Northwestern University in Qatar
Education City, Qatar +974 4454 5100
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The question of race in the Global South is inextricably entwined with legacies of colonialism, staggering wealth divides, and ongoing contestations of racial capitalism. What are the roots of anti-Blackness in the Global South? What role does racial privilege play in South-South relationships? How have the legacies of slavery and colonialism shaped racial dynamics across the Global South? How do we grapple with the varied manifestations of racism in our societies? These questions are the focus of Northwestern University in Qatar’s Dean's Office Conference Series, Questioning Anti-Blackness and Racial Privilege in the Global South. From Senegal to Sudan, Louisiana to Lebanon, Cairo to Calcutta, anti-Blackness and White privilege have shaped the racial landscape across Global South societies, with tangible social, economic, and political implications. This two-day conference in Doha, at the crossroads of Africa and Asia, brings together some of the world’s leading interdisciplinary scholars, media practitioners, and creative award-winning artists from across the globe to engage in stimulating dialogue and thought-provoking discussions about the historical roots, social and economic consequences, and everyday lived experiences of anti-Blackness and racial privilege within and between Global South societies
9:15 - 9:30 a.m.
Marwan Kraidy, Dean and CEO, Northwestern University in Qatar, Anthony Shadid Chair of Global in Global Media, Politics and Culture, Northwestern University
Zachary Wright, Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs, Professor of History and Religious Studies, Northwestern University in Qatar
9:30 - 11:30 a.m.
Moderator: Scheherazade Safla, Assistant Professor of Journalism, Northwestern Qatar
Dahlia El-Zein, Assistant Professor of History, Northwestern Qatar. “The Question of Anti-Blackness among Arab minorities in sub-Saharan Africa.”
Nisreen Kaj, Creative and Communications Professional. “Invisible Histories: Blackness and Belonging in North Lebanon.”
Rogaia Abusharaf, Professor of Anthropology, Georgetown University in Qatar. “Dark Knuckles: Bleaching in Sudan’s Skin-Scape.”
Sarah Gualtieri, Professor of History and American Studies, Georgetown Qatar. “White Privilege/Arab Fear: Racialized Terror in the Jim Crow South.”
1:00 - 3:00 p.m.
Moderator: Leila Tayeb, Assistant Professor of Performance Studies, Northwestern Qatar
Laura Brueck, Professor of South Asian and Comparative Literature, Northwestern University. “A Global Caste Lexicon.”
Bedour Alagraa, Assistant Professor of Political and Social Thought, University of Texas Austin. “X Marks the Spot: Cruel Mathematics, Fatal Liberalisms, and the Terror of Sovereign Power.”
Ivy Wilson, Associate Professor of English and Art, Theory, and Practice, Northwestern University. “Inversion, Irony, and the Global South in Contemporary Art.”
Sara Musaifer, Postdoctoral Research Associate, New York University Abu Dhabi. “Race, Gender, and Modern Education in Bahrain.”
Muez Ali, Senior Research and Policy Associate, Earthna Center for a Sustainable Future, Qatar Foundation. “Extractive Knowledge Practices and Policy Making in the Global South: The Case of Sudan.”
9:00 - 11:00 a.m.
Moderator: Hasan Mahmud, Assistant Professor of Sociology, Northwestern Qatar
Rasul Miller, Assistant Professor of History, University of California Irvine. “Islam, Black Internationalism, and the Black Radical Tradition”
Mafaz Suwaidan, PhD Candidate, Philosophy of Religion, Harvard University. “Almost as Muslim as the Arabs: Colonial Racism and the Invention of the ‘Natural Muslim’”
Akintunde Akinade, Professor of Theology, Georgetown Qatar. “A Daring Testament of Hope: Exploring the Power and Persuasion of Liberation in African Theology”
Amir Sulaiman, Spoken Word Artist. “Poetry in the Black American Muslim Experience.”12:30 - 2:30 p.m.
Moderator: Sami Hermez, Liberal Arts Director, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Northwestern Qatar
Lynda Iroulo, Assistant Professor of International Relations, Georgetown Qatar. “The African Union and the Israeli-Arab Contestation”
Rudolph Ware, Associate Professor of History, University of California Santa Barbara. “Muslim Maroon Methodologies: Islam, Anti-Imperialism, and Africa.”
Greg Burris, Associate Professor of Visual Communication, Northwestern Qatar. “The Whiteness of Phosphorous: Racial Ingenuity and the Weapons of War”
Farah El-Sharif, Visiting Scholar, Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, Stanford University. “African Muslim Intellectuals and the Liberation of Palestine”