Research Grants Program | Cycle 8 (2021-2023)

"Health and Livelihoods in the Arab Region: Wellbeing, Vulnerability and Conflict"

Advisory Committee Statement

Cycle 8

The Arab Council for the Social Sciences is pleased to announce the selection of seven research projects for the eighth cycle of its Research Grants Program (RGP). Cycle 8 of the program is the second cycle on the theme of “Health and Livelihoods in the Arab Region: Wellbeing, Vulnerability and Conflict” which will continue for one more cycle - cycle 9 in 2021.

The theme of the program responds to the continuous socio-political and economic restructuring of the region, especially during the last decade marked by strife and conflict and resulting in mass displacement and forced migration. Those changes have been associated with insecurity and social injustice particularly among vulnerable groups of refugees and forced migrants, as well as disadvantaged groups in host communities. At the same time, in countries that did not witness conflict or dramatic socio-political changes, marginalization, social injustice and deprivation amongst vulnerable groups are also widespread. Implications of inequalities on health and wellbeing need to be addressed and analyzed using social scientific approaches.

The call for proposals in Cycle 8 invited researchers to examine health beyond the biological condition of absence of disease and encouraged research that addresses mental, psychosocial and physical health within a multidimensional conception of wellbeing.  We were also interested in the relationship between health and livelihoods— the latter is understood to go beyond the economic dimension of work or ‘making a living’ to address a broader understanding of how people achieve economic security, including social activities, relationships with family, friends and co-workers, as well as the relationship with the environment.

Cycle 8 call for applications was launched on August 13^th, 2020 and closed on January 28^th, 2021. One hundred and six applications were received from 11 Arab countries: 44% individual researchers, 41% research teams, 12% institutions and 3% collectives. Women represented 43% of the applicants.

The Selection/Advisory Committee of the program convened in a three-day meeting from February 17^th to February 18^th and on February 24^th, 2021. The committee comprised the following scholars:

• Hania Sholkamy, Associate research professor of Anthropology at the American University in Cairo
• Jocelyn DeJong, Professor of Public Health at the American University of Beirut
• Livia Wick, Associate professor of Anthropology at the American University of Beirut
• Michelle Obeid, Lecturer in Social Anthropology at the University of Manchester
• Omar Dewachi, Associate Professor of Medical Anthropology at Rutgers University
• Soha Bayoumi, Senior Lecturer, Medicine, Science, and the Humanities Program at Johns Hopkins University
• Suhad Daher-Nashif, Assistant professor of Behavioral and Social Sciences at Qatar University

On the last day, the Selection/Advisory Committee issued the following statement:                                           

In this eighth cycle of the ACSS Research Grants Program under the theme of “Health and Livelihoods in the Arab Region: Wellbeing, Vulnerability and Conflict,” we selected seven individual and team projects reflecting a diversity of disciplines and issues. We were heartened by the increased number of proposals submitted this cycle given the intensive work required for submitting those proposals, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and the limits it is imposing on research and scholarship in the Arab region and beyond. The Committee is acutely aware of the challenges posed by the pandemic to conducting fieldwork, accessing archives, collecting data and traveling for research, in addition to its impact on scholars’ productivity. We are particularly impressed with the flexibility, creativity and resourcefulness exhibited by some proposals to work around and through these challenges, and are cognizant of the added ethical limitations of conducting research in a COVID-safe manner, for both the researchers and research participants.

It was not a surprise, therefore, that many of the proposals we reviewed, and several of those we selected for funding, focus on COVID-19 and the ways in which Arab societies have coped with the pandemic. However, we noticed that few proposals in the application pool placed the scholarly inquiry about COVID-19 within the historical and social scientific literature on epidemics and pandemics and provided specific methods and tools to understand the current pandemic in its social and political context.

Like last year, proposals from some Arab countries dominated the pool (particularly from Morocco), while some other countries were not represented (Iraq, Bahrain, Djibouti, Kuwait, Mauritania, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and UAE). While we were glad to see more countries represented (such as Palestine and Libya), our hope is that soon all Arab countries will be represented in the application pool. We also hope that proposals will cross national boundaries to offer comparative and cross-cultural analysis, connect with scholarship produced in other countries and build scholarly networks across the region. We also welcome a focus on underrepresented topics, such as those that engage seriously with the concept of livelihood and those that examine governmentality and the bureaucratic logic of health policies.

Awarded Projects for 2021:

Individuals:

Houda Grimli – Morocco – Project title:الهشاشة الصحية لدى عاملات الجنس بالمغرب: سبل المعيشة وآليات المقاومة ضمن سياق متعدد المخاطر

Wassila Benkirane - Morocco – Project title: Le cancer du sein et la stigmatisation des femmes : étude de cas des patientes atteintes de cancer de sein dans la région de Fès-Meknès

Mohammed Ababou – Morocco – Project title: أثر أنظمة التغطية الصحية على نوعية الحياة وجودة الرعاية الصحية لدى مرضى السرطان بالمغرب: دراسة كيفية لمسار المرض

Teams:

Youness Loukili (PI), Yassine Ajana, and Abdeslam El Fakir – Morocco – Project title: مقاومة التدابير الوقائية في ظل حالة الطوارئ لجائحة فيروس كورونا- كوفيد 19: الأحياء الهامشية لمدينة الدار البيضاء نموذجا

Ben Ahmed Hougua (PI) and Fatima Khaoulani Idrissi – Morocco – Project title: Le deuil impossible dans le contexte marocain Pertes sans obsèques et complications post-mortem à l’heure de Covid 19

Badiha Nahhass (PI), Khadija Zouitni and Bouchra Haddou Rahou – Morocco – Project title: La guerre du Rif et ses effets de santé persistant : mémoires, maladies et vulnérabilités

Khould Alajarma (PI), D.A. Jaber, and Jawida Mansour – Palestine – Project title: Family livelihoods and wellbeing in the context of settler-colonialism: the case of tobacco production in Palestine