Changing Values among Youth in the Arab World
A conference by Goethe-Institut,
Cairo and the Zentrum Moderner Orient (ZMO), Berlin, November
23rd and 24th 2004, Cairo
Curator: Dr. Sonja Hegasy, Centre for Modern Oriental
Studies, Berlin
Contact: Enzio Wetzel, GI Kairo, Wetzel@cairo.goethe.org
or Dr. Sonja Hegasy, ZMO, sonja.hegasy@rz.hu-berlin.de
Programme (draft)
Concept
In 2003, the Centre for Modern Oriental Studies proposed lobbying
for national youth reports in the Arab world. With a fifty-year
old tradition of German Shell Youth Studies, we regard Germany
as particularly suited to looking into changing youth values.
Whereas many Latin American countries have administered national
youth surveys within the last fifteen years, no Arab country as
yet disposes of a comprehensive study on the majority of its population.
The study carried out by the Moroccan Ministry for Youth and Sports
in 2001 addressing 18.109 young people between 15 and 29 years
of age is probably unique to date. However, its categories did
not include beliefs or attitudes to local and global politics,
which we consider to be crucial to the understanding of what Arab
societies are striving for.
The Centre for Modern Oriental Studies and the Goethe Institute
in Cairo wish to initiate a broader study of this kind in Egypt.
We are therefore jointly organizing a two-day seminar in Cairo
on the 23rd and 24th November 2004. The aim of the conference
is to bring social scientists and government representatives together
to discuss the initiation of a youth survey. Sociologists and
anthropologists from Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries
will present recent value changes among the youth of their respective
country. Quantitative studies have so far had the drawback of
generally being carried out in urban areas and are furthermore
not in a position to reflect change due to lack of older studies
for comparison. Consequently, the organizers have also invited
speakers to talk about Muslim youth based on qualitative research.
The conference will take advantage of the stay of a group of young
researchers from the Free University Berlin, who will share their
insights into experiences and problems encountered in the field.
Finally the conference aims at finding funds for the first Egyptian
National Youth Report.
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