www.imoc-merc.eu

PLACE:

Conference will take place in the seat of the Polish Academy of Sciences in the Staszic Palace (Nowy Swiat 72, Warsaw, Poland)

ORGANIZER:

The Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures is a research unit with the Polish Academy of Sciences, a state scientific institution founded in 1952. From the very beginning, it has functioned as a learned society acting through an elected cooperation  of top scholars and research organizations, via its numerous scientific establishments. It has also become a major scientific advisory body through its scientific committees.

The activities of the Academy in its present form are regulated by the Parliamentary Act of April 30, 2010. The PAS is currently comprised of 79 research establishments (institutes and research centres, research stations, botanical gardens and other research units) and auxiliary scientific units (archives, libraries, museums, and foreign PAN stations). The research activities  of the Academy are  financed mainly from the State budget via the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.

ORGANIZING COMMETTEE: Professor Jerzy Zdanowski, Dr. Mahnaz Zahirinejad Dr. Rachela Tonta, Michal Lipa /M.A./ and Agata Wójcik /M.A/

PAYMENT AND ACCOMODATION:

We do not provide accommodation, however we can provide a list of recommended hostels and hotels that are located close to the place of the conference. Travelling costs are covered by the participants at their own expense.

Conference fee – 40 EUR or 160 PLN. Non-Polish participants are asked to pay the fee in cash immediately upon  registration.

Polish participants are asked to pay the fee by 30th November with a note “MENA 2014” for the account:

97 1240 6003 1111 0010 3462 6628 (Instytut Kultur Srodziemnomorskich i Orientalnych PAN)

December 8-9, 2014 – “Conflict and Dialogue in the Middle East” (Institute of Mediterranean and Oriental Cultures, Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland)

The Middle East faces several challenges, which have escalated in the XXI century. The challenges are structural in nature, deeply rooted in  Middle Eastern societies and  can only be understood after further, careful, historical and interdisciplinary analysis. Weaknesses of  state institutions; a rapid but superficial modernization; poverty; inequality and slow economic development; demographical issues, as well as globalization (with its positive and negative cultural and economic outcomes) have helped to create  the conflicting  landscapes of the contemporary Middle East. Conflicts are inevitable and endemic but finding a solution to them is inevitable as well and this cannot be done without the help of dialogical and cooperative attempts to  solving current problems, albeit it seems  difficult – at least today – to overcome these issues by peaceful and conciliatory means.

The conference aims at presenting interdisciplinary research from the social sciences and humanities, as well as  discussing approaches that concern problems of conflict and dialogue in  contemporary Middle Eastern societies. We also would like to discuss the question as to how the recent social unrest called the Arab Spring has changed the old patterns in finding solutions to   political, economic, cultural, religious, as well as international conflicts in the Middle East.

We invite the submission of abstracts from any disciplinary field which covers one of the main themes. It is anticipated that the discussion will include a variety of perspectives from which this topic can be understood, dealing with all MENA sub-regions. The following sub-themes of the conflict-dialogue problem are proposed:

• Political conflicts and negotiations
• Military confrontation and reconciliation
• Sectarian and ethnic relations
• Economic rivalry and cooperation
• Cultural tensions and change