In Collaboration With Colombia University
This project entitled Research Ethics in the Middle East and North Africa (RMENA) is a collaboration between the Middle East Institute at Columbia University, the Political Science Department of the American University in Cairo, the Rabat Social Studies Institute, and the Arab Council for the Social Sciences. The initiative is aimed towards reshaping the landscape of social science research in the Arab world. With generous support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York, REMENA is a collaborative effort among leading academic centers to foster ethical, constructive, and responsible social inquiry.
REMENA Steering Committee
Lila Abu Lughod, (Columbia University)
Rabab El Mahdi (American University in Cairo)
Sari Hanafi (American University of Beirut)
Stéphane Lacroix (CERI/Sciences Po)
Seteney Shami (ACSS)
Saloua Zerhouni (Mohammed V University)
REMENA Principal Investigator
Lisa Anderson, Dean Emerita, School of International and Public Affairs, and Faculty Associate, Middle East Institute, Columbia University
institutional, economic, political, sociological—to the conduct of social science research in the region today
which address obstacles to effective social science research in the region
among social science communities within and beyond the Arab Middle East and North Africa
for the ethical conduct of research in and on communities under duress and in circumstances of disparate power relations
of the value of social science research and of the circumstances that advance it, within the region and beyond
Five working groups were established during the course of the project as follows:
Convened by Dima Toukan and Ellen Lust. This group will analyze funding for social sciences research in the Middle East and North Africa.
Convened by Sari Hanafi and Rich Nielsen. This working group’s discussions focused particularly on the lack of dialogue between scholars in the region and outside of it. The Working Group is examining publications to discern who is citing whom, what type of scholarship journals look for, etc. and how research is disseminated today.
Convened by Jillian Schwedler and Laryssa Chomiak. The group decided to develop a draft or “essential readings” for advisors and junior researchers, particularly doctoral students. The group is preparing a number of individual and joint publications, including work on the outsourcing of knowledge production, the relation between interviewer and interviewee, and on fixers, research assistants, and translators.
Convened by Sarah Parkinson and Dina Zayed. The group is writing a rubric/guide on what a conversation on ethics between student and advisor would look like and what core questions need to be asked.
Convened by Lila Abu-Lughod and Rabab El-Mahdi. The group has developed abstracts and is holding several workshops to discuss the interventions and decide on how best to disseminate them.
