Institute For Middle East Studies

The IMES annual conference is a multidisciplinary event that brings together top scholars and practitioners from across the US. The organizing theme for this year’s meeting is cultural production and critique (broadly conceived) with the aim of examining the political, social and cultural role of art in the midst of repression and violent conflict. 8:45 a.m. - Coffee and Registration 9:00 a.m. - Introductory Remarks Marc Lynch, George Washington University 9:15 a.m. - Panel I: The Slow Burn - Art and Expression in Occupied Palestine Ted Swedenburg, University of Arkansas Rebecca Stein, Duke University David McDonald, Indiana University 11:00 a.m. - Panel II: Telling Others' Stories - Collecting, Translating, and Interpreting the Art of the Revolutions Hisham Aidi, Columbia University Max Weiss, Princeton University Donatella Della Ratta, Copenhagen University 12:30 p.m. - Lunch and Keynote: "A Momentary Erasure of Millennia: The Cultural Heritage Crises in Syria & Iraq" Michael Danti, Boston University 2:00 p.m. - Panel III: War as Backdrop - Iraqi Film and Literature Oday Rasheed, Writer and Director Elliott Colla, Georgetown University Ali Bader, Writer and Director Kevin Jones, University of Georgia