SOAS, University of London (The School of Oriental and African Studies)

Keynote - Urban Violence in the Middle East: Histories of Place and Event

Fighting for Space: Theatres of Violence and Emerging Publics

This Keynote Lecture, part of the Urban Violence in the Middle East: Histories of Place and Event International Conference, will centre on struggles to control public space in the city and seek to understand their significance for the emergence of an unruly, plural public.  Taking examples largely from recent political events in the Middle East, it will look at the nature of the challenge to established authority represented by people’s efforts to define and to occupy public space.