Najib Hourani, Assistant Professor in both Anthropology and Global Urban Studies, received a Fulbright Fellowship and a Council of American Overseas Research Centers Senior Scholar Fellowship for his new research project working with Syrian refugees in Jordan. His project seeks to understand their needs and aspirations for the reconstruction of their neighborhoods, towns, and cities. The project, entitled Toward a Positive Peace?: Urban Reconstruction in Syria, will have him conducting research in Jordan from August 2019-August 2020, with funded follow up work the summer of 2021.
On February 14-15, 2019, the MSU’s Department of Anthropology, co-hosted an international and interdisciplinary conference entitled Cities of the Arab World: Theory, Investigation, Critique. In partnership with MSU’s Global Urban Studies Program (GUSP) and Muslim Studies Program (MSP), and the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies (CMENAS) at the University of Michigan, the event brought together scholars from the United States, Europe, and the Middle East to explore urban life in the geographic Arab world, and the political, economic, and cultural presence of Arab communities in cities around the globe.
Six panels were formed for the two-day conference, on topics
ranging from urban mega-projects and questions of sustainability, to the
political economy of post-conflict reconstruction. The program included two
very well received keynotes by Dr. Harvey Molotch (Professor Emeritus of Social
and Cultural Analysis and Sociology, New York University), and Dr. Mona Fawaz
(Faculty of Engineering and Design, American University of Beirut), and a
screening of El-Said’s In the Last Days
of the City (2016), in conjunction with the MSU Library Film Series,
organized by Anthropology and Area Studies Librarian Deborah Margolis.
The conference was designed with multiple goals in mind.
Among the most important was to explore not only cities of the geographical
Arab world, but to ask questions of its global extensions to urban communities
around the world. The second goal was to expand and deepen engagement between
Urban Studies and scholars of the Arab World.
“The major theoretical debates in Urban Studies continue to
be rooted in the US and European experiences. Theorizations from the South,
including the Arab world, are very exciting and intellectually productive, yet
they remain outside of the mainstream,” Hourani said. Given the large Arab and
Arab-American communities in Michigan, it is only natural that our public
universities would help to overcome this challenge.
“We were very pleased with the collaboration with CMENAS,
and the large turnout for the event demonstrates that there is a strong
constituency for the global orientation of research that GUSP, MSP and
Anthropology produce, both within the university and across the state.”
Miss Avdoulos in front of Cambridge’s famous Red Door after submitting her PhD dissertation.
Eve Avdoulos graduated from Michigan State University in 2012 with her degree in anthropology, going on to graduate from the University of Cambridge with a Master of Philosophy in 2013. In July of 2019, she will receive her Doctor of Philosophy from Cambridge where she was a researcher at the Centre for Urban Conflicts Research located within the Department of Architecture. Currently, she is applying to various postdoctoral and public sector positions.
Ms. Avdoulos’ PhD, submitted in September 2018, investigated the complexities and contradictions of the phenomenon of urban decline. Through the study of Detroit and a close reading of two residential urban neighborhoods, she examined the development of urban decline over time, as well as how this phenomenon has differentially affected social patterns and practices within the city. By highlighting a methodological approach focused on the everyday lived experience of the city, she illustrated how decline should be regarded as a process that actively transforms the urban environment by dismantling and disassembling existing spatial and social networks and infrastructures, while, creating new ones.
Eve is particularly interested in the socio-political and cultural aspects of urban environments and the ways built environments influence the human condition. At the root of her work is a desire to better understand the human condition to strengthen equity, inclusion, and diversity in our ever-growing urban areas. She enjoys teaching because it allows her an opportunity to engage students in critical thinking and discussion, to help students discover their passions and motivations and to instill the skills and confidence to pursue their personal and professional goals. She feels fortunate for her incredible teachers at MSU who taught her these things as well as instilling a love of fieldwork. Ms. Avdoulos believes fieldwork offers members of the community a chance to share their own stories and experiences in ways they were previously unable to do so.
Eve presents her research at Centre for Urban Conflicts Research at Cambridge
During her time at MSU, she was actively involved with the Department of Anthropology through volunteering in the archaeology lab, attending an archaeological field school in Greece as part of a study abroad program, working at the MSU Archives & Historical Collections and participating in the Campus Archaeology Field School. Each of these experiences provided her with the foundational skills needed to achieve success in graduate school and prepared her for a career in academia and research. Eve first got interested in anthropology through her fascination with ancient cultures and the material remains of their societies. Upon a family trip to Rome, Florence, and Pompeii, she became spellbound by the incredible feats of human ingenuity and knew upon being accepted to Michigan State that she wanted to pursue an Anthropology degree to further study her interest in the human condition.
Her current department, The Centre for Urban Conflicts Research within the Department of Architecture at the University of Cambridge is dedicated to investigating cities experiencing conflict, including those caused by ethnicity, nationalism, religion, class, or race. The Centre maintains an interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary approach and is comprised of individuals from a variety of backgrounds including anthropology, architecture, geography, and history. The diversity of research undertaken by those working at the Centre exposed Eve to a wide range of global urban issues.
