The Political Economy and Ethics of Social Science Research in the Arab World

This workshop introduces a project co-sponsored by the Middle East Institute at Columbia University, the Political Science Department of the American University of Cairo, the Rabat Social Studies Institute, and the Arab Council for the Social Sciences, examining the ethical implications of various approaches to research in the region. Among the issues that will be examined in the project are the role of uncredited research assistants, enumerators, “fixers” and other local aides; the use of intentionally ambiguous or misleading project descriptions or experimental conditions; the deployment of for-profit research firms; and the obligations researchers have to research subjects and communities under duress. The intent of the workshop is to introduce the project to the MESA membership at large and invite expressions of interest, particularly by social scientists, in the one or more of the workstreams being developed around these issues.

Given the timing of this Annual Meeting, this workshop will devote special attention to challenges of conducting ethical research under the extraordinary restrictions on local and international travel, social interaction and personal mobility imposed by the global COVID-19 pandemic.

Chair: Lisa Anderson, Columbia University

Rabab el-Mahdi, American University in Cairo

Sari Hanafi, American University of Beirut

Seteney Shami, Arab Council for the Social Sciences

Saloua Zerhouni, Mohammed V University

Discussants: Sarah Parkinson, Johns Hopkins University and Maria Eriksson Baaz, Uppsala University