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The WCFIA/CMES Middle East Seminar is pleased to present
Toby Matthiesen
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Global Fellow, Ca’ Foscari University and Visiting Fellow at the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies at Stanford University
Discussant: Sultan Alamer, Visiting Fellow, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University
Toby Matthiesen is a Historian and Political Scientist with a focus on the Middle East and Global Islam. He is currently a Marie Curie Global Fellow at Stanford University and Ca’ Foscari University in Venice, leading a project on Sunni-Shii Relations in the Middle East. His research often involves archival work and fieldwork. He is the author of several books, which have won numerous prizes. His first, Sectarian Gulf: Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and the Arab Spring That Wasn’t (Stanford University Press, 2013), analysed the impact of the Arab Spring on the Gulf States, and their attempt to undermine the Arab Spring. His second book, The Other Saudis: Shiism, Dissent and Sectarianism (Cambridge University Press, 2015) dealt with the relationship between Saudi Shia and the state since the early 20th century and was based on fieldwork in Saudi Arabia and hitherto unused Arabic archives. HIs forthcoming book, The Caliph and the Imam: The Making of Sunnism and Shiism, a global history of Sunni-Shii relations, is published by Oxford University Press. Other research interests relate to the history of International Relations and the Cold War.
From 2015-2020, Matthiesen was Senior Research Fellow in the International Relations of the Middle East at St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford, teaching courses on the International Relations of the Middle East, the Politics of the Middle East, and the History and Society of the Gulf States. He remains an Associate Member of Oxford University’s Department of Politics and International Relations. He was previously a Research Fellow at Pembroke College, University of Cambridge and a Research Officer at the LSE and has been a guest lecturer and visiting fellow at Universities in Europe, the Middle East, the United States and Australia. His doctoral dissertation from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London was awarded the Aaron Wildavsky Award for the Best Dissertation on Religion and Politics by the American Political Science Association (APSA). Matthiesen has published in major peer-reviewed journals and has experience in outreach and policy engagement, including through the International Crisis Group. He has also published in the media and commented on current affairs, including for major TV and radio networks.
Co-sponsors: Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Contact: Liz Flanagan