Imagining the Common Ground: Utopian Thinking and the Overcoming of Resentment and Distrust
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Kent
Department Name: Sch of English
Abstract
This programme of leadership activities and research will address the over-arching Global Uncertainties strategic aim of 'security for all in a changing world' primarily through engagement with the Ideas and Beliefs core area. The working hypothesis of the proposed programme is that 'security for all in a changing world' is dependent on the capacity to imagine a common ground and a common humanity, which is in turn dependent on the ability to overcome resentment and distrust, and on the ability to deploy a certain utopian form of thinking. What will be explored is the role of prospective and projective thinking in advancing social justice and social cohesion, as well as its potential for impeding such.
A key aim of the programme is to provide opportunities for synergies under the Global Uncertainties scheme in areas of existing and emergent research, and to identify the mutual concerns of this work, especially with respect to the question of understanding how human capabilities may be drawn on to enhance security. In particular, research activities will serve to focus attention on the following topics of enquiry: cross-cultural understandings of extremism, especially from the perspective of youth culture and with respect to its potential common ground; the potential loss of faith in humanity occasioned by violent sectarian conflict and forms of post-conflict rehabilitation that aim to rebuild trust and strengthen social resilience; perceived forms of political negligence in relation to social autonomy and welcome and unwelcome forms of state intervention; the role that popular culture and community arts initiatives are able to play in transforming the disadvantaged sectors of developing societies and new democracies through drawing on local resources and advancing social and economic inclusiveness, together with the role played by community leaders in this regard; the destructive and constructive aspects of utopian thinking with respect to questions of idealism, social expectations and aspirations, and the grounds for consensual action.
The proposed programme of research will be carried out through a series of Global Uncertainties events (a conference and workshops) entailing public sector involvement, together with practice-based research in the form of creative projects, fieldwork and the setting up of networks. The first of the two creative projects consists of the making of a documentary film on post-conflict rehabilitation in Beirut that will be of wider significance to the MENA region. The second of the two creative projects concerns the scripting and mounting of a UK-based hip hop performance offering youth perspectives on questions of extremism, political distrust and pathways to justice. The fieldwork entails studies of community arts-based social initiatives, together with filmed portraits of inspiring role models, in the locations of Cape Town, Cairo and Delhi, in order to facilitate opportunities for knowledge exchange. Related to this, the project will serve to set up a network of experts on popular culture in the Middle East and Africa in the form of a cultural academy comprised of UK academics and their international counterparts, together with practitioners in the areas of the arts and new media. It is envisaged that this network will serve as a resource base for cultural organizations, NGOs and charities interested in the role of the popular imagination in instigating forms of social mobilization and receptive to new forms of cultural diplomacy. This project will also serve to foster collaborations between universities in the UK, the MENA region and Southern Africa through pilot workshops that will serve to activate the network.
The PI will be assisted by an early career Research Associate for the first two years of the project and the programme will further lead to edited collections of essays and a monograph on literary attempts to establish the common ground of cultures in the Middle East.
A key aim of the programme is to provide opportunities for synergies under the Global Uncertainties scheme in areas of existing and emergent research, and to identify the mutual concerns of this work, especially with respect to the question of understanding how human capabilities may be drawn on to enhance security. In particular, research activities will serve to focus attention on the following topics of enquiry: cross-cultural understandings of extremism, especially from the perspective of youth culture and with respect to its potential common ground; the potential loss of faith in humanity occasioned by violent sectarian conflict and forms of post-conflict rehabilitation that aim to rebuild trust and strengthen social resilience; perceived forms of political negligence in relation to social autonomy and welcome and unwelcome forms of state intervention; the role that popular culture and community arts initiatives are able to play in transforming the disadvantaged sectors of developing societies and new democracies through drawing on local resources and advancing social and economic inclusiveness, together with the role played by community leaders in this regard; the destructive and constructive aspects of utopian thinking with respect to questions of idealism, social expectations and aspirations, and the grounds for consensual action.
The proposed programme of research will be carried out through a series of Global Uncertainties events (a conference and workshops) entailing public sector involvement, together with practice-based research in the form of creative projects, fieldwork and the setting up of networks. The first of the two creative projects consists of the making of a documentary film on post-conflict rehabilitation in Beirut that will be of wider significance to the MENA region. The second of the two creative projects concerns the scripting and mounting of a UK-based hip hop performance offering youth perspectives on questions of extremism, political distrust and pathways to justice. The fieldwork entails studies of community arts-based social initiatives, together with filmed portraits of inspiring role models, in the locations of Cape Town, Cairo and Delhi, in order to facilitate opportunities for knowledge exchange. Related to this, the project will serve to set up a network of experts on popular culture in the Middle East and Africa in the form of a cultural academy comprised of UK academics and their international counterparts, together with practitioners in the areas of the arts and new media. It is envisaged that this network will serve as a resource base for cultural organizations, NGOs and charities interested in the role of the popular imagination in instigating forms of social mobilization and receptive to new forms of cultural diplomacy. This project will also serve to foster collaborations between universities in the UK, the MENA region and Southern Africa through pilot workshops that will serve to activate the network.
The PI will be assisted by an early career Research Associate for the first two years of the project and the programme will further lead to edited collections of essays and a monograph on literary attempts to establish the common ground of cultures in the Middle East.
Planned Impact
1. DSTL and the All Parliamentary Group for Global Uncertainties stand to benefit with respect to how the research addresses the ways in which human capabilities and local cultural resources may be drawn on with respect to conflict prevention and post-conflict resolution. Regarding post-conflict resolution, the documentary on rebuilding trust in Beirut will demonstrate how communities confront the question of their own post-conflict rehabilitation (this being of relevance not only to Beirut but across the contemporary MENA region). Regarding conflict prevention, the programme will offer insights into how the popular imagination responds to perceived situations of negligence and to forms of intervention relating to such. The context for this is both the Arab Spring and the London riots.
2. The FCO also stands to benefit from the above, but more particularly with respect to the following strands of the programme. The research into prospective, anticipatory and utopian forms of thinking, while distinct from horizon scanning as a predictive form of thinking, is related to such with respect to understanding popular forms of mobilization and consensual action. The programme, through workshops and related outputs, will also serve to identify the difference between destructive and constructive forms of utopianism, in relation to both extremist formations and activism in the wake of the Arab Spring. Furthermore, the monograph on Mezzaterra literature will serve as a means of disseminating longer term progressive thinking around establishing a cultural common ground in the Middle East and as well as between Britain and the Middle East.
3. The research will benefit organisations that are committed to using culture, especially the arts, as a means of establishing trust and promoting peace. In particular, it will establish partnership possibilities with the British Council and, more widely, it will create a resource base comprised both of expertise on global popular culture and of links with its practitioners, especially in the MENA region and Southern Africa. It will do this through the setting up of the proposed cultural academy for new and fragile democracies. In addition to the British Council, this resource base is of potential use to UNESCO, NGOs (such as International Alert) and charities (such as Firefly International).
4. The research activities will serve to network creative community centres in New Delhi, especially the Sarai Centre, Cape Town and Cairo with respect to knowledge exchange.
5. The research stands to benefit galleries and arts organisations in the UK. It has the potential to build on forms of collaboration or forms of consultancy already established to date (including with Wasafiri, the October gallery, El Sawy Culturewheel, Turner Contemporary) while particular attention will be given to the new affiliation between the PI's department and the Institute of Contemporary Arts. Opportunities to connect GU research with the ICA programme will be sought as appropriate.
6. Audiences will be reached through feeding into channels provided by the above the above for talks or performance, and also through film festivals and screenings. The collaboration with director Mai Masri, whose award-winning work has been widely screened at documentary festivals, will serve to identify and provide access to internationally significant platforms. The collaboration with film-maker Albert Chimedza will also provide access to users of the filmed portraits through the EU Ambassador in Zimbabwe.
6. Special screenings and/ or dvds will be arranged for interested policy makers. Relevant material will be offered to DFID and potentially discussed at a breakfast meeting with particular emphasis on the effective targeting of aid.
7. The work on trust, on therapeutic communities and on the psychology of poverty stands to be of benefit to mental health professionals: SLP (Lebanon); The Freud Museum (London).
2. The FCO also stands to benefit from the above, but more particularly with respect to the following strands of the programme. The research into prospective, anticipatory and utopian forms of thinking, while distinct from horizon scanning as a predictive form of thinking, is related to such with respect to understanding popular forms of mobilization and consensual action. The programme, through workshops and related outputs, will also serve to identify the difference between destructive and constructive forms of utopianism, in relation to both extremist formations and activism in the wake of the Arab Spring. Furthermore, the monograph on Mezzaterra literature will serve as a means of disseminating longer term progressive thinking around establishing a cultural common ground in the Middle East and as well as between Britain and the Middle East.
3. The research will benefit organisations that are committed to using culture, especially the arts, as a means of establishing trust and promoting peace. In particular, it will establish partnership possibilities with the British Council and, more widely, it will create a resource base comprised both of expertise on global popular culture and of links with its practitioners, especially in the MENA region and Southern Africa. It will do this through the setting up of the proposed cultural academy for new and fragile democracies. In addition to the British Council, this resource base is of potential use to UNESCO, NGOs (such as International Alert) and charities (such as Firefly International).
4. The research activities will serve to network creative community centres in New Delhi, especially the Sarai Centre, Cape Town and Cairo with respect to knowledge exchange.
5. The research stands to benefit galleries and arts organisations in the UK. It has the potential to build on forms of collaboration or forms of consultancy already established to date (including with Wasafiri, the October gallery, El Sawy Culturewheel, Turner Contemporary) while particular attention will be given to the new affiliation between the PI's department and the Institute of Contemporary Arts. Opportunities to connect GU research with the ICA programme will be sought as appropriate.
6. Audiences will be reached through feeding into channels provided by the above the above for talks or performance, and also through film festivals and screenings. The collaboration with director Mai Masri, whose award-winning work has been widely screened at documentary festivals, will serve to identify and provide access to internationally significant platforms. The collaboration with film-maker Albert Chimedza will also provide access to users of the filmed portraits through the EU Ambassador in Zimbabwe.
6. Special screenings and/ or dvds will be arranged for interested policy makers. Relevant material will be offered to DFID and potentially discussed at a breakfast meeting with particular emphasis on the effective targeting of aid.
7. The work on trust, on therapeutic communities and on the psychology of poverty stands to be of benefit to mental health professionals: SLP (Lebanon); The Freud Museum (London).
Organisations
- University of Kent (Fellow, Lead Research Organisation)
- Arts and Humanities Research Council (Co-funder)
- British Council (Collaboration)
- The Open University (Collaboration)
- AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF BEIRUT (Collaboration)
- Lebanese University (Collaboration)
- Kent Refugee Help (Collaboration)
- IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON (Collaboration)
- School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) (Collaboration)
People |
ORCID iD |
Caroline Rooney (Principal Investigator / Fellow) |
Publications
Wolffe, J
(2015)
Religion, Security and Global Politics
Rooney, C
(2017)
Images de rêve et Processus de creation
Rooney, C
(2015)
Islamism and Cultural Expression in the Arab World
Rooney, C
(2018)
The Edinburgh Companion to the Postcolonial Middle East
Rooney, C
(2016)
Somas Todas, Somas Uma
Rooney Professor Caroline
(2020)
Creative Radicalism in the Middle East: Culture and the Arab Left after the Uprisings
Title | Breaking the Generations: Palestinian Prisoners and Medical Rights |
Description | This film is an advocacy documentary, co-directed by Caroline Rooney and William Parry,and initially set up in association with Medical Aid for Palestinians. It draws attention to the inadequate care of Palestinian prisoners in terms of their medical rights, particularly with respect to the interrogation of child prisoners, the lack of independent medical care, the use of physical and mental torture, and the force feeding of hunger strikers. The film features interviews with Sahar Francis (Adameer), Gerald Horton (Military Court Watch), Ruchama Morton (Physicians for Human Rights, Israel), Hani Abdeen (Dean of Al Quds Medical School), and the members of the Torture and Rehabilitation Centre, as well as interviews with Palestinian prisoners. |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2015 |
Impact | It was screened at an APPG meeting at Holyrood on 9th December 2015, and informs a forthcoming campaign planned by MAP. |
Title | Documentary Short: The Road to Midan Tahrir |
Description | Interviews with writers and activists in Cairo 2010 |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2013 |
Impact | It informs research on how writers anticipated the revolution. |
URL | http://www.kent.ac.uk/english/research/commonground/Cairo.html |
Title | Eastern Mediterranean Literary Trails |
Description | This website is an interactive map that traces the movement of leading migrant writers around the Eastern Mediterranean in order to show the ways in which the region is culturally interwoven in spite of political divisions. |
Type Of Art | Artefact (including digital) |
Year Produced | 2016 |
Impact | While the website has been set up, it will be launched later in the year at a suitable event. |
Title | England Times Palestine |
Description | This arts documentary, set against the backdrop of the current refugee crisis, engages with generations of Palestinian refugees and exiles who have come to live and work in England. It revolves the question of the extent to which England has become for them another homeland. It is directed by Caroline Rooney with Mai Masri as Consultant Director. |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Impact | Festival screenings are currently being set up for later in the year. |
Title | Human Rights Poetry |
Description | My poetry was selected by the University of London Human Rights Consortium to appear in an anthology of human rights poetry with a foreword by Ruth Padel. |
Type Of Art | Creative Writing |
Year Produced | 2013 |
Impact | I have been invited to give 3 poetry readings on the basis of this publication. |
Title | Human Rights Poetry 2 |
Description | Two poems, 'People like to make films about me' and 'Overture' published in Over Land, Over Sea: Poems For Those Seeking Refuge, edited by Kathleen Bell, Emma Lee and Siobhan Logan (Five Leaves Publishing) and introduced by Sir Martyn Poliakoff. |
Type Of Art | Creative Writing |
Year Produced | 2015 |
Impact | A series of public readings are underway. |
URL | http://fiveleavesbookshop.co.uk/over-land-over-sea/ |
Title | Poetry in Nicosia Beyond Barriers (Saqi Books) |
Description | This anthology brings together writers across sectarian divides. |
Type Of Art | Creative Writing |
Year Produced | 2019 |
Impact | The book was launched to the public at the Poetry Café (London), and I participated in the reading. Reviews include: Ambitious and enchanting the selection encompasses a striking diversity of genres and perspectives.' Jonathan Fryer 'These pieces of fiction, poetry and journalism offer a cast of diverse narrators perceptive and peppered with fresh detail' TLS 'Unifying, inclusive, perspectives which celebrate diversity vibrant, rich in Levantine tonalities Nicosia and its inhabitants are liberated on every page of this prodigious volume, with its soul encapsulated by these visionaries. A revelatory read.' Morning Star |
URL | https://saqibooks.com/books/saqi/nicosia-beyond-barriers/ |
Title | Soundtrack for doucumentary |
Description | I worked with Egyptian musicians from Oxford Maqam to create a soundtrack for England Times Palestine. |
Type Of Art | Composition/Score |
Year Produced | 2017 |
Impact | So far, the film has been screened at the Institute for Islamic Studies at McGill (Montreal), and the audience commended the soundtrack for its original renditions of classical songs. |
Title | The Keepers of Infinite Space |
Description | With contributions from Caroline Rooney and in association with the Global Uncertainties programme, the critically acclaimed Moving Theatre presented the world premiere of Omar El-Khairy's play The Keepers of Infinite Space at The Park Theatre, from 22 January to 16 February 2014. The play explores how 'since the Israeli occupation in 1967, Palestine has become a nation of prisons. Up to 40% of the male population has been detained under military orders. Virtually every family has seen relatives put behind bars and generations have grown up in the shadow of the cell'. The Keepers of Infinite Space presented to the public, a humane and multi-faceted perspective on one of the most significant on-going humanitarian issues that has been the focus of reports by international legal groups and various NGOs, together with an FCO report. |
Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
Year Produced | 2014 |
Impact | Widely reviewed. Everything Theatre commented on the play: "Deft writing, powerful acting and a fantastic set combine to make this production brilliantly compelling". Impact events included a Q&A with the creative team and two panel discussions on 'Cultural Resistance' (with contributions from members of the Jenin Freedom Theatre) and 'Prisoners and Human Rights' (with human rights compaigners from MAP and the PSC). Both Rooney and Sakr have been engaged in research on prisoners and human rights. Rooney, with filmmaker Mai Masri conducted research on the topic in Palestine, interviewing former child prisoners and the YMCA rehabilitation group. Sakr, who put together an annotated bibliography on the topic, had meetings and conversations with NGOs in Lebanon whose work focuses on the rights and rehabilitation of prisoners including Khiam Rehabilitation Center, ALEF, Zeina Daccache of Catharsis, Human Rights Watch. Al Jazeera reported on the opening of the show on its news channel. The three week play almost sold out and proved the most successfully attended production in its venue to date. |
URL | http://parktheatre.co.uk/whats-on/the-keepers-of-infinite-space/about |
Title | The Keepers of Infinite Space Text |
Description | This is the published script of the play produced at the Park Theatre (Oberon Books, 2014). The script is by Omar El Khairy with contributions from Caroline Rooney and Zoe Lafferty. |
Type Of Art | Creative Writing |
Year Produced | 2014 |
Impact | Please see entry for the play production. In addition, copies of the script were distributed to the play's audiences. |
Title | White Flags |
Description | Based on extensive fieldwork and research in Lebanon, White Flags was written, directed and produced by Caroline Rooney and Rita Sakr. The documentary explores current issues in Lebanon relating to conflictual post-war memory, ideological and sectarian divisions, socio-economic problems, and peacebuilding initiatives by individuals and organisations who seek to actively intervene in their society and rebuild trust amid the challenges and dangers of ongoing crises. It conceptually and artistically explores the importance of white flags in a country where the national flag has oftentimes had its significance stolen and where the variously coloured flags of embattled political parties have heightened tensions and divisions. It features interviews with psychoanalyst Chawki Azouri, journalist Jeanine Jalkh, president of 'Memory for the Future' association Amal Makarem, and artists-activists Raouf Rifai and Aurelien Zouki. It was completed with the participation of cinematographer Johnny Hchaime and the production management team at The Media Trust, London. It was also sub-titled by Rita Sakr. It was funded by Research Councils UK as part of the Partnership for Conflict, Crime and Security Research (formerly Global Uncertainties). |
Type Of Art | Film/Video/Animation |
Year Produced | 2014 |
Impact | The documentary will be shown at various venues in the UK, Ireland, Lebanon, Egypt, and possibly other countries. It will have both academic and non-academic beneficiaries in Europe, the Middle East, and North America. They include Middle Eastern studies specialists and students (especially with respect to perspectives on Lebanon), experts in urbanism and conflict, sociologists, practitioners in the field of war and memory studies, artists, activists, NGOs involved in peace-building initiatives, psychoanalysts (especially with respect to trauma and memory), and governmental and non-governmental policymakers. |
URL | http://beinghumanfestival.org/event/white-flags/ |
Description | The four most significant outcomes of the programme are: 1. A Clarification of Understandings of the Common Ground The notion of the common ground established in this research depends on differentiating between the predominant transnational strata of neoliberalism, extremism and the populist avant-garde. While all three strive respectively for global expression, a key finding is that while neoliberalism and extremism variously serve to undermine civil society as such, the populist avant-garde is motivated by the desire to rebuild and sustain civil society in ways both democratic and utopian. The research further serves to differentiate between 'utopian idealism' and 'utopian realism', analysing the former as pertaining to authoritarian ideologies and practices and the latter as pertaining to a politics and aesthetics of hope. 2. The Identification of Counter-Narratives to Extremism Regarding the endeavour to rebuild civil society, the programme conducted a case study of trust-building initiatives in Beirut, involving Lebanese journalists, NGO representatives, psychotherapists, artists and students from across the main sectarian divides (Christian, Sunni, Shia and Druze). In doing so, the research serves to identify some of the most effective counter-narratives in tackling sectarian divides in Lebanon, namely the strategic deployment of: national memory; individual and collective mourning; demands for socio-economic justice; the promotion of local traditions of popular culture or folklore and festive public gatherings. 3. The Foregrounding of Prisoner Rights in Conflict Situations Following on from UK-based initiatives, and drawing on fieldwork and related research, the programme has explored how Israel makes use of its prison system to manage its security concerns with respect to Palestinian resistance to occupation, both actual and potential. This research has resulted in the following findings: how imprisonment may serve to radicalise those not previously radicalised and how the effects of the Israeli prison system result in a culture of desperation amongst Palestinian youth, actually rendering Israel less secure. In addition, this research shows how Israeli prison doctors are under the authority of the prison system in ways that compromise the medical rights of prisoners. The research also exposes the plight of Palestinian refugees through their long term and repeated displacements. 4. Understanding the Arab Spring as a Cultural Revolution The grant research findings also emerge out of broader questions of political negligence and the role of arts in development. While the initial intention was to extend the research regionally to Southern Africa and India, this over-ambitious aim was reduced to extending the regional focus across the Middle East. Through creating a popular culture network linking researchers and practitioners in the UK, Egypt and the Middle East, projects have demonstrated the extent to which the achievement (as opposed to obvious failure) of the Arab Spring has been an ongoing cultural revolution. Connected with this has been the methodological innovation of using arts activism to study arts activism, the initiatives of this programme serving to influence new research programmes. Overall, the programme demonstrates how the arts and culture constitute a crucial means of addressing extreme political, religious and socio-economic fragmentation in the Middle East. |
Exploitation Route | The research provides insight into how the arts can contribute to activism around peace-making, trust-building and the rebuilding or strengthening of civil societies. It does this through offering both counter-narratives and counter-investments (emotional and psychological) to those of extremism, as well as to those of neoliberalism. This could be taken forward in terms of the re-evaluation of the dynamics of nationalism in the context of divided societies in the Middle East and beyond; and in terms of new approaches to transnationally held democratic values. It could further be taken forward in examining popular culture as a form of self-education. The research also identifies impasses in the progress towards a resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and as such could be useful in efforts to re-start a peace process. It further addresses needed reforms pertaining to political prisoners as regards both physical and psychological health that are of increasing current concern. The research further draws attention to discrepancies between authoritarian discourses and revolutionary or liberationist ones in terms of literal and aesthetic uses of language. The project itself will be taking this forward regarding how different understandings of the sacred and the secular are embedded in different understandings of linguistic signification. |
Sectors | Creative Economy Education Healthcare Government Democracy and Justice Culture Heritage Museums and Collections Security and Diplomacy |
URL | https://www.kent.ac.uk/english/research/commonground/index.html |
Description | The research findings of the grant have served to inform policy recommendations. Evidence submitted to the House of Lords Select Committee on Soft Power and the UK's Influence was accepted and quoted in paragraph 21of the published report as follows: Professor Caroline Rooney of the University of Kent told us that "the intensification of cynicism towards mainstream politics leads to loss of trust and competing forms of transnationalism". She described a process akin to a pushing outward, whereby citizens' interests transcended national politics: "international power relations are structured through strata that are transnational as opposed to just national" and "the transnational lateral ties are increasingly at least as important as national ones, if not more so", she told us.55 While the uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa in 2011 and the Occupy network of protests point to the potential for more widespread political participation resulting from this shift, the potential threats of Islamism could be interpreted as part of the same dynamic.56 Professor Rooney told us that "young rappers in Egypt, the UK and America feel they have much more in common with each other in terms of values and outlooks than with the elite bankers of their own nationalities" and that "Islamism and Zionism are internationally supported movements in ways that can override national interests". (pp.31-2) Rooney contributed an article on 'From Religion and Security to Religion and Liberty' to the policy document Getting Religion: Challenging Religious Literacy in a Time of Global Uncertainty produced by GU Leadership Fellow John Wolfe, and she is also interviewed in this publication. This document was debated in a policy seminar sponsored by John Glenn MP and Dai Harvard MP (2015, Portcullis House). Following a GU APPG meeting, Rooney was invited to forward a summary of her work on counter-narratives to Susannah Browne (Home Office), and the two of them subsequently met to exchange ideas of relevance to the Prevent strategy. Rooney's work on Palestinian prisoners had as an initial motivation the FCO backed report on child prisoners, where at a Parliamentary meeting it was stated that raising public awareness would be helpful as means of gaining support for prison reforms on the part of the Israeli government. Rooney's play production in collaboration with writer Omar El Khairy and Freedom Theatre director Zoe Lafferty, The Keepers of Infinite Space, draws public attention to issues raised in the report, as well as to further related issues. The play's run at the Park Theatre (22 Jan - 16 Feb) was nearly completely sold out and reviewers commented: 'A play full of pathos, rage and loss; riveting to watch. If you want something both cerebral and dramatic with some polemic thrown in too, go and see it' (Everything Theatre) and 'hard-hitting political theatre at its best. DO NOT MISS' (Theatreworld Internet Magazine). The play achieved several 4-5 star ratings, and there were three platform debates on the play's concerns with full house audiences. Al Jazeera ran a feature on the play as a news item (as opposed to arts one) in that it humanises a predicament usually presented in abstract terms, this constituting soft power impact. Students from Kings College set up an online blog about the play, and other online blogs about it appeared. The grant programme's workshop on Hamlet and extremism (based on a Counterpunch article by Rooney) explored Islamic extremism in relation to European far right extremism. Avaes Mohammed attended this workshop and subsequently wrote two plays on its central area of exploration: 'Hurling Rubble at the Moon' and 'Hurling Rubble at the Sun', staged as a double bill at the Park Theatre (2015). Due to her work on The Keepers of Infinite Space, William Parry approached Rooney to co-direct an advocacy film on Palestinian prisoners and medical rights, entitled 'Breaking the Generations: Palestinian Prisoners and Medical Rights'. The film includes interviews with NGO leaders and doctors including: Ruchama Morton (Physicians for Human Rights), Gerald Horton (Military Court Watch), Sahar Francis (Adameer), Hani Abdeen (Al Quds Medical School), and Mahmud Sehwail and Khader Rasras (Torture and Rehabilitation Centre), as well as interviews with prisoners and their families. The film was initially screened in late 2015 and early 2016 to an APPG for Palestine meeting at Holyrood, at a Manchester University workshop and at an Imagining the Common Ground sandpit meeting on the Israel-Palestine conflict. While these audiences are well-informed about the conflict, they have said that the film has offered them new information and new perspectives. In early 2016, it was screened at a Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights convention, and adopted as a LPHR campaign tool to inform lawyers and activists. It was also screened at the Toronto Palestine Film Festival 2016, while Medical Aid for Palestinians set up a campaign feature around a You-Tube link to the film. In the first few days of the campaign, there were over 600 viewings leading to approximately 100 letters being sent to MPs. The advocacy film thus provides public support for initiatives by British MPs to institute reforms pertaining to the rights of Palestinian prisoners, especially with respect to child prisoners and the medical rights of all Palestinian prisoners, including the cessation of torture. Following a meeting with Israeli journalist Amira Hass, Rooney set up a sandpit meeting with Israeli, Palestinian and British experts on the conflict. The meeting served to identify the current absence of any peace process, as reported to the APPG for Palestine at Westminster. Rooney then arranged a talk by Israeli journalist Gideon Levy at the All Party Parliamentary Group for Palestine to address the concerns of the sandpit regarding the impasse of the stalled peace process. This was followed up by her collaboration with the NGO One Democratic State to mount a public debate with Gideon Levy and Ilan Pappe on the future prospects of peace initiatives, attended by approximately 200 people with 7,711 viewings of the screening of the debate posted on You-Tube. It has raised awareness of current obstacles to peace and of potential ways forward. On the strength of her contribution to a Cambridge Debating Union debate on solutions to the Israel-Palestine conflict, Rooney was invited to take part in a LSE Grimshaw Club debate on this topic and did so, and was further invited to contribute to a similar Cardiff debate. Her expertise in this area of pressing political significance is thus registered. Rooney's programme has also engaged with raising public awareness around refugees seeking asylum in Britain to counter racism based on ignorance. With Bahriye Kemal and Kent Refugee Help, she staged a performance event at the Canterbury Festival (2014) which featured readings by refugee writers and a performance of a play by Avaes Mohammed on homeless immigrants. Members of KRH explained their work to the public audience of about 100 attracting new members and financial support. Following on from this, Kemal and Rooney have been developing a website on the literary trails of migrants and refugees from the Eastern Mediterranean and Levant. Rooney's film England Times Palestine, made in collaboration with Palestinian director Mai Masri, concerns Palestinian refugees and migrants based in England, and is due to be screened at international festivals later in the year. It entails collaboration with Oxford Maqam musicians towards a specially produced new rendition of traditional Palestinian music. Rooney has also contributed to poetry anthologies on human rights and refugees as part of their arts activist platforms towards counter-narratives, including public readings. In addition, Rooney took part in an in conversation with the Independent's foreign correspondent Patrick Cockburn on the rise of ISIL at the Wise Words festival in Canterbury, the two of them responding to the audience's requests for explanations and clarifications. Given that Islamic extremism and Islamic authoritarianism dominate the media, Rooney's film White Flags, made in collaboration with Lebanese cinematographer Johnny Hchaime and with Lebanese Research Associate Rita Sakr, provides an important counter-balance in that it shows how Lebanese citizens engage in post-conflict trust-building and how they advance their own counter-narratives in combatting extremism. The film was also made to provide inspiration for other post-conflict societies. It has been screened to large audiences at prime venues for promoting critical and intellectual debate, including the ICA (Being Human Festival), the London Freud Museum, Mansion Blatt Gallery (Beirut) and Home for Cooperation (Nicosia). The screening in Cyprus, to mark World Poetry Day, attracted media attention in the national press and was featured as a TV news item due to Cypriot interest in the healing of divided societies. In fact, the film is considered useful in providing other post-conflict societies (including Croatia where it was screened to psychotherapists in Rovinj) a way of negotiating sensitive matters through being able to discuss how these matters are broached elsewhere. ICA audiences gave the film a maximum rating of excellence in questionnaires, and written responses include: 'I loved the film. I thought the choice of speakers was both wise and wide-gives a good picture of the situation on the ground. Great camerawork and directorial approach'; 'I thought it was an incredibly moving and thoughtful offering, and I was really interested in what you said afterwards about Lebanon as an example.' Copies have been requested by students and institutions for further study of the work, and it was most recently screened at CULTNAT in Cairo, October 2016 at an event on community engagement through the arts to inform cultural heritage work in Islamic Cairo. The programme's Citizen Academia workshops in London and Beirut and Cairo have strengthened network ties around the role of arts activism in strengthening civil societies. The final session of the Cairo workshop entailed its organisers (Rooney, El Hamamsy and Abu Bakr) discussing how a popular culture network could be established within Cairo for researchers, artists and interested others. This led directly to the establishment of the Forum for the Study of Popular Culture of which Rooney is a member. The Forum serves to create open access to research sources and to publicise relevant events, where popular culture can serve as an educational resource. Rooney's research has inspired other research programmes that draw on her arts activist methodologies, and she has been a speaker at RCUK workshops in India and Egypt that served to identify and set up new directions for impact-oriented research. |
First Year Of Impact | 2014 |
Sector | Education,Healthcare,Government, Democracy and Justice,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections,Security and Diplomacy |
Impact Types | Cultural Societal |
Description | Breaking the Generations Film used in MAP Campaign of Letters to MPs on Palestinian Prisoners |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Implementation circular/rapid advice/letter to e.g. Ministry of Health |
Impact | MAP used our film Breaking the Generations to front its campaign on prisoners with letters to MPs. The MAP campaign together with campaigns by other organisations helped lead to an EDM on Palestinian child prisoners (135 signatures) and a parliamentary debate on 7/2/18. LPHR uses our film Breaking the Generations in its campaign and provided a parliamentary briefing for the debate. MPs who took part in the debate echo points made in the film. |
URL | https://www.kent.ac.uk/english/news/index.html?view=1190 |
Description | Citation in Soft Power and the UK's Influence (Lord's Select Committee) |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
URL | http://www.parliament.uk/soft-power-and-uks-influence |
Description | Citation on 'Social Mobility and the Arts' in AHRC Review |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Citation in other policy documents |
Description | Contribution to Campaign for Parliamentary Debate on Child Prisoners (7/2/218) |
Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to a national consultation/review |
Description | Policy Late Creative Arts Event (PaCCS) |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Membership of a guideline committee |
Description | Presentation on the Arts and Social Mobility towards an AHRC policy document on UK policy priorities and how the arts and humanities can help to address these |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
Description | Screening of film on Palestinian Prisoners at Holyrood |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
Description | KIASH |
Amount | £1,615 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Kent |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2014 |
End | 07/2014 |
Description | Preserving Egypt's Cultural Heritage |
Amount | £36,565 (GBP) |
Organisation | Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2016 |
End | 11/2016 |
Description | University of Kent Impact Fund |
Amount | £2,200 (GBP) |
Organisation | University of Kent |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 01/2020 |
End | 09/2020 |
Description | Uplift funding |
Amount | £50,000 (GBP) |
Organisation | Economic and Social Research Council |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 02/2013 |
End | 11/2015 |
Description | Approaches to Trust-Building in the Context of Divided Beirut |
Organisation | Lebanese University |
Country | Lebanon |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Building on Dr Sakr's established connections with the Lebanese University, the PI Prof Caroline Rooney and Research Associate Dr Rita Sakr, in collaboration with Dr May Maalouf, organised a conference/seminar at the Faculty of Letters in LU, Faculty of Letters, that brought together participants from diverse backgrounds whose work engages with the question of how to re-establish trust in the aftermath or suspension of violent conflict. Participants included Julia Borossa (Middlesex University London), Chawki Azouri and Anicée el-Amin Merhi (psychoanalysts, Lebanon), Michael Kerr (Centre for Divided Societies, King's College London), Monika Borgmann (UMAM DocumentationRsearch), Jeanine Jalkh (L'Orient le Jour), Sleiman Takydine (Assafir), Olga Kavran (Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Outreach&Legacy), Felicity Allen (artist and writer, London), Joana Hadjithomas and Khalil Joreige (visual artists and filmmakers, Paris), Aurélien Zouki (actor, dancer, and puppeteer, Beirut and Paris), May Maalouf (Lebanese University), and Lebanese University English MA students. The seminar explored perspectives informed by psychoanalysis, memory studies, education, archives and peace-building initiatives, journalism and international justice, and the visual arts. |
Collaborator Contribution | Dr May Maalouf managed the logistics of the conference including permissions and venue. Dr Maalouf and her MA students actively and extensively contributed to the day-long discussions and final roundtable. |
Impact | Rooney and Sakr worked with Media Trust, London to prepare excerpts of the event for dissemination online. Sakr's fluency in Arabic, English, and French allowed her to perform simultaneous translation during the seminar to allow maximum impact and subsequently edit and sub-title the excerpts that were in all 3 languages for the Media Trust to expand the scope of dissemination. The excerpts have been available on the project webpages and on youtube since 2013. |
Start Year | 2012 |
Description | Geographies of Negligence: Neighborhood Cultures, Popular Activism and Citizenship in the Arab Region |
Organisation | British Council |
Department | British Council in Egypt |
Country | Egypt |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | The PI and Research Associate provided research input and funding assistance. |
Collaborator Contribution | Professor Randa Abou Bakr and Dr Walid el Hamamsy organised the workshop. The British Council provided the venue and funding for inviting the plenary speaker Tariq Ali. |
Impact | The event issued in the establishment of The Forum for the Study of Popular Culture. Disciplines: Urban studies, popular culture, literature, art. |
Start Year | 2013 |
Description | International Contemporary Arts and Education |
Organisation | Imperial College London |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I helped set up an affiliation between my department and the ICA in the field of contemporary arts. I contribute to our joint MA on The Contemporary through the research expertise generated by my grant. I have also organized workshops and events at the ICA in the areas of my research. I am currently with Matt Williams (leader curator at the ICA) to mount a festival of contemporary Egyptian film and music both at the ICA and venues in Cairo, due take place in September 2017. |
Collaborator Contribution | The ICA provides me and my colleagues with a public platform, including publicity, for the dissemination of our work to audiences of creative practitioners and the general public. |
Impact | 1. The Contemporary MA (Literature and the visual Arts, contemporary curation) 2. Hamlet Remixed workshop on aesthetic approaches to extremism in order to stimulate new productions (the arts and politics) 3. Public symposium on Utopian Realism Today (the arts and activism) 4. Screening of White Flags in association with the Being Human Festival (the arts and trust-building) 5. 'To exist is to resist': poetry performances to launch the Global Youth Cultures special issue of Wasafiri |
Start Year | 2013 |
Description | Political Participation and Citizenship in Cultural Practices |
Organisation | American University of Beirut |
Country | Lebanon |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Conceptualizing and communicating research and collaboration objectives and contributing to the funding of the event that consisted of a film screening, conversation and workshop on 'Political Participation and Citizenship in Cultural Practices'. Dr Rita Sakr met with Dr Sonja Mejcher-Atassi in Lebanon in 2013 to set up the partnership. Rooney and Sakr invited Mejcher-Atassi to a workshop in London in 2014 (organised by Dr Rita Sakr, Professor Caroline Rooney, and Dr Karima Laachir at SOAS) for the purpose of knowledge exchange and to further cement the collaboration. |
Collaborator Contribution | Dr Sonja Mejcher-Atassi organised the film screening, workshop and conversation between the influential artists/filmmakers Akram Zaatari and Charif Kiwan. The event took place at AUB attracting significant media attention. Mejcher-Atassi published the 2-part conversation in Jadaliyya online magazine. |
Impact | http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/18433/abounaddara%E2%80%99s-take-on-images-in-the-syrian-revolution http://www.jadaliyya.com/pages/index/19080/abounaddara%E2%80%99s-take-on-images-in-the-syrian-revolution |
Start Year | 2013 |
Description | Refugee Support |
Organisation | Kent Refugee Help |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
PI Contribution | I was invited to join Kent Refugee Help's arts activism committee. With a postdoctoral colleague at Kent, I set up a Kent Refugee Help event linked to my grant. It was called 'Moving a Country' and mounted at the Penny Theatre as part of the Canterbury Festival (October 2014). I arranged for the staging of a play on immigration by Avaes Mohammad, and took part in the poetry reading session after the play. The event reached a diverse audience and was reported on in the local press. I continue to collaborate with KRH. |
Collaborator Contribution | KRH are a charity and they contribute their experience of providing support for refugees. They set up an outreach panel, including refugees, as an introduction to the above event. |
Impact | The first outcome was 'Moving a Country', Canterbury Festival (October 2014). The result of the event is that it recruited supporters for the charity who have signed up to volunteer. Donations were also made to the charity on the basis of the event. It entails a collaboration of activists, intellectuals and writers, together with lawyers. |
Start Year | 2013 |
Description | Religion, Security and Global Uncertainties |
Organisation | Open University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | I contributed to the Global Uncertainties policy report on 'Religion and Security' through interviews and a policy document. |
Collaborator Contribution | They instituted the initiative and networked me with colleagues and professionals working in the area with a diverse range of expertise, particularly highlighting the importance of religious literacy. |
Impact | I was invited by Hijaz College (a UK Sufi institution) to present a paper at a conference on 'Islam and Democracy', alongside politicians and religious experts. This was followed up by invitation, which I took up, to visit Hijaz College and learn about their approach to religious education. |
Start Year | 2013 |
Description | Walls, Barricades, Borders, Gates: Political Negligence and the Twenty-First Century City |
Organisation | School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | Organised by Prof Caroline Rooney, Dr Rita Sakr, and Dr Karima Laachir, this interdisciplinary workshop brought together experts in the study of the cultural, political, historical, and social dynamics of the twenty-first century urban environment, especially in the MENA region and Europe. It drew on the participants' expertise (including specialists in urban studies, Middle Eastern studies, sociology, cultural geography, popular culture, literary studies...) regarding the state of the 'citizen' in the politically negligent state and the outlook for activist, resistant practices of border-transgressing citizenship as well as campaigns for socio-economic empowerment and inclusivity. In this respect, the workshop examined the impact of territorial markers and borders on the construction and destruction of urban communities and the implications of these continued transformations for security discourses and practices. |
Collaborator Contribution | Dr Laachir provided research input and offered the venue as well as various other logistical contributions. The collaboration with Dr Laachir is ongoing and is part of a now long-standing professional and scholarly relationship with CCLPS, SOAS. |
Impact | The collaboration will result in a co-edited volume of essays. Disciplines: Urban studies, cultural geography, Middle Eastern studies, popular culture, sociology, literature, art. |
Start Year | 2010 |
Description | AHRC TV Event |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The event brought together grant researchers and television professionals to explore potential future collaborations. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | All Party Parliamentary Group for Palestine, Gideon Levy visit |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | The PI collaborated with the APPG to arrange for Gideon Levy to address the stalled Israel-Palestine peace process and current options. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Art Rules at the ICA |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Media (as a channel to the public) |
Results and Impact | I was invited to take part in the ICA's launch of a Rules for Art online forum with also a wide Twitter Reach. There was widespread response on Twitter over a few weeks. The aim was to generate public debate on the status and significance of contemporary art. The Guardian reported on this event and mine was one of the art rules singled out as being particularly suggestive. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2013/jul/31/art-rules-ica-twitter-online-debate |
Description | BBC Kent Live Interview |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | On 5 August 2020, I was interviewed live on BBC Radio Kent's news programme Drivetime in order to explain the effects of the dockyard explosion in Beirut. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Book launch of 'Beirut and the Moon' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | I acted as interlocutor of the 25/11/2020 online book launch of Naji Bakhti's new novel 'Beirut and the Moon', organised by MENACS (Sussex) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Breaking the Generations Screening and Q&A, University of Manchester |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This workshop, covering Socio-Implications of Post-2011 Literature, Cinema and Media in Egypt and the Arab World, built on networks established by myself and Dalia Mostafa. My contribution was a screening of the film I co-directed with William Parry, intitially entitled The Living Martyrs and re-titled as Breaking the Generations. The workshop has led to plans for future related events. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://events.manchester.ac.uk/event/event:bl1-ih3jp7r8-n2xy8z/sociocultural-implications-of-post201... |
Description | Breaking the Generations screening, Holyrood |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | The film was screened to brief MPs on the medical rights of Palestinian prisoners. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Breaking the Generations screening, Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The film was screened at a convention of Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights with the participation of Palestinian and Israeli NGOs working in this area. It has been adopted as a campaign tool for future briefing events. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Breaking the Generations screening, Toronto Palestine Film Festival |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The Toronto Palestine Film Festival is a major international festival of Palestinian film and a forum for public debate. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Cambridge Debating Union |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The motion of the debate was: this house believes the only solution is the two state solution. I spoke in opposition alongside Baroness Tonge. There was a very lively debate throughout. The session appeared on You Tube, and has been watched by 1493 viewers. After this event, and in conjunction with my theatre production on Israel/ Palestine, I have been consulted on how to report the Israel/ Palestine conflict in a fair and balanced way by BBC production teams for The One Show and for Newsnight. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5r-7fbndMk8 |
Description | Conference presentation: On the Making of White Flags |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | I gave a talk on the making of my film White Flags and thesis lead to an invitation to publish it in Third Text. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Demos Global Uncertainties debate on pathways to violence |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Participants in your research and patient groups |
Results and Impact | This event was organised by my Global Uncertainties colleague, leadership fellow Kim Knott Please see the grant page of Kim Knott |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | Doha Institute Workshop on Transcultural Identity |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | An international network of researchers met to debate emerging concepts of transcultural identity in the context of the Middle East. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Doha Institute Workshop on Transnationalism |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | I presented a paper on Arab-Jewish Friendship in North African literature and film, and took part in a 3 day international workshop exploring contemporary forms of Arab transnationalism. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
Description | Exiled Ink, Poetry Cafe, reading |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The event consisted of a poetry reading to address the 'refugee crisis', and launch the Over Land, Over Sea anthology in London. It was attended by approximately 100 people. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Exiled in Language Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The event was convened by a psychotherapy study group to bring together psychotherapeutic practitioners and poets to explore how socio-political displacement is articulated in different uses of language. I gave a poetry reading at this event. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Filmed Think Kent Talk: On the Making of White Flags |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Think Kent online lecture reaching over 3,000. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Freud Museum Talk |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The talk enabled the dissemination of the work in 'Nationalism and the Body Politic' to an audience of psychoanalytic practitioners and we discussed the practice of psychoanalysis in political contexts. It is part of my ongoing collaborations with the Freud Museum in the area of psychoanalysis and politics. I have been invited to mount another presentation next year. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | Grimshaw Club: LSE Debating Union |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | This debate was on the One State or Two States solutions to the Israel-Palestine conflict. It included Yiftah Curiel (Israeli Embassy spokesperson), John Lyndon, Ghada Karmi and Caroline Rooney. Apart from the capacity audience of approximately 150, it attracted approximately 400 viewings on You-Tube. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | ICA Blog |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Blog on the educational uses of hip hop prompted enthusiastic responses The ICA have involved me in further outreach activities |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | https://www.ica.org.uk/blog/culture-now-hip-hop-education |
Description | ICA outreach talk on 'the contemporary' |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Prospective students were alerted to ways in which they might study the contemporary. The profile of the Kent-ICA MA on The Contemporary has generated interest and uptake. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | Invited lecture (Brussels School of International Studies) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | The lecture offered a critique of the use of Arendt in readings of the Arab Spring to an audience of postgraduate students and lecturers. It has initiated on going exchanges between myself and some of those who attended. It brought an Arts perspective to International Studies. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Israel-Palestine Sandpit |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This panel of experts (including Israeli, Jewish, Palestinian and Arab representatives) was convened to discuss current assessments of the Israel-Palestine conflict with respect to the stalled peace process. It also entailed a screening and discussion of the film Breaking the Generations: Palestinian Prisoners and Medical Rights to raise awareness. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Je suis le reve/ I am the dream |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Patients, carers and/or patient groups |
Results and Impact | A talk at the Freud Museum on the topic of collective dreaming in relation to the Egyptian revolution to an audience primarily consisting of psychoanalysts, particularly from France. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | https://www.freud.org.uk/events/76330/je-suis-le-reve-i-am-the-dream/ |
Description | Kent research seminar |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Talk sparked questions and discussion my paper has served as the basis of a section of a special issue of a journal to take further the questions it raises around revolutionary martyrs |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | Keynote address at Ain Shams University |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Participants in your research and patient groups |
Results and Impact | talk sparked questions and discussion afterwards I was interviewed by Radio Cairo and Nile TV, and my presentation will appear in a Special Issue of the Journal for Cultural Reseach on Women and Revolution |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | Mediterranean Fractures Conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | 1. The conference call cited my research. 2. My paper sparked questions and discussions. 3. I participated in an international poetry reading on the conference theme. After this event, I have connected with Cypriot arts activists present and we are planning a related event at a gallery in Cyprus. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
URL | http://www.kent.ac.uk/english/research/centres/meditfractures2014.html |
Description | One Democratic State debate, Levy and Pappe |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | About 200 people attended a debate on the One Democratic State, which was filmed and has been posted on internet sites reaching thousands. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35JXout9ooc |
Description | Opening Address at International Festival of Women Making Theatre to Inspire Change |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This international festival featured short productions mounted by the Ariadne network to showcase arts activism around conflict and trauma in Sri Lanka, Rwanda, Burundi, Serbia and Palestine. As an arts activist who has produced plays and directed films, I was invited give the opening address on transnational solidarity. The audience consisted of theatre practitioners, NGOs, students and the general public. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.mercurytheatre.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/International-Festival-of-Women-Theatre-... |
Description | PaCCS Policy Late Event |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | Approximately 40 colleagues attended this event on increasing impact through creative collaboration. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Palestinian Film Festival in Oxford |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | I engaged in a conversation with film director Mai Masri after her work was screened at the first festival on Palestinian films in Oxford, and we engaged in a debate with the audience. I was invited to write an essay on Palestinian culture for a special issue of the Journal for Postcolonial Writing. I was also able to engage in a dialogue with Mai Masri towards our planned collaboration. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | Paper and plenary panels at Geographies of Negligence Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
Results and Impact | talk sparked questions and discussions, including of the 'Imagining the Common Ground' programme 1. It helped inform the new Cairo-based Forum for the Study of Popular Culture which I advised on 2. It is part of the development of the Citizen Academia Network |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
URL | http://www.kent.ac.uk/english/research/centres/meditfractures2014.html |
Description | Poetry and Politics in the Arab World talk |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | Discussion of the ways in which poetry engages with politics in the Arab world. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | RCUK India Panel |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | I took part in a panel to inform the ways in which research on rapid social, economic and cultural change might inform policy-making. My suggestions were amongst those tabled towards deciding future RCUK India initiatives. The event was very widely reported on in the Indian press as an immediate impact. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | Re-Imagining the Urban in Arab Film |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | A talk by 3 contemporary film-makers on the ways of representing Arab urban landscapes in their work was followed by a Q&A with the audience. The audience, including artists, discussed the social and aesthetic significance of the new approaches presented to them. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://masafat.thirtythreethirtythree.com |
Description | Russia Today TV Interview |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A press release, press conference or response to a media enquiry/interview |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | On the brink of the deposition of Morsi's government, I took part in Russia Today TV's Cross Talk current affairs programme which is broadcast to millions and the broadcast generated public discussion. I am recognised as an informed commentator on the Egyptian revolution as is reflected in invitations to participate in various events: for example, cultural and political events mounted by the cultural bureau of the Egyptian Embassy; the launch of a new Egyptian political party. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
URL | http://rt.com/shows/crosstalk/egypt-revolution-morsi-society-590/ |
Description | SOAS departmental research paper |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Participants in your research and patient groups |
Results and Impact | talk sparked questions and discussions afterwards I have been invited by SOAS to be a strand leader on a funding bid in the area of the research, and due to the area of the research acted as the external assessor for the new Centre for Palestine Studies at SOAS |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2013 |
Description | Same sex cultures and pariah formations in North Africa |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This paper was first presented at a postcolonial research seminar at Sussex, and discusses the question of queer identities in North Africa with reference to the work of Joseph Massad. It was subsequently requested for reading by Joseph Massad towards his ongoing research, and a further presentation of the paper was invited by the Centre for African Studies, Cambridge University. I have been invited to speak on this research on 3 subsequent occasions at other universities engaged in work on gay rights in an international context. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2010,2015 |
Description | Screening and discussion of English Times Palestine at the Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill, Montreal |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The debate concerned Palestinian refugees and Britain's historic responsibility. Audience members thanked me for raising awareness, and a requests made for another screening of the film at a future event being planned. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Screening and discussion of English Times Palestine at the University of Cambridge |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Undergraduate students |
Results and Impact | The screening was part of Israel Awareness Week at Cambridge, and was introduced by William Parry (Pressure Cooker Arts) and Sahar Francis (Addameer). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Screening of Breaking the Generations and discussion of healthcare for Palestinian prisoners at Medact's Health Through Peace conference |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | I was part of panel representing MAP, Physicians for Human Rights Israel and Lawyers for Palestinian Rights. I screened the documentary I co-directed on Palestinian Prisoners and Medical Rights and audience members said that they learnt from the film. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.medact.org/project/forum-2017/ |
Description | Talk on Wadja, Gulbenkian Cinema, Kent at 50 Celebrations |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | I introduced the film Wadja, the first film made by a female Suadi Arabian director, at a public screening to raise awareness of feminism in the Middle East |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | Those Who Jump screening and Q&A at the ICA |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | I conducted a Q&A with director Moritz Siebert at a screening of his film Those Who Jump at the ICA. The film is about refugees from North Africa and Africa more widely and the event provided insight into the circumstances of these refugees. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2017 |
URL | https://www.ica.art/whats-on/prelude-screening-those-who-jump-qa |
Description | Three Platform Debates: The Keepers of Infinite Space |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | 1. We discussed the ideas of the play and their socio-political relevance. 2. We discussed the role of cultural activism as an alternative to violence with Palestinian artists and members of the Freedom Theatre 3. We discussed the question of the treatment of Palestinian prisoners and their rights. All three debates generated lively question and answer sessions. I have subsequently been consulted by various groups regarding the Israel/ Palestine conflict, including Medical Aid for Palestinians who are making a film on Palestinian prisoners. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | Utopian Realism Today symposium at the ICA |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | This event brought together creative practitioners and public intellectuals to discuss the notion of 'utopian realism' as distinct from 'utopian idealism'. It included presentations by film-maker Sarah Turner (dir. Public House), musician David Bell, art theorist Adrian Rifkind, poet David Herd (instigator of Refugee Tales), writer Ghada Karmi (author of Return), and feminist author Rachel Holmes (author of Eleanor Marx), together with an in conversation between writer and activist Ahdaf Soueif and Caroline Rooney. Filmed extracts of the event are included in England Times Palestine (dir. Caroline Rooney). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | https://www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/symposium-utopian-realism-today-aesthetics-and-politics-hope |
Description | White Flages Screening and Q&A at Sussex University |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | The film was screened to members of the Centre for Creative and Critical Writing at the University of Sussex, and director Caroline Rooney gave a 45 minute presentation on the film followed by questions. Students and lecturers requested a copy of the film for further study. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | White Flags ICA Screening at the Being Human Festival |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | 70 members of the public attended the screening and participated in a 40 minute Q&A with director Caroline Rooney. The audience members filled out questionnaires from the Being Human Festival and all rated the event with the highest score, reporting on how the film and discussion had an impact on them. Jenny Taylor (Lapidomedia) communicated that the film inspired her to make a documentary for her organization. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
URL | https://www.ica.org.uk/whats-on/white-flags-qa |
Description | White Flags Screening and Q&A at the Freud Museum |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The film was screened to members of the general public and psychoanalysts, followed by a 35-40 minute Q&A with director Caroline Rooney. It sparked interest in peace initiatives in the Middle East. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | https://www.freud.org.uk/events/75806/white-flags-screening-and-discussion/ |
Description | White Flags Screening and Q&A, H4C Gallery, Nicosia |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | White Flags was screened as part of World Poetry Day at Home for Co-operation Gallery in Nicosia. It prompted a debate about how post-conflict societies can learn from each other. The event was reported in several national newspapers (Greek and Turkish Cypriot) and featured as a TV news item. It was seen to open up spaces for cultural dialogue. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.cyprusevents.net/events/white-flags-2015/ |
Description | White Flags Screening and Q&A, Mansion Blatt Gallery, Beirut |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Over100 people attended the film screening, including the interviewees featured in the film (from backgrounds in journalism, psychotherapy and the arts). The post-screening debate involved directors, participants and audiences in assessing the progress of post-conflict peace-building in Beirut. A number of those present were artists keen to continue the kind of work involved, and Mansion Blatt requested a copy of the film for their archive for further screenings and debates. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | White Flags Screening and Q&A, Rovinj |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | This screening was for a small panel of experts at the international annual conference of group psychotherapy. It has led to requests for further screenings. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
Description | White Flags Screening and Q&A, SOAS |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | The screening was a part of a keynote presentation at Beyond Eurocentrism: Rethinking Spatial Representation. It led to copies of the film being requested for further viewing. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | https://www.soas.ac.uk/cclps/events/19jun2015-beyond-eurocentricism-rethinking-spatial-representatio... |
Description | White Flags Screening at Culnat in Cairo |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | My film was screened to explore community engagement through the arts. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | White Flags screening at Cultnat, Cairo |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A broadcast e.g. TV/radio/film/podcast (other than news/press) |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | The screening of the PI's film was part of a series mounted to explore community engagement in cultural heritage projects. The screenings brought together the local community and heritage experts. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
Description | Wise Words Festival |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | I took part in an in conversation with Patrick Cockburn, foreign correspondent for the Independent, on the publication of his book 'The Return of the Jihadis' at the Wise Words Festival in Canterbury. I then chaired questions from the audience on how to understand the Islamic State. It has given me the opportunity to debate the significance of ISIS with Patrick Cockburn, a world expert on Iraq and the Middle East. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
Description | Women, Culture and the January 2011 Egyptian Revolution launch |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Study participants or study members |
Results and Impact | Book launch with talks reflecting on the role of women in the 2011 revolution. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |