ArabishWay

CSDE Seminar - Civilizing Contention: International Aid in Syria’s War - In Person and Virtual
2026-04-17 12:30 - 13:30 (America/Los_Angeles) | UW – Parrington Hall, 4105 George Washington Lane NE, Seattle, WA, 98195
Speaker: Rana Khoury, Assistant Professor of Political Science & Center for South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Abstract: In Civilizing Contention, Rana B. Khoury asserts that to understand civilian and refugee activism in war, we must regard the international actors and organizations that enter the scene to help. When these organizations respond to crises, they work with local actors. In so doing, they facilitate the activists’ participation in something like a civil society even in the depths of war. Yet as aid imposes its structures and routines, it also leaves activists unprotected from the violence of war and its aftermaths.
Khoury pursues these ideas through analysis of Syria’s war that emerged from the 2011 Arab Uprisings. She traces the afterlife of a social movement that did not merely take up arms or capitulate to repression. Interviews with Syrian activists and international aid workers in Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon provide insight into action among actors in the war, while original social-media data offers additional evidence. Civilizing Contention deepens knowledge of civilian and refugee agency by explaining how ordinary people act in extraordinary ways in a world structured by powerful forces.
Bio: Rana B. Khoury is an assistant professor of political science at Illinois. Previously, she was a postdoctoral fellow at the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance at Princeton University. She received her Ph.D. in political science from Northwestern University and M.A. in Arab Studies from Georgetown University. Rana’s research interests include contention, displacement, and humanitarianism in the Middle East, as well as qualitative and multi-method research. Her research has been published in Perspectives on
Politics, World Development, Middle East Law and Governance, and Forced Migration Review. Her book, Civilizing Contention: International Aid in Syria’s War is forthcoming with Cornell University Press.
Parrington Hall – Rm 360
Virtual Link: https://washington.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_1Ij7h6opR1mdgyO7C0IUzQ#/registration

Anti-Palestinian Racism Workshop
2026-04-18 10:00 - 11:30 | Virtual
UPCOMING WEBINAR
Date: April 18, 2026 Time: 10am – 11:30am PST/1pm – 2:30pm EST
REGISTER HERE
Attendee will learn to:

Know who Palestinians are;
Describe anti-Palestinian racism;
Identify who can be targets of anti-Palestinian racism;
Understand the impact of anti-Palestinian racism on health and wellbeing (incl. latest released findings);
Learn ways to address anti-Palestinian racism.

Our trainers volunteer their time so these webinars are always pro-bono. If you believe in this work, consider supporting us here so we can keep bringing expert voices to more communities.

VIEW OUR RECOMMENDATIONS FOR COUNTERING ANTI-PALESTINIAN RACISM IN K-12 SCHOOLS HERE.
Every student and educator deserves to learn and work without fear of discrimination or racism. Yet, anti-Palestinian racism – an underrecognized, pervasive, and highly prevalent form of racism – is harming the health and wellbeing of our students, teachers and administrators. At the Institute for the Understanding of Anti-Palestinian Racism (IUAPR), we are dedicated to raising awareness of this injustice and helping K-12 schools create environments where all forms of racism are addressed.
LEARN HOW TO COUNTER ANTI-PALESTINIAN RACIST MYTHS AND VIEW OUR MYTH-BUSTING YOUTH GUIDE HERE.
In talks about Palestine and Israel, you may hear racist myths and stereotypes about Palestinians. These myths are used to deny their human rights and to excuse injustice against them. The IUAPR Teen Committee created this youth guide with the aim of showing why these myths are false and giving facts to help counter them.
