World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies
Barcelona, July 19th - 24th 2010
The European Institute of the Mediterranean (IEMed) is pleased to invite you to the third World Congress for Middle Eastern Studies (WOCMES), to be held in Barcelona from 19th to 24th July, 2010.
The World Congress seeks to address, explore and exchange information on the state-of-the-art in Middle Eastern Studies in its broadest sense. The invitation is aimed at scholars, researchers, educators, students, professionals and other groups interested in studies on North Africa, Middle East, Muslim states of Central Asia as well as other regions of the world which are directly or indirectly affected by affairs in these areas.
After the highly successful experiences of the two previous WOCMES meetings held in Mainz (Germany) in 2002 and in Amman (Jordan) in 2006, WOCMES Barcelona 2010 will bring this unique event within the Mediterranean region. The Mediterranean, with its history of human and cultural exchanges, is a privileged environment for WOCMES Barcelona 2010 to unite experts from all over the world, to exchange new ideas, to strengthen and build regional and global networks for joint research.
Barcelona will undoubtedly be an exciting setting to meet and discuss Middle Eastern Studies. Spain historically has a profound interest in the Mediterranean and the Arab-Islamic world for obvious reasons, such as geographical and historical proximity. Within this context, Catalonia and particularly Barcelona stand out as benchmarks of research and dissemination of information on the Mediterranean and the Middle East.
Besides this academic asset, the engagement in the European Union’s Mediterranean policy as a result of the Barcelona Process strengthened Barcelona’s interest in the Mediterranean and the Middle East even further.
For all these reasons, WOCMES Barcelona 2010 promises to be an exciting and challenging event.