Announcements
View a recent lecture on the destruction of Iraq's Cultural History on YouTube [Part 1] [Part 2]
Read my latest Opinion Editorial on the January 2009 Iraqi elections at ABC Unleashed.
View a copy of my most recent journal article on foreign and domestic intereference in the post-2003 Iraqi media.
Read an article citing my work by the Iraqi Ambassador to the United States, Abassador Sumaida’ie in Perspectives.
Professional Biography
Dr Benjamin Isakhan is a Research Fellow with the Griffith Islamic Research Unit, part of the Key Centre for Ethics, Law, Justice and Governance at Griffith University and affiliated with the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies, Australia. Ben holds a Bachelor of Arts in Applied Psychology (1997), First Class Honours in Literature and Cultural Studies (1998), and a PhD in Middle East Studies (2008).
In 2008, Ben submitted a PhD thesis entitled Discourses of Democracy: ‘Oriental Despotism’ and the Democratisation of Iraq which received high appraisal from the international and national assessors. This work is currently being re-worked into a book tentatively entitled Democracy in Iraq: History, Politics and Discourse (Ashgate, 2010). Ben is also the co-editor (with Associate Professor Stephen Stockwell) of The Secret History of Democracy (Palgrave Macmillan, 2010) and The Edinburgh Companion to the History of Democracy (Edinburgh University Press, 2011). In addition, Ben has authored several publications including a book chapter in Islam and the Australian News Media (Melbourne University Press, 2010) as well as articles in the journals Middle East Policy, the International Journal of Contemporary Iraqi Studies, Global Media Journal, Australian Journalism Review, Media/Culture, Transformations and the Bulletin of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies. He has presented around 20 refereed conference papers in the United States, Jordan, Australia and New Zealand. Broadly, his research interests concern issues such as: Democracy in Iraq, Orientalism and the media, the history of democracy and Middle Eastern politics and history.
Throughout his time working at Griffith University, Ben Isakhan has taught several subjects including Great Empires of Islamic Civilization; Culture, Media and Society; Islam, Media and Conflict; Communication Practise; Understanding Islam; New Communication Technologies; Mass Media: Issues and Controversies; Islam and the Making of Europe; Popular Music and Cultural Theory; Effective Writing I and Cultural Perspectives I & II. Ben has also worked as a Key Researcher, collaborating with colleagues on a number of research projects and publications regarding issues as diverse as: Who Speaks for Islam in Australia?; New Media and Higher Order Learning; Creativity, Pedagogy and Democracy; Bullying in Islamic Schools; Theme Parks and Cultural Policy and; Queensland’s Optional Preferential Voting system.
Ben has also won various awards and grants and he is a member of a number of professional and academic associations, including the Middle East Studies Association (MESA - US), Australasian Political Science Association (APSA), Australia New Zealand Communications Association (ANZCA), Journalism Education Association (JEA), Sydney Democracy Forum (SDF), and the Islam and Politics Group. He is the co-editor of the proceedings of the 2005 JEA Conference (with Stephen Stockwell) and he has contributed to the newsletters of the JEA, the Cultural Studies Association of Australia (CSAA) and the Centre for Public Culture and Ideas (CPCI). Ben has also written Opinion Editorials for ABC Unleashed and Griffith News Now.
For further information on any of the above, please contact Benjamin Isakhan directly.
