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Faculty Research
Scholars at GU-Q embraced this historically significant time by developing resource sharing hubs and convening research groups online.
Faculty focus on current challenges resulted in impactful, regionally relevant research that is promoting understanding and contributing to the development of Qatar as a knowledge hub for the region and the world.
Annual Report 2020-2021 •
Georgetown University in Qatar
Faculty Research
Rory Miller is the lead investigator on the “Managing National Security Risk during and after the Blockade: Strategic Challenges and Opportunities for Qatar’s Energy Sector” project (NPRP 12S-0210-190067).
Collaborators include the University of Warwick, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Sakarya University, and the Qatar General Retirement and Social Insurance Authority.
This project will provide an unprecedented resource for Qatari policymakers as they engage with key regional and international energy partners, specifically China, Japan and South Korea, the U.S., U.K. and Russia, and Turkey and Iran.
—Rory Miller
PROJECT OUTCOMES
Miller, Rory. “Qatar, Energy Security and Strategic Vision in a Small State” in Journal of Arabian Studies, 10, no. 1.
Wright, Steven. “Advancement of Environmental Sustainability through LNG: The Case of Qatar–China Relations” in Green Finance, Sustainable Development and the Belt and Road Initiative (Routledge 2020).
Financial Times Best Books of 2020: Environment
Anatol Lieven’s book Climate Change and the Nation State: The Realist Case (U.K.: Penguin Books, Ltd, and USA: Oxford University Press, 2020) was named a Financial Times Book of the Year in the environment category.
His book argues that only drastic measures enacted by nation states and publicly adopted through an appeal to patriotism have the power to drive the changes needed to prevent environmental disaster. Meeting the challenge requires matching the same level of human energy mobilization that was necessary to get through the industrial revolution, major wars, and mass migration.
Annual Report 2020-2021 •
Georgetown University in Qatar
India’s Politics in Its Vernaculars
Uday Chandra is one of three investigators awarded a $1.67 million USD European Research Council grant (2020-2025) to record and analyze the conceptual vocabulary of India’s political life across seventeen Indian languages.
The India’s Politics in Its Vernaculars project involves 24 scholars of Indian culture, politics, and languages working to build a theoretical vocabulary for analyzing Indian politics—not in the exogenous terms of Western Political Theory, but in its own terms—using concepts through which Indian political actors themselves conduct and reflect on their politics.
Building a Linguistic Map of Qatar
Arabic Instructor Hany Fazza is Co-Principal Investigator for a threeyear National Priorities Research Project (NPRP) grant, titled Building a Linguistic Map of Qatar (NPRP 12S-0301-190189). Collaborators include Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, the Doha International Family Institute, Qatar University, and Wayne State University. The project aims to map the social, geographical, and generational variations of the Qatari dialect, and create a digital tool for exploring pronunciation, usage, and expressions.
Islamic Bioethics Research Project
To provide better access to resources, GU-Q launched an Islamic Bioethics Project website (ibp.qatar.georgetown.edu) to compile resources around Islamic bioethics and guide research in the field. It includes the outcomes of several nationally funded research grants, including:
ISLAMIC MEDICAL AND SCIENTIFIC ETHICS DATABASE
The Islamic Medical and Scientific Ethics database (NPRP 08-783-6-017) catalogs and indexes relevant multilingual and multiformat resources with special attention given to Arabic resources, for which detailed citations including multiple layers of subject keywords and translated abstracts are provided.
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF ISLAMIC BIOETHICS
The Encyclopedia of Islamic Bioethics (NPRP 5-1390-6-043) is a valuable resource for Islamic ethical thought on a wide range of bioethical questions and dilemmas covering medical ethics, ethics in the life sciences and scientific research, and environmental ethics.
FAMILY STRUCTURE IN THE WAKE OF GENETIC AND REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGIES
The Family Structure in the Wake of Genetic and Reproductive Technologies (NPRP 8-1478-6-053) project expanded existing resources and used them to explore the impact of new genetic and reproductive technologies on Islamic conceptualizations of the nuclear family.
Ismaha
The resource sharing website Firij has continued to evolve. Its 100 Women project recording the lived experience of Arab women has been expanded under the name Ismaha. Launched in Summer 2021, it now also provides access to hundreds of hours of research events around women, and serves as a clearinghouse of information on women centered research and events at GU-Q and the region.
Ajyal Film Festival Premiere
Suzi Mirgani’s short film Al-Sit premiered at the Ajyal Film Festival. The film was funded by the Doha Film Institute and tells the story of a 15 year-old Sudanese girl named Nafisa and her grandmother Al-Sit, the powerful village matriarch.
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Faculty Research Events
“IDIOSYNCRATIC HISTORY OF AMERICAN PASSPORTS”
CIRS Faculty Fellow Edward Kolla shared his research for a forthcoming book outlining freedom of movement and international law through the lens of the passport. The work is a culmination of five years of visits to archives in France, the U.K., Switzerland, the U.S., and online.
WATCH THE WEBINAR
Annual Report 2020-2021 •
Georgetown University in Qatar
The COVID lockdowns have reminded a lot of people of the freedom a passport represents, but for others, it’s still a symbol of difficulty. In theory, all people have a right to freedom of movement but in practice, that doesn’t exist. That mobility is more often based on an unfair and hierarchical system—a reality that most of us take for granted.
—Edward Kolla
“ARMENIANS IN MODERN TURKISH LITERATURE”
Ian Almond held a public discussion with Mehmet Fatih Uslu of Istanbul Sehir University on the topic, “Armenians in Modern Turkish Literature: The Case of Ahmet Hamdi Tanpinar.” The discussion was moderated by Almond’s GU-Q World Literature colleague, Firat Oruc.
WATCH THE DISCUSSION
We're casting our glance further east because Southeast and East Asia are part of the Indian Ocean World. Throughout history, there have been so many interactions between these two regions, Eastern Africa, and the Gulf. We hope to gain a better understanding of those complex interactions.
—Phoebe Musandu
INDIAN OCEAN WORKING GROUP
The Indian Ocean Working Group hosted webinars, symposia, and monthly reading group meetings, bringing together scholars from around the world. In October, the working group announced the Loiy Hammad Memorial Lecture Series in honor of the late Loiy Hammad (SFS’21).
Watch recordings of the group’s lectures and other research on GU-Q’s YouTube channel.
WATCH PAST GU-Q LECTURES
Book Discussions: By the Sea by Abdulrazak Gurnah, University of Kent at Canterbury
Buying Time: Debt and Mobility in the Western Indian Ocean by Thomas F. McDow, Ohio State University
Captured at Sea: Piracy and Protection in the Indian Ocean by Jatin Dua, University of Michigan
Imperial Mecca: Ottoman Arabia and the Indian Ocean Hajj by Michael Christopher Low, Iowa State University
Piracy in Somalia: Violence and Development in the Horn of Africa by Awet T. Weldemichael, Queens University
Reel Pleasures: Cinema Audiences and Entrepreneurs in Twentieth-Century Urban Tanzania by Laura Fair, Michigan State University
Firat Oruc
Working Group Lecture Series:
“Indian Ocean Humanities, Current State
and Future Directions,” was moderated by Firat Oruc. Panelists included Ananya Kabir, Kings College; Ari Gautier, author; Jeremy Prestholdt, University of Califonia San Diego; and Vilashini Cooppan, University of California, Santa Cruz.
“Human Mobilities across the Indian
Ocean: Prospects and Challenges” explored labor migration, COVID-19, and migrant policies in the region. The discussion was moderated by Uday Chandra and included panelists Abdurahman Warsame, Al Jazeera; Vani Saraswathi, Migrant-Rights.org; and Malini Sur, Western Sydney University.
“South East Asia and East Asia in Studies of the Indian Ocean World: Past, Present
and Future,” was moderated by Anto Mohsin, Northwestern University in Qatar, and included panelists R. Michael Feener, Kyoto University; Weihsin Gui, University of California; Tansen Sen, New York University Shanghai; and Hideaki Suzuki, Japan’s National Museum of Ethnology.
