Center for Contemporary Arab Studies

* Deadline extended to 2/1/2025 * The American Druze Foundation Fellowship in Druze and Arab Studies at CCAS. The purpose of the ADF Fellowship is to promote research on the Druze and Arab minorities with a concentration in the political, economic, and social history of the Druze. Learn more and apply here

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Happy New Year! Just a reminder that applications for the American Druze Foundation Fellowship at CCAS are due January 5. The fellowship promotes research on Arab minorities with a concentration in the political, economic, and social history of the Druze.

American Druze Foundation Fellowship - CCAS American Druze Foundation Fellowship The Georgetown University Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS) is pleased to partner with the American Druze Foundation (ADF) to offer the ADF Fellowship in Druze and Arab Studies at CCAS. The purpose of the ADF Fellowship is to promote research on the Dru...

The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies hosted a book talk this semester with Wendy Pearlman, author of "The Home I Worked to Make: Voices from the New Syrian Diaspora."

Syrians across five continents recount stories of leaving, losing, searching for, and sometimes rebuilding home. Through their voices, a new perspective emerges: for those who cannot take home for granted, it becomes both a challenge and an achievement. Reframing the notion of “refugee crises” as acts of diaspora-making, The Home I Worked to Make invites readers to engage with the hard-earned insights of war survivors and to reflect on the meaning of home in their own lives.

Following the toppling of the Assad regime and the charting of a new course towards Syria’s future, Syrian voices are more important than ever. Listen to this event’s recording below.

Book Talk | The Home I Worked to Make: Voices from the New Syrian Diaspora The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies hosted a book talk with Wendy Pearlman, author of The Home I Worked to Make: Voices from the New Syrian Diaspora. Wa...

Professor Killian Clarke's work was recently featured in the New York Times. Dr. Clarke and NYT columnist Amanda Taub published,
"Why Do Some Rebel Governments Last When Others Fall?"

Why Do Some Rebel Governments Last When Others Fall? One factor matters most, and it could be a problem in Syria.

A New Syria is Born: Hopes and Challenges December 8, 2024, marked a historic turning point in Syria and the Middle East region—a day when the Syrian people achieved what had seemed unattainable: the toppling of one of the most brutal dictatorships in modern history. After 13 years of a tragedy that began with a peaceful revolution in 201...

Professor Marwa Daoudy writes for Arab Center Washington DC, "A New Syria is Born: Hopes and Challenges." Professor Daoudy adds that she has immense joy and hope in the change brought by Syrians who started and ended their Revolution and urge the country's future to be built by Syrians around their reconciliation, recovery and territorial sovereignty. In her article she writes, "As Syrians celebrate this historic milestone, the international community must respect and support their sovereign aspirations. Only through Syrian-led efforts can the country transform this victory into lasting peace and justice."

A New Syria is Born: Hopes and Challenges December 8, 2024, marked a historic turning point in Syria and the Middle East region—a day when the Syrian people achieved what had seemed unattainable: the toppling of one of the most brutal dictatorships in modern history. After 13 years of a tragedy that began with a peaceful revolution in 201...

CCAS hosted Salma Daoudi in Prof. Marwa Daoudy’s class, Critical, Environmental, and Human Security, on November 20th for an event titled Health as a Weapon: Gaza, Syria, and the Wider MENA Region. This event explores how health is often weaponised in the context of war and conflict, including the deliberate targeting of health infrastructure.

In this event Daoudi said, “the weaponization of health negates the right to exist and resist. It is a means of collectively punishing a population and discouraging or deterring any form of resistance, whether peaceful or violent. However, retaliating against a civilian population not only contradicts the basic tenets of international humanitarian law, but also perpetuates structural power imbalances borne out of the asymmetry of forces between the colonizer and the colonized.” Watch the event recording here!

Health as a Weapon: Gaza, Syria, and the Wider MENA Region The Center for Contemporary Arab Studies hosted a lecture by Salma Daoudi, a DPhil candidate in International Relations at the University of Oxford, as she e...

Throughout the 2024-2025 academic year, CCAS along with the African Studies Program, Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace, and Security, the Gender+ Justice Initiative and the Conflict Resolution Program are collaborating on a series, "Keep Eyes on Sudan." Tomorrow, we have the third episode in the series and final event of 2024, "Higher Education in Times of Conflict." Join us online. Register here: https://georgetown.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_zg39TQPyS02doeMnqKSbhw #/registration

Toward a Better Security Order - Better Order Project Stabilizing a Post-Unipolar World As the world continues to move away from the unipolar structure born after the end of ...

Congratulations to alums Thayer Hastings and Leen Alfatafta, whose papers were awarded the 2024 Middle East Section (MES) Paper Prize and Honorable Mention, respectively, by the American Anthropological Association!

MAAS Alums Honored with Paper Prize - CCAS Congratulations to Thayer Hastings and Leen Alfatafta, whose papers were selected for the American Anthropological Association Middle East Section Student Paper Prize!

Join Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, African Studies at Georgetown University, and Georgetown University in Qatar for a discussion with Dr. Lihi Ben Sh*trit, Associate Professor and Director of the Taub Center for Israel Studies at New York University. Speaking to the impact of the events of October 7th and the ensuing, ongoing war on the already unstable situation in Israel, Ben Sh*trit will discuss the reactions of the various parts of the Israeli political map over the past year and the likely aftermaths, as well as share insight from her edited volume The Gates of Gaza: Critical Voices from Israel on October 7 and the War with Hamas.

RSVP: https://georgetown.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5to0Jcm0Rt-jWtLUnWexjw #/registration

Location: CCAS Boardroom, ICC 141 (livestream available)

* Lunch to be provided

[Next Week] Join Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University in Qatar, African Studies at Georgetown University, and Institute for the Study of International Migration for a critical and timely discussion with Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, on how the nature and scale of Israel’s year-long assault on Gaza passed the threshold of genocide as defined by the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.

Building on her findings in the 2024 report “Anatomy of a Genocide,” Albanese will describe the relationship between settler-colonialism and genocide, the genocidal acts and intent present in this current moment, and the act of “de-civilianizing” Palestinians to conceal those acts and intentions.
Location: Copley Formal Lounge (livestream available)

* Lunch to be provided

RSVP:https://georgetown.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ldsqs0fRTcSF8WgXI5tHfg #/registration

Throughout this Fall semester, HRH Prince Turki Al Faisal, CCAS Board Member and Chairman of the King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies, has been speaking in classes throughout Georgetown University.

Last week, Prince Turki spoke at the Energy Security and Energy Diplomacy class taught by Dr. Sara Vakhshouri. He began by sharing the history of how the search for water led to the Saudi Arabia's monumental oil discovery. Though little water was found, oil made access to water possible. His insightful remarks and thoughtful responses to each student’s question made the experience truly memorable.

Join CCAS on 10/23 for a hybrid event, "Book Talk: Understanding Hamas And Why That Matters" at 4pm ET! Register now: https://www.georgetown.edu/event/book-talk-understanding-hamas-and-why-that-matters/

Public Forum on Israel-Gaza War: One Year Later October 7, 2024, marks the somber anniversary of the Hamas attack on Israel and the subsequent Israel-Gaza War. These events are widely viewed as a transform...

CCAS and the Arab Studies Institute are hosting a virtual event, "Israel’s Aggressions on Lebanon: To what End?" on 10/3 at 12:30pm ET

Register here: https://georgetown.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_TX3VLE7dSY-zUKOp6nHhWQ #/registration

[Tomorrow] "Gaza, Israel's System of Domination and U.S. Complicity" with Nathan Thrall, 2024 Nonfiction Pulitzer Prize Winner Center for Contemporary Arab Studies African Studies at Georgetown University Georgetown University in Qatar


https://georgetown.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ZX-36h2uTj-HrgsUl331zA #/registration