Workshop "Neighborhoods at Times of Change and Crisis"

17–18 May 2018, Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient

This workshop aims to explore the theme of “neighbors” and “neighborhood” as a departure point to consider space, identity, coexistence, solidarity, and violence, at times of change and crisis in the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia. Neighborhood as an intimate space with blurred yet shared boundaries in the mental-maps of its residents is home to conflicts over space and time. Its histories, material formations, as well as transformations are both indicative and inductive of micro and macro social phenomena. Historically, as much as recently they are the loci of resistance and political dissidence, but also coexistence of potentially hostile groups. Therefore, envisioning neighborhoods as more than an administrative category would give hints to understand spatial formations of the social and political.
Considering the complexity of the phenomenon, we suggest approaching neighborhoods with an interdisciplinary lens. This workshop, therefore, invites the collaboration of neighboring disciplines, including but not limited to history, geography, anthropology, sociology, political science, and psychology.