CALL FOR PAPERS
Deadline 5th Feb 2007

Middle East Studies Association Annual Conference
November 17-20 2007

Proposed Panel Title: "Art without History?: The Production and Consumption
of Modern Art in the Arab world"

Given the recent interest in the field, this panel seeks to challenge the
common preconception that scholars of modern and contemporary art from the
Arab world are often forced to address, namely the assumed lack of any kind
of critical discourse surrounding the production and consumption of the
visual arts, by attempting to historicize the institutionalization of art
within the region.

Questions will be raised as to the role of different channels in such
processes of institutionalization including museums, the press, the birth of
the art market, the establishment of galleries, art education, and artist
collectives. This panel hopes to address such questions from a number of
disciplinary approaches including art history, anthropology, cultural
studies, and sociology.

Please send 250 word abstract to Dina Ramadan (dar2103columbia.edu)and
Sarah Rogers (sarrogyahoo.com) by 5th Feb 2007.