Abdullah Al-Arian (Moderator)

Abdullah Al-Arian is Associate Professor of History and Chair of International History at Georgetown University in Qatar, where he specializes in the modern Middle East and the study of Islamic social movements. He teaches introductory courses on the history of the Middle East, as well as advanced courses covering the history of modern Egypt, Islamic social movements, the Arab uprisings, and the history of US policy towards the Middle East.  He is the author of Answering the Call: Popular Islamic Activism in Sadat’s Egypt (Oxford University Press, 2014), and the editor of Football in the Middle East: State, Society, and the Beautiful Game (Oxford University Press, 2022). He is the editor of the Critical Currents in Islam page on the Jadaliyya e-zine, where he is also a regular contributor. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, Foreign Policy magazine, Middle East Eye, Middle East Research and Information Project, Muftah, and Al Jazeera. He has also been featured in media interviews by Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network and Democracy Now! Previously,  he was the Carnegie Centennial Visiting Fellow at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver. 


Laila Al-Arian

Laila Al-Arian is a Washington DC-based journalist and the executive producer of Fault Lines, an award-winning current affairs program on Al Jazeera English. She began her time on the program as a producer, making documentaries on subjects ranging from the Trump administration’s Muslim ban to the impact of the heroin epidemic on children and an investigation into factory conditions producing garments for Walmart and Gap in Bangladesh. For her work, she has been honored with two News and Documentary Emmys, a Peabody, George Polk, Robert F Kennedy Award in journalism, and Overseas Press Club award. She has been nominated for 19 News and Documentary Emmys. Prior to joining Fault Lines, she worked for the news department at Al Jazeera English, covering stories such as Guantanamo Bay’s youngest detainee and the re-settlement of Iraqi refugees in the U.S. Her work has appeared in The Nation, Salon, The Independent, and other publications, and she is co-author of the book Collateral Damage: America’s War Against Iraqi Civilians.