Welcome
to Our Calendar |
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To inquire about getting events listed, email Colleen Martin, Calendar
Editor. [Send all photos as small jpegs or gifs.]
To
learn about previous events, scroll to bottom of the page. All programs
free unless otherwise noted.
May
2 (Tues.), 2:00-4 pm—Foucault
and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism
Professors Janet Afary and Kevin Anderson of Purdue University discuss
their new book on Foucault and the Iranian Revolution.
Dr. Janet Afary is an Associate Professor of History and Women’s
Studies at Purdue University, Indiana. She is the author of The Iranian
Constitutional Revolution: Grassroots Democracy, Social Democracy, and
the Origins of Feminism (Columbia University Press, 1996), which was
also translated and published in Iran (Bisotoun, 2000) and co-author of
Foucault and the Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism
(University of Chicago Press, 2005). She is the current president of the
International Society for Iranian Studies (2004-2006).
Dr. Kevin Anderson is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political
Science at Purdue University. He is the co-author of Foucault and the
Iranian Revolution: Gender and the Seductions of Islamism (Chicago:
University of Chicago Press, 2005) and the author of Lenin, Hegel and
Western Marxism: A Critical Study (Urbana: University of Illinois
Press, 1995). Currently, he is a participant in the Marx-Engels Gesamtausgabe,
an international project to publish the whole of the writing of Marx and
Engels, for which he is helping to edit a volume on non-Western societies
and gender.
UCLA
Bunche Hall 6275, Los Angeles, CA 90095
More info, Peter Szanton,
Center for Near Eastern Studies, 310.825.1455, or visit the Center for
Near Eastern Studies calendar.
May
3 (Wed.), 3:30-5 pm—"Islamist Movements and the Problem of Democracy
in the Arab World," Michael Herb at UCLA
Organized
by UCLA's International Institute and the Center for Near Eastern Studies.
All lectures on Wednesdays at 3:30 pm in Bunche Hall 10383.
Michael Herb is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political
Science at Georgia State University. His research interests include democracy
and authoritarianism in the Arab world, the Gulf monarchies, and oil and
politics. He is author of All in the Family: Absolutism, Revolution
and Democracy in the Middle Eastern Monarchies (Albany: State University
of New York Press, 1999) and has published articles in Middle East Journal,
Studies in Comparative International Development, and Journal of Democracy,
among others.More
info.
More
info, Peter Szanton,
Center for Near Eastern Studies, 310.825.1455, or visit the Center for
Near Eastern Studies calendar.
"The
Syrian Bride" at Laemmle's Fairfax 3
"The
Syrian Bride" is set in the sweeping mountainous
region along the Israeli and Syrian border. Leaving her village in the
Golan Heights, Mona (Clara Khoury) is preparing to cross the border and
begin an arranged marriage to a Syrian television star she has never met.
Even with the pending celebrations, this could be the saddest day in Mona's
life—once she crosses to the other side she may never see her family
again.
In this colorful Middle Eastern drama, the hard politics of the region
fall away to reveal a personal and intimate mosaic of the rituals of marriage,
family and community. Told with humor, compassion and a rare insight into
the plight of women living in this region, "The
Syrian Bride"
is about physical and emotional borders and the will to cross them.
Hiam Abbass (PARADISE NOW, MUNICH) stars as Mona's older sister, Amal,
a modern woman trapped in a tradition and culture she longs to break free
from. Makram J. Khoury (FREE ZONE) stars as Mona's father and his real-life
daughter Clara Khoury (RANA'S WEDDING) portrays Mona.
"The
story is utterly compelling, all the actors are memorable, and Hiam Abbass
reaches levels of greatness. This is a must-see film." —Jordan
Elgrably
"The
Syrian Bride"
was co-written by Riklis and Palestinian-Israeli screenwriter and documentary
filmmaker, Suha Arraf, and directed by Eran Riklis. It received the Best
Film Award at the 2004 Montreal Film Festival and has won numerous awards
at film festivals around the world, including a Nomination for Best Actress
at the 2005 European Film Awards.
In Arabic, English, Hebrew and some Russian and French with English subtitles.
Running Time: 97 mins. Unrated. At Laemmle's
Fairfax 3. Visit The
Syrian Bride web site.
May
7 (Sun.), 4-6 pm—"The Arab Americans with Gregory Orfalea"
at the Craft and Folk Art Museum
Gregory
Orfalea's powerful, personal account of more than 100 years of the history
of Arab Americans combines the research of a historian with the vivid
storytelling of a poet and novelist. Orfalea's search for insight into
his family's past took him on a ten-year odyssey from Los Angeles to his
family's ancestral village in Syria to nearly thirty Arab-American communities
across the United States.
His archival research and interviews with more than a hundred Arab Americans—from
taxi drivers and shopkeepers to White House correspondent Helen Thomas—culminated
in the 1988 publication of Before the Flames. This present volume
is an updating and complete revisiting of that seminal project, for much,
indeed, has happened to Arab Americans since that time. Orfalea here extends
his interviews to the important Arab-American communities in Detroit and
Washington, and revisits the history of Arab-American political organizations
excluded from his earlier book when it was deemed "too political."
Arab Americans is a moving depiction of life on the inside of a community
that has found itself increasingly in the spotlight, but none the better
understood for it.
Gregory Orfalea is director
of the writing center at Pitzer College in California and co-editor of
Grape Leaves: A Century of Arab-American Poetry.
"Beautifully
written, the book is a much-needed entry in an all but empty field, and
is blessedly free of both jargon and jingoism... It traces the century-long
arc of Arab American immigration, illuminating assimilation and ethnic
politics with a loving yet candid eye as the narrative shifts between
observations historical, personal and statistical." —Publishers
Weekly, Starred Review
"A start toward recording
the history of an underdocumented, influential presence in American society."
— Kirkus Reviews
Sunday, May 7, 4-6 pm, Craft and
Folk Art Museum, 5814 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles 90036 (across from LACMA
and the La Brea Tar Pits). Free to the public, donations requested, reservations
required as seating is limited. Call 310.559.5544.
May
8 (Wed.), 3:30-5 pm—"Islamic Education and Madrasas in the UK
and US," Peter Mandaville at UCLA
In Spring Quarter 2006, the Center for Near Eastern Studies and the Center
for European and Eurasian Studies, together with the Department of Sociology,
offer a series of public lectures on Muslim Diaspora Communities in Europe
and North America.
Peter P. Mandaville (George Mason University) is Director of the Center
for Global Studies and holds a faculty appointment in the Department of
Public and International Affairs. He is the author of Transnational
Muslim Politics: Reimagining the Umma and has also co-edited The
Zen of International Relations and Meaning and International Relations.
Von Grunebaum Library, 10383 Bunche Hall, Los Angeles, CA 90095.
More info, Peter Szanton,
Center for Near Eastern Studies, 310.825.1455, or visit the Center for
Near Eastern Studies calendar.
May
15 (Wed.), 3:30-5 pm—"Muslims in Europe," Riva Kastoriano
at UCLA
In Spring Quarter 2006, the Center for Near Eastern Studies and the Center
for European and Eurasian Studies, together with the Department of Sociology,
offer a series of public lectures on Muslim Diaspora Communities in Europe
and North America.
Riva Kastoriano (Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris) is Professor of
Sociology and the author of many books and articles including Negotiating
Identities: States and Immigrants in France and Germany (Princeton
University Press, 2002), and Nationalismes en mutation en Méditerranée
Orientale, ed. with A. Dieckhoff (Paris, Editions du CNRS, 2002).