I would like to begin by thanking Dr. Rami Daher for his distinguished service as the Chair of the ACSS Board of Trustees over the past two years, and Dr. Seteney Shami for the years she spent building the solid foundations that can ensure the sustainability of this unique institution in the Arab region and the future of the nascent scientific network which has developed around it. I would also like to thank the competent ACSS staff for efficiently handling the day-to-day operations of the Council and driving it forward.
Seven years after the official launch of the ACSS, which were preceded by three years of earlier preparations, I see us focusing on three priorities over the coming period, namely sustaining our past achievements, launching the discussed and approved initiatives, and explore future initiatives that may exceed our current capabilities.
I consider that the greatest achievement of the ACSS to this date has been the establishment of a much-needed scientific network. In addition to hundreds of researchers who have benefited from ACSS grants and transnational training workshops, hundreds of other scholars from different disciplines and parts of the region and the worldhave taken part in our four conferences to date, during which they strengthened their networks, exchanged knowledge, and engaged in extensive discussions which took place in a welcoming and professional setting.
However, a scientific network of this sort requires long-term investment to sustain itself, grow, and thrive. Financial resources need to be complemented with moral resources, as an independent scientific network cannot exist without the will and commitment of its members, which are integral to acquiring financial resources. This will is partly driven by a thirst for a kind of decolonial knowledge, but is nonetheless linked to global knowledge. In other words, a kind of assertive knowledge that poses its own questions, adapts its own methodology to its circumstances, and develops its own theories by keenly observing its surroundings; a kind of knowledge that does not limit itself to responding to what is written in Paris, Berlin, Oxford, or New York, despite recognizing the importance of such a corpus, without necessarily regarding it as a reference.
The ACSS was established in 2012, at a time when social sciences were disconnected from the major social movements in many Arab countries. Thus, both eastern and western social sciences failed to anticipate the upheavals. They even seemed ill-equipped to properly reflect on the issues at hand, lacking both the analytical tools and the connections to the people on the ground, especially the youth who were eager for innovative and creative knowledge approaches that can respond to the spontaneous nature of organizing in the streets and squares. Much like these sciences were caught off guard back then, this year they were once again taken by surprise by similar movements in two countries in particular: Algeria and Sudan. During the Fourth ACSS Conference (2019), this recurrent surprise imposed itself as a scientific dilemma: Why do we still lack the analytical tools that can predict or at least uncover these major social phenomena before they unfold? Should social sciences aim to make such predictions? Or should they aim to rationalize and understand events after they occur, or analyze the complex reality as it is rather than as it could be? If we must study the future, should we aim to predict it, or should we explore the possibilities around it?
If social sciences are to play a role in enlightening society, what should the nature of that role be? Should it be elitist whereby academics offer their solutions? Or investigative, whereby academics’ first and ultimate responsibility is to study society, and not necessarily offer solutions? Or should it be interactive, whereby academics do not present solutions, but rather ask questions, and perhaps frame the discussion? And how does any of these roles play out or justify its approach, knowing that the social sciences everywhere do not have a unified vision?
On the one hand, I raise these questions, not to find answers to them, but rather to highlight points of tension inherent to nascent scientific communities, be they with regard to the analytical role of social sciences or the relation between social sciences and society in general. These questions are all the more important when they grow organically from a common ground, that is a budding network of social sciences in the Arab region, which gives each of these crucial questions a role in engaging and communicating with audiences.
On the other hand, answers to these questions elucidate how we understand and identify audiences which may exist outside scientific circles. Many times during the ACSS conferences, we heard that social sciences should address first and foremost decision-makers. But we know that there are other social science audiences in the region, including civil society, international organizations, and social activists. The Fourth ACSS Conference, for example, focused in particular on ecologies and urban planning, which are issues of relevance not only to policy-makers, civil society and activists alike, but also to all residents of modern cities in the region, who are interested in understanding the environment in which they live.
Based on the above, the ACSS has achieved many milestones over the years, and we must sustain and build upon these achievements, which include: forming the nucleus for an Arab scientific network, raising common questions emanating from this developing reality, providing independent and centralized access to scientific networks, investing in varied methods of knowledge transfer, including publishing and education, and, whenever possible, anchoring the social sciences within audiences, from civil society, activist groups, creatives, and innovators to policy-makers in promising and inventive ways. The ACSS also played an important role in building the capacities of social scientists, providing indispensable training on research proposal writing, research ethics and research methodologies. In addition, the ACSS extended its support to foster a mature science that combines theory, methodology, literature reviews and comparative approaches, whenever possible. It is only through this mature science that knowledge can grow its potential and gain credibility and reliability, and thus, earn a place of its own.
Sincerely,
Mohammed Bamyeh
Chair of the Board of Trustees
