Minutes, August 2012

Middle East Sociology Working Group
Minutes

Graduate Student Workshop and Luncheon, American Sociological Association, Annual Meeting, Denver, Colorado, August 17, 2012.

The inaugural, experimental Middle East Sociology graduate student workshop was held in a classroom at the Community College of Denver, across the street from the American Sociological Association convention site. Two papers were “workshopped” during a two-hour session:

• Alexander Hanna, Wisconsin, “Facebook Mobilization in Egypt: The Origins of the April 6 Youth Movement”
• Defne Over, Cornell, “Restoration of the Armenian Akhtamar Church in Turkey: Marketization as a Rupture in Turkish Nationalism.”

Both papers were highly original pieces of research with contrasting methods (machine-coding of Facebook pages and qualitative historical research), and both elicited considerable discussion and suggestions from the dozen graduate students (and one faculty member) in attendance. Attendees suggested that this workshop format, with papers distributed in advance, be replicated at future conferences, and that additional faculty members be encouraged to participate.

Our usual luncheon was held at Little India Restaurant following the workshop, with additional participants.

For the second year in a row, the American Sociological Association meeting featured five panels on the Middle East and related topics:

• Thematic Session: Islamic Utopias
• Regular Session: Middle East and Muslim Societies
• Section on Collective Behavior and Social Movements: The Arab Spring: When Does Nonviolent Resistance Work?
• Section on Comparative and Historical Sociology: Revolutions “New” and “Old”: The Arab Spring in Comparative Perspective
• Section on Political Economy of the World-System: World Revolutions and the Arab Spring

At the graduate student workshop, participants noted that two of these panels were proposed by official sections of the ASA, and suggested that we encourage the formation of Middle East-related panels in the future through co-sponsorship with ASA sections.

In addition, participants suggested that we encourage Middle East specialists not to segregate themselves in Middle East-themed panels, but — as we already do routinely — to continue to seed Middle East themes throughout substantively-themed panels on the program.

It was also proposed that the Middle East Sociology Working Group hold a “business meeting,” though perhaps with a less officious name, prior to and in conjunction with the usual luncheon, where items of mutual interest can be broached in a more systematic way, such as future panels, publication opportunities, the availability of senior scholars for mentoring, and challenges in the field, since the lunchtime setting ends up being divided into small conversations rather than a single common discussion.

Minutes taken by Charles Kurzman, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill