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The British Society for Middle Eastern Studies calls for submissions for its 2014 annual conference, which will be held at the University of Sussex on 14-16 June 2014.The deadline for submitting paper and panel proposals is 5 December 2013. Proposals must be no longer than 250 words and submitted electronically via the conference website,www.brismes2014.co.uk.Proposals for complete panel sessions are particularly welcome. There will be a number of dedicated professional development and policy-relevant sessions. Please feel free to communicate ideas for these sessions via the conference website.Meeting ThemeThe Middle East in Global Perspective: Interactions Across Time and SpaceFew of the world’s regions are as intimately connected to the wider world as the Middle East. This is true historically, where the region has long acted as a crossroads of trade, culture and ideas, as well as in more contemporary contexts where, for example, the recent Arab protest movements are inspiring similar actions around the globe. The turn towards area studies in the 1960s has led to the flourishing of a specialised approach to Middle Eastern studies, in Britain as in other parts of the world. This has produced a great depth of detailed scholarly work on the region, though it also frequently separates our understanding of the Middle East from wider global contexts. Recently this has begun to change as scholars are increasingly focusing on the historical and contemporary intersections and interactions between the Middle East and the wider world. The 2014 BRISMES annual conference seeks to place these approaches at the centre of the discussion, encouraging applications for papers and panels that take up this theme in innovative ways.The conference organisers encourage submissions that highlight the connections between the Middle East and other areas of the globe, as well as ties within the region, be they between individual countries or between sub-regions, such as the Mashreq, Maghreb, Levant, and Gulf. In addition, we are keen to welcome all scholars whose work engages with the Middle East in a critical fashion, regardless of their fit with various area studies approaches. Our aim is to encourage new dialogue between scholars studying the Middle East on either side of the divide between area studies and specific disciplines ranging from history to literary studies, anthropology to international relations, and many shades in-between.Within the overall theme of ‘The Middle East in Global Perspective’, papers and panels addressing historical or contemporary aspects of the following subthemes are particular welcome:· Mashreq and Maghreb: Travel, trade and pilgrimage· The Middle East and South-South connections· Global networks and the Middle East: Religion, migration, politics, culture· The Middle East, global interactions, and the rise of modernity· Middle Eastern economies in global and historical perspective· The new geopolitics of theMiddle East [including the roles played by rising world powers such as China]· Middle Eastern revolutions and revolts in global contexts [including grassroots activism, media mobilization, debates about international intervention]· The Middle East in global cultural politics: Translation, representation, and perception· Middle Eastern visual, literary, and popular cultures in global contextsAs with previous BRISMES conferences paper and panel submissions do not have to adhere to the central theme – rather a core of the panels will be organised around this theme while many others will focus on other aspects of Middle Eastern Studies. It is anticipated that a selection of the submissions related to the core themes will be published after the conference.The conference will also highlight the areas of research undertaken by various research networks affiliated with BRISMES, including:• Critical Middle East Studies, contact: Dr Jeroen Gunning (Durham)• Faith, Politics and Society, contact: Dr Hilary Kalmbach (Sussex)• People Power and State Power: Religious and Political Dialogue in the Middle East (run by CASAW as a continuation of the work of two BRISMES networks), contact: Dr Ewan Stein (Edinburgh) or Dr Frederic Volpi (St Andrews)Please contact the organisers of these networks directly to participate in their activities at the conference.University of Sussex is hosting the 2014 conference as part of its growing investment in the field of Middle Eastern Studies. To date, this initiative includes four new appointments – two lecturers and a chair in history and a lecturer in philosophy – who join existing staff specialising in geography, politics, international relations, international development, law and English.