Middle East and Central Asia Futurescapes Academic Network (MECAFAN)

Launch Event Details 

Wednesday, 4 September, 4-6 PM
CAIS Lecture Theatre Room 1.15
127 Ellery Crescent, Canberra 2601
Register via this link: https://cais.cass.anu.edu.au/events/launch-middle-east-and-central-asia-futurescapes-academic-network-mecafan 
 

The Middle East and Central Asia Futurescapes Academic Network (MECAFAN) is an initiative set to redefine our understanding of rapidly transforming regions in the Global South. Envisioned by the Australian National University (ANU) Centre for Arab and Islamic Studies (CAIS), MECAFAN aims to explore the tangible and intangible ways by which the Middle East and Central Asia are being reshaped and re-imagined through the prism of future-facing technology.

This initiative emerges amidst a backdrop where these regions are becoming epicentres of futuristic innovation and renewed state-led developmental projects. From robot fleets serving pilgrims in Saudi Arabia to Kyrgyzstan’s urban resilience projects, these regions are witnessing a surge in techno-industrial developments as well as a conscious embrace by states and societies of the aesthetics of the cutting-edge. 

The network seeks to dissect the visions about the future inherent to these developments, analysing the political, economic, and cultural forces shaping them. Prioritising local perspectives and interdisciplinary approaches, the network brings together scholars and practitioners from the region (and globally) to generate cutting-edge research on this theme. MECAFAN hopes to move beyond traditional cliches, offering a nuanced understanding of the Middle East and Central Asia’s evolving landscapes through the prism of both the promises and perils of the future. An overarching goal of the initiative is to expand the network to include other institutions within ANU as well as international partners abroad.

The initiative will be officially launched at CAIS on the 4th of September and will feature introductory remarks from the Network Convenor Dr Mohammed Alsudairi (CAIS, ANU) and, the Centre’s Director Prof Karima Laachir (CAIS, ANU), as well as insightful interventions from key contributors Dr Bader Al-Saif, Kuwait University (Kuwait) and Dr Masha Kirasirova, NYU Abu Dhabi (UAE). All are welcome to join. Please register here. This will be followed the next day by a closed workshop involving participants from ANU, Kuwait University, Qatar University, NYU Abu Dhabi, and Waseda University to discuss the future pathways of collaboration for MECAFAN.

The Centre is also hosting a conference on ‘Re-Imagining Central Asian Migration: Past, Present and Future’ September 19-20, 2024. 

This is a joint project with partners from the Central Eurasian Research Unit (University of Tsukuba, Japan); the Nippon Foundation Central Asia-Japan Human Resource Development Project (NipCA Project, Japan); and MARS: Non-Western Migration Regimes in a Global Perspective (University of Lund, Sweden). The workshop aims at understanding the patterns, motivations and modalities of migration from the Central Asian region to different destinations regionally and globally and imagining its possible futures. It will bring together leading scholars from Australia, Central Asia, Japan and Sweden for an intense discussion and debate, the first event of its kind in the Asia-Pacific.