2009

JANUARY

Friday, January 16th, 12PM
Public Panel
"Islamophobia and Comedy"
Panelists: Dr. Rahim Armat, Kodoom Search Engine, Mucahit Bilici, Assistant Professor CUNY John Jay, Jordan Elgrably, The Levantine Center and Sultans of Satire
The Middle East Center, The Levantine Center and Rosemont College also invite you to a night of comedy starring Noel Elgrably and special guests Elham Jazab and Mike Batayeh at Rosemont College's Lawrence Hall, 7PM
Event Info
Comedy Show Tickets
Panel Location: Fisher Bennett 401  

Co-sponsored by South Asia Center, Jewish Studies, African Studies and the Middle East Center.

Thursday, January 22nd, 4:30PM
Candle Light Vigil
In Memory of the Victims of the Conflict in Israel and Gaza
the Penn community is invited to join a candlelit vigil in honor of the innocent people of Israel and Palestine who have lost their lives in the latest conflict in Gaza. We ask that you take a moment of your time, a second out of your busy day, to consider the gravity of the situation unfolding--the sheer loss of human life. Each of us has our own unique perspective on the issue as it unfolds, but there is a time to rationalize and there is a time to pay homage; let us now shed light on the tragedy of death. With your help, Penn can take the lead on shifting the paradigm, applying humanity to a time and place that needs it so dearly. Let us stand together in remembrance of every single life that has been affected by this conflict.

Please join PRISM, The Muslim Students Association, Hillel, Christian Society, the Penn Israeli Coalition, Penn for Palestine, Penn Arab Student Society, Penn Pakistan Society, Greenfield Intercultural Center, Penn ACLU and the Middle East Center in this event.

Location: College Green

Friday, January 23rd, 9AM - 5:15PM
Conference
"Iran's Media Thirty Years after the Revolution: The State, New Spaces and Identity in the Islamic Republic "

*Workshop Objectives and Themes*

Media research on the Middle East has largely neglected Iran's media compared to the Arab World in the aftermath of the "Al-Jazeera phenomena."  The few extensive works on the subject include Annabelle Sreberny-Mohammadi and Ali Mohammadi's /Small Media, Big Revolution: Communication, Culture, and the Iranian Revolution /and Roxanne Varzi's /Warring Souls: Youth, Media, and Martyrdom in Post-Revolution Iran./  Edited works include Mehdi Semati's volume /Media, Culture and Society in Iran: Living with Globalization and the Islamic State/, and the January 2008 issue of the /Journal of Media and Religion/ devoted to research on religion and media in the Iranian context.  This meeting seeks to bring together and promote the interaction among academics, researchers, and analysts from a variety and diversity of perspectives, to generate a critical, in-depth discussion and analysis of the role of Iran's media in its historical, theoretical, and socio-political contexts.  The purpose of this workshop is to focus on the themes of media politics, the public sphere in the Islamic Republic and the role of media in political discourses.  In terms of historical themes, it will cover Iranian media under the Pahlavi monarchy and the Iranian Revolution, and under the theme of alternative media, it will focus on blogging and activist bloggers as sites for digital resistance and new forms of social interaction.

The overarching goal of this meeting is develop a conceptual and theoretical framework to investigate the role of new media in Iran's socio-political context.  The aims of the meeting include mapping out and analyzing the affects of media on political and social changes among the state's political strata, and audiences and users.   It will explore the relationship between media and Iran historically and how they relate to current events in Iran on a national and geo-political level.  It will focus on the functions of the internet and satellite TV in Iranian state-society relations, and how they have provided for the access of social groups that have historically been excluded from the public sphere.

The range of invited speakers includes a diverse, interdisciplinary group from media and communication studies, anthropology, sociology, political science, history and religious studies.  Furthermore, the venue will engage and offers broader knowledge to media and communication related NGOs, Iranian media practitioners and producers, and policy circles in order to share their experiences and to discuss the dynamics of Iran's media.  This meeting should also be of interest to audiences from media and Middle East studies.
Location: Room 500, Annenberg School of Communication, University of Pennsylvania
For free tickets, please contact the Sylvie Beauvais (215) 898-9727 or email sbeauvais@asc.upenn.edu
For a full schedule of events please click here. Abstracts can be found here. Biographies of speakers can be found here.

 Co-sponsored by Annenberg Global Communication Studies and the Middle East Center.

Wednesday, January 28, 3PM
Global Islamic Communities Speaker Series
"Cultural Roots of American Islamicism "
Professor Timothy Marr, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. This series will explore the changing face of Islam and Muslim identity as it is affected by migration, politics, and representation
For more information, please contact Dr. Fariha Khan at fariha@sas.upenn.edu or visit http://asam.sas.upenn.edu.

Location: Williams Hall 202

Sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania's South Asia Center, the Asian American Studies Program and the Middle East Center.

Wednesday, January 28, 7PM
Public Panel
"Causes and Consequences of Homelessness Around the World "
Join the University of Pennsylvania's African Studies Center, Middle East Center, South East Asia Center, the Center for East Asia Studies, the United Nations Association of Greater Philadelphia and the Women's Campaign International for an engaging panel on homelessness throughout our world.
Location: University of Pennsylvania Carriage House, 3907 Spruce St., Philadelphia
For more information, please contact Anastasia Shown at (215) 898-6449 or email shown@sas.upenn.edu.

Co-sponsored by the University of Pennsylvania's African Studies Center, South East Asia Center, the Center for East Asia Sudies, the United Nations Association of Greater Philadelphia, the Women's Campaign International, and the Middle East Center.

Friday, January 30, Noon
Public Lecture Series
"Democratic Fundamentalism? The Syrian Muslim Brothers Experience"
Presenter:Professor Itzchak Weismann, Haifa University, Department of Islamic Studies
Location: Fisher Bennett Hall 231
This talk focuses on the democratic discourse and practice of the Muslim Brothers movement in Syria. Tracing the evolution of this fundamentalist movement from its foundations in the mid-1940s to the present, it shows that due to the Syrian Brothers’ positive experience in the early days of the republic they remained committed to the democratic ideal in the course of the bloody uprising against the authoritarian Ba‘th regime in 1982 and thereafter in exile. The Muslim Brothers’ model of democracy differs, however, from the Western liberal model in that it bestows supervisory functions on the men of religion, a modern transformation of the hallowed notion of the ulama’s superiority over worldly rulers.
For more information, please contact the Middle East Center at 215-898-6335

Sponsored by the Middle East Center

FEBRUARY

Monday, February 2, Noon
Graduate Student Colloquium
"Approaches to Nonhuman Animals' Spirituality in the Qu'ran "
Speaker: Sarra Tlili, Penn Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations
Location: Williams Hall 816
Pizza will be served.

Sponsored by the Middle East Center

Wednesday, February 4, Noon CANCELLED
Persian Cultural Series
"New Trends in Contemporary Iranian Women's Writing"
Speaker:Professor Nasrin Rahimieh, University of California-Irvine, Director of the Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture
One of the paradoxes of the Iranian revolution of 1979 is women’s unprecedented participation in the field of literary production. While female poets and prose writers of the pre-revolutionary period paved the way for the current flourishing of writing by women, contemporary women writers have delved deeper into the more complex and vexed issues of gender relations. 

Location: Bennett Hall 15
For more information, please contact the Middle East Center at 215-898-6335

Sponsored by the Middle East Center

Friday, February 6, 8PM.
Lecture and Musical Performance
"Uneasy Ties: 60 Years of US-Iran Relations, 1949-2009 "
Presenter: Dr. Thomas M. Ricks, Former Lecturer, University of Pennsylvania Department of History, Independent Scholar
Musical Performance
Piano Recital: "Improvisations based on Folklore Music of Iran", Kurosh Darvish.
This event will take place in Farsi and English. Open to all interested individuals. Refreshments will be served. For more information on this and other programs, please visit the Shabahang website.

Co-sponsored by Shabahang (the Iranian Cultural Society of America) and the Middle East Center

Wednesday, February 11, 5:30PM
War On Gaza: A Teach-in and Discussion with Penn Faculty and members of the Penn Community
Speakers: Professors Ian Lustick and Anne Norton, Political Science
Location: McNeil Center, ST Wolf Room
For more information please contact Ania Loomba at loomba@english.upenn.edu  

Co-sponsored by the Middle East Center and the English department.

Thursday, February 12, 4:30PM
Book Party
Three Great Publications from MEC Associated Faculty!
Featuring: Professor Nili Gold, NELC, Professor Heather Sharkey, NELC and Professor Brendan O'Leary, Political Science
Location: Fisher-Bennett Faculty Lounge
Please join us to celebrate three great new books! Penn Bookstore will have books available for sale, all authors will be available for signatures.  For more information please call 215-898-6335.
Nili Gold - Yehuda Amichai: The Making of Israel's Poet Heather (2008)
Brendan O'Leary - How to Get out of Iraq with Integrity (2009)
Heather Sharkey - American Evangelicals in Egypt: Missionary Encounters in the Age of Empire (2008)

Sponsored by the Middle East Center.

Tuesday, February 17, Noon
Women in Islamic Law Series
"Islamic Feminism in India: Muslim Women Activists and theReform of Muslim Family Law "
Speaker: Sylvia Vatuk, Emerita Professor of Anthropology, University of Illinois-Chicago
Professor Vatuk will examine the interplay of constitutionalism, religious law and activism concerning women in modern India. In many ways the situation for Muslim women activists is beginning to change and this event will discuss some of the major challenges they still face in joining together to pressure the leaders of their community to accede to their demands for substantive change in the areas of marriage and divorce law and practice.

Location: Williams 816, Reception: Williams 826
For more information, please contact the Middle East Center at 215-898-6335

To hear this lecture on Podcast, search for it on iTunesU or follow this link.

Sponsored by the Middle East Center

Wednesday, February 18, Time TBA
Global Islamic Communities Speaker Series
Speaker: Muqtedar Khan, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and International Relations, University of Delaware
Location: Williams Hall 202
In the Global Islamic Communities Speaker Series, several scholars of Islam from universities throughout the United states will share their expertise across a variety of disciplines through guest lectures. The series will explore the changing face of Islam and Muslim identity as it is affected by migration, politics and representation.
For more information, please contact Dr. Fariha Khan at fariha@sas.upenn.edu or visit http://asam.sas.upenn.edu.

Co-sponsored by the Asian American Studies Program, the South Asia Center, and the Middle East Center.

Monday, February 23, 2PM
Book Talk
"Empire, Architecture, and the City: French—Ottoman Encounters, 1830-1914"
Speaker: Professor Zeynep Çelik, Professor of Architecture, New Jersey Institute of Technology
Location: College Hall 314
Professor Çelik's talk will focus on methodological issues, including the difficulties in comparative research, the roles played by archives, the challenges of triangulating different kinds of data, reading built forms as primary documents, the questions raised by absences, and theoretical provocations. Prof. Çelik will sign copies of her book after the discussion.
Please email Zeynep Turan, Associate Director of the Middle East Center, for reading requirements and more information.

Sponsored by the Middle East Center.

Thursday, February 26, 1PM; 6PM
Symposium - Lecture and Film Screening
"Gender, Sexuality, and Equity in the Middle East "
Session I: Lectures 1PM - 3PM
Lázaro Lima, Gender and Sexuality Studies and Spanish, Bryn Mawr College: "Gender, Sexuality, Equity: Situated Knowledge and Occidentalism"
Farha Ghannam, Anthropology, Swarthmore College: "Is Male to Female as Mind is to Body? Anthropological Reflections from Egypt"
Wazhmah Osman, Media, Culture, and Communication Studies, NYU:"The Politics and Spectacle of Gender and Sexuality Rights: Afghanistan and Iran on the World Stage"
Deborah Harrold, Political Science, Bryn Mawr College: "The Exotic Other"
Session II: Documentary, "Postcards From Tora Bora" 6PM - 8PM
For More Information See: http://www.brynmawr.edu/gender/symposium.html/

Thursday, February 26, 6PM
Premiere - A Film by Marjan Tehrani, Q&A to Follow
"ARUSI: Persian Wedding "
Panelists: Professor Pardis Minuchehr, University of Pennsylvania, Mary Ellen McNish, General Secretary of the American Friends Service Committee, and Monir Shapari, Board Member of the Iranian Cultural Society of America (Shabahang)
Moderator: Fay Beauchamp, Director of the Center for International Understanding and Professor of English, Community College of Philadelphia
Location: Bonnell Auditorium, Community College of Philadelphia
RSVP: http://www.whyy.org/memberexperience/ or call 215-315-0511
Iranian American filmmaker Marjan Tehrani chronicles her brother's return to Iran during the start of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, as he travels with his American wife to have a traditional Persian wedding and explore his lost heritage. In weaving the couple's personal story with historical footage, ARUSI considers the history, impact and troubled relationship between Iran and America.
This event is free and open to the public.

This event is a co-presentation of ITVS and WHYY in partnership with Community College of Philadelphia, the Iranian Cultural Society of America (Shabahang) and the Middle East Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Special thanks to Kodoom.com

MARCH

Tuesday, March 3rd, 7:00PM
Special Panel
International Women's Day 2009: Local Leaders form Strong Global Partnerships
Panelists: Suraya Pakzad, Executive Director Voice of Women, Marjorie Margolies, President, Women's Campaign International, Aldo E. Magazzeni, Traveling Mercies, Raphia Noumbissi, Family Case Manager for Action AIDS
Moderator: Connie Hoe, Project Coordinator, SP2 Feldman Initiative - Hancock County
Location: International House Ibrahim Theater
For more information please contact Anastasia Shown at 215-898-6449 or shown@sas.upenn.edu

Co-sponsored by the Middle East Center, African Studies Center, South Asia Center, International House, Women's Campaign International and the United Nations Association of Greater Philadelphia.

Wednesday, March 4, Time TBA - CANCELLED
Global Islamic Communities Speaker Series
Speaker: Azizah al-Hibri, Professor of Law, T.C. Williams School of Law, University of Richmond Location: Williams Hall 202
In the Global Islamic Communities Speaker Series, several scholars of Islam from universities throughout the United states will share their expertise across a variety of disciplines through guest lectures. The series will explore the changing face of Islam and Muslim identity as it is affected by migration, politics and representation.
For more information, please contact Dr. Fariha Khan at fariha@sas.upenn.edu or visit http://asam.sas.upenn.edu.

Co-sponsored by the Asian American Studies Program, the South Asia Center, and the Middle East Center.

Thursday, March 5, 4:30PM
A Public Lecture
"Men's Facial Hair in Islam: A Matter of Interpretation "
Speaker: Professor Faegheh Shirazi, Associate Professor Islamic Studies Program, University of Texas at Austin
Location: Fisher Bennett 13
While a large number of Muslim feminist scholars and organizations focus on issues concerning Muslim women's rights, a host of issues related to Muslim masculinity receive much less attention. These issues include defining cultural and religious markers that signal "masculine" identity and behavior, as well as determining the consequences of these markers. Although a paucity of scholarship exists in Muslim masculine topics as compared to those about Muslim femininity and her rights, however the interest in Muslim masculinity scholarship is gaining more attention.This talk focuses on how societal rules and Islamic traditions regarding facial grooming impact the experience of Muslim men. Examples will be drawn from Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan in order to explore the underlying significance of this issue.

Co-sponsored by the Religious Studies Department and the Middle East Center.

Friday, March 6, 8PM
Lecture and Film Screening
Iranian Women Poets
Presenter: Dr. Minoo Varzegar, Director, Program in American Language Studies, Rutgers University
Film
Screening of a Documentary Film on Arham Sadr by Dr. Amir Sabouri
Location: Rosemont College, Lawrence Hall, 1400 Montgomery Ave, Bryn Mawr
This event will take place in Farsi and English. Open to all interested individuals. Refreshments will be served. For more information on this and other programs, please visit the Shabahang website.

Co-sponsored by Shabahang (the Iranian Cultural Society of America) and the Middle East Center

Saturday, March 7 Through Saturday, April 18, Various Times
Israeli Film Festival of Greater Philadelphia
Join the Middle East Center in celebrating some great new Israeli Films!
The Israeli Film Festival of Greater Philadelphia is a celebration of Israeli culture, with the aim of enriching the American vision of Israeli culture and society through film. Each season, a slate of feature films and documentaries are selected to provide a diverse and impartial reflection of Israel.
For more information, please visit The IFF website.

The Middle East Center is a sponsor of this event.

Monday, March 9th, 7:30PM
Symposium regarding the Wilma Theater's production of Scorched
"Now That We're Together, Everything Feels Better"
Panelists: Helena Cobban, Author and Blogger of "Just World News", Jonathan Glover, Director of the Center for Medical Law and Ethics, Kings College London, Professor Judith Graves Miller, French Department Chair, New York University
Location: Wilma Theater, 265 S. Broad St.
This event is free to all Scorched ticket holders and Wilma subcribers, otherwise entrance is $10. Seating is limited. For more information please contact the Wilma Theater Box Office at 215-546-7824 or tickets@wilmatheater.org

Co-sponsored by the Middle East Center and the Wilma Theater.

Friday, March 13, 7:30PM
Dinner and Lecture
Middle East Awareness Dinner
Speaker: Dr. Lawrence Davidson, West Chester University
Location: Wilson Dining Hall, University of the Sciences in Philadelphia
Lawrence Davidson, a well-known published author from West Chester University, will be presenting. Dr. Davidson is an expert in Middle East studies and has recently traveled to the Middle East. This is an important event in light of the heightening tensions between Israel and Palestine.
There is no cost for admission. Dinner from Samson Kabob House will be provided. Parking is available free of charge behind Wilson Hall in the Goodman parking lot (42nd Street).

Co-sponsored by the Student Government Association of USP, USP MSA, and the Middle East Center.

Monday, March 23, 12 PM
Graduate Student Colloquium
Alif, Dagger Alif, and Fatah in Early Qur'an Manuscripts
Presenter: V. Kerry Inman, Ph.D. Candidate, NELC, in Arabic and Hebrew
Location: Williams 816

Sponsored by the Middle East Center.

Tuesday, March 24, 12
Lunch and Lecture
Newroz Celebration
Speaker: Dr. Suvir Kaul, English Department
Location: HH223 Golkin Room, Houston Hall
Navruz is celebrated as a spring festival by Zoroastrians in India and
as New Year by Iranians. Every family sets a table and decorates it
with seven items that all begin with the letter ‘S’. This is called
the traditional “Haft Seen” Table. During the Zoroastrian Era, when
the table was decorated with seven flowers, each was assigned to Ahura
Mazda (God) and the six divine attributes (Wisdom, Truth, Might, Love,
Wholeness and Immortality), and the table was called “Haft-Ching”
(Seven items picked from Trees).
The cost of lunch is $6.00 per person.

Co-sponsored by Penn Zoroastrian Association and the Middle East Center.

Wednesday, March 25, 7PM
Lecture
The Fundamentalists
Speaker: Dr. Ian Lustick, Professor of Political Science
Location: Steinberg-Dietrich Hall #215
Professor Ian Lustick, an expert on Middle Eastern affairs, will be giving a talk about fundamentalists across religious traditions.

Co-sponsored by Penn MSA and the Middle East Center.

Friday, March 27, 6 PM
Film Screening, Musical Performance, and Lecture
Celebrating Nowruz
Location: 401 Fisher Bennett Hall
This event will feature a film screening of the film "MAXX" by Saman Moghaddam, starring Farhad Ayish. The screening will be followed by piano pieces by Dr. Kourosh Darvish, a lecture in Persian by Dr. Mahdavi-Damghani on Nowruz in various historical periods, and a briefing on Encyclopaedia Iranica. Refreshments will be served.

Co-sponsored by the Middle East Center and the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations

Monday, March 30, 7:30 PM
Lecture
Israel at the Battlefront: Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran
Speaker: Dr. Michael Oren, author of Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East and Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East
Location: Steinhardt Hall
Dr. Oren has received fellowships from the U.S. Departments of State and Defense, and from the British and Canadian governments. In 2006, he was a visiting professor at Harvard and Yale, returning to Yale in 2007. He is currently teaching at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University. This event will contribute to the on-going academic discussion and exchange of ideas on campus.

Co-Sponsored by Hillel, SPEC, Kesher, Orthodox Community of Penn, the Middle East Forum Club at Penn, the Jewish Renaissance Project, the Conservative Jewish community at Penn, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, the Political Science Department and the Middle East Center.

APRIL

Wednesday, April 1, Time TBA
Global Islamic Communities Speaker Series
Speaker: Sunaina Maira, Associate Professor of Asian American Studies, University of California, Davis
Location: Williams Hall 202
In the Global Islamic Communities Speaker Series, several scholars of Islam from universities throughout the United states will share their expertise across a variety of disciplines through guest lectures. The series will explore the changing face of Islam and Muslim identity as it is affected by migration, politics and representation.
For more information, please contact Dr. Fariha Khan at fariha@sas.upenn.edu or visit http://asam.sas.upenn.edu.

Co-sponsored by the Asian American Studies Program, the South Asia Center, and the Middle East Center.

Thursday, April 2, 5 PM
Jane S. Pollack Memorial Lecture in Women's Studies
Speaker: Marjane Satrapi
Location: 200 College Hall
Internationally renowned graphic novelist, illustrator, and film director; author of the bestselling graphic novel Persepolis, now a major motion picture

For more information, please visit http://www.sas.upenn.edu/wstudies/events/calendar.htmn.edu.

Co-sponsored by the Women's Studies Program and the Middle East Center.

Friday, April 3, 8:30 AM - 6 PM
One-day Conference
"Global Islam in Everyday America"
Location: Cohen Hall Auditorium, 249 South 36th Street
This one-day conference explores Islam and Muslim identities in the U.S. by interrogating the multiple implications resonating from steroetypes of Islam and the ways in which the imagined versus the lived experiences of American Muslims are implicated.

For more information, please contact Dr. Fariha Khan at fariha@sas.upenn.edu or visit http://asam.sas.upenn.edu.

Co-sponsored by the Asian American Studies Program, the South Asia Center, and the Middle East Center.

Friday, April 3, 8PM
Lecture and Musical Performance
Iranian Modern Art
Presenter: Dr. Fereshteh Daftari, Department of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art, New York
Musical Performance
Farhad Afsharvand on the Setar.
Location: Rosemont College, Lawrence Hall, 1400 Montgomery Ave, Bryn Mawr
This event will take place in Farsi. Open to all interested individuals. Refreshments will be served. For more information on this and other programs, please visit the Shabahang website.

Co-sponsored by Shabahang (the Iranian Cultural Society of America) and the Middle East Center

Monday, April 6, 5:15 PM
Persian Cultural Series Lecture
The Sense of Nature in Persian/Safavid Gardens
Speaker: Mahvash Alemi, Fellow, Dumbarton Oaks
Location: Fisher Bennett Hall Room 201
Mahvash Alemi was born in Iran and was trained as an architect in Rome where she has practiced since 1981. She has been a faculty member of the Department of Architecture at Tehran University and Pratt Institute Rome Program. Her studies on Persian gardens have raised questions on their presumed fourfold layout. Her findings of inedited drawings and documented restitutions of the urban and landscape contexts of Safavid gardens have opened new perspectives for their understanding. Her studies of poems and miniatures of the Safavid period have contributed to discussions of the aesthetic values of these gardens, their political role and the relevance of undefiled nature in their reception.
Podcast of the lecture is available here. PDF version of the powerpoint is available here. (PennKey required)

Sponsored by the Middle East Center

Monday, April 6, 7:15PM
Lecture
The Fundamentalists
Speaker: Dr. Ian Lustick, Professor of Political Science
Location: Huntsman Hall 260
Professor Ian Lustick, an expert on Middle Eastern affairs, will be giving a talk about fundamentalists across religious traditions. In every great religious tradition "fundamentalism" is often confused with "devotion" or "observance." What is distinctive about fundamentalism and how does it make fundamentalists across religious traditions more similar to one another than to non-fundamentalists within their own traditions?

Co-sponsored by Penn MSA and the Middle East Center.

*PASS presents: Modern Arab Week, April 6-9 2009*
Co-sponsored by the Middle East Center

*Iraq: The Aftermath and Reconstruction*
Monday, April 6, 7-8:30 PM
Huntsman Hall G50
As we have just marked the sixth year of the invasion of Iraq, Penn faculty and an Iraqi refugee worker will discuss the obstacles facing Iraaq and the current outlook as troops are pulling out. An event not to be missed. Free burritos!

*Locust Test and Taste Bakesale*
Tuesday, April 7, 3-5 PM
Locust Walk
Do you crave falafel on your way to class? This is not your typical bakesale! Sample of of the many traditional Arabic dishes. And if you didn't have enough, why not buy some for your next class? Limited quantity, exquisite quality!

*Tourism Fair: Secrets of the Middle East*
Wednesday, April 8, 4:30-6 PM
Houston Hall, next to the creperie
Believe it or not, there is more to the Middle East than just the Great Pyramids of Giza! Travel with us to the different countries of the Middle East. Meet local Arabs and learn about the best places to visit. In addition, meet Penn students who have worked, studied, or visited the Middle East and get their point of view. Free Snacks!

*Photo Shoot @ Tourism Fair*
Wednesday, April 8, 4:30-6 PM
Houston Hall, next to creperie
Ever wondered how you would look in a Middle Eastern garment? This is your chance to have your picture taken in a Middle Eastern garment with friends in front of a famous landmark backdrop. Select from a range of authentic clothing. Receive your picture on Facebook and then all you have to do is flaunt it! ($1/photo)

*Caramel: Movie Screening*
Thursday, April 9, 7-8:30 PM
Huntsman Hall G50
Directed by revolutionary Lebanese director, Nadine Labaki, this film talks about the life of four Lebanese women. Learn more about the modern life of women in the Middle East. Free popcorn!

Thursday, April 9, 4:30PM
Center for East Asian Studies Global Distinguished Lecture
"Traffickers: Global Justice in Humans for Transplant "
Speaker: Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Chancellor's Professor, Anthropology, UC Berkeley
Location: 200 College Hall
Nancy Scheper-Hughes is Professor of Anthropology at UC Berkeley and Founding Director of Organs Watch, and she is currently serving as an adviser to the World Health Organization on global transplant ethics and safety. A renowned scholar and activist, Scheper-Hughes has received numerous grants, awards, and book prizes including the Margaret Mead Award, the H.F. Guggenheim Essay Award, and the Berkeley William Sloane Coffin Award, for moral leadership. This lecture, based on fieldwork in Recife, Durban, and Jerusalem, will explore the following questions: What kind of moral worlds do kidney hunters and organs traffickers and their clients inhabit? How do they justify their actions? Dr. Scheper-Hughes will explain how these intimate exchanges of life-giving body parts concern more than medical necessity and individual life-saving, and what they mean to a global moral consciousness.
For more information, please contact Nicole Riley at nriley@sas.upenn.edu or visit http://ceas.sas.upenn.edu.

Co-sponsored by the Center for East Asian Studies, the South Asia Center,the African Studies Center and the Middle East Center.

Monday, April 13, 11AM
College Palooza
Modern Middle East Studies Booth featuring Calligraphy Demonstration
Location: College Green
Stop by the MMES booth at College Palooza, we will have an area calligrapher giving demonstrations on Arabic calligraphy.

Co-sponsored by the Middle East Center and the School of Arts and Sciences.

Monday, April 13, 5:30 - 7PM
African Studies Spring 2009 Lecture Series
"Darfur and the Crisis of Governance in Sudan"
Speaker: Prof. Salah Hassan, Cornell University
Location: Claudia Cohen Hall (Logan Hall), G17 Auditorium
Salah M. Hassan is Goldwin Smith Professor and Director of Africana Studies and Professor of African and Diaspora Art History and Visual Culture at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He is the editor and founder of Nka: Journal of Contemporary African Art, and consulting editor for African Arts and Atlantica. He has authored and edited several books, among them: Power and Nationalism in Modern Africa (2008); Unpacking Europe (2001); Authentic/Ex-Centric (2001); Gendered Visions: The Art of Contemporary Africana Women Artists (1997). He has contributed to numerous art journals and anthologies and curated several international exhibitions. Most recently Hassan has co-edited with Carina Ray a book on Darfur entitled: Darfur and the Crisis of Governance in Sudan (forthcoming 2009).

Co-sponsored by the Center for Africana Studies, International Relations Program, Middle East Center, Political Science Department.

Thursday, April 16, 4:30PM
Women in Islamic Law Seminar Series
"Reading and Misreading Iranian Women in the US"
Speaker:Professor Farzaneh Milani, University of Virginia
Location: Cohen 337
Farzaneh Milani completed her graduate studies in Comparative Literature in 1979 at UCLA. Her dissertation, “Forugh Farrokhzad: A Feminist Perspective” was a critical study of the poetry of a pioneering Iranian poet. Past president of the Association of Middle Eastern Women Studies in America, Milani was the recipient of All University Teaching Award in 1998 and nominated for Virginia Faculty of the Year in 1999. She is the author of "Veils and Words: The Emerging Voice of Iranian Women Writers," and "A Cup of Sin: Selected Poems of Simin Behbahani" (with Kaveh Safa). She has published over 100 articles, epilogues, forewords, and afterwards in Persian and in English. She has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, Ms. Magazine, the Readers Digest, USA Today, and N.P.R.’s All Things Considered. She has presented more than 150 lectures nationally and internationally. Former Director of Studies in Women and Gender and Professor of Persian Literature and Women Studies at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Milani was a Carnegie Fellow, 2006-2007.
A podcast of this lecture is available here.

*Transnational Pasts * April 20, 2009 * University of Pennsylvania*
A Symposium
The McNeil Center for Early American Studies, 3355 Locust Walk
This symposium will bring together a group of eminent scholars working in literature and history (roughly 1500-1800) to discuss issues concerning the methodological, theoretical and institutional aspects of doing comparative, transnational work in the early modern period. Exciting work on transnationalism has emerged with regard to the premodern period from economic historians such as R. Bin Wong and Sanjay Subrahmanyam. Such economic historians have acknowledged the need to bring questions of culture into their discussions. On the other hand, literary critics have long spoken about the need to engage with economic history. However, as yet such dialogues between literary studies, literary history, history and economic history are in their infancy. Transnational Pasts will stage such a dialogue by bringing together scholars from a range of disciplines whose work has been consequential for discussions of transnationalism and global relations in the early modern period, as well as faculty and graduate students from the University of Pennsylvania.
Speakers have pre-circulated papers which are available here. At the symposium they will address questions--methodological and contextual--arising from these papers.
This is an open symposium and all are welcome.

Program

Session 1, 9:30 AM - 12 PM: Places & Perspectives
Welcome and Introduction. Chi-ming Yang (English, UPenn)
Chair: Peter Stallybrass (English, UPenn)
Roy Bin Wong, History and Director of Asia Institute, UCLA
Peter C. Perdue, History and East Asian Languages, Yale University
Jonathan Burton, English, West Virginia University.
Discussant: David Kazanjian (English & Comparative Literature, UPenn)

Session 2, 1 - 3 PM: Itineraries & Comparison
Chair: Margreta de Grazia (English, UPenn)
Walter Cohen, English and Comparative Literature, Cornell University
David Wallace, English, University of Pennsylvania
Discussants: Gary Tomlinson (Music, UPenn) and Barbara Fuchs (Romance Languages, UPenn)

Session 3, 3:30 - 5:30 PM: Translations & Globality
Chair: Toni Bowers (English, UPenn)
Felicity Nussbaum, English, UCLA
Eric Lewis Beverley, History, SUNY Stonybrook
Lydia Liu, Chinese and Comparative Literature, Columbia University
Discussant: Suvir Kaul (English, UPenn)
Concluding remarks: Ania Loomba (English, UPenn)

Reception at McNeil Center, 5:30 - 6:30 PM All are welcome.

This event is co-sponsored by: the Departments of English, Comparative Literature, and History; Center for East Asian Studies; Alice Paul Center for Research on Women, Gender and Sexuality; South Asia Center; Middle East Center; Penn Humanities Forum; Ethnohistory Program; English Department Eighteenth-Century Group, Latitudes/Post-Colonial Group, Medieval/Renaissance Group.

Tuesday, April 21, 6PM
Premiere - A Film by Annemarie Jacir, Q&A to Follow
"Salt of this Sea"
Location: 401 Fisher-Bennet Hall
Screening followed by a discussion with the director, moderated by Prof. Ania Loomba (Dept. of English)
Annemarie Jacir is a Palestinian filmmaker and writer. She has been working in independent film since 1994 and has written, directed and produced a number of films including 'a post oslo history' (1998), 'The Satellite Shooters' (2001) and 'like twenty impossibles' (2003). She is a founder and chief curator of the groundbreaking/Dreams of a Nation/cinema project, and also works as a freelance editor and cinematographer. Recently listed in Filmmaker magazine as one of the top 25 New Faces of Independent Cinema, her work has screened in Cannes, Venice, Locarno, and Telluride. "Salt of this Sea", which premiered in the Cannes Film festival this year to great acclaim is Jacir's first feature film. Starring Suheir Hammad and Salah Bakri, the film has been praised as stunning, passionate, and yet restrained--a love story as well as a political exploration.
For more information about "Salt of this Sea," go to http://www.facebook.com/pages/Salt-of-This-Sea-Milh-Hadha-al-Bahr-/27276646076.

Co-sponsored by Penn Cinema and the Middle East Center.

Wednesday, April 22, 3 PM
Global Islamic Communities Speaker Series
A Girl Can Think Like a Maulana: Enduring Patterns of Islamic Reform and Community
Speaker: Barbara Metcalf, Alice Freeman Palmer Professor of History, South Asian Studies, University of Michigan
Location: Williams Hall 202
In the Global Islamic Communities Speaker Series, several scholars of Islam from universities throughout the United states will share their expertise across a variety of disciplines through guest lectures. The series will explore the changing face of Islam and Muslim identity as it is affected by migration, politics and representation. Dr. Metcalf will discuss Bihishti Zewar, a guidebook written in the early 1900s by Muslim scholar Maulana Ashraf 'Ali Thanawi. Thanawi's book offered a view of women's nature, roles, and Islamic obligations, which are still relevant to contemporary issues of "globalized Islam."
For more information, please contact Dr. Fariha Khan at fariha@sas.upenn.edu or visit http://asam.sas.upenn.edu.

Co-sponsored by the Asian American Studies Program, the South Asia Center, and the Middle East Center.

Thursday, April 23, 5 PM
Lecture
Deciphering Turkish Denial: Modernity, Violence, and 1915 Contextualized
Speaker: Professor Fatma Muge Gocek, University of Michigan
Location: Williams 218
Professor Gocek is an Associate Professor of Sociology at Ann Arbor, and has worked extensively in the fields of Comparative Historical Sociology, Social Change, and Social Theory. This talk will address similar topics to those in her upcoming book, 'Deciphering Denial: Turkish State and the Armenian Ethnic Cleansing of 1915'.

Sponsored by the Middle East Center

Thursday, April 23, 6 PM
Lecture
What Professors Should and Shouldn’t Do in the Classroom
Speaker: Dr. Stanley Fish, Florida International University; New York Times
Location: Cohen Hall G-17
The lecture will touch on the value of higher education, academic freedom, and Stanley Fish's view that the humanities have no instrumental value, but only intrinsic worth, and should proudly proclaim this.

Sponsored by the Middle East Center and the Philomathean Society 

MAY

Friday May 1, 8PM
Lecture and Musical Performance
Iranian Cinema: History and Continuities
Pardis Minuchehr, PhD, Coordinator and Lecturer, NELC, University of Pennsylvania
Musical Performance
Shahnaz Shahinfar, Reciter; Mostapha Shayegan, Setar; Ali Ghaderi, Tonbak
Location: rosemont College, Lawrence Hall, 1400 Montgomery Ave, Bryn Mawr
This event will take place in Farsi. Open to all interested individuals. Refreshments will be served. For more information on this and other programs, please visit the Shabahang website.

Co-sponsored by Shabahang (the Iranian Cultural Society of America) and the Middle East Center

 

JUNE

June 4-7
Persian Teacher's Workshop
By Invitation Only
The University of Pennsylvania hosted the 2009 Summer Persian Teachers’ Workshop for Professional Curriculum and Materials Development June 4-7, 2009.  The workshop was funded by a Startalk Summer Grant, and co-sponsored by the National Middle Eastern Languages Resource Center at Brigham Young University, the American Association of Teachers of Persian and the following Penn Penn Centers: the Penn Language Center, the Multimedia Resource Center, the Language Resource Center and the Middle East Center.  This workshop brought together 20 Persian teachers from across the United States to discuss a variety of issues current in Persian instruction, including teaching methodology, use of technology, curriculum, heritage vs. non-heritage students, multi-media teaching materials, and education and performance assessment.  Following the workshop, participants continued working on their collaborative projects online.

Friday June 5, 8PM
Lecture and Film Screening
Iran: An Observation of an American Writer
Marguerite Del Guidice
Film Screening
BAM 6.6: Humanity Has No Borders Directed by Jahangir Golestan Parast
Location: Rosemont College, Lawrence Hall, 1400 Montgomery Ave, Bryn Mawr
This event will take place in Farsi. Open to all interested individuals. Refreshments will be served. For more information on this and other programs, please visit the Shabahang website.

Co-sponsored by Shabahang (the Iranian Cultural Society of America) and the Middle East Center

June 5
Philadelphia Schools Outreach Event
Middle East Day at the Penn Museum

The Middle East Center and Penn Museum's Education Department hosted the first Middle East Day at the Museum on June 5th , 2009. We welcomed a group of 85 students from the School District of Philadelphia (Motivation High School, Ben Franklin HS, Leeds Military Academy) and Camden School District (Pine Point Middle School). One of the highlights of this one-day event was the keynote address by Carolyn Baugh, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at Penn. Ms. Baugh's speech discussed Arabic poetry including that of pre-Islam; Judeo-Arabic poetry; Persian poetry; and Andalusian poetry from Spain. She also talked about the Arabic influence on today's pop culture.

The students then got a chance to explore Penn Museum's magnificent collection. The guided tours covered the sections on Israel, Egypt, and Mesopotamia. Students were grouped into two workshops; one examined “Art and Architecture of the Middle East,” the other, “Life of a Teenager in Turkey.” For lunch, students were served Middle Eastern food. In the afternoon, Marie Brown, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of History at Penn, delivered a talk on life in Sudan.

As the capstone to the day's events, there was a musical performance and interactive presentation featuring musicians from Spice Route Ensemble, a local band that specializes in Middle Eastern and Eastern Mediterranean music.

This event was co-sponsored by the Penn Museum, the Philadelphia School District, the African Studies Center, the Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations Department and the Middle East Center.

AUGUST

August 3-8

Iranian Youth Media Workshop

Please join us in welcoming a new, unique endeavor to help Iranian youth living in the United States. From August 3rd through August 8th, 2009, young Iranians throughout Philadelphia will come together at the Asian Arts Initiative in Philadelphia's Chinatown neighborhood, to engage with Iranian culture, history, and representation through media technologies! This week-long youth media workshop for Iranian and Iranian American youth will help develop cultural understanding, media literacy, media production, and critical thinking skills among students. In so doing, we hope that the workshops will be among the first steps in creating both a strong sense of Iranian community here in the U.S. and a better cultural representation that current, mainstream media sources do not yet provide.  This summer’s youth media workshops, the first ever to serve Iranian Americans on the East Coast, will help young people share their stories with others like themselves and give adults and supporters, a glimpse of Persian culture through the perspectives of the ones who will be determining its future. Apply today by visiting am-iran.org/youth for more information and to fill out an inquiry form.

This event is co-sponsored by The Middle East Center, The Media Education Lab at Temple University, The Asian Arts Initiative, and Temple University's Film and Media Arts Department.

SEPTEMBER

September 11, 8PM

Location: Lawrence Hall, Rosemont College (1400 Montgomery Ave., Bryn Mawr)
Lecture and Film Screening
"Dr. Mossadegh at the Hague Tribunals "
Speaker: Dr. Saeed Fatemi, Emeritus Professor of the University of Tehran
This event will take place in Farsi and English. Open to all interested individuals. Refreshments will be served. For more information on this and other programs, please visit the Shabahang website.

This event is co-sponsored by Shabahang and the Middle East Center.

 

September 12 (Canceled)
Military Outreach Event
Cultural Day at the Penn Museum for Military Families

The Middle East Center and Penn Museum's Education Department is hosting military families and children from the state of Pennsylvania at the Museum on September 12th.

The Cultural Day serves to increase knowledge and understanding of the diversity of the Middle East and Arabic cultures. This one-day event includes various activities such as arts and crafts workshops, museum tours, talks by Prof. Brian Rose and Carolyn Baugh, and an interactive music show with the Spice Route Ensemble.

This event is co-sponsored by Operation: Military Kids in Pennsylvania, Penn State, the Penn Museum, and the Middle East Center. 

 

September 21, 12:00 PM

Location: Fisher-Bennett Hall, Room 201

Information Session for Graduate Students for MEC Outreach Work

The Middle East Center is holding an information session for all students who are interested in doing outreach work with us this year.  Lunch will be provided.

 

September 22, 7:30 PM

Islam Awareness Series

Islam and Modernity: A Paradox or Paradigm

Location: Houston Hall, Hall of Flags

The Future of Jihad

Speaker: Hisham Mahmood

Since September 11th, the word "Jihad" has been tossed around by everyone, including the government, media, and the average citizen.  But what does "Jihad" really mean from an Islamic traditional textual understanding? And what will Jihad's role be in the 21st century?

This event is co-sponsored by the Muslim Students Association at Penn, ASAM, South Asia Center, Annenberg School for Communications, the Middle East Center, and several other organizations.

 

September 23, 7:30 PM

Islam Awareness Series

Islam and Modernity: A Paradox or Paradigm

Location: Claudia Cohen Hall, Terrace Room

Under Wraps: Domestic Violence in the Muslim World

Speaker: Khalid Latif

Spousal abuse is a common theme in the stereotype of the Muslim Man, and in certain parts of the Muslim world, widespread domestic violence lends credence to this unflattering view of Islam. Is domestic violence cultural? Is it Islamic? What does the Qur'an say about spousal abuse? Khalid Latif will explain the cultural and historical origins of the relationship between Islam and domestic abuse, as well as offer insight as to how the Muslim community worldwide is working to eliminate this problem.

This event is co-sponsored by the Muslim Students Association at Penn, ASAM, South Asia Center, Annenberg School for Communications, the Middle East Center, and several other organizations.

 

September 24, 12:30 PM

Location: Houston Hall Griski Room, 311

Politics and Violence in Israel/Palestine: Past, Present and Future: A Panel Discussion

Participants: Lev Grinberg, Sociology and Anthropology, Ben Gurion University; Ian Lustick, Political Science, University of Pennsylvania; Barak Mendelsohn, Political Science, Haverford College

The panel will discuss Lev Grinberg's book which analyzes the sequence of events that engendered mutual recognition between Israelis and Palestinians and peaceful negotiations during the 1990's, and its subsequent reversal, leading to escalating violence in the 2000's. The book argues that Israelis and Palestinians could imagine the Oslo agreements as a peace process because the pre-1967 border was considered the basis for the "two-state solution" by both parties. The peace accords and their implementation, however, blurred the border, facilitating violent acts which derailed the negotiations, and encouraged what the author entitles the military occupation of the political space. Countering the current political despair of many Israelis and Palestinians, Grinberg points to new directions beyond the impasse of the dichotomous single-state or two-state solutions. His original analysis seeks to demystify the past in order to facilitate the reinvention of the future. He suggests a new vision – the Israeli-Palestinian Union (IPU) that combines elements of both, two separate states and one unified apparatus build on principles of parity. The speakers will base their arguments on Grinberg's analysis of the past and his ideas for a future containment of the conflict.

This event is co-sponsored by the Department of Political Science and the Middle East Center.

 

September 24, 7:30 PM

Islam Awareness Series

Islam and Modernity: A Paradox or Paradigm

Location: Huntsman Hall, G06

Islam and Democracy

Speaker: Reza Aslan

Dr. Reza Aslan will deliver an enlightening speech on the concept of the Islamic State, covering a range of topics from the theoretical concept of the Islamic state to the current situation in Iran. Dr.Aslan will also concentrate on the viability of an Islamic welfare system laid down within the scope of Western democracy and the role, or lack thereof, of a modern day caliphate--surely a point of heated discussion in our day and age. This event should help clarify present myths of the outcast image of Islam, shedding an academic light on some of the most relevant and pressing issues in the global arena.

This event is co-sponsored by the Muslim Students Association at Penn, ASAM, South Asia Center, Annenberg School for Communications, the Middle East Center, and several other organizations.

 

September 25, 1:15-2:00 PM

Islam Awareness Series

Islam and Modernity: A Paradox or Paradigm

Location: College Green

Open Friday Prayer on College Green

Speaker: Adnan Zulfiqar

On Friday afternoon, the Muslim Students Association (MSA) will observe its weekly services on College Green. In the event that there is rain, the prayer will be held in Arch Auditorium. There will be a separate area designated for non-Muslims to sit and observe the practice and after the prayer there will be a change for them to interact with Muslim participants and find out more about the intimate practice of prayer.

This event is co-sponsored by the Muslim Students Association at Penn, ASAM, South Asia Center, Annenberg School for Communications, the Middle East Center, and several other organizations.

 

September 26, 10 AM-1 PM

Islam Awareness Series

Islam and Modernity: A Paradox or Paradigm

Location: TBA

Day of Interfaith Service

Students from a wide variety of organizations will get together to give back to the Philadelphia community. This event, in conjunction with Project Downtown Philadelphia will mainly involve handing food and clothing to the homeless of Philadelphia.

This event is co-sponsored by the Muslim Students Association at Penn, ASAM, South Asia Center, Annenberg School for Communications, the Middle East Center, and several other organizations.

 

September 26

Location: The Ritz 5 Theatre and Konan Turkish Restaurant

Discounted matinee of "Amreeka" and Turkish dinner and musical performance

The Middle Eastern Cultural Society (MECS) of Swarthmore College is hosting an event for a matinee viewing of the new and groundbreaking Arab American film "Amreeka" (see trailer here) at Philadelphia's Ritz 5 Theatre! There will be Turkish dinner and a traditional musical performance at the Turkish restaurant Konak (see more here) afterwards.

A discounted movie ticket is $8 and discounted dinner is $11 per person. Please RSVP to Camilia at ckamoun1@swarthmore.edu with how many spots you want to reserve for these discounted prices, and whether you are planning to join for both the dinner and movie, or just the movie.

 

September 27, 7:30 PM

Islam Awareness Series

Islam and Modernity: A Paradox or Paradigm

Location: Houston Hall, Hall of Flags

Celebration of Islamic Cultures

This event will consist of a formal program commenced by a recitation from the Qur'an and an ethnic dinner featuring foods from all around the Muslim world. During the night's program, a series of poems in the various languages of the Muslim world will be read by native speakers, including a feature performance by the Excelano Project. Visitors will then be given a chance to move about and interact with different cultural booths set up around the room. They will be able to view Islamic inspired act, get a taste of different musical styles and other cultural traditions such as henna tattoos.

This event is co-sponsored by the Muslim Students Association at Penn, ASAM, South Asia Center, Annenberg School for Communications, the Middle East Center, and several other organizations.

 

September 29, 7:00 PM

Location: ARCH Crest Auditorium

Iran Elections: A Discussion with Roger Cohen of the New York Times

Discussants: Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet, History, University of Pennsylvania; Monroe Price, Director of the Center for Global Communication Studies at Annenberg School

From the New York Times: Roger Cohen joined The New York Times in 1990. He was a foreign correspondent for more than a decade before becoming acting Foreign Editor on September 11, 2001, and Foreign Editor six months later.  Since 2004 he has written a column for the Times-owned International Herald Tribune, first for the news pages and then, since 2007, for the Op-Ed page. In 2009 he was named a columnist of The New York Times.  Mr. Cohen has written "Hearts Grown Brutal: Sagas of Sarajevo" (Random House, 1998), an account of the wars of Yugoslavia's destruction, and "Soldiers and Slaves: American POWs Trapped by the Nazis' Final Gamble" (Alfred A. Knopf, 2005). He has also cowritten a biography of General Norman Schwarzkopf, "In the Eye of the Storm," (Farrar Straus & Giroux, 1991).

You can read Roger Cohen's latest editorial here.

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg School and The Middle East Center.

 

September 29, 7:30 PM

Islam Awareness Series

Islam and Modernity: A Paradox or Paradigm

Location: Houston Hall, Bodek Lounge

Triple Minority: Black, Female, and Muslim in America

Speaker: Margari Hill

Dr.Margari Hill will discuss the challenges of being racially, sexually and religiously underrepresented in American society, as well as how race and gender play into the Islamic religion, where her race and gender are also in the minority. Women are often portrayed in popular culture as oppressed by Islamic society, so hear firsthand if the rumors are true.

This event is co-sponsored by the Muslim Students Association at Penn, ASAM, South Asia Center, Annenberg School for Communications, the Middle East Center, and several other organizations.

 

September 30, 12:00 PM

Location: Williams Hall Room 29

Rise of the Rich: A New Paradigm in International Politics for the Study of Middle Eastern Politics and History

Lecturer: Peter Gran, History, Temple University

Discussant: Robert Vitalis, Political Science, University of Pennsylvania

 

September 30, 7:30 PM

Islam Awareness Series

Islam and Modernity: A Paradox or Paradigm

Location: Houston Hall, Hall of Flags

From Darwin to Stem Cells: Islamic Perspective on Modern Science

Speaker: Sadik Kassim, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

The ever increasing advancement in the sciences creates ever more ethical dilemmas for the conscience-minded human being. This event seeks to educate about the long history of science in the Muslim world and then elaborate on the ethical issues we face today and how Islam responds to these difficult questions that modern medical science poses.

This event is co-sponsored by the Muslim Students Association at Penn, ASAM, South Asia Center, Annenberg School for Communications, the Middle East Center, and several other organizations.

 

OCTOBER

October 1, 7:30 PM

Islam Awareness Series

Islam and Modernity: A Paradox or Paradigm

Location: Claudia Cohen Hall, Terrace Room

Islamic Music Night: The Sound of Reason

Music is an important means of expression that has been used by various cultures throughout history. Today it is widely used to reach out to the youth of many populations in an attempt to raise awareness about under-discussed subjects. In the Islamic world, popular music has recently gained ground as a new way of connecting Muslims together -letting them know that they are not alone in the issues they face and reminding them to keep their faith.

This event is co-sponsored by the Muslim Students Association at Penn, ASAM, South Asia Center, Annenberg School for Communications, the Middle East Center, and several other organizations.

 

October 2, 9 PM

Location: Lawrence Hall, Rosemont College (1400 Montgomery Avenue)

"From Neanderthals to Cyrus the Great": An American Archeologist's Experiences in Iran

Speaker: Christ Thornton, Anthropology, University of Pennsylvania

This talk will be followed by guitar performance (Iranian songs) by Michael Carlson. This event is open to all interested individuals.  Refreshments will be served.

This event is co-sponsored by Shabahang and the Middle East Center.

 

October 5, 12  6:30-9:00 PM

Location: Madison Hall, Room 105, Camden County College

Breaking Barriers to Better Understanding: Teaching the Middle East in the K-12 Classroom

In this two-session seminar, the Middle East will be assessed from a multidisciplinary perspective.  Students will discuss Foreign Policy, History, Religion and Culture with area experts highlighting how to best integrate the Middle East into the classroom.  Experts will illuminate how regions differ, explaining the peculiarities of Egypt, Iraq, Iran and Turkey, as well as how they fit into the multicultural and geopolitical framework.

The registration form is available here.

This event is co-sponsored by the Camden County College and the Middle East Center.

 

October 7, 5 PM

Location: Room 110, Annenberg School (3620 Walnut Street)

Screening of The Glass House

THE GLASS HOUSE skillfully examines the mostly hidden lives of young women, teetering on the fringes of Iranian society in modern Tehran. Marginalized by their families, these women have found a saving grace in a day center formed by an Iranian expatriate. To read more, please go to here.

This event is co-sponsored by the Women Studies Program, the Alice Paul Center, the Cinema Studies Program and the Middle East Center.

 

October 9, 5-7 PM

Location: Chinese Rotunda, Penn Museum

International Student & Scholar Reception

The International Student Welcome Reception is a special event hosted by International Classroom and sponsored by more than 50 colleges, universities, and programs to welcome new international students and scholars to the Delaware Valley. This free event drew over 900 students and scholars from 85 different countries in 2008. Held every year in the magnificent Chinese Rotunda, it is the only large-scale welcome reception of its kind in the region, drawing an ever-growing number of college and university international students to meet each other and learn about resources for multicultural education. It is considered the national model among international educators.

 

October 9-10, 10:30 AM
Location: 209 College Hall
Symposium
Imperialism and Colonialism in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, The State of Present Research

The purpose of the workshop is to explore how scholars define imperialism and colonialism in several regions of the world: its legacies and its contemporary manifestations. Paper submission by invitation only. Attendance is open to the public.

For the detailed program, please click here.

This symposium is co-sponsored by the Mellon Cross Cultural Diversity Grant, the Middle East Center, the Center for Africana Studies and Harvard University's Center for Middle East Studies.

 

October 13, 5PM

Location: Class of 1955 Room, Van Pelt Library

Annual Joseph Alexander Colloquium

Zionist Dilemmas: Internal Conflicts in Israeli Literature and Culture, 1948-2000

Speaker: Yigal Schwartz, Ben-Gurion University

The creation of the State of Israel on May 14, 1948 constituted one of the most exciting and moving moments in the long history of the Jewish people. Yet, the establishment of the Jewish State also brought about a host of difficulties and crises.

Professor Schwartz will explore the responses to the State that appear Israeli fiction, discussing phenomena such as: the traumatic passage from the "Yishuv society" to a state; the difficulty of coping simultaneously with renewed nationalism on the one hand, and with modernism and postmodernism, on the other; the unresolved struggle between the narrative of redemption and the narrative of the Diaspora, as well as the complicated passage from a "melting pot" society to a multicultural one. Schwartz will also examine the political context that shaped Israeli fiction, exploring the approaches of the authors of the Zionist left and the Zionist right to the practical implementation of the Zionist meta-narrative.

For more information, please visit here.

This event is co-sponsored by the Jewish Studies Program and the Middle East Center.

 

October 14, 5:30 PM

Location: Room 109, Annenberg School for Communication

Democracy Promotion Under Obama: The Complexities of Reengagement

Speaker: Thomas Carothers, Vice President for Studies, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Widely recognized as a leading international authority on democracy promotion, Mr. Carothers has worked on democracy assistance projects for many public and private organizations and carried out extensive field research on democracy-building programs around the world.  He is the author or editor of eight books on democracy and rule of law promotion, including most recently Confronting the Weakest Link: Aiding Political Parties in New Democracies (2006) and Promoting the Rule of Law Abroad: In Search of Knowledge (2006), as well as many articles in prominent journals and newspapers.  He has previously worked as an attorney at Arnold & Porter in Washington and at the Office of the Legal Adviser of the U.S. Department of State.  He is a graduate of Harvard Law School, the London School of Economics, and Harvard College.

Please RSVP by Oct 9 (cgcs@asc.upenn.edu)

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for Global Communication Studies at the Annenberg School for Communication and the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for the Advanced Study of India, South Asia Center, Center for East Asian Studies, and Middle East Center.

 

October 15, 1 PM

Location: Room 203, Claudia Cohen Hall

Public Lecture

The Neglected Contributions of Medieval Muslim Scholars to the Development of Economic Science

Speaker: Hamid Hosseini, International Business, King's College

 

October 15, 4:30 PM

Location: The Kaleidoscope Lenfest Theater, Ursinus College

The Wright Lecture on Middle Eastern Affairs

Speaker: Robert Lacey

Lacey, a British journalist and bestselling author who has become one of the most sought-after resources on Saudi Arabia, recently partnered with NOW on PBS for a documentary titled “Rehab for Terrorists,” which explores Saudi Arabia’s controversial terrorist rehabilitation program. He is also an advisor on the upcoming IMAX Theatre film, Arabia 3D, which will open in 2010. He is the author of the bestselling books Majesty and Ford: The Men and the Machine, among others. In 1979, he moved with his family to Saudi Arabia for 18 months to research his new book, which was banned by the Saudis.

This event is open and free to the public.

 

October 16, 3:00-4:30 PM

Location: NYC, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC area

International Day for the Eradication of Poverty Program

This event is a three way videoconference with the United Nations, UNA-Greater Philadelphia and Council of Organizations in support of the StandAgainstPoverty events and the Murutunguru Village in Tanzania. It will begin with a 45 minute program structured with support resources from the StandAgainstPoverty campaign, and will be followed by a 45 minute interactive videoconference on the work being done in Murutunguru Village to eliminate poverty in their community.

This event is co-sponsored by Council of Organizations, Global Education Motivators, UNA-Greater Philadelphia, the Middle East Center, and many other organizations.

 

October 27, 12 PM (Canceled)

Location: Room 203, Graduate School of Education

Public Lecture

The Crisis of an Islamic Republic

Speaker: Hamid Dabashi, Institute for Comparative Literature and Society, Columbia University

Dr. Dabashi is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York, the oldest and most prestigious Chair in Iranian Studies. He has written 18 books, edited 4, and contributed chapters to many more. He is also the author of over 100 essays, articles and book reviews in major scholarly and peer reviewed journals on subjects ranging from Iranian Studies, medieval and modern Islam, comparative literature, world cinema, and the philosophy of art (trans-aesthetics).

To read more about Dr. Hamid Dabashi, visit here.

 

October 27, 7 PM

Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival

Location: International House (3701 Chestnut Street)

Villa Jasmin

Serge Moati (Clément Sibony), a young, handsome Parisian and his equally beautiful wife visit La Goulette, Tunisia. Their mission: to discover Moati’s family roots (seen in flashbacks from the 1920s through World War II). The film explores an exotic Jewish culture, which is marred by the impact of the Vichy Government under German Occupation in the 1940s.

This film is in French with English subtitles.  It's free for students!  For non-students, tickets are $8 if purchased in advanced or $10 at the door. For more information, please visit https://www.gershmany.org/films.php?filmid=62

 

October 30, 12 PM

A Book Signing

Location: Penn Bookstore

Murder in the Name of Honer

Rana Husseini, award-winning journalist of the Jordan Times

Rana Husseini is a senior investigative reporter for the Jordan Times and an award-winning journalist who has devoted her life-long career to dispelling the myths and revealing the truths behind so-called 'honor crimes'  and is currently on tour throughout major cities in the US launching the release of her new book on the subject, Murder in the Name of Honor, available in both Arabic and English.

For more information about her U.S. tour, please visit here.

 

NOVEMBER

November 3, 9 AM -3 PM

Teachers' Workshop

Location: Penn Museum (3260 S. Street)

CSI: Egypt

Penn Museum and the Middle East Center are inviting all teachers and life-long learners to attend its first Teacher's Workshop of the season. Participants will attend interactive lectures on Forensic Anthropology and Arabic language, and have a tour Mesopotamia, Islamic, and Egyptian galleries, including the newly-installed Iraq's Ancient Past.  Also, participants will receive NJ or PA professional development credits.

Please RSVP by October 28 to Jenn (215-898-4016 or jreif@sas.upenn.edu).

For a flier, click here.

 

November 5, 5 PM

Location: Room 202, Williams Hall

Americans in Turkey: A History Worth Remembering

Speaker: Sylvia Onder, Division of Eastern Mediterranean Languages, Georgetown University

Dr. Sylvia Wing Önder has been teaching Turkish Language and Culture at Georgetown since the Fall Semester of 1998, when she created Georgetown's first Intensive Beginning Turkish class (6 credits per semester) and developed Intermediate and Advanced levels for growing numbers of students. Along with language classes, she has taught a range of classes in Turkish Culture, Cultural Anthropology, Central Asian Cultures, and seminars for the School of Foreign Service's Culture and Politics major. Dr. Önder's research is primarily ethnographic, including long term stays in a Turkish Black Sea village to study women's lives and traditional healing practices.

 

November 6, 8 PM

Location: Lawrence Hall, Rosemont College (1400 Montgomery Avenue, Rosemont)

Journalism in Constitutional Iran

Speaker: Negin Nabavi, History, Montclair State University

Dr. Nabavi obtained her D.Phil in 1997 and since 1998, when she moved to the US, has taught at Princeton University, University of Maryland and NYU. Her field of research is the intellectual and cultural history of 19th and 20th century Iran. She has published a book entitled Intellectuals and the State in Iran: Politics, Discourse and the Dilemma of Authenticity (University of Florida Press, 2003), and is currently working on another on the emergence of the public sphere in early twentieth century Iran. Her other areas of interest include cinema and popular culture, as well as women’s movements in the Middle East. She has also taught many courses on aspects of the political history of the Middle East.

This event will be followed by solo Tar performance by Amin Torabkhani.

Co-sponsored by Shabahang and the Middle East Center.

 

November 9, 5 PM

Location: B26, Stiteler Hall (208 South 37th Street)

War and Modernity: The Making of the New Jerusalem

Speaker: Salim Tamari, Sociology, Birzeit University

Salim Tamari is director of the Institute of Jerusalem Studies and professor of sociology at Birzeit University. He is currently a visiting fellow at the Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture at MIT. Dr. Tamari, who holds a PhD in sociology from Manchester University, is one of Palestine’s most distinguished scholars. His research draws heavily on archival materials and personal diaries to examine the social and political forces that shaped and re-shaped Palestine in the 20th century. He is author of "Jerusalem 1948: The Arab Neighborhoods and Their Fate in the War", "Palestinian Refugee Negotiations: From Madrid to Oslo II", and most recently, "Mountain against the Sea: Essays on Palestinian Society and Culture", published in 2008 by the University of California Press. Dr. Tamari served on the refugee committee in the multilateral peace talks that began in the wake of the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference.

 

November 11, 12:30 PM

Location: A 17, Caster Building (3701 Locust Walk)

What Can the US Do to Make Israeli-Palestinian Pease Possible?

Speaker: Gershon Baskin, Israeli CEO of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI)

Gershon Baskin, Ph.D., is the Israeli Co-Director and founder of the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI) - a joint Israeli-Palestinian public policy think. He initiated the founding of IPCRI in 1988 following ten years of work in the field of Jewish-Arab relations within Israel, in Interns for Peace, the Ministry of Education and as Executive Director of the Institute for Education for Jewish-Arab Coexistence (established by the Israeli Ministry of Education and the Prime Minister's Office). He has published books and hundreds of articles in the Hebrew, English and Arabic press about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict including: A Model Interim Agreement, Aspects of Internal Security in During the Interim Period, The Future of Jerusalem, How to Conduct Business in the Palestinian Territories, The Future of the Israeli Settlements in Final Status Negotiation, and more. Dr. Baskin meets regularly with Israeli and Palestinian policy makers at their invitation as well as similar people from the international diplomatic community and international organizations.

 

November 12, 5 PM
Multi-Lingual Poetry Reading

Location: Kelly Writers House Arts Cafe (3805 Locust Walk)
A Sea of Voices

MEC is proud to co-sponsor this multi-lingual group poetry reading, drawn from a recent anthology, A Sea of Voices: Women Poets in Israel, edited by Marjorie Agosin. The anthology collects poems by women who wrote or write in a number of languages in Israel--Hebrew, Yiddish, Ladino, Arabic, German, Spanish, English, Russian, German, and Finnish. The event will feature readings by Marjorie Agosin, a Spanish professor at Wellesly College, as well as Penn faculty and students.

 

November 14, 8 PM

Philadelphia Jewish Film Festival

Location: Gershman Y (401 S. Broad Street)

The Wedding Song

In the midst of the Third Reich’s occupation of Tunis in 1942, two teenage friends, one a Sephardic Jew and the other a Muslim, prepare for their arranged marriages. When political upheaval threatens their friendship, the young women must decide what truly matter in their lives. This rich and complex film delves deep into the director’s fascination with feminine sexuality and religious intolerance.

This film is in Arabic and French with English subtitles.  It's free for students!  For non-students, the tickets are $10 if purchased in advance, $12 at the door, or $30 including reception. For more information, please visit https://www.gershmany.org/films.php?filmid=77

 

DECEMBER

December 2, 6 PM

Book Signing

Location: Penn Bookstore

Objects of Remembrance: A Memoir by Monroe Price

Speaker: Monroe Price, Professor in the Annenberg School of Communication

December 4, 8 PM

Shabahang Monthly Meeting

Location: Lawrence Hall, Rosemont College

The Bakhtiaries

Speaker: Dr. Cima Sedigh, Sacred Heart University
Film - The Bakhtiari Alphabet, by Reza Ghadiani and Cima Sedigh