AIMS @ MESA 2023

Montreal, Canada
Palais des congrès
November 2-5, 2023

AIMS holds its annual board and business meetings in conjunction with the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) Annual Meeting, this year in Montreal, Canada (and virtually via Zoom). The AIMS annual business meeting is open to all members and potential members and provides an opportunity for AIMS colleagues to connect and learn more about AIMS’ achievements and initiatives, and includes reports from your Overseas Research Center Directors and more.

AIMS Annual Business Meeting
Thursday, November 2, 2023
1:00pm – 2:30pm (EDT)
Palais des Congrès, Room 512C
Zoom: https://aimsnorthafrica-org.zoom.us/j/89295028008
All members, potential members and interested parties are welcome!

Including a short presentation from the 2023 AIMS Book Prize Winner:
Christopher Silver, Recording History: Jews, Muslims, and Music across Twentieth Century North Africa

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AIMS Member Reception
Featuring Gwyneth Talley’s short film, The Bardia
8:00pm – 9:30pm, Palais des Congrès, Le Chalet
Please RSVP if attending: https://forms.gle/H4K6JEeJc36mXbo26

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2023 L. Carl Brown Book Prize Winner:
Christopher Silver, Recording History: Jews, Muslims, and Music across Twentieth Century North Africa

Honorable Mentions:
Muriam Haleh Davis, Markets of Civilization: Islam and Racial Capitalism in Algeria
Richard Jankowsky, Ambient Sufism: Ritual Niches in the Social Work of Musical Form

2023 AIMS Sponsored Panels (2):
Waiting for Water: Negotiating Water, Land, and Life in Morocco
Panel VII-12, Saturday, November 4 at 8:30 am

Visual and Aural Histories of (De)Colonization in North Africa
Panel II-7, Thursday, November 2 at 5:30 pm

2023 Jeanne Jeffers Mrad Graduate Student Travel Awards (12):
Sabrina Amrane, University of California, Berkeley, New Approaches to Studying and Teaching Islamicate History
P XIII-19 Sun, Nov 5, 1:30pm

Myriam  Amri, Harvard University, Currency Regimes and Monetary Crises: Insights from the Archives of the Tunisian Protectorate
R I-3 Thur, Nov 2, 3:00pm

Natalie Bernstien, University of California, Los Angeles, The Politics of Movement in Wartime Tangier: A Study of Jewish Holocaust Refugees
P XIII-19 Sun, Nov 5, 1:30pm

Sabrine Chengane, University of Ottawa, Ontario, Conducting multi-methods fieldwork on sexual and reproductive health in Algeria: Reflections on the importance of the preparatory visit
R VI-4 Fri, Nov 3, 4:00pm

Jamie Fico, Syracuse University, Living on Luck: Water, Land, and Watermelon Production in Southeast Morocco
P VII-12 Sat, Nov 4, 8:30am [Also received MESA Travel Award]

Emily Hayes-Rich, University of New Mexico, The Fight for Hidden Waters: Water Management at the Edge of the Sahara
P VII-12 Sat, Nov 4, 8:30am

Ben Jones, Georgetown University, Singing the Sahara: Claiming the Western Sahara in Popular Music
P IV-10 Fri, Nov 3, 11:00am

Sheyda Khaymaz, University of Texas at Austin, Visual and Aural Histories of [De]colonization in North Africa         
P 11-7 Thurs, Nov 2, 5:30pm

Brittany Landorf, Emory University, “And then the rains came”: Water and Saintly Authority in Morocco
P VII-12 Sat, Nov 4, 8:30am [Also received MESA Travel Award]

Andie Madsen, Montana State University, Water in the Desert: Merging Sensory Ethnography and Historical Research
P VII-12 Sat, Nov 4, 8:30am

Caroline Angle Maguire, University of Maryland, College Park, Democratizing and Modernizing the Musée National du Bardo (1956 – 1980)
P IX-11 Sat, Nov 4, 3:00pm

Lacy Murphy, Washington University in St. Louis, Weaponizing Photography during the Algerian War
P VI-29 Fri, Nov 3, 4:00pm

Roy Shukrun, McGill University, Mediating Migration, Brokering Belonging: Rethinking the Alliance Israélite Universelle in Narratives of Moroccan Jewish Departure, 1943-1983
P I-13 Thurs, Nov 2, 3:00pm [Also received MESA Travel Award]

2023 I William Zartman North African Travel Award(s):
Hamdi Echkaou, Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane, The Role of New Media in Representing Hassani Culture: A Study of Online Newspapers in the Southern Provinces of Morocco (ONSPM)
P VI-28 Fri, Nov 3, 4:00pm

Mariam Omar, University of Ottawa, How does donning a hijab influence fieldwork on sexual and reproductive health in Libya?
P I-22 Thurs, Nov 2, 3:00pm

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AIMS nine member Board of Directors serve three year terms. Annually, two are selected from the Institutional Members and one from the general membership. Officers, staff and Overseas Research Center Directors are part of the AIMS steering committee. Past officers and directors are often asked to attend in an advisory capacity.

Current AIMS Board: (through year listed)
2023: Nabil Boudraa, Oregon State University
2023: Cynthia Becker, Boston University
2023: Ari Schriber, University of Toronto

2024: Mona Atia, George Washington University
2024: Elizabeth Bishop, Texas State University
2024: Kevin Blankinship, Brigham Young University

2025: Allen Fromherz, Georgia State University
2025: Kristin Hickman, University of Mississippi
2025: Michael Toler, MIT/Libraries

New, ending 2026:
Aomar Boum, University of California, Los Angeles
Adria Lawrence, Johns Hopkins University
Paul Love, Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane

AIMS Officers, Staff and Advisors:
James Miller, President
Yael Warshel, Vice President
Mia Fuller, Treasurer
Gwyneth Talley, Secretary
Terry Ryan, AIMS US Director
Robert Parks, CEMA Director
Laryssa Chomiak, CEMAT Director
Jennifer Rasamimanana, TALIM Director
Heidi Wiederkehr, CAORC Director
I. William Zartman, Founding Member