The Fares Center provides relevant and nuanced analysis on current affairs as well as broader issues affecting the Middle East and North Africa. As a Center led by Middle Eastern scholars, it aims to offer alternative views on the region emphasizing local voices and perspectives. In doing so, The Fares Center challenges the narrow understanding of the Middle East often found in American institutions, stepping away from themes such as terrorism, providing a platform to a wide range of views and topics of relevance such as domestic politics, forced migration, climate change, gender, culture, and social movements, among others.
In order to fulfill this vision, the Center hosts a biweekly seminar inviting scholars and high-level analysts to speak on a range of topics. Over half of the speakers come from the Middle East and North Africa. The Center also runs a cultural events series that serves as a forum to showcase MENA’s cultural production; student working groups, an initiative that funds students interested in doing research or projects that focus on the region; language tables, which provide an opportunity to Fletcher students to learn languages such as Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish or Farsi; and a Research Assistant Initiative, which provides funding to faculty doing research on the region to hire a RA.
In Fall 2023, The Fares Center will welcome a Fares Visiting Fellow to conduct research and teach a course at the Fletcher School for one semester.