Introducing RIMAAL: a research network on Latin America and the MENA region

It is with great pleasure that we announce the launching of the new website of RIMAAL, a research network dedicated to Latin America and the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region in the fields of history, sociology, anthropology, political science, international relations, and cultural studies.

Created in 2011, RIMAAL seeks to strengthen academic relations between the two regions and to build a cohesive bi-regional research community. In particular, RIMAAL:

• Brings together and publicizes the profiles of researchers via an online directory;
• Encourages the production and diffusion of research through publications and the organization of international conferences;
• Diffuses calls for papers and conferences directly relevant to our topics of research;
• Helps diffuse existing academic literature through free collaborative online bibliographies;
• Acts as a bridge between universities of both regions, encouraging the creation of joint research programs and the signing of exchange agreements (students and professors);
• Supports the development of departments of Arab and Middle Eastern studies in Latin American universities, and reciprocally, of Latin American studies in Arab and Middle Eastern universities;
• Promotes inter-regional cooperation in the field of higher education before national and bi-regional institutions.

In particular, RIMAAL covers three main transversal research themes – interregional links (past and present, intergovernmental and transnational), comparative and areas studies, and social representations, including the production of orientalist visions through literature and the media.

The launching of this new website would have been impossible without the support of the Latin American Studies and Cultures Center (LASCC) of the Holy Spirit University of Kaslik (USEK), Tres de Febrero University (UNTREF), theGulf Research Center (GRC), and the School of Global Affairs and Public Policy (GAPP) of the American University of Cairo (AUC), and the Foro del Sur Foundation. We are deeply grateful for their contribution, and hope that other academic institutions will now join our network!

Do not hesitate to contact us if you are interested in becoming a RIMAAL member (as a researcher) or partner (as an institution), or if you wish to share ideas with the team.