Lecture location: 19 Washington Square North, Events Space
To attend, please RVSP to 19wsn.rsvp@nyu.edu
Although the Arab Spring has brought new focus on the political dynamics reshaping North Africa and the Middle East, the demonstrations and demands for social, economic, and cultural transformation did not occur instantaneously. Over the course of the past two decades there has been noticeable change, particularly in civil society, the business community, and the media, but the path forward continues to be uncertain. This series explores topics that demonstrate trends in the Middle East leading to the Arab Spring and considers what the future may hold for the region.
Spring 2012 Events
Contemporary Photography in the Middle East
February 8, 2012 | 6:30-8:00 PM
Exhibition Opening 5:30 PM
Exhibition: February 8 – April 11, 2012
Yasser Alwan Cairo-based Photographer
Shamoon Zamir Associate Professor of Literature and Visual Arts, NYUAD
In conversation with Shamoon Zamir, Alwan discusses his first retrospective exhibition of photographs featuring images from Egypt as well as his 25 years of travel throughout the Middle East and North Africa. The photographs focus on the common and the quotidian; ordinary people going about their daily lives in a world that has been steadily decaying around them until they discover their collective strength lies in their individual weakness.
The Growing Arab Youth Population
March 6, 2012 | 6:30-8:00 PM
Amaney Jamal Associate Professor of Politics, Princeton University
Pascal Menoret Assistant Professor, The Arab Crossroads, NYUAD
In 2011, the Pew Research Center released a report on demographic trends of the global Muslim population. Although the projected Muslim growth rate is slower than it has been for the last two decades, the findings show that the world Muslim population is expected to increase by about 3.5% in the next 20 years — twice the rate of growth for non-Muslim groups. This program will contextualize the report's results within the ever-changing political and economic climate of the Middle East and discuss what they mean for future relations among Middle Eastern nations and the region's connections with the West.
Fall 2011 Events
Rock the Casbah: The New Social Order of the Middle East
September 26, 2011 | 6:30-8:00 PM
Robin Wright Journalist and Foreign Affairs Analyst; Author of Rock the Casbah: How Street Vendors, Sheikhs, Rappers, and Women are Shattering the Old Order (Simon & Schuster, 2011)
Award-winning journalist Robin Wright tells the inside stories behind the rage and rebellions across the Islamic world, which represent the greatest push for empowerment anywhere in the early 21st century. A decade after the 9/11 attacks, Wright explores the new "counter-jihad" against both dictators and extremists. The new trends are most visible in political uprisings in pivotal countries like Egypt, Tunisia, Syria, Libya, Yemen, and Bahrain. But she also explains the new culture of change — reflected among Muslim rappers, comedians, playwrights, and poets — that will be just as important in defining the next decade.
The Chronicle of Her Innocence: A Conversation with Bahar Behbahani
September 29, 2011 | 5:30-8:00 PM
Bahar Behbahani New York-based Iranian Artist
Sam Bardaouil Curatorial Director, Art Reoriented
Born in Iran, Bahar Behbahani is a multidisciplinary artist who lives and works in New York and Tehran. Her work, The Chronicle of Her Innoncence, is on view at 19 Washington Square North. In conjunction with the opening of the exhibition, Ms. Behbahani will discuss with Sam Bardaouil the tensions evoked in her paintings and video projects between word and image; public and private behavior; and truth and subterfuge. This program will feature a screening of Saffron Tea.
A Conversation with Mohammed Achaari, 2011 Arab Booker Prize Winner
October 17, 2011 | 6:30-8:00 PM
Mohammed Achaari Moroccan writer and politician
Sinan Antoon Assistant Professor, Gallatin School of Individualized Study, NYU
In this author's conversation, Moroccan writer Mohammed Achaari will discuss his novel The Arch and the Butterfly, which confronts themes of Islamic extremism and terrorism from a different angle. A letter from Al-Qaeda informing a father of his son's death as a martyr in Afghanistan sets the story into motion as the life of the father and his relationship with his wife unravel as a result of this shocking news. Achaari's book will be placed in relationship to his previous written works and his career as a journalist and politician.
Mohammed Achaari jointly received the 2011 International Prize for Arabic Fiction (IPAF) with Saudi Arabian writer Raja Alem. The IPAF was launched in April, 2007 in Abu Dhabi and is supported by the Booker Prize Foundation and the Emirates Foundation. The prize is the most prestigious literary award in the Arab World.
Arab Film: Past, Present, Future
November 14, 2011 | 6:30-8:00 PM
Jytte Jensen Curator, Department of Film, Museum of Modern Art
Peter Scarlet Executive Director, Abu Dhabi Film Festival
Since the 1960s the Arab world has fostered experimental, innovative, and creative filmmaking that continues to inform filmmakers today. Until the recent commencement of the Mapping Subjectivities project, organized by ArteEast and the Museum of Modern Art, there have been few attempts to develop a full archive of Arab cinema to trace the development of filmmaking in the Middle East and to bring these films to Western audiences. This discussion will consider the historic place of cinema in the Middle East and the current and future role film festivals, like the Abu Dhabi film festival, will have in creating a vibrant film culture and industry in the region.
