26-27 March 2026 University of Johannesburg Kingsway Campus, Auckland Park

Abstract Submission: 15 January 2026 Notification of Speaker and Abstract Decisions: 10 February 2026 Conference Registration Opens: 10 March 2026 Conference Fee: R3000.00

Organizers: Cornell Law School, University of Johannesburg Faculty of Law, University of Zambia, and the Centre for International and Comparative Labour

We are calling for abstracts to be submitted from around the globe. Abstract should not exceed 150 words and include up to 5 keywords. Full papers should not exceed 8000 words. All submitted abstracts, papers will go through a double–blind peer– review process with decisions and comments availed to all authors. Final acceptance is only granted upon revising the manuscript in line with the reviewer's comments. Acceptance of the manuscript is subject to review and approval by the publishers. Publication in the proceedings and presentations at the conference are subject to registration and submission of copyright forms. Submit abstracts to suhailv@uj.ac.za

In light of the war with Iran, Arang Keshavarzian's book talk will now be a roundtable discussion on recent events. This conversation will examine the war with Iran beyond the headlines, situating this latest outbreak of violence within broader historical, social, and regional contexts and debates.

The event is hosted by the Southwest Asia and North Africa Program (SWANA), part of the Einaudi Center for International Studies, and cosponsored by the Department of Near Eastern Studies.

Panel

Arang Keshavarzian (Middle East Studies, New York University)Golnar Nikpour (History, Dartmouth College)Seema Golestaneh (SWANA director and Near Eastern Studies, Cornell University)Moderator: Mostafa Minawi (History, Cornell University).

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About Arang Keshavarzian

Arang Keshavarzian is Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University. His research and teaching centers on questions of political economy of Iran and the wider Middle East. He has had a particular interest in the relationship between spatialization, capitalism, and political power. He is the author of Bazaar and State in Iran: The Politics of the Tehran Marketplace (Cambridge UP, 2007) and co-editor, with Ali Mirsepassi, of Global 1979: Geographies and Histories of the Iranian Revolution (Cambridge UP, 2021). His most recent book is Making Space for the Gulf: Histories of Regionalism and the Middle East (Stanford UP, 2024). It is the recipient of the 2025 Roger Owen Prize from MESA for best book in economic history, economics, and political economy, as well as an honorary mention for the 2025 biannual book award from the Association for Gulf and Arabian Peninsula Studies. His articles on various topics have appeared in several edited volumes as well as Politics & Society; International Journal of Middle East Studies, Geopolitics; Economy & Society; International Journal of Urban and Region Research, and Middle East Report.

Guðni Th. Jóhannesson, former President of Iceland and current professor of history at the University of Iceland, explores Greenland’s complex path from colony to emerging nation—and its future, as seen from its closest European neighbor.

Drawing on Iceland’s own experience of gaining independence from Denmark, he examines the historical ties, political tensions, and geopolitical stakes that shape Greenland’s future amid growing great-power interest in the Arctic. The lecture offers a unique perspective from nearby Iceland on Greenland and broader questions of sovereignty, self-determination, and small-state resilience in an era of global change.

About the Speaker

Guðni Th. Jóhannesson is a 2026 Messenger Lecturer at Cornell. He served as the sixth president of Iceland from 2016 to 2024. Running as an independent, he won the 2016 election with a plurality of the vote, becoming the youngest person ever to serve as Iceland's president. His approval rating reached an unprecedented 97% in his first term. During his years in office, he elevated Iceland's international profile and advocated for human rights, inclusive democracy, climate action, and renewable energy solutions. As a historian at the University of Iceland, his research focuses on modern Icelandic history. He has published works on the Cod Wars, the 2008–2011 Icelandic financial crisis, and the Icelandic presidency.

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About the Event

This lecture is hosted by the Reppy Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, part of the Einaudi Center for International Studies. It is cosponsored by the Einaudi Center's Institute for European Studies and the Cornell Brooks School Tech Policy Institute.

Guðni Th. Jóhannesson's visit is sponsored by the Messenger Lecture series.

“Voices of Resilience” is a lecture-recital presentation developed in collaboration with the Ukrainian Classical Voice Project, a non-profit organization, and enabled by the Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies and sponsored by the Institute for European Studies.

The program interweaves performance with spoken reflection to explore the role of music as a vehicle for peace-making, solidarity, and unity in the face of hardship.

Centering marginalized and underrepresented creative voices, the event highlights music as a powerful site of cultural memory, resilience, and collective expression.

Through music and dialogue, the presentation engages themes of culture, poetry, narrative, migration, and peace pedagogy, affirming the vital role of artistic collaboration in fostering global understanding, shared hope, and a collective pursuit of a more just and peaceful future.

Talk by Suvaid Yaseen (Asian Studies, Hamilton College)

The history of Muslim political thought in the disputed Kashmir region of South Asia has largely been narrated within the national frameworks of India and Pakistan, and often overdetermined by security concerns, especially when it comes to Islamic movements. This talk addresses the politics of the colonial and postcolonial archives regarding such Muslim actors and suggests alternative lines of inquiry. It reflects upon a range of literary materials produced by the intellectuals of Islamic movements in Kashmir. It proposes listening as a practice as well as a metaphor to question the hitherto employed analytical and narrative categories. In doing so, it examines the complexities of Islamic articulations in Kashmir on its own terms.

Suvaid Yaseen is a historian of South Asia with an interest in contested sovereignties, Islam, and intellectual history. He completed his PhD in History from Brown University and is currently a visiting assistant professor in the Asian Studies program at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York.