Casa Árabe is bringing back its program Aula Árabe Universitaria, in a third edition planned for the academic year of 2021/22. This is also the official opening session of the UAM’s Master’s Degree program in Contemporary Arab and Islamic Studies. The conference is also available on our Youtube channel: https://youtu.be/rdE1cXWBg1c Trapped amid tradition and post-modernity, contemporary Arab identity has been misinterpreted and misrepresented. The political landscape of all societies has undergone profound change in recent decades, and the Middle East and North Africa region has not been spared from the world’s transformations either. Despite the promise of events in 2011, the momentum for progress in governance and freedom has broken down violently, and political stagnation has been revived. The elusive nature of globalization, coupled with the unstructured environment of political life, has arguably given way to “liquid times” (Zygmunt Bauman), exacerbated by an emerging “age of anger” (Pankaj Mishra). As a result, many are crying out for a rethinking of the concepts and cognitive frameworks used to narrate the individual human experience and humankind’s joint history. How can Arab societies re-imagine themselves and take ownership of their histories? Novelist Fadia Faqir explored the limits of patriarchy and the voices of women writers, while Amro Ali has been reflecting on karama (dignity) and the social contract in his latest essay. Casa Árabe, with the cooperation of the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung Foundation and the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), is organizing this round table discussion, which at the same time will serve as the official opening session of this new edition of Aula Árabe Universitaria (third edition) and the Master’s degree program in Arab and Islamic Studies at the UAM. Taking part will be Nieves Paradela, a professor of Arab Studies at the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; Thomas Volk, director of the regional program “Dialogue with the Southern Mediterranean” of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation, and Karim Hauser, Casa Árabe’s International Relations Coordinator. Further information: https://en.casaarabe.es/event/reimagining-the-arabs-literature-and-social-contracts Photo: Episode Before an Arab Town (1923) by Paul Klee (Rawpixel en Flickr)