- 05 Oct 2022
[Book Talk] Charity in Saudi Arabia: Civil Society under Authoritarianism
(This event is organised by MEI DOI – Gulf research cluster.)
In the past, media and think-tanks have published numerous reports and papers on the social transformations happening in the Arabian Peninsula, and, more specifically, inside Saudi Arabia. However, this analysis too often focused on the changes brought about from the top, via government initiatives like the emblematic Saudi Vision 2030. The newly-published book, Charity in Saudi Arabia, takes the opposite tack. In this innovative study of everyday charity practices in Jeddah, author Nora Derbal employs a “bottom-up” approach to challenge dominant narratives about state-society relations in Saudi Arabia. Exploring charity organisations in Jeddah, the book offers a rich ethnography of associational life. It counters Riyadh-centric studies which focus on oil, the royal family, and the religious establishment, while closely following those who work on the ground to provide charity to local poor and needy to document their achievements, struggles, and daily negotiations.
In this webinar, Dr. Derbal will explain why the lens of charity offers rare insights into the religiosity of ordinary Saudis, showing that Islam offers Saudi activists a language, a moral frame, and a worldly guide to confronting inequality. Charity in Saudi Arabia examines perspectives that are too often ignored or neglected, opening new debates about civil society and civic activism in the Gulf.
The presentation of Dr Derbal’s book will be followed by comments from Dr. Jessie Moritz of the Australian National University, and a general discussion with the participants.
This public talk will be conducted online via Zoom on Wednesday, 5 October 2022, from 1 pm to 2 pm (SGT). All are welcome to participate. This event is free, however, registration is compulsory. Successful registrants will receive a confirmation email with the Zoom details closer to the date of the event.
Find the price and details of the book here. For a discount upon purchase, enter the code DERBAL22.
Photo Image: Book cover ‘Charity in Saudi Arabia: Civil Society under Authoritarianism’.
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About the Speakers
Postdoctoral Fellow
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Dr. Jessie Moritz
Lecturer in Political Economy and Comparative Politics
Australian National University
[Moderator]
Dr Jean-Loup Samaan
Senior Research Fellow
Middle East Institute, National University of Singapore
Dr Nora Derbal is a postdoctoral fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She previously held a postdoctoral fellowship at the American University in Cairo, as well as visiting positions at KFCRIS in Riyadh, Effat University, and King Abd al-Aziz University in Jeddah. In 2017, she earned her PhD in Islamic Studies from Freie Universitaet in Berlin with a dissertation on “Charity for the Poor in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, 1961-2015”, which won the German dissertation prize annually awarded by the Koerber Foundation. She is currently pursuing two new research projects: An investigation into 19th Century travel practices and travel writing about the Arabian Peninsula, and Saudi-Palestinian relations in the first half of the 20th Century.
Dr Jessie Moritz is a Lecturer at the Australian National University (ANU). At the ANU, she convenes the Energy, Climate, and Disaster Security Research Cluster at the Institute for Climate, Energy & Disaster Solutions. She was previously a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Transregional Institute at Princeton University and has held visiting fellow positions at KFCRIS in Riyadh, the Gulf Studies Program at Qatar University, and the Institute for Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, UK. Dr Moritz received her PhD from the ANU; her dissertation, “Slick Operators: Revising Rentier State Theory for the Modern Arab States of the Gulf,” received the 2017 Dissertation Award from the Association for Gulf and Peninsula Studies. Her most recent research projects examine the transition to renewable energy in the oil-rich states of the Arabian Peninsula, and the development of satire in Saudi Arabia.
[Moderator] Dr Jean-Loup Samaan is a Senior Research Fellow specialising in Middle East strategic affairs, with a particular focus on Israel–Hezbollah conflict and the evolution of the Gulf security system. Prior to joining MEI, he held various positions in the policy sector. He worked as a visiting scholar with the RAND Corporation (2007-2008) and as an advisor at the directorate for strategic affairs of the French Ministry of Defense (2008-2011). He then gained extensive experience in the domain of military education and training, first as a deputy director for the Middle East Faculty of the NATO Defense College (2011-2016) and as an associate professor in strategic studies with the UAE National Defense College (2016-2021).
