Movement Engaged is dedicated to disciplined movement-engaged research relevant to social movement activists and policymakers. Housed within the Center for Social Science Research, we are a hub where scholars, activists, and other partners within and beyond George Mason University combine their experience, knowledge and skills in creating ideas, understandings, networks, and infrastructure to renew social movement theory and practice. We work to deepen democracy in formal politics, the economy, and in the broader civil society. Thus, through intentional engagement with community, constituency, and transnational organizations and networks, we seek to engender new visions, practices, relations, institutions, and systems that liberate human potential and emancipate our global society.
Our Projects
- “Digital Authoritarianism in Southeast Asia” for Japan’s Research Institute of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (MIETI)
- Transnational Advocacy Networks and Corporate Accountability for Major International Crimes
- Science, Technology, and Human Rights Webinar Series
- Intercampus Social Movement Workshop
Event Highlights:
CSSR Movement Engaged Research Hub Weekly Meetings
The CSSR Movement Engaged research hub members meets every Friday from 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM, both in-person and via Zoom. Please RSVP for Zoom link.
For Fall 2025 schedule: click here
News Announcement:
Movement Engaged Congratulates Our Graduates Research Affiliates Who Successfully Completed Their Dissertations (2024-2025)
Junghyun Nam, Self-Disciplining Protest Within the Candlelight Protests in South Korea in 2016-2017 (2025)
Mohamed Elgohari, The Paradox of Legalism: The Instrumentalization of Law, the Militarization of Governance, and the Consolidation of Authoritarianism in Post-2011 Egypt (2025)
Sevil Suleymani, Nationalism, Racialization, and the Politics of Inclusion: The Case of Turks in Iran (1828-1940) (2025)
Hansel Aguilar, "Un Lugar Muy Especial: Navigating the Tensions Between ‘Parens Patriae’, 'Legal Violence,' and the Rights of Central American Unaccompanied Minors in the U.S. Legal System" (2024)
Maria Valdovinos Olson, The Care Promise: Understanding the Role, Promise, and Risk of Care Institutions in Prisoner Reentry (2024)
Mohamed Mohamed, Al-Azhar Re-Imagined: State Appropriation, Religious Capital, and Political Transnationalism, 1924-2024 (2024)
Mohamed Mohamed (PhD Candidate in Sociology) has been awarded the Student Paper Prizeat the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) annual conference. The winning paper, which is a chapter of Mohamed’s PhD dissertation (co-advisors: John Dale and Lester Kurtz), was originally presented at the BRISMES annual conference in July 2023. Here is an excerpt from the Prize Committee’s feedback on Mohamed’s paper:
“We had several excellent submissions to this year’s paper prize, but Mohamed Mohamed’s paper stood out as conceptually innovative and empirically rigorous. We were amazed at the precision and depth of the paper and expect it to offer an important contribution to Middle East Studies, as it literally changes the way we think about domestic religious establishments and their global partners and influence.”
Paper Title
Selling God: Al-Azhar, UAE and Transubstantiation of Religious Capital
Paper Abstract
The intersection between al-Azhar and global politics has been largely overlooked by scholars, creating a gap in the literature. This paper aims to fill this gap by exploring the relationship between al-Azhar and the dynamics of politics from a transnational lens, based on interviews with officials at al-Azhar Sheikhdom, Al-Azhar University, and Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism. The study examines how the UAE has been instrumentalizing al-Azhar’s ‘religious capital’ to advance its foreign policy efforts against political Islam and position itself as a major advocate of ‘peace’ in the region. The paper argues that the Emirati instrumentalization of al-Azhar’s ‘religious capital’ has taken various forms, including appointing Imam al-Tayyeb as the chairman of the UAE-based Muslim Council of Elders, sponsoring the establishment of the Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism and relying on Azharite Ulama in its ‘peace-based’ initiatives, which have been at the forefront of Emirati foreign policy for over a decade. Moreover, the paper highlights the intricate reciprocity between al-Azhar and the UAE, manifested in substantial financial assistance and Grand Imam al-Tayyeb’s close rapport with the Emirati leadership, which has facilitated a partial reframing of the institutional relationship between al-Azhar and the Egyptian state.
Interested in joining the Movement Engaged Research Hub?
Please contact cssr@gmu.edu or John Dale at jdale@gmu.edu.