CAIS PhD candidates launch new book on Middle East

Fieldwork in various parts of the world proved no obstacle for three ANU PhD candidates, who teamed up to co-edit a book investigating social and political changes that have taken place in the Middle East over the last decade.

The Contemporary Middle East: Revolution or Reform? was co-edited by Adel Abdel Ghafar, Brenton Clark and Jessie Moritz from the Centre for Arabic and Islamic Studies (CAIS).

Adel Abdel Ghafar, Jessie Moritz and Brenton Clark.

Events in the last few weeks – another presidential election in Egypt and an upsurge in violence in Iraq – are stark reminders of the ongoing instability in the region.

After a decade of major social and political change in the Middle East, the book aims to challenge mainstream and often misinformed ideas about revolutionary change and reform, and provide much needed clarity on issues rocking the region.

“The book came about organically through collaboration with ANU PhD students and academics, after a conference hosted at the ANU Centre for Arab & Islamic Studies in 2012,” says Adel Abdel Ghafar.

“The chapters in the book are a mix of established Middle East scholars and emerging researchers conducting cutting edge research on the ground.”

“The volume aims to highlight some of the complex and dynamic change processes currently unfolding in the region and in the process challenge some of the established views on how we perceive and study the Middle East.” 

The editors were all undertaking fieldwork in different parts of the Middle East while editing the book – Abdel Ghafar in Egypt, Clark in Iran and Moritz in Qatar, Bahrain and Oman. They used a raft of online tools like Skype, Email, Dropbox and Viber to bring the project together.

Both the conference and the book received funding from CAIS, CASS and the Research School of Social Sciences.

“The book is a reflection of the strong support that CASS gives to its PhD scholars for conferences, publishing, and outreach to the wider community,” says Abdel Ghafar

As later-year research students, they are no strangers to publishing, but this is the first book they have edited. And while they are studying and working together, they are each undertaking varied research.

Brenton Clark’s research focuses on Iran’s political, economic and cultural influence in post-Soviet Tajikistan. Brenton has travelled extensively throughout the Middle East region and has spent considerable time conducting fieldwork research in both Iran and Tajikistan.  

Jessie Moritz’ doctoral research revisits rentier state theory and its portrayal of state–society relations in the Arab Gulf states in light of the Arab Uprisings.

Adel Abdel Ghafar started his doctoral research at ANU after personally participating in the 2011 uprisings in Egypt and Libya. His research investigates the political economy of the Arab Spring with a focus on Egypt

The Contemporary Middle East: Revolution or Reform? will be launched on 26 June 2014 by ANU Vice-Chancellor Ian Young. The book launch is part of an upcoming conference convened by Professor Amin Saikal, Director of CAIS, from 26-27 June: The Arab World, Iran and the Major Powers: Transitions and Challenges

You can register for the conference at the above link. 

The book is available to purchase via Melbourne University Press