The Middle East Studies Association calls for proposals for preorganized panels, roundtables, thematic conversations, and individual papers for the association's 40th annual meeting, November 18-21, in Boston, Massachusetts. To celebrate MESAs 40th anniversary, "Creative Expressions" has been chosen as the theme for the 2006 meeting. Paper and panel proposals on other topics are of course welcome as usual.

We encourage MESA members to organize sessions that consider a wide ranging exploration of the aesthetic and expressive dimensions of visual, literary, musical, craft, and performance arts, in addition to the arts of daily life, in the MENA region across time and space, whether locally or globally inspired. Creative expression can be interpreted to mean topics from bedtime lullabies, to the exquisite refinements of manuscript painting, to the wild world of contemporary Middle Eastern bloggers, to the nuances of political cartoons, to the manipulation of urban landscapes. We hope that this theme will prompt investigations of the contexts of creative expression: what is being created; how is it represented; to whom is it directed, to what does it respond; how does it incite or invite response? And we hope to see panels discussing this theme from different disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives incorporating a variety of methodological approaches and structures. Comparative work is encouraged.

MESA is primarily concerned with the area encompassing Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Israel, Pakistan, and the countries of the Arab World from the 7th century to modern times. Other regions including Spain, Southeastern Europe, China and the former Soviet Union, also are included for the periods in which these territories were parts of the Middle Eastern empires or under the influence of Middle Eastern civilization. Proposals must arrive at the Secretariat by Wednesday, February 15, 2006, at 5:00 p.m. Mountain Standard Time, and must conform to the guidelines listed in the Call for Papers instructions. Proposals for thematic conversations only must arrive at the Secretariat by May 1, 2006. LATE PROPOSALS WILL NOT BE CONSIDERED.

You must be a MESA member to submit an application for the annual meeting. If you are not a MESA member, go here. You must pre-register for the meeting at the time you submit your application to participate. To pre-register, go here.

ATTENTION: EVERYONE MUST COMPLETE A FORM D-INDIVIDUAL DATA SHEET. IF YOU ARE SERVING IN MORE THAN ONE ROLE ON ONE PANEL, ONE INDIVIDUAL DATA SHEET FOR THAT PANEL WILL DO. IF YOU ARE PARTICIPATING ON MORE THAN ONE PANEL, PLEASE COMPLETE AN INDIVIDUAL DATA SHEET FOR EACH.

Requirements for Participation
Participation Categories
Presentation Guidelines, Guidelines for Papers, No-Show Policy
Audiovisual Equipment

SCHOLARS RESIDENT IN NORTH AMERICA

Members resident in North America must submit their proposals electronically.

Instructions for preorganized panels
Instructions for individual papers
Instructions for roundtables
Instructions for thematic conversations

I know what I need to do, just take me to:

preorganized panel abstract form (form A)
preorganized panel data sheet form (form B)
paper abstract form (form C)
individual data sheet form (form D)

You must have Acrobat Reader installed on your machine to open pdf documents. If you don't already have Acrobat Reader on your computer, press the "Get Acrobat Reader" button below.

Due to the volume of proposals received, MESA is not able to accept  faxed proposals. Faxed proposals will be discarded without notification to the sender. Proposals must arrive at the Secretariat by the deadline date, which for the 2006 meeting is FEBRUARY 15, 2006.  This is NOT the date by which proposals must be post-marked.  It is the date by which proposals MUST ARRIVE at the Secretariat. Questions about the submission process may be directed to Mark Lowder at mlowder@u.arizona.edu or by phone at 520 626-6290.

We welcome your proposals!

**Note from the 2004 Program Committee:
The program committee for the 2004 annual convention of the Middle East Studies Association were pleased by the quality and number of proposals that were sent to us. Members of the committee were disappointed, however, that so many proposals ignored the stipulations of the “Call for Papers” and failed to include research methodologies and sources as part of their abstracts. We would like to remind the Middle East Studies community of the difficulty of evaluating proposals that do not explain how prospective presenters arrived at their conclusions.

 

Although electronic submission is encouraged, scholars resident abroad may submit their proposals by post. If you plan to submit electronically, please follow the instructions at left.

CFP instructions (pdf)
CFP instructions (html)

PDF forms you can print

• Detailed instructions and all forms.
• Detailed instructions (only)
• FORM A: Abstract for Pre-organized Panel/Roundtable Outline
• FORM B: Preorganized Panel Information/Roundtable Information/Thematic Conversation Information
• FORM C: Abstract for Paper/Description of Individual Participation on Roundtable
• FORM D: Individual Data (all participants complete this form)
• Instructions for submitting Thematic Conversations
• 2006 annual meeting registration form

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