PRESS RELEASE
2004 Middle East & Central Asia Conference Committee
c/o Political Science Department
260 S. Central Campus Dr.
OSH Building, Room 252
The University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT 84112
USA
Tel: +1-801-581-6047
Fax: +1-801-585-6492

The 2004 MIDDLE EAST & CENTRAL ASIA
POLITICS, ECONOMICS, and SOCIETY CONFERENCE:
Transitions and Inequality in the 21st Century

September 9th to 11th, 2004
The University of Utah
Salt Lake City, USA

*** Deadline for proposals: May 15, 2004 ***

The second annual multidisciplinary conference on the Middle East and Central
Asia will be held on the picturesque campus of the University of Utah in Salt
Lake City. The objective of the conference is to bring together academics,
analysts, and policy makers with interests in the Middle East and Central Asia
who wish to network and share research endeavors.

The three-day conference will include at least two prominent keynote speakers:
Dr. Michael Collins Dunn, editor of the Middle East Journal of the Middle East
Institute in Washington, DC.; and Prof. Shirin Akiner, lecturer in Central
Asian Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University
of London. There will be an estimated 44 conference sessions, and a special
plenary discussion panel on `The Post-9-11 World’. Other attractions include
two complementary meals, an evening of Middle Eastern and Central Asian dance
and music performances, and screening of films and documentaries.

The topics to be covered by the conference encompass interdisciplinary social
science approaches to analysis and problem solving in the regions of Middle
East and Central Asia and may fall within the following themes:

* Problems of Economic and Democratic Transitions
* State and Society Relations
* Religion and Politics
* Islam and Islamic Movements
* Challenges of Post-Communism
* The Impacts of Globalization
* Culture, Gender, and Ethnicity
* Natural Resources, Conflict, and Sustainability
* Media, Cinema, and Film
* Diaspora
* Human Rights and Minorities
* Post-9-11 Regional and International Affairs
* Afghanistan and Iraq Nation-building Projects
* Politics of External Actors (U.S., Russia, EU, China, etc.)
* Israel and Palestine Studies
* U.S.-Iranian Relations
* Uighurs
* Chechnya
* Armenia-Azerbaijan Relations
* Cypriot Reunification
* Terrorism and State Violence
* Conflict Prevention and Resolution
* Regional Organizations and Cooperation
* Civil Society

Selected papers from the 2003 conference were subsequently provided to editors
of The Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs and Critique: Journal of Critical
Studies of the Middle East.

Those interested in presenting papers in the 2004 Middle East and Central Asia
Politics, Economics, and Society Conference are asked to submit the following:

* Title of paper
* 250-word paper abstract
* Your full name
* Brief academic Resume
* Institutional affiliation
* E-mail address
* Telephone numbers (work and home)
* Postal address
* Indicate willingness to serve as a session Chair or Discussant

Please e-mail the above to the conference committee:

Middle-East@utah.edu OR Central-Asia@utah.edu

*** DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS: May 15, 2004 ***

Updates will be included in the conference web page:

Please note that the Conference Committee is unable to provide for participant
travel and lodging expenses. All prospective participants are expected to seek
funding from their own institutional and organizational affiliations. We will,
however, assist overseas participants whose paper proposals have been approved
by sending official letters necessary for acquiring entry visas into the U.S.
For all information, go to the website.