleh Khalili

In this workshop, the guest speaker introduced her methodological approach and her research on political economy in the Middle East. Attending faculty gave insight into their own research. It followed a broader discussion with questions being raised about how certain issues can be addressed in different ways and from differing disciplinary fields.

Will Wilson

“CYBER SECURITY AND NATIONAL SECURITY IN A SMALL STATE”

October 1, 2019 Convener: Rory Miller

This launch event for the Cyber Security Research Group (CSRG), a joint initiative between GU-Q and the Community College of Qatar (CCQ), drew a large audience of security experts, scholars, and leaders from government and business to discuss “Cyber Security in a Small State: Protecting the Homeland.” Sponsored by Commercial Bank of Qatar and featuring cyber security expert Will Wilson as a keynote speaker, the event delivered the important message that cyber security is one of the most vital issues facing individuals, institutions, and nation states today, and set the stage for future collaboration on the critical issue of security risks and strategies.

Sohaira Siddiqui

“EXPLORING THE FEMININE WITHIN ISLAM”

September 17-18, 2019 Convener: Sohaira Siddiqui

The cooperative project “Exploring the Feminine within Islam” with the Center for Islamic Theology at the University of Tübingen, Germany, worked to enrich the discourse on Islam and gender—which has so far been conducted mostly in the field of sociology and anthropology—with the voices of Muslim women theologians. In order to address theological concepts on “femininity in Islam,” the project first laid a foundation for an international network. The network aims to bring together women scholars from different countries of origin, discourse spaces, and age groups to contribute new perspectives to scholarly discourse.

GU-Q FACULTY SEMINAR SERIES

The Faculty Seminar Series provides a forum for GU-Q faculty and guests to present their work with the goal of furthering their research through presentation and feedback. The seminars also serve to connect faculty with their colleagues at other regional and international universities by bringing in outside speakers and creating a forum for peer review and discussion.

From mid- spring semester 2020 until the end of the academic year, the Faculty Seminar Series had to pause due to the emergence of the coronavirus pandemic. Speakers included:

Eric Schluessel, Professor of Chinese History and Politics, University of Montana. “A Colonial Muslim History of Chinese Central Asia: Revisiting Sayrāmī's Tārīkh-i Ḥamīdī. ” Moderator: Max Oidtmann, October 22, 2019.

Dimitrios Xefteris, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, University of Cyprus. “Econ Talk: Electoral Institutions and Intraparty Cohesion.” Moderator: Alexis Antoniades, October 27, 2019.

John Lyndon, Global Executive Director of the Alliance for Middle East Peace and Research Fellow at King’s College London. “Re-Learning How Societies Transform and Conflicts End: Investing in Long-Term Social and Political Change in Israel/Palestine.” Moderator: Rory Miller, November 26, 2019.

Laleh Khalili, Professor of International Politics, School of Politics and International Relations, Queen Mary University of London. “Thinking About Tankers: Labor Port-Making and Capitalism.” Moderator: Karine Walther, March 1, 2020. Angie Heo, Assistant Professor of the Anthropology and Sociology of Religion, University of Chicago. “Anticommunist Supplements: Christianity and Politics in South Korea.” Moderators: Uday Chandra and Sohaira Siddiqui, February 12, 2020.

Tarik Sabry, Associate Professor of Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Westminster. “Cultural Time and Everyday Life in a Small Moroccan Village.” Moderator: Mohamed Zayani, February 3, 2020.

Mario Kozah, Director of Islamic Studies Program at the American University of Beirut. “Qaṭrāyīth: A Gulf Colloquial in Early Islamic Eastern Arabia.” Moderator: Abdul Rahman Chamseddine, January 15, 2020.

Eleanore Hargreaves, Reader in Learning and Pedagogy, University College of London. “Employers’ Perceptions of the Arabic Language Competencies and Skills of GU-Q Graduates.” Moderator: Hany Fazza, December 4, 2019.

Peter Neary, Professor of Economics at the University of Oxford and Professorial Fellow of Merton College Oxford. “Econ Talk: Sales and Markup Dispersion: Quantifying Misallocation.” Moderator: Alexis Antoniades, December 1, 2019.

PUBLIC LECTURES

In addition to the Faculty Research Seminars that take place during the day, GU-Q also organizes lectures in the evenings, allowing subject matter experts to share their expertise with the broader public. Speakers include distinguished experts who define their fields, and scholars from GU-Q and other academic institutions.

Public Lecture: “FUNDESA, Competition and the Welfare Gains from Transportation Infrastructure: Evidence from the Golden Quadrilateral of India.” Virtual, May 2020. Lecturer: Jose Asturias

Panel Discussion: “Impeachment, Iran and WW3.” Organized by the Legal and Political Studies Association. January 2020. Panelists: Clyde Wilcox, Anatol Lieven, Leonard Williams

Film Screening and Panel Discussion: “13th” January 2020. Panelists: Maurice Jackson, Clyde Wilcox, Karine Walther

Public Lecture: “The Blockade against Qatar: A Blessing in Disguise?” Qatar National Library, November 2019. Lecturer: Alexis Antoniades

Webinar Panel Discussion: “Black Lives

Matter: Police Brutality and Racial

Injustice in America.” Organized by the Black Student Association, July 2020. Panelists: Maurice Jackson, Clyde Wilcox

THE PANDEMIC PANELS

Pandemic Panel I: “Historical and Cultural Perspectives.” May 2020. Panelists: Edward Kolla, M. Reza Pirbhai,

Ayman Shabana, Amira Sonbol

Moderator: Dean Ahmad Dallal

Pandemic Panel II: “Regional Concerns in Pandemic Recovery.” May 2020. Panelists: Rogaia Abusharaf, Alexis Antoniades, Rory Miller, Gerd Nonneman Moderator: Dean Ahmad Dallal

Pandemic Panel III: “Governance in a Time of Pandemic, A Global View.” May 2020. Panelists: Amanda Garrett, Maurice Jackson, Anatol Lieven, Clyde Wilcox Moderator: Dean Ahmad Dallal