Academic interests
My academic interests include the state and society in the monarchies on the Arabian Peninsula, primarily Saudi Arabia and Qatar. My research revolves around two themes: refugees and migration, and sports and politics. My latest publications include Governing Refugees in Saudi Arabia (1948-2022) and UNHCRs Expansion to the GCC States: Establishing a UNHCR Presence in Saudi Arabia 1987-1993.
I am currently working on the project FORM - Football and Religion in the Middle East, supported by the Research Council Norway. As part of the project I am researching football, politics and society in Saudi Arabia, contemporary as well as historically, with a particular emphasis on women's football.
Background
Prior to starting in my current position, I was a postdoctor at Department for Criminology and Sociology of Law, UiO, and part of the project REF-ARAB: Refugees and the Arab Middle East: Protection in States Not Party to the Refugee Convention. My postdoctoral project explored the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the international refugee regime, including why Saudi Arabia is not party to the 1951 Refugee Convention Relating to the Status of Refugee and its 1967 Protocol, and how the UNHCR exercise its mandate in the country. The project revolved around the Rafha refugee camp, established in Saudi Arabia in 1991 and hosting some 33 000 Iraqi refugees. The camp was established following the Gulf War and the Iraqi rebellion of 1991 and is the only refugee camp in the history of the contemporary Saudi state. Greater understanding of the situation surrounding the Rafha camp thus contributes to more knowledge on Saudi Arabias relationship to refugees and to the international refugee regime.
I hold a PhD in Middle East Studies (UiO, 2019). In my PhD-project I examined how women football players in Saudi Arabia and Qatar challenges existing patriarchal power structures, and the social and political significance of football. For my MA-thesis (2015, UiO) i explored Qatar's 2022 Football World Cup as part of the country's foreign policy strategy.
I held an internship with the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in 2014 and have conducted fieldwork in Saudi Arabia and Qatar since 2015. I was a guest researcher at Qatar University in 2016, and a visiting fellow at King Faisal Center for Research and Islamic Studies in Riyadh i 2017, 2020 and 2021-2022.
Awards
Winner of the 2016, Babylon Award, awarded by Babylon - Nordic Journal for Middle Eastern Studies, for the article "Gåten Qatar 2022"
Appointments
Vice Chair (2019 - ) and board member (2016 - 2019), Nordic Society for Middle Eastern Studies
Editor (2019 - 2020) and member of the editorial staff (2016 - 2019), Babylon - Nordic Journal for Middle Eastern Studies
Subject specialist/Consultant (2018 - ), Norwegian Encyclopedia (Store norske leksikon), Norway. Areas of responsibility: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman
Publications
Peer reviewed journal articles
Lysa, Charlotte. “Are there really no refugees in the GCC-states? Establishing a basis for further research." Journal of Arabian Studies (accepted 2023, forthcoming)
Janmyr, Maja and Lysa, Charlotte (2023). "Saudi Arabia and the International Refugee Regime" International Journal of Refugee Law doi:10.1093/ijrl/eead027
Janmyr, Maja and Lysa, Charlotte (2023). "UNHCR’s Expansion to the GCC states: Establishing a UNHCR Presence in Saudi Arabia 1987-1993" Middle East Critique doi: 10.1080/19436149.2023.2235860
Lysa, Charlotte (2022). "Governing Refugees in Saudi Arabia (1948-2022)" Refugee Survey Quarterly doi: 10.1093/rsq/hdac027
Lysa, Charlotte (2020). "Globalized, yet local: football fandom in Qatar" Soccer and Society doi: 10.1080/14660970.2020.1835650
Lysa, Charlotte (2020). "Fighting for the right to play: women's football and regime-loyal resistance in Saudi Arabia" Third World Quarterly doi: 10.1080/01436597.2020.1723075
Lysa, Charlotte & Norbakk, Mari (2017). "Praktfulle emirer og melkepatriotisme : Qatar i krise, forestilt fellesskap og hverdagsnasjonalisme" Babylon - Nordisk tidsskrift for Midtøstenstudier doi: 10.5617/ba.5925
Lysa, Charlotte (2016). "Gåten Qatar 2022" Babylon - Nordisk tidsskrift for Midtøstenstudier. doi: 10.5617/ba.4111
Peer reviewed book chapters
Lysa, Charlotte (2022). "Sport og politikk i Qatar og Saudi-Arabia: Hva ligger bak de store satsingene?" in Thorbjørnsrud, Berit Synnøve & Nordenson, Jon (Eds.), Globale Veikryss. Golfmonarkiene i endring. Cappelen Damm Akademisk
Lysa, Charlotte (2019). "Qatari Female Footballers: Negotiating Gendered Expectations", in Reiche, Danyel & Sorek, Tamir (Eds.), Sport, Politics and Society In the Middle East. Oxford University Press.