DEADLINE EXTENDED: UCSB Islamic Studies Graduate Student Conference

We would like to announce that the submission deadline for paper proposals for the 4th UCSB Islamic Studies Graduate Student Conference has been extended to January 31st, 2014. We would greatly appreciate if you could circulate this email around your department.

This year's conference, titled (Un)Civil Society: Past and Present, will address the various historical and contemporary manifestations of civil society and political/social unrest in the Middle East and wider Islamic World. We invite the submission of any paper proposals that address civil society and political unrest in the Middle East and wider Islamic World, widely conceived, in both historical and contemporary societies. Proposals from a variety of disciplines are welcomed!

Submission Guidelines: To have your paper considered, please submit a paper proposal/abstract (maximum 300 words) and a two-page Curriculum Vitae by January 31st, 2014. Email proposals to isgsc@cmes.ucsb.edu Travel assistance may be available for needy applicants on a limited basis.

For more information, see below and attached:

(Un)Civil Society: Past and Present
The 4th Annual UCSB Islamic Studies Graduate Student Conference

April 4th–6th, 2014
University of California, Santa Barbara

Call For Papers

Islamic societies are witnessing an unprecedented wave of protests and revolt that have provoked renewed discussions over the character of civil society. From the 2009 Iranian “Green Movement” to the ongoing “Arab Spring” movements across the Middle East, there continues to be an intense political contest between various reform movements, ideologies, and the state.

This conference aims to explore the complex and varied social and political forces that have comprised civil society and its relationship to the state in both historical and contemporary contexts/societies.

Professor Gilbert Achcar of the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London will be this year’s keynote speaker. Professor Achcar is a leading scholar on politics and developmental economics in the Middle East and North Africa and he has written extensively on the Arab Spring movements.

We invite paper proposals that treat a variety of topics concerning civil society, including, but not limited to:

1. To what extent did pre-modern forms of civil society exist in Islamic societies?
2. How have competing notions of 'civil society' coexisted in the public imagination?
3. The state as a site of civil disobedience and the state's regulation of civil protests.
4. The role of technology as a facilitator and/or inhibitor of civil discourse.
5. How do Islamic discourses situate the Sharia with respect to civil society?
6. The place of gender in the construction of civil discourses.
7. Artistic representations, public spaces and visions of (un)civil society.

Submission Guidelines: To apply, please submit proposals/abstracts (maximum 300 words) and a two page CV by January 31st, 2014 to isgsc@cmes.ucsb.edu