A New Agenda? Debating the Middle East and
Central Asia
International Early Career Researcher Conference
The Centre for Arab & Islamic Studies (The Middle East and Central Asia)
The Australian National University
Friday 3rd July and Saturday 4th July, 2015
Presenters
Opening Address: Mr Ric Wells, Deputy Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
Keynote Address: Professor Shahram Akbarzardeh, Deakin University
_________________
Harout Akdedian
Govand Azeez
Shuhrat Baratov
Dr James Barry
Dr Samuel Bowker
Timothy Dobson
Haian Dukhan
William Gourlay
Kanchi Gupta
Natalye Hillme
Alasdair Hynd
Azamjon Isabaev
Zainab Jasim
William Jenkins
Liyana Kayali
Seyyed Ayatollah Mirzaie
Dr Farhang Morady
Jessie Moritz
Dr Ian Nelson
Umut Ozguc
Mahmoud Pargoo
Masoumeh Qarakhani
Mohammed Sulemana
Jacky Sutton
Dirk van der Kley
Gijs Verbossen
Elisabeth Yarbakhsh
Dr Murat Yurtbilir
University of New England
PhD Candidate
Macquarie University
PhD Candidate
The Australian National University
PhD Candidate
Deakin University
Associate Research Fellow
Charles Sturt University
Lecturer
The Australian National University
Masters Student
University of St Andrews
PhD Candidate
Monash University
PhD Candidate
Observer Research Foundation
Junior Fellow
Humboldt University
PhD Candidate
University of South Australia
PhD Candidate
University of Hamburg
PhD Candidate
University of Sydney
PhD Candidate
The Australian National University
First-Class Honours
The Australian National University
PhD Candidate
Institute for the Humanities and Cultural Studies
University of Westminster
Principle Lecturer
The Australian National University
PhD Candidate
The University of Nottingham
Assistant Professor (Lecturer)
The University of New South Wales
Graduate Student
Australian Catholic University
PhD Candidate
Allameh Tabatabai University
Macquarie University
PhD Candidate
The Australian National University
PhD Candidate
The Australian National University
PhD Candidate
LaTrobe University
PhD Candidate
The Australian National University
PhD Candidate
The Australian National University
Associate Lecturer
A New Agenda? Debating the Middle East and Central Asia 1
Draft Program
Friday 3rd July
8:30am-8:50am
Registration and coffee
Foyer, the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (CAIS),
Bldg 127, Ellery Crescent, the Australian National University
8:50am-9:00am
Welcome to the Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies
Distinguished Professor Amin Saikal
CAIS Lecture Theatre
9:00am-9:20am
Opening address
Mr Ric Wells, Deputy Secretary, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
9:20am-10:10am
Keynote address
Professor Shahram Akbarzadeh, Deakin University
Chair: Distinguished Professor Amin Saikal
10:10am-10:30am
Morning tea
10:30am-11:50am
Panel One: Changing Perceptions of the Middle East
Govand Azeez Middle Eastern Studies: New Imperial Agendas, Old Epistemological
Approaches?
Dr Samuel Bowker A New Islamic Art: Viewing the Middle East through Contemporary Visual
Culture
Dr Ian Nelson Shall the Twain Meet?: When East looks West to the Middle East
11:50am-1:30pm
Panel Two: New Agendas in Foreign Policy?
Dr Farhang Morady Iran - US Relations and the Puzzle of Strategic Competition and
Cooperation: The Nuclear Framework Agreement and its Consequences
Dr James Barry The New Russian Bloc: Iran and Central Asia
Kanchi Gupta India and Saudi Arabia: Moving Beyond Axes and Allies
Dr Murat Yurtbilir Performing Foreign Policy for Domestic Stage Play: Turkish Foreign Policy
under Justice and Development Party, 2002-2015
1:30pm-2:00pm
Lunch
A New Agenda? Debating the Middle East and Central Asia 2
2:00pm-3:40pm
Panel Three: Islamic State and the State of Islam in the Middle East and Central Asia
Mahmoud Pargoo The Enemy in the Eyes of ISIS: Literal Textualists or Market-oriented
Opportunists
Mohammed Sulemana 21st Century Islamism Reconsidered: Bringing Sahel-Saharan Africa to
the Middle East
Harout Akdedian Islamic Radicalization in Syria: Explanatory Narratives and Theoretical
Pathways
Shuhrat Baratov The Uzbek “Citizens” of the Islamic State
3:40pm-4:00pm
Afternoon tea
4:00pm-5:20pm
Panel Four: Limits to Power: The State and Civil society in the Middle East
Gijs Verbossen Mubarak's Fall: Instability of the Deep State
Haian Dukhan From Enmity to Amity: Hafez al-Assad and the Arab Tribes in Syria
William Jenkins Parastatal Foundations and Organised Labour as Forgotten Civil Society and
Political Economy Forces in the Islamic Republic of Iran
Chair: Associate Professor Matthew Gray
5:20pm-5:30pm
Conclusion
Sebastian Klich
Saturday 4th July
9:00am-9:30am
Coffee and bookshop
9:30am-10:50am
Panel Five: Stability in the Central Asian Nations
Azamjon Isabaev The Afghan Threat to the Security of the Central Asian Nations: Myth or
Reality?
Natalye Hillme Informal Institutions and Regime Stability in Central Asia
Dirk van der Kley Pragmatic Policing: China’s Approach to Central Asian Security
10:50am-11:15am
Morning Tea and conference photograph
11:15am-12:55pm
Panel Six: Boundaries and Borders in the Middle East and Central Asia
Umut Ozguc The Walls of Israel, the Walls of the World
A New Agenda? Debating the Middle East and Central Asia 3
Elisabeth Yarbakhsh Iranian Nationalism from its (Afghan) Margins
Masoumeh Qarakhani and Seyyed Ayatollah Mirzaie Iranian Women and Transition from
Private Sphere to Public Sphere
William Gourlay The Kurds & a “Third Way”: Charting a Course Between Nationalism and
Political Islam in the Middle East
12:55pm-1:30pm
Lunch
1:30pm-2:50pm
Panel Seven: Resistance: Protest and Revolution in the Contemporary Middle East
Jessie Moritz Building Opposition: Development, Welfare, and Protest in the Gulf
Alasdair Hynd Untitled [Social Revolution in Rojava (Syria)]
Liyana Kayali Palestinian Women’s Perception of Popular Resistance in the West Bank
2:50pm-3:10pm
Afternoon tea
3:10pm-4:30pm
Panel Eight: Looking in, Looking out: Media Perspectives on the Middle East and Central Asia
Zainab Jasim Analysis of Al-Jazeera’s Coverage of Bahrain’s Uprising
Jackie Sutton Women, Voice, and Agency in Iraq and Afghanistan 2001-2011
Timothy Dobson Qatar’s Football Diplomacy
4:30pm-4:45pm
Conclusion
Sebastian Klich
A New Agenda? Debating the Middle East and Central Asia 4