Material infrastructures are technological systems that have long shaped the social, economic, and political life in the Middle East and North Africa. Ranging from historic infrastructures such as the Suez Canal, the Aswan Dam, and the Trans-Arabian Pipeline to contemporary large-scale constructions such as the Istanbul Airport, solar power plants in Morocco, and desalination plants in Saudi Arabia, the making of these systems require assembling material resources, labor, and capital as well as ideologies, desires, and aspirations. While infrastructures promise spatial and social connectivity, modernization, and development, they also engender disconnections and reproduce inequalities. Further, these projects transform the immediate and distant ecologies in drastic ways, often leading to environmental injustices and destruction. Analyzing them provides a unique lens into the transformations of ecologies, economies, societies, and politics in the region. This conference brings together scholars across disciplines to examine the interplay between material infrastructures and daily life in the region.

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https://usc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_uPqcIn_pQPupKdTfIBsS_A

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