Event Title: Making Sense of the Revolts of the Middle East through the Prism of Liberation Square, Cairo

Who:  Chad Haines, Ph.D., Research Fellow, Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict at ASU...Lecturer, Religious Studies at Arizona State University
When: Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Where: Camelback Golf Club Golf Grill, 7847 N. Mockingbird Lane, Scottsdale, AZ 85253
Time: Cocktails 6:00 p.m. - Dinner 7:00 p.m. - Program 8:00 p.m. 

 Click here for more information about this speaker.

              

Registration is Closed.

         Our speaker, Dr. Chad Haines, is ideally positioned to address PCFR on the current situation that is changing the face of governments in the Middle East. In 2009 Chad Haines was a Fulbright Fellow in Pakistan and formerly an assistant professor of Anthropology at American University in Cairo. Currently he is a Research Fellow at the Center for the Study of Religion and Conflict at ASU and lecturer in the Religious Studies program at Arizona State University.

         Professor Haines is a cultural anthropologist whose research engages the complex ways post-coloniality and globalization continue to reshape the Muslim world. His research focuses on everyday lives of Muslims as they create new identities through such social practices as lifestyle options, consumption, labor, and migration. He is the author of Nation, Territory and Globalization in Pakistan: A View from the Margins (Routledge, 2011) and is currently working on a new manuscript tentatively entitled Being Global, Being Muslim: Dubai, Islamabad, and Cairo.

        Haines’ areas of expertise include Pakistan, Islam, urban studies, globalization, tourism, Egypt, Dubai, and India. As an expert in Islamic Studies, he has traveled extensively throughout the Middle East and South Asia. Prior to coming to ASU, Haines taught at the American University in Cairo for four years. 

       Haines cautions policy makers to understand the detailed histories and causes of revolt in each individual country, warning outsiders not to treat the entire region as a homogeneous entity. It is his belief that the U.S. has often been seen as having "short sighted policy interests at the cost of the people in the region." Haines addresses U.S. fears about an Islamist takeover in countries that have been experiencing tumultuous revolts. While some analysts may differ with his conclusions, he is of the opinion that the extremists will not be able to capitalize on (the revolts), because ultimately the revolts are about an aspiration for political voice, and extremist organizations cannot offer political voice through democratic principles and practices. 

        Please join us for this excellent and timely opportunity to welcome Dr. Chad Haines to the Phoenix Committee on Foreign Relations, and please be certain to participate in the Q & A following his remarks.

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