First Day of Georgetown Conference Explores Dynamics of Indian Ocean World

Expert scholars from around the globe will gather at Georgetown University in Qatar this week to discuss shifts in the Indian Ocean world. The University’s annual faculty conference will focus on the nations, cultures, and people of the region under the theme of ‘The Liberal State and its Alternatives in the Indian Ocean.’

The event being held on March 20-21 at GU-Q’s Education City campus is made possible by a Conference and Workshop Sponsorship Program award (CWSP 11-C-1019-16029) from the Qatar National Research Fund, a member of Qatar Foundation. The program features a diverse mix of international and local experts from institutions including Oxford University, University of Cambridge, King’s College London, Stanford University, the University of Singapore, Qatar University, and Hamad Bin Khalifa University.

The first day’s program includes a keynote speech by Stanford University’s Dr. Thomas Blom Hansen, which will center on the genealogies of distributed sovereignty in the wake of colonial forces and imperial involvement in the Indian Ocean region.

The conference will also feature panel discussions, beginning with a focus on topics such as oil-producing states of the GCC, how digital networks enable and constrain states in East Africa, and the interplay of negotiation and compromise exhibited by the government in Pakistan. Later panels will delve into the roles and practices of the police and paramilitary forces in Karachi, and the emergence of the notion of “tribes” in South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

The first day will close with the presentation of papers on the sources of political instability in Pakistan, as well as the relationship between Islamic charitable organizations and the state in Southeast Asia.