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Afghan

Autumn Reads: Levantine Recommended Titles

Subtitle: 
new anthologies, history and fiction provide plenty to think and dream about...
Halal Pork and Other Stories, by Cihan Kaan


In Halal Pork and Other Stories, Cihan Kaan projects an avant garde, post 9/11 world, from the perspective of a young Muslim New Yorker. It's a place where Coney Island meets Mars; where hijabi girls are punk rock dervishes; where identity salesmen count pigeons at insane asylums as a cream cheese conspiracy brews in gitmo; where rich boys pay to be Muslim for a day; where the transgendered are holy; and where the bacon is halal. Kaan offers up five urban Sufi tales in the swirling graffiti of Brooklyn.

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Javed Jabbar on Pakistan-U.S.: Anatomy of a Relationship

Event Details
Date/Time: 
Nov 1 2011 7:00pm - 8:30pm
Price: 
Free to the public. Donations welcome ($10 general, $5 students suggested)
RSVP by email
Click here to RSVP with donation
Where: 
Mark Taper Auditorium
Richard J. Riordan Central Library
Fifth and Flower Streets
Downtown Los Angeles
parking in the underground garage, entering on Flower
ADA accommodations available upon request.
Subtitle: 
Public forum in the MENA-X series

Javed Jabbar is a distinguished Pakistani author, filmmaker and activist.

The Afghans: Pictures of Resilience, 2001-2011

Event Details
Date/Time: 
Sep 10 2011 3:00pm - 6:00pm
Price: 
Free to the public.
Where: 
SHARQ Gallery
537 Arbramar Ave
Pacific Palisades, CA 90272
info 310.459.6041
Subtitle: 
an exhibition of photographs by Peter Bussian at Sharq Gallery
Nahid Massoud and Robert Rosenstone invite you to view "The Afghans"—a new exhibit at the Sharq Gallery, opening Saturday, September 10, 3-6 pm, and continuing Sept. 11-Oct. 6 by appointment. Info.

After 9/11: A Global World View

Subtitle: 
The author of "Destiny Disrupted" sees the world through Islamic eyes even as the east-west narrative becomes more complex
By Tamim Ansary


For decades or perhaps even centuries, disparate societies around the globe have been growing more and more intertwined. A single world culture is emerging; or at least the history of the world as told in different places is merging into the single history of us all.

After 9/11, A Community Roundtable

Event Details
Date/Time: 
Sep 11 2011 5:00pm - 8:00pm
Price: 
Suggested donation $11 (students $5) includes light refreshments (no-one turned away for lack of funds) to benefit the center
Where: 
Levantine Cultural Center
5998 W. Pico Blvd
Los Angeles CA 90035
ample street parking
between La Cienega and Fairfax
Subtitle: 
artists, activists and general public gather for an open dialogue on our lives since 9/11

Activists, artists, writers and members of the general public are invited to participate in a community roundtable discussion on the events of 9/11, including the invasion and occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, the passing of the USA Patriot Act, the "war on terror," Islamophobia, the Green Movement in Iran in 2009, and this year's Arab Spring and just what we can look forward to in the months and years ahead.

American Foreign Policy in Afghanistan in "Crossing Zero"

"AFGHANISTAN: THE WAR, THE PEOPLE"
WITH CO-AUTHORS ELIZABETH GOULD & PAUL FITZGERALD
DISCUSSED AT THE LEVANTINE CULTURAL CENTER
APRIL 7, 2011

Afghanistan: The War, the People

Event Details
Date/Time: 
Apr 7 2011 7:00pm - 9:00pm
Price: 
Free to the public. Donation of $10 or purchase of book suggested.
Where: 
Levantine Cultural Center
5998 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90035-2657
between La Cienega Blvd. and Fairfax Ave.
street parking
Subtitle: 
Elizabeth Gould & Paul Fitzgerald present latest book on the Afghanistan-Pakistan war
The new book from the authors of "Invisible History": Afghanistan's Untold StoryThe new book from the authors of "Invisible History": Afghanistan's Untold StoryThe United States is spending an estimated $1 million per soldier per year for each of the 120,000 troops stationed in Afghanistan, but what do Americans really know about the war there? What do we know about the people of that distant land, bordered by Iran and Pakistan? To address these and other questions, journalists Elizabeth Gould and Paul Fitzgerald—reporting from Afghanistan since the 1980s—will present their new book Crossing Zero: The Afpak War At The Turning Point Of American Empire at the Levantine Cultural Center on April 7, 2011, 7:00 pm, 5998 W. Pico Blvd., Los Angeles, CA, 90035. This will be the co-authors' second appearance at the LCC following their presentation of Invisible History: Afghanistan's Untold Story in 2009.

"Crossroads," "Afghanistan," and "Love, Sex, and Other Dangerous Pursuits"

Event Details
Date/Time: 
Mar 18 2011 4:30pm
Price: 
Free to the public. Light snacks and cash bar available.
Where: 
L.A. Film School
6363 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles CA 90028
Subtitle: 
Day 3 of Women's Voices from the Muslim World: A Short-Film Festival.

4:30-6:30pm CROSSROADS: THE INTERSECTION OF CULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS NORMS

Roundtable Discussion with:

  • Rakibul Hasan, Festival filmmaker and director of Hilla
  • Susana Casares, Festival filmmaker and director of Avant Propos
  • Alysse Stepanian, Festival filmmaker and director of Roghieh
  • Ola Diab, Festival filmmaker and director of The Unveiled
  • Miriam Wakim, WVN Director (Moderator)

6:30-7:30 Book Reading and Signing with Christina Asquith, author of Sisters in War

7:30-9:30 AFGHANISTAN: FILMS IN A SUITCASE

Roundtable Discussion with:

  • Christina Asquith, author of Sisters in War
  • Alka Sadat, Festival filmmaker and director of Half Value Life and We Are Postmodern
  • Nushin Arbabzadah, Research Scholar at the UCLA Center for the Study of Women
  • Catinca Tabacaru, WVN Executive Director (Moderator)

10:00-12:00 LOVE, SEX AND OTHER DANGEROUS PURSUITS

Q&A with:

  • Laila Hotait, Festival filmmakers and director of Basita and Absent Spaces
  • Mostafa Heravi, Festival filmmaker and director of It Is Written and Somaye
  • Jeff Kaufman, Documentarian and director of Free Shane and Josh: An Urgent Plea for Compassion
  • Catinca Tabacaru, WVN Executive Director (Moderator)

 

Women’s Voices from the Muslim World: A Short-Film Festival

Event Details
Date/Time: 
Mar 18 2011 4:30pm - Mar 19 2011 10:00pm
Price: 
Free to the public. Light snacks and cash bar available.
Where: 
L.A. Film School
6363 Sunset Blvd
Los Angeles 90028
877.952.3456
Subtitle: 
Many new short films have never been seen in the West

Women's Voices from the Muslim World: A Short-Film Festival presents a collection of voices from women of all faiths living in Muslim-majority countries and Muslim women living as minorities around the world that fills the void in information created by traditional news, media and art sources.

The selection includes many never-before-seen films from women filmmakers in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.

A Satire on Afghanistan Scolds U.S. Occupation

Subtitle: 
"Shadow Anthropology" uses puppetry, live action, to criticize war, drugs and religion

Reviewed by Nicole Tellier

...As a poor Afghan family struggles to hold onto its farm in spite of a drought, a warlord offers possible solutions, including a more profitable crop, as well as an odd marriage proposal for the farmer's young daughter... a scene from "Shadow Anthropology": Photo by Nigel Dookhooa scene from "Shadow Anthropology": Photo by Nigel Dookhoo

Shadow Anthropology: A Post-9/11 Comedy is a provocative and poignantly dark ensemble piece written by Rick Mitchell, and supported by the Puffin Foundation and the CSUN Faculty Research Fellows Program, that incorporates vulgar Turkish shadow puppetry and comic song as a stark commentary on the U.S. occupation in Afghanistan. With Shadow Anthropology, a conflict seemly distant from the American public is placed front and center. The play is critical of U.S. occupation strategies that are intended to reduce conflict, but only fuel it through ignorance. Primarily taking place in rural Afghanistan, the play satirically examines a number of pressing issues including the evolution of culture, efficacy of the U.S. Human Terrain Team, depth of opium production within Afghan society and women's rights within an extreme form of Islam. In exploring how the external pressures of war, drugs and religion control the daily narratives of those involved, it eases reality through a comedy that will cause both laughter and discomfort simultaneously.