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Australian Middle East Research Forum

About Us
Who we are
Publications
Research Reports
Online articles
Upcoming Events
Past Activities
Middle East and Arabic Studies
In country program - 2009 Jordan trip 'Photo Album'
Links

About Us

The Australian Middle East Research Forum (AMERF) is a cross-institutional, cross-disciplinary research forum focused on research into the Middle East from an Australian perspective. AMERF is a research network open to researchers and anyone interested in the region.

AMERF was launched in 2007 as a research network affiliated to the Centre for Citizenship Development and Human Rights, and the Centre for Citizenship, Governance and Globalisation, Deakin University, Melbourne. The network is co-convened by Professor Fethi Mansouri, Director of the Centre for Citizenship and Globalisation and Coordinator of Middle Eastern Studies, and Dr Sally Totman, Senior Lecturer in Middle Eastern Studies at Deakin University. AMERF is a cross-institutional, cross-disciplinary research forum focused on research into the Middle East from an Australian perspective. It is open to researchers, research students, policy makers, media professionals and anyone interested in the region.

The aim of AMERF is to facilitate interactions among researchers in this interdisplinary area and to be a forum of excellence for the academic study of the modern Middle East and North Africa. It encourages research on topics related to the modern Middle East and North Africa and supports innovative undergraduate teaching and the supervision of higher degree work in this field. AMERF conducts seminars with a focus on the needs of Australia’s academic community in its scholarship of the Middle East and North Africa.

Through regular emails to our members, AMERF hopes to keep individual researchers informed on the latest news and analyses. It is hoped that this forum will facilitate a robust exchange of ideas and encourage collaboration among researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds. AMERF will organise regular public seminars and symposiums aimed at advancing our understanding of the Middle East and North Africa.

To subscribe to the Australian Middle East Research Forum mailing list, please email with your details.

AMERF Community Members

Associate Professor Abdel-Hakeem Kasem
Abdel-Hakeem Kasem lectures in Arabic language and culture studies and coordinates Deakin's Arabic In-country program. His research interests involve Arabic language and culture studies, language acquisition and cross-cultural communication. He has contributed to national and international conferences on issues related to second language acquisition, language and culture studies, and cross-cultural communication. Mr. Kasem has also been appointed as a research associate with Monash University and supervises MA students in translation studies. Hakeem has received ALTC Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning in 2008, winner of the 2007 'Faculty Of Arts Teaching Excellence Award’, winner of the 2005 Vice Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in the category of ‘Vice Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence’, winner of the 2000 Vice Chancellor’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in the category of ‘Outstanding Contribution to the Community'. His research intersts are in Arabic language and Linguistics, Focus on Form in Second Language Acquisition, Intercultural communication and theories of Interpreting and Translating

Professor Fethi Mansouri
Fethi Mansouri is Chair in Migration and Intercultural Studies, Director, Centre for Citizenship and Globalisation and also Convenor of Middle Eastern studies. He is a leading researcher in the Faculty and is the principal supervisor for number of PhD and MA candidates in Middle Eastern studies, migration research and applied linguistics. Professor Mansouri has published four authored books, 6 edited books, 8 major research monographs, more than 30 refereed research articles and book chapters, and many book reviews and media pieces. He has presented more than 70 invited conferences and seminar papers and many other invited presentations at national and international symposia. Over the last five years, Professor Mansouri has been awarded more than 25 research grants from a number of funding bodies including the Australian Research Council in 2009-12 on 'Social Networks, Belonging and Active Citizenship among Migrant Youth in Australia'; 2007-10 on 'Local governance and multicultural policies'; 2004-07 on 'Cultural diversity in education'; and in 2002-04 for a project on 'Australia's Asylum Policies'. He has also received research funding from the State Government's Community Support Fund for a project on 'building the capacity of community organisations serving the Arabic communities in Victoria'. Between 2002 and 2006 Professor Mansouri received funding from a number of philanthropic foundations to conduct research into cultural diversity in three Melbourne secondary schools. He has authored a book (with Michael Leach) on the social, economic and cultural impacts of the temporary protection regime on individual refugees. The field research underpinning the book was funded by the Myer Foundation.

Dr Sally Totman
Sally joined the School of International and Political Studies in February 2007. Prior to joining Deakin University, she taught Middle East politics, International Relations, and Australian foreign policy at Macquarie University in Sydney for nine years. Sally is the Associate Head of School (Teaching & Learning) and the Convener of the Middle East Studies program at Deakin. Sally's research interests include Middle East politics, United States foreign policy towards the Middle East, and in particular Libya and the rogue states of the region. She also focuses on popular culture, particularly Hollywood film, and the role of public opinion.

Dr Benjamin Isakhan
Benjamin Isakhan is Research Fellow at the Centre for Comparative Social Research at Deakin University, Australia. Previously, Ben has been Research Fellow with the Centre for Dialogue at La Trobe University and Research Fellow and Lecturer for the Griffith Islamic Research Unit, part of the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies, Australia. Dr Isakhan’s research interests include democracy in Iraq, Orientalism and the media, the history of democracy and Middle Eastern politics and history. He is the author of Democracy in Iraq: History, Politics and Discourse (Ashgate, 2012) and the co-editor (with Professor Stephen Stockwell) of The Secret History of Democracy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011) and The Edinburgh Companion to the History of Democracy (Edinburgh University Press, 2012). In addition, Ben has authored several publications including around 10 journal articles, 10 scholarly book chapters and presented more than 20 conference papers in the United States, Jordan, Australia and New Zealand. For more details, you can contact Dr Isakhan directly via his website: http://www.benjaminisakhan.com/

Mat Hardy
Mat joined Deakin as a full time lecturer after having been a sessional staff member since 2007. He has taught Middle East politics and International Relations subjects at Deakin and Macquarie University, as well as convening subjects on digital media and journalism at Charles Sturt University. Mat is a PhD candidate at Monash, where his thesis examines the use of collaborative online tools for the delivery of International Relations subjects. He has a professional background in journalism, professional writing and media production.

 

Publications

The Secret History of Democracy
Benjamin Isakhan & Stephen Stockwell (eds) (2011), Palgrave Macmillan (London)history of democracy

The Secret History of Democracy explores the intriguing thesis that there is a lot more democracy in human history than historians generally admit, and presents some surprising evidence for this case. The idea that democracy could have a 'secret' history might at first seem strange. Indeed, the history of democracy has become so standardized, is so familiar and appears so complete that it is hard to believe it could hold any secrets. The central argument of this book is that there is much more to the history of democracy than this foreshortened genealogy admits. There is a whole 'secret' history, too big, complex and insufficiently 'Western' in character to be included in the standard narrative.

In exploring this 'secret' democratic heritage, the contributors to this volume establish that democracy was developing in the Middle East, India and China before classical Athens, clung on during the 'Dark Ages' in Islam, Iceland and Venice, was often part of tribal life in Africa, North America and Australia and is developing today in unexpected ways through grassroots activism. This book is a timely collection of essays that make a substantial contribution to the emerging debate about the history of democracy and set the tone for future discussion and research.

How Hollywood Projects Foreign Policy
Sally Totman. "How Hollywood Projects Foreign Policy", Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2009.

The interactions between popular culture and public policy in general, and foreign policy in particular, have always been an important area of scholarly enquiry and popular interest. However with the end of the bipolar world system and the emergence of a single world superpower in the form of the United States of America, which is waging a War Against Terror, this nexus has become critical. This is especially true because of the almost Manichean tendency of the United States to see other countries in terms of "good" or "evil". Indeed President Bush himself has coined the term "The Axis of Evil" for states, which in a kinder age were simply referred to by his predecessors as being "Rogue States". This book draws together elements from several academic disciplines - politics, international relations, psychology, film and cultural studies and examines US foreign policy toward the so-called "rogue states" and the products of the Hollywood film industry in relation to these states, which promises to make a significant contribution to our understanding of the 'soft power' that is popular culture.
Islam and Political Violence: Muslim Diaspora and Radicalism in the West
Shahram Akbarzadeh & Fethi Mansouri (eds) (2006), Library of International Relations, vol.34, Tauris Academic Studies/Palgrave Macmillan (London/ New York)

How do we engage with the pressing challenges of xenophobia, radicalism and security in the age of the ‘war on terror’? The widely felt sense of insecurity in the West is shared by Muslims both within and outside Western societies. Growing Islamic militancy and resulting increased security measures by Western powers have contributed to a pervasive sense among Muslims of being under attack (both physically and culturally). Islam and Political Violence brings together the current debate on the uneasy and potentially mutually destructive relationship between the Muslim world and the West and argues we are on a dangerous trajectory, strengthening dichotomous notions of the divide between the West and the Muslim world.

Political Islam and Human Security
Fethi Mansouri & Shahram Akbarzadeh (eds) (2006), Cambridge Scholars Press, Newcastle, UK.

In the wake of the September 11 and subsequent terrorist attacks, the academic and media commentaries on Islam the religion and Islam the basis for political ideology haves received an unprecedented high level of exposure and attention. The acts of political violence by extremist groups and the omnipresent war on terror have added fresh uncertainties to an already complex global order. Just as terrorism and counter-terrorism are locked in a mutually re-enforcing symbiosis, the sense of insecurity felt by Muslims and non-Muslims alike is mutually dependent and has the potential to escalate. The present volume is anchored in the current debates on the uneasy and potentially mutually destructive relationship between the Muslim world and certain West countries. It brings together leading international scholars in this interdisciplinary field to deal with such inter-related questions as the nature of Islamism, the impact of the ‘war on terror’ on the spread of militancy, the growing sense of being under siege by Muslim Diasporas and the many unintended ramifications of a security-minded world order. This volume deliberately focuses on these issues both at a broad theoretical level but more importantly in the form of a number of prominent case studies including Indonesia, Algeria and Turkey.
book-cover

Australia and the Middle East: A Front-line Relationship
Edited by Fethi Mansouri (2006), Library of International Relations, vol. 28, Tauris Academic Studies/Palgrave Macmillan (London/ New York)

Australia’s encounters with the Middle East have historically been defined initially through its membership of the British Empire, later as a key Commonwealth player and more recently through Australia's close strategic relationship with the US. This book traces the nature of the Australia-Middle East relationship, from an insular ‘White Australia’ ideology through to the global impact of September 11th. A comprehensive analysis of this complex relationship provides an essential basis for understanding past encounters, evaluating present policies and developing a framework for future interactions. The various authors seek to draw together the various dimensions and themes of this relationship – from trade and migration, to Australia’s increasing strategic interest and current military involvement in the region.
Download Order Form
 book-cover

Lives in Limbo: Voices of Refugees Under Temporary Protection
Michael Leach and Fethi Mansouri (2004), UNSW PRESS,160pp.

In this book, 35 refugees, all temporary protection visa (TPV) holders and mostly from Iraq and Afghanistan, talk directly about their quest for asylum in Australia. They provide poignant details of persecution in their home country, their journey to Australia, prolonged periods of mandatory detention, and life under Australia's controversial temporary protection regime. The book has been nominated for the 2004 Human Rights Medal and Awards (Community Section).
Order form 		book-cover

Research Reports:

  • Arabic Communities and Well-Being: Supports and Barriers to Social Connectedness
    Kenny, S, Mansouri, F and Spratt, P.(2005) Centre For Citizenship & Human Rights (CCHR), Deakin University: Geelong 120pp.
  • Social and Economic Rights of Asylum Seekers in Australia
    Mansouri, F. (2006) Centre For Citizenship & Human Rights (CCHR), Deakin University: Geelong.(2006)
  • Asylum Seekers in Howard's Australia: The Social and Economic Costs of Temporary Protection Visas
    Mansouri, F. (2006) Deakin University , Geelong.
  • Mediation and Conflict Resolution among the Arabic- speaking Community in Melbourne
    Victorian Arabic Social Services (VASS), Centre for Citizenship and Human Rights (CCHR) in Partnership with Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria (DSCV), Deakin University, Geelong (2006)
  • Arab-Australians in Victoria: Needs Assessment and Capacity Building
    Mansouri, F. and Makhoul, C, Deakin University 2004, 177pp.   Download a section of an article(pdf-246kb)
  • Critical Perspectives on Refugee Policy in Australia.
    Leach, M. and F. Mansouri, (2003), Deakin University, Geelong.
  • Politics of Social Exclusion:Refugees on Temporary Protection Visa in Victoria
    Mansouri, F. and M. Bagdas(2002) DeakinUniveristy, Geelong.  Download this research monograph(pdf-750kb)
    Order Form (pdf-8kb)

    To order research report above, contact CCHR
    Ph: (03) 5227 2113
    Fax (03) 5227 2018 (attention CCHR)

Online Articles

Upcoming Events

  • TBA

Past Activities

2009

  • Talk by Saree Makdisi 'Jerusalem: The occupation of Memory' Professor of English and Comparative Literature,UCLA (Thursday 17 September 2009)
    Talk by Haneen Zuabi (Tuesday 19 May 2009)
  • Discussion - “After the Gaza Offensive: Is Peace Still Possible?” (Thursday 14 May 2009)
  • Seminar - Leadership, Water and Climate Change by Hon.Greg Hunt M.P. (Tuesday 24 March 2009)
  • Film Screening - The Iron Wall Organised by Australians for Palestine (AFP) (12 March 2009)
  • Film Screening - Jerusalem East Side Story Organised by Australians for Palestine (AFP) (12 March 2009)
  • Seminar - Countdown to Apartheid in Israel/Palestine by Professor Jeff Halper (10 March 2009)

2008

  • Film Screening - The Iron Wall (28 July 2008)
  • Film Screening - Three Kings (19 March 2008)
  • Film Screening - Kingdom of Heaven (12 March 2008)
  • Film Screening - Occupation 101 (28 February 2008)

    2007

  • Public lecture by Professor Stephen Zunes from the University of San Francisco entitled The US-Israel Relationship: causes and consequences (5 December 2007)
  • Forums - The Israel-Palestine Conflict: Causes and Consequences (20 September 2007)
  • Seminar - International Relations Working Paper Series 2007 by Dr Sally Totman entitled: Simulating Politics and International Relations on Campus (4 September 2007)
  • Public lecture by Antony Loewenstein, author of My Israel Question (30 August 2007)
  • Public lecture by Dr Sally Totman entitled For energy and Israel: the US in the Middle East (26 June 2007)
  • Public lecture by Dr Sally Totman entitled The West versus the rest: Hollywood’s world view (15 May 2007
  • Public lecture - Islam, Transnationalism and Globalisation ( 6 April 2007)
    Professor James Piscatori     from Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies and Wadham College, Oxford University visited us to present a paper titled: Islam, Transnationalism and Globalisation.

    2005

  • Conference - Islam, Human Security, and Xenophobia, 25-26 November 2005, The Arts Centre, Melbourne Conference website

james-piscatori islam-conference-2005
(Professor James Piscatori) and (Conference proceeding picture from Islam, Human Security, and Xenophobia)

Middle East and Arabic Studies

Details on courses offered by Deakin which include Middle East or Arabic Studies

Middle East Studies

A major in Middle East Studies at Deakin University will give students a comprehensive understanding of the events and issues shaping the region. There is emphasis on both historical and contemporary issues relevant to the analysis of the Middle East as a regional system, as well as its place in the international system. Particular stress is placed on the changing role of the United States in the Middle East since the end of the Cold War and its push to reshape the region's political landscape according to American national interests. Several of the endemic conflict situations that exist in the Middle East are examined throughout the sequence, including the War on Terror; the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the Israel-Palestine impasse; the 2006 Israel-Lebanon crisis; Iran's nuclear ambitions, and the role of 'rogue states'.

Weblink: Middle East Major


 

Arabic studies

spice The Arab countries of the Middle East and North Africa form an area of critical global importance having broad strategic, economic, religious and cultural influence. The Middle East comprises the fourth largest trading block among Australia's overseas trading partners, with the total value of Australia's trade with the Middle East more than doubling in the last decade. The major sequence provides for the development of communication skills in modern standard Arabic and language fluency is enhanced through contextual knowledge of Middle Eastern history, culture and society. Students taking Arabic are encouraged to take complementary units in the relevant area studies in order to obtain sound background knowledge of the cultural, geopolitical and historical issues relevant to the regions where Arabic is spoken.

 

 

 

In-country study

roman sculptures Competitive in-country scholarships are available to assist students in study in the Middle East. For further information please contact the experiential learning officer on telephone 03 5227 2693. Students undertaking the Arabic major or the Language and Culture Studies major (referred to later) are encouraged to study abroad during the trimester 3. Intensive in-country units provide opportunities for students to increase their level of linguistic proficiency and cultural understanding. De akin has well-established links with a number of institutions in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon. These relationships form an important feature of the Arabic program.

In-country units are offered at both second and third-year levels, and students who successfully complete these units will receive 2 credit points towards the major sequence. It is possible, therefore, for students to complete the major sequence in two years. This is an excellent way of accelerating completion of the major. Not only is the in-country experience a unique part of the language study, the fact that students will have completed the major in tow years gives them flexibility in the third year to take additional units. The Arabic major sequence is offered at two levels; beginner's level (little or no prior knowledge of the language) and post-year 12 Arabic.

On successful completion of the Arabic major sequence, students should have the following skills:
  • an ability to read, comprehend and respond correctly in writing in Arabic
  • an ability to listen, comprehend and communicate orally with correct grammar, pronunciation and intonation in Arabic
  • an ability to understand oral interpreting and written translation tasks, from English into Arabic and vice versa, at an advanced level (post-year 12 level)
  • an ability to use the language to research an understand various cultural practices in the Arab world.

Links

Centre for Citizenship and Globalisation
Centre for Citizenship, Development and Human Rights

Useful Websites on Middle East issues:

Al-Ahram Weekly: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/index.htm
Albawaba Middle East News Service: http://www.albawaba.com/
Al-Jazeera News Network: http://www.aljazeera.net/HomePage
American Enterprise Institute: http://www.aei.org/
Antony Loewenstein: http://antonyloewenstein.com/
B’Tselem: http://www.btselem.org/English/index.asp
Bitter Lemons: http://www.bitterlemons.org/
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA): http://www.cia.gov
Christian Science Monitor: http://www.csmonitor.com/
Counterpunch: http://www.counterpunch.org/
Gulf 2000 Project: http://gulf2000.columbia.edu/
Gush Shalom: http://zope.gush-shalom.org/index_en.html
Haaretz: http://haaretz.com/
Heritage Foundation: http://www.heritage.org/
International Solidarity Movement: http://www.palsolidarity.org/main/
Janes Information Group: http://www.janes.com/
JAO Sydney: http://www.jao.org.au/
Jerusalem Post: http://www.jpost.co.il/
Middle East Research and Information Project: http://www.merip.org/
Middle East Times: http://metimes.com/
MIFTAH: http://www.miftah.org/
NetIran: http://www.netiran.com/
Norman G Finkelstein: http://www.normanfinkelstein.com/
Peace Now: http://www.peacenow.org
Robert Fisk: http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC): http://www.aipac.com
The Iranian Embassy: http://www.salamiran.org
The Iraq Foundation: http://www.iraqfoundation.org/
The Israeli Foreign Ministry: http://www.israel-mfa.gov.il
Tikkun: http://www.tikkun.org/
Turkish Daily News: http://www.turkishdailynews.com/
United Nations: http://www.un.org/
US State Department: http://www.state.gov
YNet News: www.ynetnews.com
Zionist Organisation of America: http://www.zoa.org/

US Information Resources

The US Department of State website  (www.state.gov) is an up-to-date source of information regarding US policy towards the countries of the Middle East. There is also a specialized search engine at www.google.com/unclesam which gives particularly fast access to most US Government information which is publicly available. Another particularly good site on US policy is at the US embassy in Brussels at www.uspolicy.be  In depth reports are prepared for members of Congress by the Congressional Research Service. Many of these reports are available to the public at: http://www.opencrs.com http://2act.org/p/576.html and http://zfacts.com/p/576.html

Deakin University acknowledges the traditional land owners of present campus sites.

23rd January 2012