Media Studies and Cultural Studies in Arab Higher Education: Mapping the Field
| Date: | 4 September 2007 |
| Time: | 12.00am - . |
| Location: | University of Westminster, New Cavendish Campus, 115 New Cavendish Street, London W1 |
Conference Themes
Behind the interdisciplinary study of media and culture lies a recognition that media are implicated in major changes in our world. The place of media in these changes is widely considered important enough to justify the study of media and culture as an identifiable and institutionalised part of formal education. Today, after several decades in which they became established in different countries and regions, media and cultural studies are international, in the sense that scholars from different backgrounds are continually appropriating and recontextualising the field.
How is the process of appropriation and recontextualisation advancing in the Arab world? That is the broad question to be addressed in this conference. It aims to trigger a long-needed debate on the pedagogic and theoretical/practical challenges facing development of media and cultural studies in Arab universities. Which theoretical and methodological approaches currently dominate teaching about media and culture in the Arab region? How much coherence is there to this field of study? What do we know about the curriculum and its relevance to local media industries and market demands? In what ways is Arab academic research on media informed by local socio-cultural change?
Programme as Delivered
Tuesday September 4th
16:00-17:45 Registration - Pavilion
16:00-21:00 Book Display - Pavilion and Marylebone Books bookshop
17:45-18:00 Welcome Addresses - C103
· Sally Feldman, Dean, School of Media, Arts and Design, University of Westminster
· Professor Colin Sparks, Director, CAMRI, University of Westminster
· Dr Naomi Sakr, Director, Arab Media Centre, University of Westminster
18:00-19:30 Keynote lecture - C103
Professor Muhammad Ayish
Dean, College of Communication, University of Sharjah, UAE
Title: Media and Culture Studies in the Arab World: A Tour d'Horizon
19:30-21:00 Buffet Reception - Pavilion
Wednesday September 5th
9:30-10:30 Panel 1: Reconceptualising Western media and cultural studies - pooling experience from the Global South
Chair: Professor Daya Kishan Thussu (Author, International Communication, 2000, and editor of Media on the Move, 2007)
Speakers:
Dr Tarik Sabry, Arab Media and Culture Studies: Asking New Questions
Dr Winston Mano, Reconceptualising African Media Studies
Dr Xin Xin, Positioning Chinese Media Studies
10:30-11:00 Coffee break
11:00-13:00 Panel 2: Institutionalising media and cultural studies in Arab higher education
Chair: Professor Reina Lewis, Artscom Centenary Professor in Fashion Studies, University of the Arts London
Speakers:
Professor Conrad Ozog, Director of Communication and Design, Ministry of Higher Education in Oman, Arab or International: The Dilemma in Developing a Quality Curriculum
Susan O'Rourke, AUT University New Zealand, Reversioning a media studies degree for the Arab world: a case study arising from an agreement between New Zealand and Oman
Dr Lina Khatib, Royal Holloway, University of London, The case for the teaching of visual culture in the Arab world
13:00-14:00 Lunch
14:00-16:00 Panel 3: The media industry in the Arab world: employment and vocational education
Chair: Professor Muhammad Ayish, Dean, College of Communication, University of Sharjah, UAE
Speakers:
Dr Ibrahim Al Beayeyz, Chair, Mass Communication Department, King Saud University, Mass communication education and the needs of the Saudi Arabian labour market
Dr Adel Iskandar, Georgetown University and University of Texas-Austin,
The lure of "Objectivity": Negotiating journalistic professionalism in the Arab world
Dr Dina Matar, SOAS, University of London, Critical thinking about culture and the political: changes in the practice of Arab journalism
16:00-16:15 Tea break
16:15-18:00 Panel 4: Pedagogic challenges and curriculum development in the study of media and popular culture
Chair: Dr Dima Dabbous-Sensenig, Assistant Professor of Communication and Director, Institute for Women's Studies in the Arab World, Lebanese American University
Speakers:
Professor Nabil Dajani, American University of Beirut, Pedagogic challenges facing development of media studies in Arab universities
Rania Gaafar, Hochschule für Gestaltung, Karlsruhe, Corporeal Images of the Self: Towards a »Pictorial Turn« in an Arab oriented Cultural Studies
Jumana Al Tamimi, Middle East Editor, Gulf News, Dubai, Communication technology, journalistic professionalism and Arab academic education
