Past Events

Piety and Pleasure: Youth Negotiations of Moral Authority in South Beirut

Tuesday, 3/19/2013, 5:00pm - 7:00pm

In this lecture, Dr. Deeb will discuss the ways in which young Shi'i Muslims who take their faith seriously negotiate ideas and practices related to leisure in South Beirut — specifically activities related to cafe-going and to dating.

New Babylonians: A History of Jews in Modern Iraq

Tuesday, 3/5/2013, 5:00pm - 7:00pm

Although Iraqi Jews saw themselves as Iraqi patriots, their community--which had existed in Iraq for more than 2,500 years--was displaced following the establishment of the state of Israel.

The 2013 Annual Kuwait Chair Lecture – U.S. Military Intervention in Iraq: Cost and Consequences

Thursday, 2/28/2013, 6:30pm - 9:00pm

On the 10 year anniversary of the U.S. intervention, Ambassador Gnehm will reflect on the costs and consequences of that action on the U.S., Iraq, specifically, and the Middle East, more broadly.

Tragic Moderns: Towards a Non-Teleological Reading of Feminist Politics in Contemporary Morocco

Monday, 2/25/2013, 5:00pm - 7:00pm

In her new paper, Dr. Guessous juxtaposes invocations of the "traditional, pious but egalitarian" father figure with that of "the failed and disappointing leftist husband who claims to be modern but is in fact traditional" in order to complicate our understanding of the relationship between feminism and tradition and to think about the imperatives of modern progressive politics.

Arabs and Muslims in the Media after 9/11: Patriotic Arab Americans, Oppressed Muslim Women and Sympathetic Feelings

Thursday, 2/21/2013, 5:00pm - 7:00pm

This talk will review various forms of positive imagery of Arabs and Muslims in TV dramas and news reporting since 9/11 and explain why the production and circulation of "positive" representations of the "enemy" is essential to depicting the United States as a benevolent superpower, especially amidst declarations of war and propagation of racist policies.