2016 Tangier, Morocco (May 14-15, 2016)
The conference was held in Tangier, Morocco on the topic of “Mediterranean Crossroads: Spanish-Maghribi Relations in Past and Present.” The aim of the conference was to reconceptualize the relations between North Africa and the Iberian peninsula during the modern era (18th-21st century). Despite the significance of this geographical nexus centered on the Strait of Gibraltar, contemporary scholarship on this pivotal topic is underdeveloped and deficient, creating absences where there should be narratives of engagement and connectivity. Some of the questions we asked were: What are the various aspects of this shared relationship, what are the sources of its specificity, and how has it shaped ideas and events in the western Mediterranean historically and today? Our objective was to deploy an array of methodologies to elucidate new ways of thinking about the region as a crossroads of human activity.
2015 Tunis, Tunisia (May 30-Jun 1, 2015)
The 2015 AIMS Annual Conference, “Linking Public Opinion and Political Action,” held May 30 – June 1, 2015 at CEMAT in Tunis, Tunisia brought together scholars and policymakers from North Africa and the US/Europe to examine the relationship between public opinion and government behavior and policymaking on a series of issues: governance and accountability, social service delivery, cultural and religious policy, and foreign policy. The goal was to examine the extent to which public opinion and elite behavior are congruent; to determine the reasons for convergence or divergence; to engage in theory-building regarding the relationship between public opinion and elite behavior; and, where possible, to offer suggestions about ways to narrow the gap between ordinary citizens and decision-makers.
2014 Oran, Algeria (May 31-Jun 2, 2014)
(Postponed from 2013) The conference was held in Oran, Algeria on the topic of “Saharan Crossroads: Views from the Desert-Edge,” in collaboration with the CRASC. The conference was part of a series of activities organized by the West African Research Association (WARA) and the American Institute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS) aimed at strengthening the cultural, artistic and historical links among the peoples living within and across the Sahara Desert. This conference’s theme was “Mapping information flows within and across the Sahara.” Throughout the ages, Africans circulating in Saharan regions engaged in cultural, intellectual, religious and political exchanges. Through oral and scriptural media, and by way of foot, caravan, truck and other traffic, people conveyed information and ideas that transformed and connected societies across distances. The committee is interested in studies focused on Saharan and trans-Saharan exchanges of information and ideas, past and present. Ghardaïa, in the heart of the Mzab region, is a propitious locale to hold this conference. This ethnically and religiously diverse oasis town was once a major center of exchange, and a northern terminus of caravans originating from markets such as Timbuktu, Agadez and Kano.
2013 Tripoli, Libya (September 30 – October 2, 2013)
The conference brings together leading U.S. and Libyan scholars to assess the current challenges and discuss future research priorities for the country. This three-day multi-disciplinary conference consists of presentations and round-table discussions focusing on: Political Science and Policy Studies, Economics/Development, History/Oral History, and Anthropology/Archaeology. The roundtable discussions include local invited scholars and graduate students concerning the goals and research priorities of each field within Libya.
2012 Tangier, Morocco (June 29 – July 2, 2012)
AIMS conference was held in Tangier, Morocco on the topic of “Berber Societies: New Approaches to Space, Time, and Social Process,” offering an opportunity to investigate new ways of situating Berbers in space, time, and social process. The conference was run in workshop format, with participants’ 25-page papers circulated in advance. The aim was for our collective discussions to be exploratory rather than programmatic, didactic, or polemic. The conference allowed participants to consider the ways in which social practices, institutions, aesthetics, and lands are being reconfigured in relation to the social orders in which Berbers participate.
2011 Tunis, Tunisia (June 17-20, 2011)
AIMS conference was held in Tunis, Tunisia on the topic of “Public health and health policy in the Maghrib: Exploring current issues and emerging priorities,” offering an opportunity to identify challenges, research needs, and policy priorities regarding new and original research dedicated to public health and health policy in the Maghrib. The conference also helped to sustain collaboration for a network of scholars, researchers, clinicians, and policy-makers working to advance public health in the Maghrib.