Events

The Almedalen Week has been described as the rock festival for politcs. During the first week of July, politicians, journalists, lobbyists, corporations and NGOs meet to debate hot topics on the Swedish political scene.

For the first time, CMES will be present in Almedalen. During half a day CMES will host a series of seminars and discussions on Middle East issues. Join us at Hästgatan 13, Visby. This is an event in Swedish.

PROGRAM JULY 3, 2013

12.00 - 13.30 Alla i samma båt – men vem kan bestämma över Nilens vatten?

13.30 - 15.00 Syrien - ett land utan framtid?

15.00 - 16.00 Muslimen och dess elake styvbroder islamisten - islam i svensk politik

19.00 - 21.00 Mellanösterns minoriteter och den arabiska våren

PUBLIC SEMINARS

29 JANUARY "How to analyse religion: on the difference between a theological and an anthropological approach." Seminar with Jan Hjärpe, Islamologist and LU emeritus - on his "basket theory" for the interpretation of the religious discourse and religion. TIME & PLACE: 3:30 - 5 PM at CMES.

30 JANUARY "Techno-secularism: an issue worth discussing? Seminar with Antje Jackelén, Lund's bishop, on the interaction of religion and technology. TIME & PLACE: 3:15 - 5 pm at CMES.

7 FEBRUARY "How to Relate Science and Religion: A Multidimensional Model" Mikael Stenmark - Dean of the Faculty of Theology since 2008 and
Professor of Philosophy of Religion at the Department of Theology,
Uppsala - on his multidimensional model for the interaction of science
and religion. TIME & PLACE: 12:30 - 2:30 pm at CMES. 

18 MARCH "The Syrian Civil War and Iran: Policies, Perils, and Prospects"
Maysam Behravesh, PhD Candidate in Political Science, Lund University
Iran has been an influential player in Syria ever since the outbreak of popular protests against the Assad government in March 2011, and particularly so following their radicalization into a full-blown security crisis. In an explicit demonstration of a post-Islamist foreign policy conduct, it has made tremendous efforts, ranging from diplomatic and financial to logistical and military, to sustain the Ba’athist regime in power and prevent the loss of its sole state ally in the region. Seeking to shed light on the changing nature of the Syrian crisis, this presentation sets out to investigate the evolution of Iranian strategy towards the Arab Spring-induced revolt and offer a contextualized analysis of its geopolitical perils and problems for Tehran. It also explores the most viable scenarios the conflict may witness in the future, concluding that unless Iran undertakes a proactive function in resolving the crisis – by facilitating Assad’s departure - it will have little share, if any, in the unfolding redistribution of power in the Middle East. TIME & PLACE: 1 PM at CMES

9 APRIL "Human Terrain" (2010) Film screening.
‘Human Terrain’ is two stories in one. Seeking to understand 'why they hate us', the US military adopts a new strategy of cultural awareness to win over the hearts and minds of the Iraqi and Afghan people. Controversy erupts when academics embed with combat troops and the war comes home to the university. Read more about the film here. The film is followed by a panel discussion with Leif Stenberg, CMES and Anders Davidsson, SAK. The event is organized by CMES and Svenska Afghanistankommittén. TIME & PLACE: 5 - 7 PM SOL auditorium

22 APRIL Breaking The Silence - A testimony by former officer Dana Galan of the Israeli Defense Forces. The event is organized by Diakonia, CMES, LUPEF, Samhällsvetarkåren, IKT och Bilda Studieförbund. TIME & PLACE: 9-11 AM, H135B Språk- och Litteraturcentrum (SOL)

7 MAY ”Peace and security in the Middle East: Europe’s role and responsibility” Brown Bag Seminar with Anders Persson, PhD candidate in Political Science at Lund University. The talk will shed light on the role of European countries and thereafter the European Union in the Middle East. What are the lessons learned of European peace- and statebuilding and can these be applied on the countries in the Middle East? The topic is highly relevant because the so-called Arab Spring has so far created violence and disintegration of states rather than peace and stability. Read more about Anders here. TIME & PLACE: 12-2 PM at CMES.

7 MAY "Revolution, Creativity and Women" The Annual Ingmar Karlsson Lecture hosts Nawal El Saadawi, a novelist, psychiatrist and author. Her novels and her books on the situation of women have had a deep effect on successive generations of young women and men over the last five decades in the Middle East. TIME & PLACE: 6 - 8 pm at Grand Hôtel, Lund.

As a result of her literary and scientific writings she has had to face numerous difficulties and even dangers in her life. In 1972, she lost her job in the Egyptian Ministry of Health because of her book “Women and Sex” published in Arabic in Cairo (1969) and banned by the political and religious authorities, because in some chapters of the book she wrote against Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) and linked sexual problems to political and economic oppression. The magazine Health, which she founded and had edited for more than three years, was closed down in 1973. In September 1981 President Sadat put her in prison. She was released at the end of November 1981, two months after his assassination. She wrote her book “Memoirs” from the Women’s Prison on a roll of toilette paper and an eyebrow pencil smuggled to her cell by an imprisoned young woman in the prostitutes’ ward. From 1988 to 1993 her name figured on death lists issued by fanatical religious political organizations.

On 15 June 1991, the government issued a decree, which closed down the Arab Women’s Solidarity Association over which she presides and handed over its funds to the association called Women in Islam. Six months before this decree the government closed down the magazine Noon, published by the Arab Women’s Solidarity Association. She was editor-in-chief of the magazine.

During the summer of 2001, three of her books were banned at Cairo International Book Fair. A fundamentalist lawyer who raised a court case against her to be forcibly divorced from her husband, Dr. Sherif Hetata, accused her of apostasy in 2002. She won the case due to Egyptian, Arab and international solidarity. On 28 January 2007, Nawal El Saadawi and her daughter Mona Helmy, a poet and writer, were accused of apostasy and interrogated by the General Prosecutor in Cairo because of their writings to honour the name of their mother. They won the case in 2008. Their efforts led to a new law of the child in Egypt in 2008, giving children born outside marriage the right to carry their mother’s name. Also female genital mutilation (FGM) is banned in Egypt by this law in 2008. Nawal El-Saadawi has been writing and fighting against FGM for more than fifty years.

Nawal El Saadawi had been awarded several national and international literary prizes, lectured in many universities, and participated in many international and national conferences.

TURKEY SEMINAR SERIES

21 FEBRUARY "Turkey as a Model for Arab Transformations?"  Sami Zubaida, Birkbeck College - London TIME & PLACE: 5 - 7 pm at CMES.
 
7 MARCH  (Brown Bag) “Whose Democracy? Oligarchy, Markets, and Economic Theory in Turkey and the Middle East”, Matthew Goldman, University of Washington - Seattle. TIME & PLACE: 12 - 2 pm at CMES.
 
14 MARCH "Modesty, Media and Markets: Ala Magazine and the Muslim Fashion Industry in Turkey", Reina Lewis, London College of Fashion. TIME & PLACE: 5 - 7 pm at CMES.
 
21 MARCH (Brown Bag) "Contentious Citizenship: Secularism, Nationalism and Women's Activism in Turkey", Selin Cagatay, Central European University - Budapest. TIME & PLACE: 12 - 2 pm at CMES.

CMES RESEARCH SEMINARS

25 JANUARY "The Construction of the Middle East Conflict in German and Swedish Christian Zionism"  CMES organizes the first seminar at the Center this semester. Kristian Steiner presents his research on Christian Zionism. TIME & PLACE: 1.15 PM at CMES.

8 FEBRUARY Lory Dance TIME & PLACE: 1.15 PM at CMES.

1 MARCH Leif Stenberg TIME & PLACE: 1.15 PM at CMES.

15 MARCH Jon Anderson TIME & PLACE: 1.15 PM at CMES. 

5 APRIL Reza Arjmand TIME & PLACE: 1.15 PM at CMES - CANCELLED 

26 APRIL Stefano Bigliardi TIME & PLACE: 1.15 PM at CMES.

17 MAY Reza Arjmand and Parvin Ardalan TIME & PLACE: 1.15 PM at CMES.