Life Worlds of Middle Eastern Oil

Starting from a discussion of the main themes that inspired the recent volume Life Worlds of Middle Eastern Oil: Histories and Ethnographies of Black Gold, edited by Nelida Fuccaro and Mandana Limbert, this conversation brings to the table alternative historical experiences of oil in the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, and the Persian Gulf before the 1970s. Drawing on some of Professor Fuccaro’s recent work, it reflects on issues of oil’s visibility, invisibility, and mediation, and on the power of petroleum’s novel material cultures—magazines, photographs, cars, and technical and urban infrastructure—to create social, cultural, and political imaginaries, as well as visual and artistic practices.

Speakers

• Nelida Fuccaro, Co-Editor, "Life Worlds of Middle Eastern Oil: Histories and Ethnographies of Black Gold" (Edinburgh University Press, 2023); Professor of Middle Eastern History and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies, NYUAD

In conversation with

• Arang Keshavarzian, Associate Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies and Department Chair, Department of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, NYU, New York University

In Collaboration with