Moving Stories - Sectarianisms in the Global Middle East

The following seminars will take place at 11:00 on Wednesdays in the Old Common Room, Balliol College, unless otherwise noted. Coffee and tea are available from 11:00, and all are welcome for an informal lunch afterwards in the Hall at Balliol College.

This seminar is supported by funding from the European Research Council Consolidator Grant, Moving Stories: Sectarianisms in the Global Middle East (2021-2026), under the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme.
Type: Seminar Series
Series organiser: John-Paul Ghobrial
Timing: Wednesdays at 11:00
Organising department: Faculty of History

Talks:

Wednesday 22 October 2025

Race-making, Religion, and the Gendered “Business” of Slavery in the Late Ottoman Empire
Date: 22 October 2025, 11:00 - 12:00
Speaker : Dr Ceyda Karamursel (SOAS, University of London)
Venue: Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details: Old Common Room
Organiser: John-Paul Ghobrial
Hosts: TBA

Wednesday 5 November 2025

The House Always Wins: Arms Trafficking, Settler Capitalism, and the Making of Ottoman Jolan, 1878-1918
Date: 5 November 2025, 11:00 - 12:00
Speaker : Dr Ayşe Polat (Oxford)
Venue: Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details: Old Common Room
Organiser: John-Paul Ghobrial
Hosts: TBA

Wednesday 19 November 2025

“My Copyist Pretends to Have Misunderstood Me”: Writing émigré Arabic journals in 1880s Paris
Date: 19 November 2025, 11:00 - 12:00
Speaker : Dr Raphael Cormack (Durham)
Venue: Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details: Old Common Room
Organiser: John-Paul Ghobrial
Hosts: TBA

Wednesday 3 December 2025

Modern Transimperial History: An Introduction
Date: 3 December 2025, 11:00 - 12:00
Speaker : Prof Cyrus Schayegh (Geneva Graduate Institute)
Venue: Balliol College, Broad Street OX1 3BJ
Venue Details: Old Common Room
Organisers: TBA
Host: John-Paul Ghobrial

Editors: Belinda Clark, Alexia Lewis