Seventh Annual ASMEA Conference Schedule

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30

6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
Welcome Reception
Opening Remarks: Amb. Lukman Faily, Ambassador of the Republic of Iraq to the United States.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 31

7:45 a.m. – 8:15 a.m.
Breakfast

8:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Panels

Panel 1: Israel and Hamas: Reaching In and Out

Qardawi, Hamas and the “Arab Spring”
(Shaul Bartal, Bar-Ilan University)

Israel’s International Squadron
(Asher Orkaby, Harvard University)

Israel-Hamas New-Media Wars (2008-2014): Does New-Media Win the International Public’s Hearts and Minds?
(Elad Popovich, The University of Haifa, Columbia Law School)

Between Two Intifadas: Fatah and Hamas Socio-Political Clashes in the Palestinian Campuses
(Ido Zelkovitz, University of Minnesota)

Panel 2: Explaining Today’s Egypt

Coup or Revolution? Word Choice and Egypt’s 2013 Popular Uprising Against President Morsi
(Amaya Martin, University of Notre Dame)

What Went Wrong?: Brotherhood Perspectives on the Causes of Democratic Breakdown in Egypt
(Carrie Wickham, Emory University)

The Coptic Diaspora and the Status of the Coptic Minority in Egypt
(Bosmat Yefet, Ariel University)

The Power Struggle Between the Military and the Islamists -The Future of Egypt
(Ahmed Zohny, Coppin State University)

Panel 3: Identity, Faith and Rights in the Turkish Republic

Ethics of Populist Politics in Contemporary Turkey: A Comparative Analysis of Conservative Islam in the Middle East
(Nergis Canefe, York University)

Turkish Nationalism and Non-Muslim Minorities During the Early Republican Period (1923-1950)
(Banu Eligur, Baskent University)

Islamists and Women’s Rights: Lessons from Turkey
(Mehmet Gurses, Florida Atlantic University)

Silence in Official Representations of Turkish History: Implications for National Identity and Minority Rights
(Tugce Kurtis, University of West Georgia)

8:45 a.m. – 10:00 a.m.
Roundtable A: “Boko Haram: Islamism and Anarchy to What End?”
(Ms. Lauren Blanchard; Dr. J. Peter Pham; Mr. Jacob Zenn)

Roundtable B: “Trends in Antisemitism in the Middle East”
(Prof. Jeffrey Herf; Prof. Meir Litvak; Dr. Asaf Romirowsky, Prof. Esther Webman)

10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Panels

Panel 4: Israel at War and Peace

The Development of Israel’s POW Policy: The 1967 War as a Test Case
(Alexander Bligh, Ariel University)

Cold War, Hot Summer: Superpower Involvement in the War of Attrition in 1970
(George “Larry” Simpson, High Point University)

Pax Israeliana: An Unintended Consequence of Israeli Policy
(Eyal Lewin, Ariel University and Joel Fishman, JCPA)

Israel, Jordan, and Their Efforts to Frustrate the UN Resolutions to Internationalize Jerusalem
(Elad Ben-Dror, Bar-Ilan University)

Panel 5: Lebanon and the Region: Borders Real and Imagined

The Role of Leadership in Transitional States: The Cases of Lebanon, Israel-Palestine
(Anastasia Filippidou, Cranfield University)

Social Origins of Sectarianism in the Arab Middle East
(Yusri Hazran, Hebrew University)

The Beirut Jewish Community and Early Twentieth Century Lebanese Nationalism
(Franck Salameh, Boston College)

Panel 6: Networks of Identity in Africa

From West Africa to Mecca and Jerusalem: The Tijāiniyya on the Hajj Routes
(Irit Back, Tel Aviv University)

The Emergence of Nation and the Persistence of Tribe in Sub-Saharan Africa: Gaborone, Botswana and Harare, Zimbabwe
(Phyllis Puffer, Big Sandy Community and Technical College)

Islam and Competing World Orders in West Africa During the Cold War
(Mohamed Camara, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University)

Simulation Exercises as an Aid for Teaching State Formation in Africa
(Dylan Craig, American University)

Panel 7: Early Messaging: Christians, Jews, and Muslims

The Rejection of Muhammad’s Message by Jews and Christians and Its Effect on Islamic Theological Argumentation
(Francisco F. del Rio Sanchez, University of Barcelona)

Hijrah – Muslims Living in Non-Islamic States: the Attitude of the Sharī‘ah
(David Bukay, University of Haifa)

Discerning the True Religion in the Apologetical Discourses of Gerasimus
(Abjar Bahkou, Baylor University)

Crafting a Sunni Past in Early Islamic North Africa
(W. Matt Malczycki, Auburn University)

10:30 a.m. – 11:45 a.m.
Roundtable C: “The Sunni-Shia Sectarian War Across the Sykes-Picot Line”
(Dr. Michael Knights; Dr. Matthew Levitt; Mr. Phillip Smyth; Mr. Jeff White)

12:30 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Banquet Luncheon and Keynote Address
Prof. Meir Litvak, Tel Aviv University, “Rouhani’s Iran: How Real is the Change?”

2:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Panels

Panel 8: Constructing Anti-Israelism in the Middle East

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi: Between Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism
(Nesya Rubinstein-Shemer, Bar-Ilan University)

Deir Yassin: The Complete Story
(Eliezer Tauber, Bar-Ilan University)

Palestinians, Arabs, and the Holocaust
(Joseph Spoerl, Saint Anselm College)

Panel 9: Narratives and Memory of Early Islamic Society [Part I]

Myth and Memory in Islamic narratives: Saʿd and Abū Miḥjan at the Battle of al-Qādisiyyah
(D Gershon Lewental, University of Oklahoma)

Why Does Anyone Listen to Abu Bakra? A Study in Authority and Historical Memory
(Elizabeth Urban, Williams College)

Jonah and the Ninevites: Prophecy to Communal Outsiders in Early Islam
(Hamza Zafer, University of Washington)

Panel 10: Contested Issues in the Wake of the “Arab Spring”
This panel was organized by the The Moshe Dayan Center of Tel Aviv University.

Energy and International Order: Putin’s Russia in the Post-Saddam Middle East
(Brandon Friedman, Tel Aviv University)

The “Jew” as a Metaphor for Evil in Arab Public Discourse
(Esther Webman, Tel Aviv University)

The Quest for Legitimacy in Post-Revolutionary Egypt: Propaganda and Controlling Narratives
(Joyce van de Bildt, Tel Aviv University)

Defending the Faithful: The Religio-Ideological Discourse of Iraqi Shiʿi Militias fighting in Syria and Iraq
(Carl Yonker, Tel Aviv University)

Panel 11: Economics, Interventions, and Law

Study of Inhuman Punishments for Consensual Homosexual Acts in the Middle East and West: Comparative Perspective
(Sanaz Alasti, Lamar University)

Population and Economic Activities of the Non-ruling Classes in the Trucial Arab Emirates: The 1901 Census
(Jeffrey Macris, U.S. Naval Academy)

Jurisprudential Engineering in Two Middle Eastern Secular-Religious Countries: Between Sanhuri’s enterprise of incorporating Islamic Law in Egypt and the invention of Hebrew Law (Mishpat Ivri) in Mandatory Palestine
(Yuval Sinai, Yale Law School)

2:30 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Roundtable D: “Iraq: Failure or Federalism”
(H.E. Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir; LtGen. John F. Sattler; Prof. Amatzia Baram; Prof. Abbas Kadhim; Prof. Ronen Zeidel)

4:15 p.m. – 5:45 p.m.
Panels

Panel 12: The March to Power: Feminism and Female Leaders

The Kurdish Women’s Revolution
(Ofra Bengio, Tel Aviv University)

Models of Feminism: Tunisia’s Opportunity to Overcome the Secular/Islamist Binary
(Jan Feldman, University of Vermont)

A Female Religious Authority at the Intersection of Nationalism, Islamism, Secularism and Globalization in Turkey: Cemalnur Sargut
(Feyza Burak-Adli, Boston University)

Panel 13: Iraq and Yemen: The Price of Internal Conflict

Between Iraq and a Hard Place: Assyrians in the Iraqi Kurdistan Region and the ‘Disputed Territories’
(Nicholas Al-Jeloo, University of Divinity)

Protecting Yemen’s Heritage for the Future: Investigating Aspects of the Illicit Trade in Antiquities from South Arabia
(Alexander Nagel, Smithsonian Institution)

Panel 14: West Africa: Tribes and Traditions

Homosexuality: Yoruba Traditional and Contemporary Cultural Perspectives
(Ibigbolade Aderibigbe, University of Georgia)

Speech that Takes on Body and Shape: The World as Manifestation of Spirit in West African Religions
(Monika Brodnicka, Ohio State University)

Abusive Husbands and Complaining Wives: Divorce Hearings in the Muslim Court of Colonial Bathurst, the Gambia, 1905-1935
(Bala Saho, University of Oklahoma)

Panel 15: Ottomans, Interlocutors and Descendents

Ending Ottoman Misrule: British Soldiers, Liberal Imperialism and the First World War in Palestine
(Justin Fantauzzo, University of Cambridge)

Descendants of Slaves: People of African Origin in Turkey
(Aysegul Kayagil, New School for Social Research)

Naval Reformation in the Ottoman Empire: The Case of Henry Eckford
(Gulumhan Huma Yildirim, Harvard University)

Tevye’s Ottoman Daughter: Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jews at the End of Empire
(Sarah Zaides, University of Washington)

4:15 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

Roundtable E: “The Middle East: New Political Arrays, Old Complications”
(Prof. Alexander Bligh; Prof. Ronen Cohen, Prof. Eyal Lewin; Prof. Bosmat Yefet)

8:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.
Film Screenings

SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 1

8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m.
Breakfast

8:45 a.m. – 10:15 a.m.
Panels

Panel 16: Progress and Inclusion in Morocco
Panel is sponsored by the Moroccan American Cultural Center.

Feminist Theology: the Case of Asma Lamrabet
(Habiba Boumlik, City University of New York, LaGuardia)

Jewish Minority in Nineteenth Century Morocco: A Culture and an Engine of Modernity
(Amal Cavender, Purdue University)

Dynamic Belonging: Moroccan Jews and the Development of Nationalist Narratives in French Protectorate Morocco
(Kristin Hissong, King’s College London)

Constitutional Reform in Morocco
(Edward Lynch, Hollins University)

Panel 17: Love and Jihad in Modern Iran

The Sigha – Nikah Muta’s Origins and Its Practice in Modern Iran
(Ronen A. Cohen, Ariel University)

The Overseas Operations of the Iranian Construction and Agricultural Jihad in Sub-Saharan Africa (1984-2009)
(Eric Lob, Florida International University)

Panel 18: Middle East War and Diplomacy

The Limits of the Sandhurst Connection: The Evolution of Oman’s Foreign and Defense Policy, 1970-1977
(Nikolas Gardner, Royal Military College of Canada)

At the Beginnings of the ‘Cold War’: Reflections on Iranian and Turkish Crises
(George Sanikidze, Ilia State University)

Rome’s Eastern Foreign Policy 324-502
(Ilkka Syvanne, Finnish Society for Byzantine Studies)

Panel 19: Justice in Africa: The Record and Controversies Surrounding the International Criminal Court

Is the International Criminal Court Anti-African?
(Chad Austin and Michael Thieme, United States Air Force Academy)

The Trust Fund for Victims: Evaluations and Recommendations on Becoming the Global Victim Aid Expert
(Kristin Eberle and Alexander S. Pedersen, United States Air Force Academy)

The International Criminal Court and Gender Issues in Africa
(Frances Pilch, United States Air Force Academy)

Panel 20: Topics in Language and Culture

Social Implications of the Study of Language Change in Arabic
(Lucía Medea-García, Autonomous University of Barcelona)

Memories of Baghdad: Depictions of the City in the Works of Opposition Intellectuals
(Hilla Peled-Shapira, Bar-Ilan University, Ariel University)

Before Babel: Language as an Ethnic Marker in the Ancient Near East
(David Sobey, University of Texas, Austin)

The Jinn and Causality in the Modern Middle East
(Glenn Stewart, The Queen’s College, Oxford)

Panel 21: Order, Punishment, and Society

Contesting Method. Muslim Responses to the Application of the Historical-Critical Approach to the Qur’ān
(Rahel Fischbach, Georgetown University)

Islamicate Societies: A Case Study of Egypt and Muslim India
(Husain Kassim, University of Central Florida)

Blinding and Mutilation: Methods of Suppression of Political Rivals in the Islamic World
(Aram Shahin, James Madison University)

10:45 a.m. – 12:15 p.m.
Panels

Panel 22: Hostile Actions and Strategies of Response

Successes and Failures of the U.S. and NATO Intervention in Libya
(Daveed Gartenstein-Ross, Foundation for Defense of Democracies)

Post-defeat State Behavior and the Collapse of Deterrence Regimes: A Rational Choice Perspective
(Or Honig, Tel Aviv University)

Foolhardy in Middle Eastern Foreign Policy: The American Fallacy of Using Drone Targeted Killings to Decrease Terrorism
(Christine Sixta Rinehart, The University of South Carolina, Palmetto College)

Urban and Rural Militia Organizations in Syria’s Less Governed Spaces
(Carl Wege, College of Coastal Georgia)

Panel 23: Establishing Control Through the Arts in Iran

Towards a Social History of Persian Painting: Artisan Guilds and the Symbolic Order in Early Safavid Iran
(Chad Kia, Harvard University)

The Battle to Control Women’s Body: Dress Code, Gender, Sensuality and Sexuality in Post-Revolutionary Iran
(Fazilat Soukhakian, University of Cincinnati)

The Public Sphere and Civic Participation: What Can Murals Say in an Islamitized Urban Space?
(Ladan Zarabadi, University of Cincinnati)

Panel 24: Narratives and Perceptions of the Mediæval World [Part II]

From Settlement to Symbol: al-Qadisiyyah and the Dehistoricisation of Memory in Mediæval Geographies, Narratives, Sermons, and Poetry
(D Gershon Lewental, University of Oklahoma)

Christian Perceptions of Muslims and Islam and Their Impact on European Jews During the Crusades
(Shmuel Shepkaru, University of Oklahoma)

The Retrospective Islamicisation of Islamic history and the Invention of the Concept of Islamic Civilization
(Douglas Streusand, Command and Staff College, Marine Corps University)

Panel 25: Nelson Mandela: Ubuntu Philosophy, Social Activism and the Enduring Legacy of Civil Rights Leadership

Ubuntu Philosophy and Global Leadership
(George Acquaah, Bowie State University)

National Unity and Political Stability
(William Lewis, Bowie State University)

Nelson Mandela: The Enduring Legacy of Moral and Political Leadership
(Cosmas U. Nwokeafor, Bowie State University)

Rhetorical Analysis on Mandela Speeches
(Chukwuka Onwumechili and Stella-Monica Mpande, Howard University)

Panel 26: Responses to the Arab Spring

Oil and Democracy in Algeria: Why has the Arab Spring Passed it By?
(Mohammed Akacem, Metropolitan State University of Denver)

Anabaptised ‘Moderate’: The Rise of ‘Moderate Islamism’ in Post-January 2011 Tunisia and the Challenges of Democratic Transition
(Hajer ben Hadj Salem, High Institute of Humanities of Tunis)

Russian Foreign Policy on the Middle East After the Arab Spring: Adjusting to a New Political Vista
(Nikolay Kozhanov, St. Petersburg State University)

Will Egypt Become a Failed State?
(Dennis Miller, Baldwin Wallace University)

Panel 27: Smooth Operators: Maintaining Ethiopia’s Political Class

Domestic Sources of International Action: Ethiopia and the Global War on Terrorism
(Yonas Mulat, Florida International University)

External Factors and Their Impact on Internal Political Dynamics in Ethiopia
(Jan Zahorik, University of West Bohemia in Pilsen)

12:30 p.m.
Lunch

1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m.
Panels

Panel 28: Iraq: Saddam and Post-Saddam

Was Saddam’s Islamic Faith Campaign (1993-2003) Anti-Religious? Did Saddam Ba`thize Islam or did he Islamize the Ba`th?
(Amatzia Baram, University of Haifa)

Autocrats, Bureaucrats, and Iraq’s ‘Fumbling’ Toward the Bomb
(David Palkki, Texas A&M University)

Who Lost Iraq?
(Joseph M. Skelly, College of Mount Saint Vincent)

ISIS’ Sunni Revolution in Iraq
(Ronen Zeidel, Tel Aviv University)

Panel 29: The Political Utility of Islam

The Political Economy of Religion and Authoritarian Breakdown
(Idil Edes, Duke University)

Understanding Contemporary Islamism as a Nationalist Ideology
(Jacob Jaffe, Georgetown University)

Party System Religiosity and the Quality of Democracy in Predominantly Muslim Countries
(Buket Oztas, University of Florida)

Contentious Politics in the Arab Middle East: Islamism and the Social Appropriation of Tradition
(Massimo Ramaioli, Syracuse University)

Panel 30: The Price of Conflict in Africa

The Build-Up of the Eastern Africa Standby Force: Balancing African Needs with Donor Interests
(Cecilie Fleming, Norwegian Defence University College)

Why Deploy To, and Perhaps Die In, Somalia?
(Brian Hesse, Northwest Missouri State University)

Post-Conflict Economic Development in Liberia
(Liesl Himmelberger, United States Military Academy and Alex Brammer, United States Military Academy)

Economic Survival and Borderland Rebellion: The Case of the Allied Democratic Forces on the Uganda-Congo Border
(Lindsay Scorgie-Porter, King’s University College, University of Western Ontario)

Panel 31: Atoms and Hostages: Iran and the U.S.

Atomic Diplomacy and the Iranian Crisis: The Birth of a Global Cold War
(Benjamin Harper, Florida State University)

Political Economy of US-Iranian Relations (2005-2014)
(Amir Kamel, King’s College London)

The Carter Administration’s Handling of the 1978-1979 Iranian Revolution: An Examination and Contextualization of Interdependent Foreign Policies
(Steven Terner, Tel Aviv University)

The Desacralization of Post-Khomeini Iran
(Jeremiah Bowden, Claremont Graduate University)

Panel 32: Peacemaking, Prosecutions, and Transitions in Eastern Africa

International Criminal Prosecutions and Atrocities in DRC: A Case Study of the FDLR
(Michael Broache, Columbia University)

A House Divided: Testing Theories of Genocide in Rwanda and Burundi
(Zachary Karazsia, Florida International University)

Unpacking Neopatrimonialism: Rules, Institutions and Democratic Transition
(Jacob Lewis, University of Maryland)

Homeward Bound: Migration and Peacebuilding in South Sudan and Burundi
(Stephanie Schwartz, Columbia University)

Panel 33: Inspired Political Visions: Egypt, Iran, and Iraq

The Kurdish Officers and the Middle Class in the Hashemite Iraq
(Mardin Aminpour, University of Texas, Austin)

Ahmadinejad’s Apocalyptic Style and Sacralisation of Politics in Iran
(Eliot Assoudeh, University of Nevada, Reno)

Toward the African Revolution: The United Arab Republic’s Role in Pan-Africanism
(Zoe LeBlanc, Vanderbilt University)

The Rashid ʿAli al-Kaylani Revolt and Syrian Youth: An Insider’s Account
(Joel D. Parker, Tel Aviv University)

3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Panels

Panel 34: Living with Conflict, Crime and Terror

Operational Aftermath: Measuring the Threat of Transnational Terrorism Through Attack Efficiency
(David Kimble, George Mason University)

The Strategic Logic of Unclaimed Terrorism
(Renanah Miles, Columbia University)

US Military Interventions in Intrastate Conflict: Path Dependence and Colonial Legacies
(Melisa Stivaletti, University of North Carolina, Charlotte)

Panel 35: Processes of Progress in Africa

Egyptians Or Nubians? The Plight of Nubian Egyptians and Arab Nationalism
(Naglaa Hussein, Howard University)

20 Years of Democracy: The Role of Party Politics in Malawi
(Anna Kapambwe Mwaba, University of Florida)

The Role of Aid in the Democratic Republic of Congo: The Congo Protestant Relief Agency, 1960-1964
(Jeremy Rich, Marywood University)

Panel 36: Economics and Culture in the M.E. and Africa

The Logistics of Extortion: A Multi-Level Inquiry Into Corruption Along West Africa’s Main Trade Corridors
(Jasper Cooper, Columbia University, Sciences Po, Paris)

The Sahrawi—An Investigation of Their ‘National’ Identity from Ancient Origins Until 1524
(David Suarez, Florida International University)

Natural Resources and the Politics of Economic Diversification in Rentier States: An Expenditure-centered Framework to Explain Regime Survival
(Marie van den Bosch, Princeton University)

Urban Area and Hinterland: The Case of Abadan 1910-1946
(Nimrod Zagagi, Tel Aviv University)

Panel 37: State and Society in the Middle East: Can it Work?

Arab Burdens
(Norvell DeAtkine, Independent Consultant)

Democratizing Tunisia’s Security Sector
(Nicholas Lotito, Columbia University)

Explaining the ‘Democracy Deficit’ in the Arab World: Is the Resurgence of Islam the Problem?
(Jonathan Pidluzny, Morehead State University)

The United Nations and Genocide Prevention: The Problem of Racial and Religious Bias
(Hannibal Travis, Florida International University)

Panel 38: Topics on the Middle East

The Dynamics of Lebanon’s Democratization
(Benjamin Acosta, Claremont Graduate University)

The First Republic of the Islamic World: The Establishment of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan in 1918
(Ramin Ahmadoghlu, University of Cincinnati)

Manufacturing Subjectivity: The Establishment of Baghdad Television, 1952-1958
(Sara Farhan, York University)

Panel 39: Turkey and Iran: Politics Foreign and Domestic

Rivalry, Enmity, or Amity? Turkey-Iran Cooperation
(Nilsu Goren, University of Maryland)

Resisting Hegemony in the Iranian Nuclear Crisis and the Future Geopolitical Mapping of the Middle East: The Cases of China, Russia, and Turkey
(Moritz Pieper, University of Kent, Brussels)

Measuring Political Polarization in Turkey
(Orçun Selçuk, Florida International University)

Clientelistic Continuity and Attitudinal Change in Turkey
(Kerem Yildirim, Koç University)