Antonia Thies

Antonia Thies

Antonia studied Economics and Arabic Studies at the University of Applied Sciences of Bremen and at the Al-Akhawayn University in Ifrane, Morocco. Afterwards, she completed her Master’s degree in Middle Eastern Studies with a focus on Political Science at FAU Erlangen-Nuremberg. She already participated in the research project „Wechselwirkungen“ of EZIRE as well as in the VW project „Global autocratic collaboration in times of COVID19“ under the direction of Thomas Demmelhuber. Antonia is fluent in English and Arabic.

 

 

Sentimentality and State-Society Relations: The Consolidation of Collective Identities in Gulf Monarchies

Antonia’s research project examines the forms and functions of sentimentality in the consolidation of collective identities using the example of selected Gulf monarchies (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and Kuwait). The project analyzes the role of emotions and affects, as well as sentimentality as a relational code of communication that oscillates between the present and the past. It aims to examine the new negotiation processes of state-society relations in the Gulf in the course of the emerging post-oil era. Concurrently, it aims to fill the gaps in the current state of research regarding possible non-material aspects of the durability of political orders. Accordingly, an investigation will be conducted into the extent to which memory practices in the course of new heritage projects achieve an activation of emotional knowledge stocks, which take place through recourse to past repertoires. The project examines the loci of the sentimental in the arts and cultural sector as well as around national holidays. An investigation of the reciprocal character of the sentimental is therefore indispensable and thus places the focus of this study on bottom-up analyses of the perceptions and thus affective reactions of the population in the context of individual countries.

 

Talks

  • 11/2024: “Breaking the Chains of Political Passivity:  The Gulf Monarchies’ Affective Strategies towards Civic Engagement”, Workshop on Apathy and Activation: Rethinking Political Passivity in Authoritarian and Hybrid Regimes, Centre for Modern East Asian Studies, University of Göttingen 14.-16. November 2024, Panel: Fighting Passivity (Henrike Rudolph/Bertram Lang)
  • 10/2023: “Drivers of Grassroots Social and Political Transition: Enhancing Saudi-German Underground Art Spheres” Gulf Research Center and Konrad-Adenauer Stiftung’s Young Perspectives on Joint Cooperation Project, 14. October 2024.
  • 06/2023: with Thomas Demmelhuber: “Narratives of sentimentality and authoritarian regime survival in the Gulf monarchies.” Sektionstagung der DVPW (Deutsche Vereinigung für Politikwissenschaft) Sektion – Internationale Beziehungen,” 14. – 16. Juni 2023, Zeppelin Universität Friedrichshafen.
  • 09/2022: with Thomas Demmelhuber: “Autocracies and the temptation of sentimentality: Nonmaterial means of “post-oil regime survival”.” DOT (Deutscher Orientalistentag), 12. – 17. September 2022, Freie Universität Berlin, Panel: Authoritarian Power: Energy Systems & Scales of Authoritarianism in the MENA region ( N. Koch/B. Schütze).
  • 09/2022: “Autocratic hedging in times of Covid-19: A race for China’s favor?”. DOT, 12. – 17. September 2022, Freie Universität Berlin, Panel: The Gulf monarchies in a post-pandemic era: Old rules, new Game (T. Demmelhuber/T. Zumbraegel, J. Gurol).

 

Publications

  • Thies, Antonia. Forthcoming. Back to the Future. State Transformation and Sentimental Repertoires of Belonging in Saudi Arabia. In Heike Paul and Sarah Pritz (eds.): Sentimental State(s). Affective Politics of Order and Belonging, Bielefeld: Transcript.
  • Thies, Antonia. Forthcoming. Konstruktion von Wir-Identitäten. In Thomas Demmelhuber and Nadine Scharfenort (eds.): Handbuch Arabische Halbinsel. Geographie und Politik. Heidelberg: Springer Nature.
  • Thies, Antonia, Tobias Zumbraegel and Thomas Demmelhuber. Forthcoming. The Race for Best Friendship in Sino-Gulf Relations: Fractured Cooperation and Conflict in Times of Uncertainty. In International Relations.
  • Thies, Antonia. Forthcoming. Drivers of Grassroots Social and Political Transition: Enhancing Saudi-German Underground Art Spheres. In KAS Policy Reports.
  • Demmelhuber, Thomas and Antonia Thies. 2023. Autocracies and the temptation of sentimentality: repertoires of the past and contemporary meaning making in the Gulf monarchies. In Third World Quarterly. DOI: 10.1080/01436597.2023.2171392
  • Thies, Antonia, Mahmud Helmy, Jule Klopke and Jens Schönstedt. 2021. Quantitative Religionsforschung zu Migration und Religion. In Soziologie 50 (3). Tagungsbericht.

 

Fellowships and Field Research

  • 10-12/2024: Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik (SWP), Research Division Africa and Middle East (Stephan Roll)
  • 09/2024: Field Research in Saudi-Arabia
  • 10-12/2023: Visting Research Fellowship, Gulf Studies Center, Doha, Qatar, Research Divisions Politics and Security (Luciano Zaccara) and Social Issues (Amr al-Azm)
  • 10-12/2023: Field Research in Qatar

 

Teaching

  • 12/2021: Methoden-Workshop “Computer-aided qualitative and mixed-methods data and text analysis with MaxQDA,” 21. Dezember 2021. Research Project POP-DISC at Universität Freiburg (S. Destradi).
  • 05/2021: Methoden-Workshop “Computergestützte Datenanalyse in den qualitativen und quantitativen Methoden mittels MaxQDA,” 12. und 19. Mai 2021, internal workplace training at the Erlanger Zentrum für Islam und Recht in Europa e.V. (EZIRE).