Conference: Transnational Tides and the Future of the Arab City

Yale Arab Alumni Association

Call for Proposals

Transnational Tides and the Future of the Arab City
A Conference in Beirut

October 2-4, 2009
At the American University of Beirut and other locations

Submission Deadline: March 27, 2009
http://conference.yalearabalumni.org

The Yale Arab Alumni Association invites professionals and scholars from all fields to submit proposals for our inaugural conference, "Transnational Tides and the Future of the Arab City." This interdisciplinary event encourages the exchange of cutting-edge expertise by environmental, cultural, business, political, design, and intellectual innovators, Yale alumni or otherwise.

Description and Aims of Conference

The Arab experience of globalization has resulted in the refashioning of Arab cities into unique spaces hosting transnational communities. These communities are distinguished not only by their demographic diversity but also by their extraordinary mobility. And despite the fluidity of these transnational communities, they are a fixture, at least for the foreseeable future.

The movements within the globalized Arab Middle East – of people, of capital, of ideas – can be understood as tide-like in their scale, force, and effect. Gesturing toward the historical dimension of these shifting patterns of migration and exchange, this conference explores how transnational leaders can use their mobility and resources to engage the new metropolitan network in the building of a sustainable, integrated regional future.

We welcome participants from all disciplines on topics such as:

-Education and globalization
-Urban planning and development
-Cultural sustainability
-Privatization
-National versus cultural identities
-Environmental sustainability
-Financial networks
-Migrant labor rights
-Cosmopolitanism

We particularly encourage the submission of working papers and projects on topics relevant to the transnational nature of Arab cities which, like the concept of transnationality itself, transcend established geographical, temporal, political, and academic boundaries.

Proposal Submission Guidelines

Interested individuals should submit a 250-word abstract by March 27, 2009. Those selected to attend will be notified no later than April 17, 2009.

Participants are encouraged to seek funding from their host institution or organization. In some instances, funds may be available to those without institutional support to attend the international conference.

Please send abstracts to conference@yalearabalumni.org.