#  Growing Up in Contemporary Iraq 

 



####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **March 23, 2018** 

 09:00AM - 05:30PM EDT 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **CGIS Knafel 262, Bowie-Vernon Room, 1737 Cambridge St, Cambridge, MA 02138**  



 

 



 

 **The Center for Middle Eastern Studies** presents

 **Growing Up in Contemporary Iraq**

   ![Iraqi Youth center](/sites/g/files/omnuum9116/files/styles/hwp_1_1__720x720_scale/public/cmes/files/36380978942_5f75eaa9ef_o.jpg?itok=m8PlteF4) 

 

  
This one-day symposium will focus on Iraq's youth: what it is like to be one of the 20 million young Iraqis under 30 living in Iraq today. *Growing Up in Contemporary Iraq* will feature four panels covering the political, economic, social and cultural challenges facing Iraqi youth, including such topics as: educational and vocational adequacy, role of trauma in youth development, religious and social organization, women social activism, depiction of young people in literary and art production, and youth leadership potential for Iraq's next political phase.

 *Speakers*:  
**Eric Davis**, Professor, Political Science, Rutgers University  
**Joseph Sassoon**, Associate Professor, al-Sabah Chair in Politics and Political Economy of the Arab World, Walsh School of Foreign Affairs, Georgetown University  
**Kanan Makiya**, Senior Fellow, Professor *Emeritus,* Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies, The Crown Center for Middle East Studies, Brandeis University  
**Roy Mottahedeh**, Gurney Research Professor of History, Harvard University  
**Ömür Budak**, Consul General of Turkey in Boston  
**Zahra Ali**, Rutgers University  
**Bilal Wahab**, Nathan and Esther K. Wagner Fellow, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy  
**Payam Mohseni**, Director, Iran Project, Belfer Center, Harvard Kennedy School of Government  
**Nawaf Obaid**, Visiting Fellow for Intelligence & Defense Projects, Belfer Center for Science & International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School; weekly columnist, *Al Hayat*  
**Sayed Hossein Al Qazwini**, Islamic Seminary of Karbala, Iraq  
**Abbas Alkateshi**, Rutgers University  
**Marsin Alshamary**, MIT  
**Safwan al-Amin**, Harvard Kennedy School of Government  
**Layth Sidiq**, Berklee School of Music  
  
*Organizers*:  
**Roger Owen**, A. J. Meyer Professor of Middle East History, *Emeritus*, Department of History, Harvard University  
**Muhamed Almaliky**, MD, Associate, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University; Director, Iraqi American Institute

 *Program (updated 3/14/18):*  
8:50am: welcome remarks by Professors William Granara and Roger Owen

 9:00-10:30am: Setting the Scene , The Youth and Its Content   
Roger Owen: *Youth as a Political Category* (moderator & discussant)   
Eric Davis: *Post-ISIS Iraq, Prospects for Change*  
Bilal Wahab: *Kurdistan, A Crisis in Leadership*  
Kanan Makiya: *Is a New Political Order Possible?*

 10:30pm-12:00pm: Preparing the Next Generation   
Muhamed Almaliky, moderator   
Joseph Sassoon: *Role of Trauma in Youth Development*   
Zahra Ali: *Women and Political Activism*   
Marsin Alshamary: *Youth and Security-Democracy Trade-Off*  
  
12:00-2:00pm: break for lunch

 2:00-3:30PM: Possibilities for Reform  
Abdulrazzaq al-Saeidi, moderator  
Hossein al-Qazwini: *Post-Sistani's Hawza*   
Safwan al-Amin: *Constitution's Challenges*   
Abbas Fadhil Alkateshi: *Creating a Political Party in Iraq*  
Roy Mottahedeh: response to Hossein's paper on Hawza  
  
3:30-4:00: coffee break

 4:00-5:30pm: Iraq and the region  
Kristin Fabbe, moderator   
Payam Mohseni: *Is Iran a Friend or a Foe for Iraq?*  
Ömür Budak: Turkey: *A Potential Partner*  
Nawaf Obaid: *Saudi Rapprochement*

   
**Contact:** [Liz Flanagan](mailto:elizabethflanagan@fas.harvard.edu)

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 See also:- [ Conference/Workshop ](/eventseries/conferences)
- [ Anthropology ](/research-field/anthropology)
- [ Government ](/research-field/government)
- [ History ](/research-field/history)
- [ Iraq ](/research-region/iraq)
- [ 2017-18 ](/academic-year/2017-18)
 
 

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