DOHA, QATAR MARCH 23 AND 24, 2016
ORGANIZERS:
The
College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at Qatar University, Ottoman and Modern Turkish Studies and Department
of Central Eurasian Studies Indiana University, Center
for Turkish Studies, Shanghai University and Sociology of Islam Journal (Brill)
The College of
Arts and Sciences (CAS) at Qatar University, Ottoman and Modern Turkish
Studies and Department of Central Eurasian Studies Indiana University and
Sociology of Islam Journal invite interested scholars and advanced graduate
students to submit proposals for the conference below. The event will take
place at the Qatar University on MARCH 23 AND 24, 2016. Please submit a
200-word paper proposal along with your CV to china.middleeast@yahoo.com by Monday November 30, 2015.
ORGANIZATION COMMITTEE
Dr.
Mohammedmoin Sadeq, Qatar University, Qatar
Dr.
Guo Changgang, Center for Turkish Studies, Shanghai University
Dr. Jamsheed
Choksy, Indiana University, USA
Dr.
Kemal Silay, Indiana University, USA
Dr.
Zan Tao, Peking University, People’s Republic of China
Dr.
Tuğrul Keskin, Portland State University, USA
Conference
communication assistant: Michael McCall, Leiden University - china.middleeast (at) yahoo.com or Tugrul Keskin tugrulk (at) vt.edu
Description and
Objectives:
The
increasingly neoliberal economy that has developed since the early 1980s has
led to an emergence of a vibrant middle class in China. This new demographic,
roughly 350-400 million people, began to consume more. This has continued to
shape Chinese Foreign Policy towards oil producing countries, particularly in
the Middle East after Xi Jinping came to power in 2013. One of the first
signs of these changes can be seen in the proposal of a new Silk Road
initiative, introduced by Xi Jinping. Over the last two years, we have seen
the increase of Chinese political and social activities in the region, fueled
by the economic needs for PRC. As a result of this new political strategy, the
PRC started to play a more active role within the Middle Eastern political arena.
Hence, Xi Jinping visited
Pakistan, Egypt, Saudi and Arabia in March 2015. Additionally, Chinese social
and cultural activities began to appear more visibly within the universities
and educational institutions in the Middle East. Hanban Institutes started to open and finance
Confucius Institutes in the region that facilitate Chinese cultural and
language classes and promote mutual understanding between China and the Middle
East. For example these institutes have arisen in Turkey, Israel, Iran,
Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria, Jordan, UAE, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Morocco.
China has also become one of the largest economic and trade partners with
Middle Eastern states such as Iran, Turkey, Pakistan, Egypt, Israel. Therefore,
we would like to make this academic initiative a permanent conference meeting,
and each year, we will organize a China and the Middle East Conference in
different countries in collaboration with other universities.
We organized a
very successful first academic conference on this topic in collaboration with
Beijing University, on March 17-18, 2015. The conference took place in Beijing
University and 24 papers were presented within six different panels. On the
second day, the newly opened Indiana University Beijing office hosted two
panels. The selected conference proceedings (approximately 6-8) will be
published by a peer-reviewed academic journal, the Sociology of Islam, in the
Fall of 2015. You will find the first conference program at the following
homepage:
As a result of
this conference and academic initiative on China and the Middle East, we
established a new academic mailing list on China and the Middle East, hosted by
Virginia Tech University. In our second upcoming conference, we will examine
social, political and economic relations between China and Middle Eastern states
and societies in the context of the neoliberal economy. The conference
proceedings will also be published in the Sociology of Islam Journal (Brill - http://www.brill.nl/sociology-islam).
The second
conference (MARCH 23 AND 24, 2016) will have six different panels and 24
participants.
Participants
are responsible for their travel expenses, accommodation and any other
expenses.
This
is a purely academic conference.
Tentative Program and
Panels’ Titles
Keynote Speech - TBA
Conference Program
MARCH 23, 2016
9:00
- 9:30 AM Opening Ceremony
9:00
- 9:15 AM Welcome Speech by Representative of Qatar University
9:15
- 9:30 AM Opening Remarks by Representative of Qatar University
9:45
- 12:00 Panels
1. Panel:
NEOLIBERALISM IN CHINA
2. Panel:
NEOLIBERALISM IN THE MIDDLE EAST
12:00-13:30
PM Lunch
14:00-16:30
PM Panels
3. Panel:
SOCIAL AND POLITICAL CHANGES IN CHINA AND THE MIDDLE EAST IN THE CONTEXT OF
NEOLIBERALISM
4. Panel:
MARCH 24, 2016
9:30-12:00
5. Panel:
CHINESE POLITICAL ECONOMY TOWARD MIDDLE EAST
6. Panel: ENERGY AND SECURITY IN CHINA AND MIDDLE EAST
Closing
Remarks by Dr. Jamsheed Choksy, Indiana University, USA
