Fatma Jabbari, M.A. student in Political Science, at ISA conference
Political Science graduate student Fatma Jabbari recently presented a paper on “The Discursive Production of Citizenship and Social Identity in Textbooks: The Case of Tunisia,” at the Annual Convention of the International Studies Association in San Francisco April 4-7.
Jabbari’s paper, connected to her thesis project on the Arab uprising in Tunisia, involved a content analysis of government-issued textbooks and political declarations regarding education, applied to three time periods between 1956 and 2017. She concluded that state narrative advances a quintessential identity of Tunisian and Muslim in a way that marginalizes religious minorities. The research represents a step toward understanding the complex mechanisms of democratization, citizenship, and security studies in regions affected by revolutions and uprisings.
The International Studies Association is the largest conference for scholars and students of international relations and global affairs, typically bringing together more than 6,000 attendees from the United States and around the world.
Jabbari, in her second year of the M.A. program in Political Science, was surprised at how approachable even more senior scholars had been. Some, she said, “even made themselves available for questions and queries.” She was able to meet scholars whose work was assigned in her graduate classes at Ohio University, as she explained, “to put faces to names.”
Jabbari was able to attend panels and presentations that she says will inform her future research at the doctoral level. Beginning fall 2018, she will begin the Ph.D. program in Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University.
Jabbari’s trip to San Francisco was funded in part by a travel grant from the Political Science Department . Jabbari’s adviser at OHIO is Dr. Nukhet Sandal.
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