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We hope you all had a warm and relaxing though probably somewhat unusual “hemester” summer holidays. The objective of this newsletter from the Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES) and the Strategic Research Area (SRA): the Middle East in the Contemporary World (MECW), is to provide an overview of Middle Eastern research undertaken at Lund University. NEW CMES LEADERSHIP FROM OCT 1, STAY TUNED:

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/middle-east-forum-newsletter-12-august-2020 - 2025-10-01

By focusing on recent water struggles in rural Turkey against run‐of‐the‐river hydropower plants (SHPs), the research delves into the societal and economic factors that enable or inhibit the emergence of strong mobilizations through a comparison of four localities of the Eastern Black Sea region. The main aim of the cross comparison is to determine whether there is a relationship between the forms

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/rethinking-political-economy-rural-struggles-turkey-space-structures-and-altered-agencies - 2025-10-01

Congratulations to CMES affiliated Madeleine Kassab for successfully defending her PhD thesis on "Media Coverage of the Syrian Crisis"! The Syrian crisis is characterized by the intertwining of factors and variables at the local, regional and global levels.The geopolitical importance of Syria and the positions of the Syrian government on many issues, most notably the Arab-Israeli conflict and the

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/media-coverage-syrian-crisis-0 - 2025-10-01

Graduate School together with CMES offers courses in Modern Standard Arabic and Persian, which are open to all Graduate School students. The courses are not credit bearing but you do receive a certificate at the end of each voluntary course.Courses in Modern Standard ArabicArabic is a sematic language and it is one of the six official languages of the UN. There are a total of 25 independent states

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/language-courses-arabic-and-persian - 2025-10-01

The Dawit Isaak Library is a freedom of expression library at Malmö City Archives. It will open On 16 September 2020 to the public and it is located in Malmö City Archives' existing premises.  The library contains the banned books, books that have been burned or censored - all written by people who have been silenced, threatened, imprisoned or forced into exile because of their words. Both contemp

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/cmes-mohammed-almahfali-part-new-dawit-isaak-library - 2025-10-01

The water sector in Somalia is fragmented and needs coordination to establish a functioning water governance system.  Therefore, in cooperation with UNDP and the Ministry of Energy and water resources and the Office of the Prime Minister, a national technical workshop was held in Mogadishu in March 2020.Four thematic areasAll involved stakeholders agreed on developing a water compact covering four

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/cmes-dr-khaldoon-mourad-proposes-possible-water-compact-functioning-water-governance-system-somalia - 2025-10-01

New research by CMES Raed Bashitialshaaer: "The results indicate that the professors and students faced self-imposed obstacles, as well as pedagogical, technical, and financial or organizational obstacles. Recommendations are presented to overcome and understand these obstacles to benefit in the future during unexpected or similar problems." This study aims to reveal the obstacles to achieving qua

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/exploratory-study-obstacles-achieving-quality-distance-learning-during-covid-19-pandemic - 2025-10-01

This new project has now been been approved and signed by University of Zakho (Kurdistan Region of Iraq) and CMES, Lund University.  The project will start with a course ''Research Methodology'' for master students from two departments at UOZ.  More about University of Zakho Contact:naseem [dot] salim [at] uoz [dot] edu [dot] krd (Naseem Salim Abdel) PhD in Engineering Physics-Assistant Professor

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/new-project-empowerment-and-evaluation-postgraduate-courses-scientific-research-approaches-based-e - 2025-10-01

Today CMES researchers Pinar Dinc and Lina Eklund are presenting in this POLLEN (Political Ecology Network) conference. Their paper is "Nationalistic arson? An interdisciplinary approach to forest fires and conflicts." In early October 2019, hundreds of frontline fossil fuel protesters took direct action against hard coal infrastructure across Germany. Under the banner of #deCOALonize, they blocka

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/geopolitical-ecologies-violence-and-resistance - 2025-10-01

Karin Aggestam will start her job as Director of the Centre for Middle eastern Studies October 1. She is a Professor of Political Science and holds the Samuel Pufendorf Endowed Chair (Ragnar Söderbergs and Torsten Söderbergs Stiftelser). Karin is also Honorary Professor at University of Queensland and Adjunct Professor at Monash University,  Australia. Aggestam is Excellent Teaching Practitioner (

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/karin-aggestam-new-director-cmes - 2025-10-01

On the 19th anniversary of 9/11 attacks, the debate surrounding al-Qaeda strength is still alive among scholars and experts. Along with other researchers Hasan Abu Hanieh and Marwan Shehadeh, CMES researcher Orwa Ajjoub assess the group's relevance and argue that al-Qaeda has never been weaker than now. The group has faced multiple challenges since the US invasion to Afghanistan in 2001:losing its

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/al-qaeda-has-never-been-weaker-now - 2025-10-01

The coming issue of Dragomanen, the annual publication of the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul, has been co-edited by Anders Ackfeldt and Leif Stenberg and is dedicated to the topic of leisure.  CMES researcher Helen Avery contributes with a piece written in Swedish "Strandliv", on what the beach means for people in Gaza. The article is based on impressions from the field trip to Rafah munic

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/coming-issue-dragomanenis-about-leisure - 2025-10-01

We cordially welcome the new Director for the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and as well the new Coordinator for the strategic research area Middle East in the Contemporary World, Prof. Karin Aggestam.  Karin is the former Director of Peace & Conflict Studies at Lund University and holds the Samuel Pufendorf Endowed Chair. She has a long research career within interdisciplinary research focussi

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/middle-east-forum-newsletter-september - 2025-10-01

Karin Aggestam, ny föreståndare för Centrum för Mellanösternstudier, om det nya fredsavtalet i Mellanöstern: För ett par veckor sedan slöt Bahrain och Förenade Arabemiraten ett fredsavtal med Israel. Det var första gången på 26 år som ett arabland erkänt Israel och Donald Trump tar på sig äran. Vad betyder detta för freden i Mellanöstern? Varken Bahrain eller Förenade arabemiraten har ju haft någo

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/vad-betyder-de-nya-fredsavtalen-som-med-trumps-hjalp-slutits-i-mellanostern - 2025-10-01

Very exciting to start up as new CMES director! Karin Aggestam: "It has been some hectic, but very exciting weeks as new director for CMES. I am deeply impressed by the large number of scholars at Lund University who conduct cutting-edge research on the Middle East.   The House on Finngatan 16 serves as a wonderful hub for interdisciplinary research collaboration. We are in the midst of planning t

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/newsletter-middle-east-forum-newsletter-october - 2025-10-01

The workshop is called: Unpacking ‘the Opposition’ in undemocratic regimes: The Role, Transformation and Challenges of the Oppositional Actors in Turkey and beyond The purpose of this workshop is to initiate a debate on the opposition in Turkey and contribute to the theorization of the role, transformation, mobilization strategies and different forms of the opposition in undemocratic regimes.  The

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/cmes-pinar-dinc-presenting-fake-news-understanding-conflict-and-forest-fire-nexus-through-media - 2025-10-01

Message from the director: New CMES board in place  While CMES 2.0 is still in the making some important steps have been taken in the last few weeks. We are pleased to announce that a new interdisciplinary board has been formed.  Four faculties are represented from Lund University, which include dean and prof Christofer Edling (chair), prof Martin Dribe, Economic History, prof Maria Gomez, LUDC, a

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/middle-east-forum-newsletter-15 - 2025-10-01

As part of the Climate Stress in Syria-research project, there was a closed interactive online workshop on October 14th to discuss the nexus around drought, vulnerability and conflict. This post describes the workshop that was held online on October 14th, 2020, as the first workshop in the Climate Stress Syria project. It was co-written by Cecilia Axelsson Örberg, Pinar Dinc and Lina Eklund who we

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/exploring-broader-field-environmental-dimensions-conflict-middle-east-region-and-beyond - 2025-10-01

Ten non-Armenians from ten European countries write about their interest in and experiences of Armenia. In moving and, at times, funny essays they depict dramatic events, lasting friendships, political struggles. We hear about lavash and brandy, genocide and revival, Yerevan and small God-forgotten villages in Hayastan and Artsakh.  The authors describe how their interest in Armenia started, how i

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/cmes-svante-lundgren-one-editors-new-book-armenia-mon-amour-ten-europeans-speak - 2025-10-01

CMES Spyros Sofos was awarded a PhD in Regional and Cross-cultural Studies at the University of Copenhagen after the examination of his thesis entitled “The Meanings of the People in Turkish Politics: A Genealogy” on Monday 7 December. This thesis is intended to make a contribution to ongoing efforts to enhance our understanding of the “popular” in the study of politics through a critical examinat

https://www.cmes.lu.se/article/new-phd-thesis-meanings-people-turkish-politics-genealogy - 2025-10-01