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Conferences

The Maghreb Studies Association has organised various conferences in the past and papers from the conferences were published in The Maghreb Review. Details of past conferences can be found below. Copies of the proceedings of a conference can be obtained from The Maghreb Review by clicking on the appropriate ‘available here’ link.

Past Conferences

The Maghreb Review and Maghreb Studies Association Conference 2022
Was held at Christ Church College, Oxford on 28 and 29 March 2022


The theme was:
Empires in The Middle East and The Maghreb: The Shaping of Hopes and Perspectives

The following papers were presented at the conference. Proceedings will be published in The Maghreb Review.

  1. Ilan Pappé, University of Exeter
    Christian and Jewish Colonialism Meet: Re-evaluating the Origins of the Balfour Declaration
  2. Professor Michael M. Gunter, Tennessee Tech University
    Indigenous Colonialism in the Middle East: From the Ottoman Empire to Modern Turkey’s Neo Ottomanist Ambitions
  3. Professor Otman Bychou, Sultan Moulay Slimane University, Morocco
    Romance and Marriage Under the French Army’s Constant Close Surveillance During World War II: Ambiguous Perspectives
  4. Dr John Wright, London
    Not a Happy History — Italy and Libya
  5. Professor Federico Cresti, Centro per gli studi sul mondo islamico contemporaneo e l’Africa, Université de Catane, Italie
    La Colonisation Italienne de la Libye: Une Croisade (1911-1940)?
  6. Dr Panos Kourgiotis, Open Hellenic University
    From Yasser Arafat and Qaddafi to Shaikh Bin Zayed and King Salman; the Greek Pro-Arabism Revisited
  7. Dr Nina S. Studer, University of Basel, Switzerland
    Uprooting What the French Planted: Wine, Culture and Identity in Colonial Algeria
  8. Dr Filippo Petrucci, Università di Cagliari, Italy
    The Departure of the Italians from Tunisia After 1956: Some Reflections on an Open Topic
  9. Dr Itzea Goikolea Amiano, The Spanish National Research Centre (IMF-CSIC), Barcelona
    Exile, Afflictions and Agency in Sīdī Mufaḍḍal Afaylāl’s Diary During the Spanish Occupation of Tetouan (1860-62)
  10. Professor Mamaoui Moulay Lmustapha, Sultan Moulay Slimane University, Morocco
    The Colonial Heritage: French Language and the Questions of Identity, Education and Development in Morocco Today
  11. Meriam Mabrouk, Ph.D candidate, Birkbeck College, University of London
    Mind the Gap Please: Towards an International Historical Sociology of Diplomacy in the First Moroccan Crisis 1904 – 1906
  12. Dr Nigar Gozalova, Institute of History, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences, Azerbaijan, Baku
    Qajar Iran at the Center of British-Russian Confrontation in the 1820s
  13. Dr Ohannes Geukjian, American University of Beirut
    The History and Politics of French Involvement in Lebanon (1860-2021)
  14. Dr Thomas Richard, Université Clermont-Auvergne, France
    Imperial Imagery and Middle Eastern Visual Culture: Napoleon in Egyptian Eyes
  15. Dr Ahmed Al-Shahi, Co-Founder and Chair, Trustee of The Sudanese Programme, Oxford
    Were the Turco-Egyptian and the Anglo-Egyptian Contrasting Conquests Beneficial to the Sudanese?
  16. Due to Covid 19, Professor Fred H Lawson, Mills College, Oakland, California, was unable to join us but we have received his excellent paper on: Invoking the Empire: An Overlooked Component of Egyptian Nationalism, 1879–1919 which will be published with the conference proceedings.

The Maghreb Review and Maghreb Studies Association Conference 2019
Was held at Mansfield College, Oxford on 9 and 10 September 2019


The theme was:
RUSSIA AND THE MEDITERRANEAN:
DIPLOMACY, STRATEGIES AND INTERNATIONAL RESPONSES

The conference focussed upon Russia’s current and historical role in the Mediterranean region and its impact upon international relations. We attracted scholars with an interest in subjects as diverse as: Russia’s emerging Mediterranean ambitions during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars; the Crimean war in the 1850s; Russian diplomacy and Greek independence; Russian aspirations with regard to Constantinople/Istanbul and the Turkish Straits; Soviet involvement in the Spanish Civil War; Soviet post-1945 diplomacy regarding Italy, Libya and the international governance of Tangier; Soviet policy towards Egypt and Israel/Palestine; and Russia’s recent involvement with Turkey and in Syria and Iran.

The following papers were presented at the conference, and will be published in future issues of The Maghreb Review.

  1. DU TRAITÉ DE KÜÇÜK KAYNARDJA AU TRAITÉ DE BERLIN. LA RUSSIE ET LA MÉDITERRANÉE (1774-1878)
    PROF. ODILE MOREAU
  2. THE FORWARD VIEW: AUSTEN HENRY LAYARD AND THE RUSSO-TURKISH WAR OF 1877
    DR. JOHN FISHER<
  3. REASSESSING TITO: ‘BRITISH POLICY TOWARDS YUGOSLAVIA FOLLOWING THE CRUSHING OF THE PRAGUE SPRING’.
    MR. ANDREW HARRISON
  4. COLD WAR TWILIGHT: RONALD REAGAN, THE SOVIET UNION, AND THE MIDDLE EAST IN THE AMERICAN IMAGINATION
    PROF. OSAMAH KHALIL
  5. BETWEEN CONTINUITY AND RUPTURE: THE MEDITERRANEAN IN TODAY’S RUSSIAN GEOPOLITICS
    DR. IGOR DELANOË
  6. ‘STRATEGIC SURPRISES’ IN THE MEDITERRANEAN: RUSSIAN-AMERICAN RELATIONS IN THE 21ST CENTURY
    PROF. ABDELWAHAD HECHICHE
  7. RUSSIA & IRAN: PARTNERS IN NEED, RIVALS INDEED
    DR. MARZIEH KOUHI ESFAHANI
  8. THE GEOPOLITICS OF THE RUSSIAN, IRANIAN AND TURKISH INVOLVEMENT IN THE SYRIAN CIVIL WAR
    DR. OHANNES GEUKJIAN
  9. BRITAIN, BULGARIA AND THE BEGINNINGS OF THE COLD WAR IN THE MEDITERRANEAN, 1945-1946
    DR. KEITH HAMILTON

We organised one panel at
WOCMES: SEVILLE
16-22 July 2018


Our theme was:
STATE AND SOCIETY IN THE MAGHREB

It was a great success and well-attended and the following papers were presented:

  1. Fátima Fernández
    The unspoken ‘exit’: erasing Algeria from the European Common Market (1957-1976)
  2. John Fisher
    James Macleod, a Scottish merchant who embarked upon a career in the Morocco trade based in Tangier, in 1886
  3. Aslisho Qurboniev
    A Khaldunian appraisal of the evolution of the early fatimid State: The rise of the Kutama and Sanhaja

Fátima Fernández’ paper has been published in The Maghreb Review, Vol. 44, 1, 2019 and John Fisher’s paper will be published in The Maghreb Review, Volume 44, 2, 2019.
The Editor regrets that the paper by Aslisho Qurboniev which was due to be published along with the others from our Panel cannot be published, owing to the author’s failure to submit the text.

The Maghreb Studies Association organised one panel at
The Biennial Conference of
THE AFRICAN STUDIES ASSOCIATION UK
The University of Sussex, 9-11 September 2014

Proceedings will be published in a future issue of
The Maghreb Review


Our theme was:
Cultural Expression in The Maghreb: Historical, Literary Forms and the Media

Maghrebian literature, written in Arabic or in French by either male or female authors has not always reached the Anglophone audience. Speakers for this panel were invited to present original research on Media, Literature, Women’s Studies, and Poetry, relating to North Africa.

The following papers were presented at our Panel:

  1. Fella Benabed, Annaba University, Algeria
    The Black Decade in Testimonial Algerian Novels
  2. Amar Guendouzi, Mouloud Mammeri University, Tizi-Ouzou, Algeria
    Francophone and Anglophone African Literary Connections: A Study of Culture and Identity in Assia Djebar’s Nulle part dans la maison de mon père and Kwame A. Appiah’s In my Father’s House
  3. Jyhene Kebsi, The University of Sydney, Australia
    Arabic North African Literature and Film in an Age of Globalization
  4. Nina Studer, University of Zürich, Switzerland
    Absinthe in the Maghreb: Guilt and Cultural Assimilation in French Colonial Medicine

NOTE: The African Studies Association UK was founded 50 years ago and is focussed mainly on former British Colonies. The Maghreb Studies Association is now affiliated to the African Studies Association UK, and it is our intention to organise panels at all of their future conferences.

Colonial Heritage in the Middle East and the Maghreb:
the Shaping of Hopes and Perspectives

Mansfield College, Oxford, 24-25 June 2013

Proceedings will be published in a future issue of
The Maghreb Review


  • JAMIL ABUN-NASR, Bayreuth: Hostility to Muslims in Europe: Causes and Modes of Expression
  • NIGAR GOZALOVA, Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences: The role of British Military Experts in the Formation of the Qajar Troops in the First Quarter of the 19th Century
  • AHMED FAROUK, l’Institut Méditerranéen, Paris: Activités des Consulats britanniques au Maroc durant la périoda dite de pacification
  • MICHAEL B. BISHKU, Georgia Regents University Augusta: The Transformation of the South Caucasus Region: From Soviet Republics to Independent States
  • ABDELWAHAB HECHICHE, University of South Florida: The Axis Paris-London-Washington and the Mediterranean: From Suez to Benghazi via Tunis: 1956-2012
  • RAMI GINAT, Bar Ilan University: Egypt, and the Unity of the Nile Valley: A Territorial Nationalism or a Colonialism?
  • ANGELA HERNANDEZ, Université de Murcia (Espagne): Le Rôle des Consuls dans la Construction des Réalités Politiques au Maghreb: les Consuls Espagnols de Mogador au XIX Siècle
  • ALLAN CHRISTELOW, Idaho State University: Algeria’s Transition from the Imperial Era to the Global Era (1939-1946) as Seen Through Illustrated Magazines for Soldiers
  • SAM CHRRIBI, Emory University: The Moroccan Economy and the Politics of Development Since the Decolonization: the US, the EU (Euromed), the GCC and the AMU
  • MICHAEL GUNTER, Tennessee Technological University: The Civil War in Syria: Colonial Heritage and Failed Nation-State Building in the Middle East
  • YEHUDIT RONEN, Bar Ilan University: Conflicting national identities in colonial and post-colonial Morocco: Between Arab nationalism and Jewish Zionism
  • MEHMET S. TOSUN, University of Nevada, Reno: Centralized Government Structure in the Middle East and North Africa Region from a Historical Perspective
  • RACHID AGROUR, Institut Royal de la Culture Amazigh (Rabat): La période trouble de l’indépendance dans le Sud marocain. Le cas du capitaine Moureau et de l’Armée de Libération (1956-1957)
  • M.A. SIBEL AYDIN, University of Bayreuth: Complex Development of Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt: From Anti-Colonial Movement to Global Jihadist Preaching
  • HABIBA BOUMLIK, City University of New York: Muslim and European Encounters Through travel Writing: 17th-19th Centuries
  • KHALID BEN-SRHIR, Mohamed V University, Rabat: Rivalités européennes au Maroc précolonial: La mission de Charles Euan-Smith à Fez en 1892
  • DAVID BEAMISH, School of Oriental and African Studies, London: Producing ‘Authentic’ Perspective: The Writings of Ismail Hamid
  • NINA SALOUÂ STUDER: “Will There Be Any Long Term Effects?” The Power of Psychiatry in French Colonial North Africa
  • YLENIA ROCCHINI, Sant’Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy: De l’usage du droit musulman à l’époque coloniale: la répudiation algérienne face aux interventions législatives et aux pratiques judiciaires françaises
  • ANN McDOUGALL, University of Alberta: Abolition as Politics in 21st Century Mauritania: colonial policy, Islamic law and contemporary slavery in the fate of democracy
  • ODILE MOREAU-RICHARD, Université de Montepellier, France: Printemps Arabe, Héritage Historique et Rivalités d’Influences Européennes et Turque Lors de la Transition Démocratique en Tunisie

The Contemporary Situation in the Countries of the Maghreb and the Middle East
Oxford, 11 February 2012.

Proceedings will be published in a future issue of
The Maghreb Review


  • DR JOHN CHALCRAFT, London School of Economics: Mohamed Bouazizi, Survivalist Small Business, Egypt, and the Arab Uprisings of 2011: neoliberalism’s crisis of authority?
  • PROFESSOR AVI SHLAIM, University of Oxford: The Arab Uprising and the Arab-Israel Conflict.
  • PROFESSOR STUART SCHAAR, Brooklyn College, CUNY: The Arab Citizen’s Revolt and its Impact on Tunisia.
  • DR MICHAEL WILLIS, University of Oxford: The Arab Spring and the Challenge of Reform in Morocco.
  • DR SALMA BELAALA, University of Warwick: Arab Revolts and Democratic Transition What should we learn from Algerian collapsed democracy experience?
  • DR MAAIKE VOORHOEVE, University of Amsterdam: Transitional justice in post-revolutionary Tunisia: discourses and discursive practices.
  • PROFESSOR YAHIA ZOUBIR, Euromed Marseille Ecole de Management, Marseille: An Interpretation of the Arab Uprising.
Maghreb Review Vol 19 Nos 1-2 1994

What Does Decolonization Mean?
London, 5-6 July 1993.

Convened jointly with The Maghreb Review

Proceedings were published in
The Maghreb Review Vol.19, Nos 1-2, 1994
Copies are available here for £35 Post free


  • ARNOLD H. GREEN: Tunisia’s Decolonization Experience: A Contextual Comparative History.
  • BERNARD DROZ: Les Catholiques Français face à la Décolonisation.
  • ANDRE NOUSCHI : Culture et Décolonisation au Maghreb.
  • KHALIFA CHATER: La décolonisation du Maghreb et la dialectique modernité/identité 1955–1993.
  • SOUAD CHATER: Décolonisation et discours féministe en Tunisie 1930–1956.
  • DRISS BEN ALI: Les effets de la décolonisation sur l’évolution socio-politique du Maghreb: Cas de l’Algérie et du Maroc.
  • GUY PERVILLE: Qu’est-ce que la décolonisation? Pour une réhabilitation des facteurs démographiques.
  • HARTMUT ELSENHANS: Decolonisation: From the Failure of the Colonial Export Economies to the Decline of Westernised State Classes.
  • PHILIP DINE: Thinking the Unthinkable: the generation of meaning in French literary and cinema images of the Algerian war.
  • ANDRE LEVY: The Structured ambiguity of Minorities towards decolonisation: The case of the Moroccan Jews today.
  • ABDELWAHAB HECHICHE: Decolonization and North African Jews: Their Problematic in Israeli National Integration.
  • KATHLEEN O’MARA: The Kel Ahir Tuareg and the Problematic of Theories of the State.
Maghreb Review Vol 18 Nos 1-2 1993

Cultural Expression in The Maghreb: Historical, Literary Forms and the Media
London, 6-7, July 1992.

Convened jointly with The Maghreb Review

Proceedings were published in
The Maghreb Review Vol.18, Nos 1-2, 1993
Copies are available here for £35 Post free


  • STUART SCHAAR: Creation of Mass Political Culture in Tunisia.
  • YEHOSHUA FRENKEL: Muhammad Al Djazouli’s Image in Biographical Dictionaries and Hagiographical Collections written during the Sa’did Period in Morocco.
  • MICHAEL ALPERT: The Spanish Zone of the Moroccan Protectorate during the Spanish Civil War 1936–1939.
  • JOELLE RODOUANE: Les Anglais et l’Algérie 1930–1942.
  • HELENA DE FELIPE: Berbers in the Maghreb and Al-Andalus: Settlements and Toponymy.
  • DANIELLE MARX-SCOURAS: Poètes, Vis Papiers.
  • FARIDA ABU-HAIDAR: Freedom of Expression and the Algerian Arabic Novel.
  • MARTINE D. MEYER: A Reinterpretation of Driss Chraibi’s Trilogy: Shrinking the Father.
  • JAREER A. ABU-HAIDAR: The Case for the Arabic Origins of The Muwashshahat: Court Poetry and Burlesque in Al-Andalus.
  • ALEC G. HARGREAVES: Maghrebians and French Television.
  • TONY D. C. HYLAND: An Uncertain Heritage: Berber Traditional Architecture in the Maghreb.
  • MONIQUE BRANDILY: La Pratique Musicale Traditionnelle en Libye et ses Instruments.
  • RUTH DAVIS: Tunisia and the Cairo Congress of Arab Music, 1932.
Maghreb Review Vol 8 Nos 5-6 1983 Maghreb Review Vol 8 Nos 3-4 1983 Maghreb Review Vol 8 Nos 1-2 1983

The Question of Maghreb: Unity
London, 25-26, June 1982.

Convened jointly with The Maghreb Review

Proceedings were published in
The Maghreb Review Vol.8, Nos 1-2, 3-4, 5-6, 1983
Copies are available here for £45 Post free


  • MAURICE FLORY: Division Étatique et Unité Arabe: Le Cas du Maghreb.
  • D. L. BOWEN: Attitudes Toward Family and Family Planning in the Pre-Saharan Maghreb.
  • I. C. TCHEHO: L’Unité Maghrebine dans ses Rapports avec L’Unité Africaine.
  • MAYA SHATZMILLER: Unity and Variety of Land Tenure and Cultivation Patterns in the Medieval Maghreb.
  • C. W. MITCHELL: The Soils of the Sahara with Particular Reference to the Maghreb.
  • KATIE PLATT: An Oasis in the Sea: The Economic Organization of the Kerkennah Islands of Tunisia.
  • SLIMANE CHIKH: In Memoriam: Parsons au Maquis.
  • MERCEDES GARCIA-ARENAL: Spanish Literature on North Africa in the XVI Century: Diego De Torres.
  • HARVEY E. GOLDBERG: The Mellahs of Southern Morocco: Report of Survey.
  • MAGALI MORSY: Maghrebi Unity in the Context of the Nation State: A Historian’s Point of View.
  • JOHN G. MERRIAM: Morocco’s Commitment To Agrarian Reform and Rural Development: An Examination.
  • FRANÇOIS BURGAT: L’État et L’agriculture en Algérie: Vers de Nouveaux Equilibres.
  • JOHN WRIGHT: Chad and Libya: Some Historical Connections.
  • RONALD BRUCE ST JOHN: The Determinants of Libyan Foreign Policy, 1969–1983.
  • PETER VON SIVERS: Alms and Arms: The Combative Saintliness of the Awlad Sidi Shaykh in Algerian Sahara, Sixteenth–Nineteenth Century.
  • ALLAN CHRISTELOW: Algerian Islam in A Time of Transition: c.1890–c.1930.
  • MARIE T. JONES: Politics and Social Policy in Tunisia.
  • ABDERRAHMAN EL MOUDDEN: État et Société Rurale à travers la Harka au Maroc du XIX ème Siècles.
Maghreb Review Vol 7 Nos 1-2 1982

Contemporary Maghreb
London, 16-17, October 1981.

Convened jointly with The Maghreb Review

Proceedings were published in
The Maghreb Review Vol.7, Nos 1-2, 1982
Copies are available here for £15 Post free


  • JOHN DAMIS: The Role of Third Parties in the Western Sahara Conflict.
  • MICHAEL BRETT: Modernisation in 19th Century North Africa.
  • BABER JOHANSEN: The Servants of the Mosques.
  • BYRON D. CANNON: The Beylical Habus Council and Suburban Development: Tunis, 1881–1914.
  • DANIEL SCHROETER: The Royal Palace Archives of Rabat and the Makhzen in the 19th Century.