Middle East Centre

Part of the Middle East Centre Seminar Series, with Nilüfer Göle, Tariq Modood and Tariq Ramadan (chair). Held on 17th February 2017. Nilüfer Göle is Professor of Sociology, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris, Tariq Modood is Professor of Sociology, Politics and Public Policy, University of Bristol and founding Director, Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship and Tariq Ramadan isProfessor of Contemporary Islamic Studies, St Antony's College.

Lydia Sizer (Libya Analyst MENAS), Mary Fitzgerald (Journalist and Author) and John Hamilton (Cross Border Information) discuss the conflict in Libya on 27th January 2017.

Raphael Lefevre (New College, Oxford) and Kevin Mazur (Nuffield College, Oxford) discuss the ongoing Syrian conflict on 20th January 2017.

Roundtable Discussion and Launch of Public Culture and Islam in Modern Egypt by Hatsuki Aishima (National Museum of Ethnology, Osaka) with Morgan Clarke (University of Oxford). The event will be chaired by Laurent Mignon (University of Oxford). What does it mean to be an intellectual in Egypt today? What is expected from an "authentic scholar"? Hatsuki Aishima explores these questions by examining educated, urban Egyptians and their perceptions of what it means to be "cultured" and "middle class" - something that, as a result of the neoliberal policies of Egyptian government, is widely thought to be a shrinking sector of society. Through an analysis of the media representations of 'Abd al-Halim Mahmud (1910-78), the French-trained Sufi scholar and the Grand Imam of al-Azhar under president Anwar al-Sadat, Aishima discusses the connection of Islam to these middle-class considerations and makes an original contribution to the debate on the commodification of religious teaching and knowledge. Public Culture and Islam in Modern Egypt is thereby a unique addition to the fields of anthropology, Middle East and media studies. Hatsuki Aishima is Associate Professor at the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, Japan. She read DPhil in Oriental Studies at St Antony's College (2005-11). Before arriving in Osaka in July 2016, she taught at Free University of Berlin and the University of Manchester. Her publications have appeared in the Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute and Die Welt des Islams.

Lecture delivered by Professor Tariq Ramadan (Professor of Contemporary Islamic Studies, Middle East Centre) on 4th March 2016 at the Middle East Centre.

Seminar on the civil war in Syria, with Dr Gilles Dorronsoro (Panthéon-Sorbonne University), Arthur Quesnay (Panthéon-Sorbonne University), Adam Baczko (Panthéon-Sorbonne University) on Monday 22nd February 2016 at the Middle East Centre. Please note; the recording stops abruptly. We apologise for this. This event was co-sponsored by Maison française d'Oxford and the Middle East Centre.

Seminar presented by Professor Marilyn Booth at the Middle East Centre on 26th February 2016.

Lecture presented by Professor Avi Shlaim (Middle East Centre) and Richard Makepeace (Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies) at the Middle East Centre, St Antony's College on 19th February 2016.

Seminar by Dr Adeel Malik (Globe Fellow, Islamic Centre Lecturer in the Economies of Muslim Societies) at the Middle East Centre, 12th February 2016.

Seminar by Habib Battah (Research fellow at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism) at The Middle East Centre, St Antony's College, 10th February 2016.