Med-Gulf Observatory (MeGO)
As a unit of research and activities within Luiss Center for International and Strategic Studies (CISS), Med-Gulf Observatory (MeGO) aims at examining how international affairs influence and are influenced by the southern Mediterranean countries that make the broad MENA region as well as the Gulf countries. These parts of the world have been at the center of international relations of the last two centuries, and more so during the last twentieth century until now. Historians of civilizations and religions would push these dates to a couple of millennia backwards to say that the extended or “Greater Mediterranean,” in the words of the French historian Fernand Braudel, is larger in geography, deeper in cultural connections, and intertwined in economic and political spheres. This has become ever more so with modern intercultural networks through shared aspirations for liberty, equality and social justice, human movement through migrations, and new means of communication through high technological and digital transformations in human relations. However, the rise of human aspirations at all levels and globally has made competition over the same means of connections and interactions more challenging, and has rendered the understanding of who influences what and why more complicated, thus more urgent to be further examined and analysed.
To facilitate the task within this new platform, Med-Gulf Observatory aims to divide the studied region into three major geographical areas, and three major fields of focus, under which sub-areas fall. First, the region is divided into three known areas: 1) North Africa, also known as the Maghrib, 2) the Middle East, or the Mashriq/Levant, and 3) the Gulf Peninsula. While these regions have a lot in common, each has, however, developed its own historical narrative, cultural identity, and geopolitical alliances and interests. Second, the region is going to be primarily studied from three major disciplines or perspectives: 1) History, 2) Society, and 3) Politics. While past history remains fundamental to understand the present, and future prospects, it is contemporary history that is of concern in this Observatory: how it is read by scholars of these regions, how it is interpreted, and what historical moments are focalized either to regenerate societies or to avoid them in situating one’s history in regional and global history. As to society, it is through it that the dynamics and transformations of each society and region at large can be understood and analyzed, that is why attention to the values that societies value most, and see as fundamental in prospecting their future is tantamount to understand how these same values impact some vital sectors in society, like culture, religion, and economics. Politics, at the end, is the summation of how society looks at history and tries to be active within it; politics is the outer face of certain values and practices, that is why their understanding contributes to the comprehension of political orientations of the studied societies and their political stakeholders. Studying the intellectual history of the region as written especially by its own scholars and analysts helps in understanding its international horizon, strategic vision and political movement.
Seeing the transformations the region has been going through especially during the last decade since the so-called Arab Spring, and besides the above mentioned aims, the Observatory also aims to build more scholarly and institutional relations with various research and public policy institutions in the region, and contribute positively to the creation of training and formation programmes that foster deeper collaborations and partnerships in the Mediterranean, with a focus on political and economic partnerships sphere.
Med-Gulf Observatory aims to realize this vision through research seminars, workshops, and conferences, which it plans to share in scientific formats with scholars, in working papers and policy-recommendations with professionals and analysts, and in different digital formats for wider public use.
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Mohammed Hashas
Head of Unit
Mohammed Hashas [“ḥaṣ-ḥāṣ”] (PhD, Habil.) is a Lecturer in the Department of Political Science at Luiss University of Rome; he is currently a Research Fellow affiliate to Leibniz-Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO) in Berlin. His research areas are modern intellectual history of the Arab-Islamic world, Islam in Europe, and modern/contemporary Moroccan thought. Hashas has been a visiting research fellow in Copenhagen, Tilburg, Berlin, Oxford, and Winchester in Virginia. Hashas published The Idea of European Islam (2019), Intercultural Geopoetics (2017), and led the edition of Pluralism in Islamic Contexts (2021), Islamic Ethics and the Trusteeship Paradigm (2020), Islam, State and Modernity (2018), Imams in Western Europe (2018), besides various journal articles and book chapters. Hashas is currently finishing the editing of the first Handbook of Contemporary Moroccan Thought, for Brill 2023/4 (c. pp. 700). He contributes opinion essays in Arabic and English on religion, politics, philosophy and society in the Arab world (they are collected at his private website: www.mohammedhashas.com).
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Francesca Maria Corrao
Francesca Maria Corrao is Full Professor of Arabic Culture and Language in the Department of Political Science in LUISS University of Rome, director of MISLAM Program (Master in Economics and Institutions of Islamic Countries) of the School of Government at the same university. Previously she was Professor at the University of Naples “L’Orientale” (1996-2011), and visiting professor at the Alsun Faculty of the ‘Ayn Shams University in Cairo (2004), École Pratique des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (Paris 2007), at Fudan University (Shanghai 2017), Science Pò (Menton 2017/19). She held conferences and seminars at the Universities of Cairo, Beirut, Amman, Rabat, Tunis, Cambridge, Oxford and Harvard. The main focus of her scholarly activity is on Arabic Literature, Islamic Culture and History, Mediterranean Studies, Intercultural dialogue.
In “L’Orientale” University of Naples, Corrao was in charge of the Socrates European Projects: “Les Communautés Africaines en Europe” ( Paris 2000), Les Communautés Musulmanes en Europe” (Paris 2001). She is the “contact person” for the “Manifesto” for Inclusive University” (https://manifestouniversitainclusiva.unhcr.it/), Universities network for peace (RUniPace https://www.runipace.org/ ) and for the University Corridors for Refugees UNICORE 3.0 (https://universitycorridors.unhcr.it/ ); the latter is promoted by Italian universities with the support of UNHCR, in cooperation with the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other partners. Corrao chairs the Scientific Committee of the Fondazione Orestiadi in Gibellina (Sicily); She is Overseas Research member of the Institute of Oriental Studies (Soka University, Tokyo); and is also Member of the European Union of Arabist and Islamist (UEAI), the Scientific Council of the Cortile dei Gentili (Pontifical Coucil for Culture, Vatican), International Affairs Institute IAI-Rome, the European Teachers of Modern Arabic Literature (EMTAR), Member of the Scientific committee of the Journals: Rivista Africa e Orienti, Semicerchio, ARABLIT, Journal of Arabic Literature, Dialoghi Mediterranei, open access e-journal of the Istituto Euro-Arabo.
Her most recent books include: Corrao F.M., Redaelli R., States, Actors and Geopolitical Drivers in the Mediterranean, Palgrave 2021; I cavalieri, le dame e i deserti. Storia della poesia araba (Istituto per l’Oriente, 2020); In guerra non mi cercate. Poesia araba delle rivoluzioni e oltre, with O. Capezio, E. Chiti e S. Sibilio (Le Monnier, 2018); L’Islam non è terrorismo, with L. Violante (Il Mulino, 2018); Islam, Religion and Politics (LUP, 2017); Islam, State and Modernity. Mohammed Abed Al-Jabri and the Future of the Arab World, with Z. Eyadat and M.Hashas (Palgrave, 2017); Le Rivoluzioni Arabe. La transizione Mediterranea, (Mondadori, 2011); Poeti Arabi di Sicilia (Mesogea, 2002); Giufà il furbo, lo sciocco, il saggio (Sellerio 2001, Nawādir Juhā, in Arabic 2020).
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Novella Oliana
Novella Oliana is a transdisciplinary researcher, a lecturer at LUISS University and at the Academy of Fine Arts in Rome, and a visual artist based in Rome. She received her initial training in cultural studies focused on the Mediterranean and the Middle East (University of Naples L’Orientale – Italy) and holds a practical-theoretical PhD in Visual Arts (Université Aix-Marseille – France) focused on contemporary visual representations in the Mediterranean. She is interested in the perception of the Middle East and of the Mediterranean identity through images; in particular, she focuses on the current phenomena of the displacement of images, whether material or mental and cultural, mainly considered as migrations through territories of all kinds and as fluctuations between media. Her works have been exhibited in Italy and abroad in group and solo exhibitions, and have appeared in various books, catalogues and journals.
Her latest publications as an author include the following: “Possibili idee di mare”, in Il corpo solitario. L’autoscatto nella fotografia contemporanea, a cura di Giorgio Bonomi, Edizioni Rubbettino 2022; “The Mediterranean surface and the archetype of the island as contemporary paradigms for accessing cultural commons”, in Cultural Commons and Urban Dynamics. A multidisciplinary perspective, Università di Catanzaro, (ed. Macrì, Morea, Trimarchi), Springer edizioni 2020; “Cartografia performativa del Mediterraneo”, in Arcoscenico, catalogo del progetto e della mostra curata da Numero Cromatico e MiBACT, Roma 2020; “What I need to be myself elsewhere”, in Il sangue delle donne. Tracce di rosso sul panno bianco, a cura di Manuela De Leonardis, Postmedia Books 2018; “Chambres, univers: fragments dun espace inventé. Photographie, interférence et récit dans la représentation dun lieu liminaire”, in Espaces d’interférence narrative, Art et récit au XXI siècle, ed. Jean Arnaud, Bruno Goosse, PUM Université de Toulouse 2018; “Lo spazio dell’abitare e una categoria dello spirito”, in L’Aquila 2010: dietro la catastrofe, Meridiana Rivista di Scienze Sociali, n. 65-66, ed. Viella, Roma 2018; “Il linguaggio dell’Altro: la rivista egiziana Wajhat al-Nadhar e l’11 settembre”, in Oriente Moderno, 3/224, Istituto per l’Oriente, Roma 2018.
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Luigi Giorgi
Luigi Giorgi is a finishing PhD candidate in History of Islamic Countries at University of Rome “Tor Vergata,” Rome. Between 2018 and 2022, he has been working as Research Fellow at the department of Political Science of Luiss University, Rome. His research interests include history, politics and economics of the Arab states of the Persian Gulf, and socio-political mobilizations in the region. He is currently developing a research on the history of bilateral and multilateral relations among the Gulf States. He gained work and research experiences in Kuwait, Qatar, Iraq and Tunisia. Among his publications: Giorgi L. & Cherubini, F. (2023) Fine della guerra infinita? Afghanistan 2021. Storia, Geopolitica, Diritto, Sicurezza. FrancoAngeli, Milano (in corso di pubblicazione); Giorgi, L. (2021) Mashreq monarchies’ role in the Mediterranean Sea. The evolution of the role of Qatar in the Mediterranean crises, in “States, Actors and Geopolitical drivers in the Mediterranean. Perspectives on the New Centrality in a Changing Region” (edited by F. Corrao & R. Redaelli). Palgrave Macmillan, Londra, pp. 324-335; Giorgi, L (2015) Sidi Bouzid e la rivoluzione ripudiata, in “Limes, rivista italiana di Geopolitica”, n. 8, pp. 209-214.
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Renata Pipicelli
Renata Pepicelli is Associate Professor of History of Islamic countries at the department of Civilizations and forms of knowledge at University of Pisa, where she teaches History of contemporary Arab world and Islamic Studies. In 2017 she was visiting scholar at the University of Bristol, in 2018 at the University Cadi Ayyad of Marrakesh, in 2020 at the University of Kairouan, in May 2022 at University of Granada. Her scholarly activity focuses on gender studies in Islamic contexts, particularly in North Africa and Europe, social movements and Islamism in the MENA region. Recently she has also started to investigate the subject of enviromental crises and social movements in the Arab world. Her 2010 book titled Femminismo islamico: Corano, diritti, riforme is considered a milestone in the field of studies on gender in Islamic context with 10 reprints. Her book Il velo nell’Islam: Storia, politica, estetica (Carocci 2012) was translated in Finnish by the publishing house Vastapaino in 2014.
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Ersilia Francesca
Ersilia Francesca is Full Professor of History of Islamic countries at Università “L’Orientale” in Naples – Asia Africa and Mediterranean Department, where she teaches “Contemporary history of Economy of Middle East and North Africa” and “Gender Politics in Islamic Context”. She is chief editor of the peer-reviewed journal Studi Magrebini (Brill), and former director of the Center for Islamic World at L’Orientale. She is president of the University “L’Orientale” Quality Assurance Board. She is also chief editor of the series Studies in Ibadism and Oman, Olms (Germany).
Her scholarly activity focuses on Islamic law, gender studies in the MENA region, and history of Islamic economics. She published 5 books and 3 edited books; and wrote over 20 articles in PR journals and contributions in edited books in the last 10 years. Her 2002 book titled Teoria e pratica del commercio nell’islam medievale is considered a milestone in the field of studies on Ibadism and early Islam (s. review in JSAI 2004/29). Her bookEconomia, religione e morale nell’islam (Carocci 2013) is the first attempt of a comprehensive reconstruction of the Islamic economic thinking in Italian. In the last five years she has supervised over 50 Master thesis, 6 PhD projects, 1 joint-supervision (cotutelle) with EPHE, Paris, and one Postdoctoral fellow.
Among her recent publications: Economia, religione e morale nell’islam, Carocci, Roma 2013; “Gender and Economics in Mediterranean: Looking for New Opportunities for North African Women”, in States, Actors and Geopolitical Drivers in the Mediterranean, Palgrave 2021; “Economia islamica: significati e prospettive”, in L’islam non è terrorismo, Il Mulino, 2018; “Denaro e valori: la business ethics dal punto di vista islamico”, in Divus Thomas, 119/2016; “Economic Opportunities and Social Challenges in the North African Transition”, in Emerging Actors in Post- Revolutionary North Africa, 2017. She is editor of the book: Ibadi Theology. Rereading Sources and Scholarly Works, G. OLMS, Hildesheim-Zürich-New York 2015 and co-editor with A.M. Di Tolla of La rivoluzione ai tempi di Internet. Il futuro della democrazia nel Maghreb e nel mondo arabo, Naples 2012, and of Emerging Actors in Post- Revolutionary North Africa, 2 vols., Naples 2017.
