Discussant Rules
The Role of the Speaker
The role of the speaker is to reflect upon our theme of the social imaginary as how it may pertain to their own scholarly interests. In order to facilitate meaningful discussions, we ask the speaker to submit a draft of their presentation for circulation to the two respondents at least two weeks before their scheduled presentation date. At that time, we also ask the speaker to submit any secondary literature (one to two articles of reasonable length) that they may wish the general audience or discussants to consider.
The Role of Respondents
The role of the respondent is to reflect and comment on the ideas presented by the speaker. Respondents are selected for their interdisciplinary perspective they can hopefully bring to the conversation, not for their particular expertise in the speaker’s field of study. The respondents are asked to reflect on the speaker’s argument, connect it with the working group’s themes, and raise questions for the speaker's and the audience’s consideration.
Some questions that respondents may want to consider include:
How is the speaker defining the notion of the social imaginary?
What aspects of the speaker’s ideas can benefit your own research? In other words, what new perspective do you walk away with?
Does the speaker’s work invoke a complementary or counter-example from your own expertise that is worth sharing?
How does the speaker’s efforts improve our understanding of general and particular iterations of the social imaginary?
Respondents are welcome to inquire before the meeting if they have any questions about their role. Please contact Benjamin Porter.
After respondents have offered their comments, the floor will be open for discussion and moderated by a member of the organizing committee.
Audience: The working group’s audience is broad and will likely include scholars from several academic communities around campus. Both speakers and respondents should assume that audience members will hold a general knowledge of Middle Eastern history and languages, and be prepared to provide orienting information.