As part of our ‘Imagining the Common Ground’ initiatives, we are establishing a network of popular culture practitioners: artists, academics, and activists. Together we are exploring the cultural, environmental and political geographies of Middle Eastern neighbourhoods of poverty and privilege as articulations of the relationship of the state to the street in the context of political negligence and oppositional popular culture tactics. The network will examine the challenges facing new/emerging/potential democracies (especially in the light of recent uprisings, urban unrest, and riots) in which revolutionary political collaborations across divergent socio-economic groups are threatened by persistent inequalities that undermine trust. This should allow the network to revisit the concept of citizenship and the empowering role of community arts initiatives in this regard.

Four workshops will take place in three Middle Eastern capitals and in London in 2014. The outcome will be a collaborative publication and a continued expansion of the Citizen Academia Network that will further identify common aspirations across regions and expand the platform for engaged scholarship.

Details and excerpts from these workshops will be posted here as they happen.

Click here to download the Cairo workshop programme.

Click here to download the Beirut workshop poster.

Click here to download the London workshop programme.