Technics and Politics of Urban Expertise: A Gulf Case Study

The previous two decades have witnessed an industry of social scientific knowledge configured around the category of "the city." This knowledge production represents a diversity of methodological approaches and political commitments, but are there similarities and patterns? What are the implications of these similarities? While urban studies is a field that has not generally interested scholars of the Middle East more generally (especially the Mashriq and Egypt), the Gulf has been different. The "urban", the "city" etc. have arguably been central to knowledge production about this region since the 1990s, if not earlier. In what ways does the Gulf become a useful field site in which to grapple with questions of urban expertise, and what does this suggest about the politics of knowledge production in the region?

Simultaneous Arabic translation will be provided.