The Middle East Awards Program (MEAwards) has supported an array of studies pertaining to population migration (including voluntary and involuntary, external and internal); resettlement, post conflict reconstruction, urbanization, transnationalization and globalization. The American University in Cairo (AUC), in addition to its newly established Diploma in Forced Migration and Refugee Studies, is actively engaged in a series of research initiatives on globalization, border crossing, diasporic communities, "statelessness," gender and citizenship, postcolonial identification and collective action, and forced migration and survival strategies of refugees in Africa and the Middle East. The activities of the Organization for Social Science Research in Eastern and Southern Africa (OSSREA) include a wide range of training and social science research with focus on development. Research areas include, rural transformation, drylands and pastoral development, governance and civil society participation, gender-related issues, poverty and political and economic transformation in Africa. Given this active involvement in conflict-related research issues and their wide networks, research collaboration between the three institutions will furnish fruitful grounds for long-term collaboration in this important research area.
Objectives:
1. To assess current state of the art in post conflict reconstruction with focus on Middle East and Eastern and Southern Africa.
2. To identify the essential building blocks for an integrated conceptual framework for addressing tasks of rebuilding war torn communities.
3. To identify key issues and stimulate collaborative and comparative research in post conflict reconstruction.
The inaugural workshop will be held in Cairo, Egypt, on May 21-23, 2001. The workshop aims at raising conceptual and methodological issues concerning reconstruction and to further develop future collaborative research agendas.
Interested scholars are invited to submit an abstract of no longer than 250 words on the following themes:
1.Conceptual and Methodological Issues in Post-Conflict Studies
2.Problematizing Reconstruction
3. Rethinking Postcolonial Reconstruction
4. The Reconstruction of Territories and Communities
5. Redefining Political and Social Institutions
Deadline for abstract submission: April 1, 2001
All workshop participants are expected to submit a final paper not exceeding 2,500 words by May 14, 2001.
For further information, please contact the coordinators of the workshop: Ibrahim Elnur (MEAwards): [email protected];Rabab Abdulhadi (AUC): [email protected]; Martina Rieker (AUC): [email protected].