DOHA: Doha will hold the fourth International Conference on Argumentation, Rhetoric, Debate, and the Pedagogy of Empowerment, the first one to be held in the Middle East. The event will take place on January 11 and 12 at the Qatar Convention Center.
Supported by Qatar Foundation, among other institutions, organisers see it as a golden opportunity for the youth. The event will be both in Arabic and English with the participation of a large number of institutions, such as World Debate Institute, International Society for the Study of Argumentation, among others, according to information given at a press conference. All the three previous conferences were held in Slovenia.
The conference will welcome scholars and educators from diverse fields for dynamic dialogue and exchange. Uniting scholars of argumentation and rhetoric, teachers, and organisers of local, national and international debating networks to discuss critical thinking and advocacy discourse through pedagogy.
Prof Ibrahim Al Naimi, professor of organo-metalic chemistry at Qatar University, explained that the conference will be a platform for argumentation. He extended the invitation to participate in this event to education institutions. The main message of this event is to promote dialogue among civilisations, added Dr Abdellatif Sallami, educational programme manager of QatarDebate.
In Qatar Debate, participants will present research papers in Arabic and English, with three main themes: Argumentation and Rethoric, Debate and Critical Thinking. A total of 150 research papers in English have been registered so far, whereas the Arabic section of the programme is still open to participation until next month.
The keynote speakers in the conference for the Arabic section will be Professor Ibrahim Alnaimi, Dr Aisha Al Mannai (Qatar), and Othmane ba Othmane (Saudi Arabia).
Fans van Eemeren (The Netherlands), Gordon Mitchell (USA), and Adiba Shareen (Malaysia) will speak about Argumentation and Rhetoric, Debate and Critical Thinking/Pedagogy, respectively in English.
The logo features a sphere formed with arrows pointing in random directions to represent the different perspectives of humans on life. The symbol has a variety of shades of blue, the same colour in which the earth is seen from space.
The Peninsula
