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Centre for Gulf Studies 

35th Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ Gulf Conference 

Temporality and Aesthetics in the Arabian Peninsula 

7- 8 July 2025 

Monday 7th July 2025

9:00 – 9:30, Conference Registration, Tea & Coffee

9:30 – 9:45, Welcome Address (Laleh Khalili, University of Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ)

9:45 – 11: 15, Aesthetic and Symbolic Urban Transformation

• Roberto Fabbri, Zayed University, Abu Dhabi
  Transient / Concrete
• Noor Hussain, Georgetown University in Qatar
  Between Palace and Petals: The National Museum of Qatar and the Architecture of Nationhood

11:15 – 11:45, Coffee Break

11:45 – 13:00, Temporalities of Oil

• Ritika Lal, New York University
  Specters on the Horizon: Reading Changing Saudi Landscapes through Cities of Salt (1984) and The Others (2009)
• Samuel Martin, University of Cambridge
  De-Fossilizing Narrative: Sedimented Histories in Raja Alem’s Tawq al-Hamam (2010)

13:00 – 14:00, Lunch Break

14:00 – 15:15, Visuality and Media Scapes

• Ali Alsayegh, independent researcher
  The Aesthetics of Sadri Hybrid Media: Ideological Maintenance in a Time of Political Pause
• Zoe Hurley, American University of Sharjah
  Temporality and Aesthetics of Gulf Social Media Scapes: A Dubai Case Study

15:15 – 15:45, Coffee Break

15:45– 17:00, Tropes and Imaginaries in Cultural Production

• Chandni Sai Ganesh, University of Sussex
  Authenticity and the Mallu Shawarma: An Inquiry into the Lived Experiences of Keralites in the Gulf
• Leili Sreberny-Mohammadi, London School of Economics
  Critical Difference, Critical Distance: Iranian Art in the Emirati Art World

Tuesday 8th July 2025

9:00 – 9:30, Tea & Coffee

9:30 – 11:00, Transience and Homemaking in Migrants’ Lives

• Nadeen Dakkak, University of Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ
  Oil Modernity, Migration and Women’s Time in the Desert Writings of Hanan Al-Shaykh
• Saad Latif, New York University
  My Mother: Community, Belonging, and the Aesthetics of Migrant Life during Saudi Arabia’s Oil Boom
• Neha Vora, American University of Sharjah
  Multispecies Ecologies of Homemaking in the UAE

11:00 – 11:30, Coffee Break

11:30 – 12:45, Image-Making Politics and Aesthetic Regimes

• Maryam Almutawa, University of Ä¢¹½¶ÌÊÓƵ
  The Influence of Western Museum Paradigms on the Heritage Production in Qatar
• Ada Petiwala, American University of Beirut
  A Millennial Moment: Bhakti Visuality and Gulf Aesthetics at the BAPS Hindu Mandir, Abu Dhabi

12:45 – 14:00, Lunch Break

14:00 – 15:30, Tribute to Professor Sulayman Khalaf (1946-2023)