The Nordic Society for Middle Eastern Studies, in cooperation with the Danish Institute for International Studies, has the pleasure of organising:
The Sixth Nordic Conference on Middle Eastern Studies:
"Europe and the Middle East - an Entente Cordiale?"
8-10 October 2004
Danish Institute for International Studies
Main Auditorium, Pakhuset
Strandgade 71, 1401 Copenhagen K
Denmark
The theme of the 2004 Conference of the Nordic Society for Middle Eastern Studies will be the long and troublesome, but also fertile, special relationship between Europe and the Middle East. In terms of literature, culture, academic study, intellectual inspiration and politics. Special attention will be given to:
- Europe in the Middle East. That is, the European pilgrims, travellers, scholars, colonizers, businessmen, advisors and tourists swarming to the Middle East since the Middle Ages. But also the European inspirations in social organization, government, ideology, and the arts, architecture, and lifestyles of Middle Eastern peoples.
- The Middle East in Europe. For example in Oriental inspirations, the study of Middle Eastern languages, cultures and societies, and European social and popular engagement in the Middle East, past and present.
- The Middle East and Europe. A special attention will be given to the policies and diplomacy of the modern Middle Eastern states towards Europe, and European policies towards the Middle East, including those of the EU.
The year 2004 will mark the centenary of the entente cordiale when in 1904 Britain and France agreed to put and end to their colonial rivalry, France approving of the British protectorate in Egypt, and Britain giving France a free hand in Morocco. It also marks the 50th anniversary of the coming to power of Gamal Abd al-Nasir and thus the rise of a strong current of anti-imperialist ideology in the modern Middle East which is still perceived as highly relevant in many parts of the Middle East. The war in Iraq may or may not herald a new phase in the modern history of the Middle East. But it seems clear that the European-Middle Eastern relationship is in need of new directions, given the incordial relations between Britain, France and Germany over a European Middle East policy and the unsettled question of Turkish membership of the EU. A special panel of invited European scholars will discuss the issue of future European-Middle Eastern political relations.
The conference is open to all scholars of the Middle East in the Nordic countries, as well as to guests from abroad. Participants are kindly invited to consider the issue of the conference in the papers, but contributions on other relevant subjects of Middle East research are also accepted. Participants are encouraged to organize panels on specific subjects in advance, but individual applications are also accepted and will be arranged in panels by the organizers.
Download conference programme (pdf, 9 KB)
Download workshop programme (pdf, 26 KB)
Click here to go to workshop programme with access to conference papers |
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