Annual North Carolina Consortium for Middle East Studies Conference 

March 22-23, 2024 

 

 

The Middle East on the Move: Migration, Diaspora, and Belonging 

 

“The Middle East on the Move: Migration, Diaspora, and Belonging” is an interdisciplinary conference that aims to bring together leading scholars of Middle East migrations from the state of North Carolina. The conference addresses “migration” as a broadly defined phenomenon encompassing voluntary, forced, internal, and international forms of mobility and explores issues relating to causes and outcomes of migration for individuals, communities, and states. The conference seeks to foster conversations among scholars from across disciplines to discuss the following: physical, cultural, and political processes that produce patterns of migration; the many ways migrants seek and express belonging; and how diasporic formations and networks contribute to migration and its outcomes at the level of the individual and the community.  

 

Organizers: 

Emek Ergun (UNC Charlotte, Global Studies & Women’s and Gender Studies)  

Hania Al-Shamat (UNC Charlotte, Political Science and Public Administration) 

Michael Ewers (UNC Charlotte, Geography and Earth Sciences) 

Noha Ghali (UNC Charlotte, Arabic Studies & Languages and Culture Studies) 

Ella Fratantuono (UNC Charlotte, History) 

 

Here is the tentative conference program:

March 22, Friday (@ The Independent Theater House, Charlotte)
6:00pm-9:00pm: Film screening of “The Man Who Sold His Skin” 

Discussion moderated by Dr. Nadia Yaqub (UNC Chapel Hill) 

 

March 23, Saturday (@ UNC Charlotte Center City)
9:00am-9:30am: Opening Remarks 

9:30am-11:00am: Panel 1 

Claudia Yaghoobi (UNC Chapel Hill) 

Diya Abdo (Guildford College) 

Başak Çandar (Appalachian State) 

11:00am-12:00pm: Keynote address
Akram Khater, Director of the Khayrallah Center (NC State) 

12:00pm-1:00pm: Lunch 

1:00pm-2:30pm: Panel 2
Banu Gökarıksel, (UNC Chapel Hill)
Caroline Nagel (University of South Carolina)
Sandy Marshall & Rachel Curtis (Elon University) 

2:30pm-3:00pm: Coffee Break 

3:00pm-4:30pm: Panel 3
Omar Ali (UNC Greensboro)
Rebecca Joubin (Davidson College)
Nelly Van Doorn-Harder (Wake Forest University) 

4:30pm-5:00pm: Closing remarks and light refreshments 

NC ConsortiumThe North Carolina Consortium for Middle East Studies encourages collaboration and cooperation in all aspects of Middle Eastern studies across Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill, throughout the state of North Carolina, and across disciplines. We study the Middle East as the region extending from the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean, and focus on interdisciplinary work. Learn more about the consortium at https://ncmideast.org/