Calendar of Events

• A Presentation by Anouar Benmalik

  Tuesday, September 25, 2012.

  
  Taper Hall 170, 4:30 pm

  Join French Algerian novelist, journalist, poet and mathematician Anouar Benmalik for a discussion of "the gamble of living as a writer in the Arab world."

• Culture and Dignity: Dialogues between the Middle East and the West

  Dr. Laura Nader, professor of anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley, will present a special lecture on a timely topic, based on her new book Culture and Dignity: Dialogues between the Middle East and the West.

  Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012
  4:00 pm
  Hedco Auditorium 100

• The Evolution of the Iraqi and Syrian Security Forces

  A lecture by Ibrahim al-Marashi, California State University San Marcos.

  Thursday, September 20

  2-3:30 pm, Tutor Campus Center 227

• Learn the Dabka!

  Learn the dance steps of Arab folk dance with a professional dabka dancer.

  Wednesday, Sept. 19, 2012

  4:00-6:00 pm

  Mudd Hall 101

• Bombay Islam

  Nile Green, Professor of South Asian and Islamic History at UCLA, will present material from his award-winning book Bombay Islam: The Religious Economy of the West Indian Ocean, 1840-1915.

• Nowruz Banquet

  Celebrate Nowrúz and the Persian New Year with USC’s Middle East Studies Program!

  Tuesday, March 20, 2012, 5-7 pm

  Radisson Hotel, 3540 S. Figueroa, 2nd Floor, Grand Ballroom

  Enjoy a free Persian dinner with the faculty and students of the Middle East Studies Program to usher in the Persian New Year.  Learn about fall courses in Persian, Arabic, and Middle East Studies, and about study abroad opportunities.

• February 9, 2012: "Taking Stock of the Arab Uprisings"

  Professors Laurie Brand (School of International Relations), Fayez Hammad (School of International Relations and Department of Political Science), Rym Kaki (USC Sol Price School of Public Policy), and Jeffrey Nugent (Department of Economics) assessed the current situations in Syria, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Libya, Jordan, Morocco, and Bahrain, one year after last year's unprecedented revolutions and political transformations. 

• November 29, 2011: “Empires of the World”

  Professors Kevin van Bladel (Classics), David Lloyd (English and Comparative Literature) and Azade-Ayse Rorlich (History and Slavic Languages and Literatures) considered how empires bind the story of civilization, and how imperial formations have spanned ancient and modern history and touched nearly every part of the world. Presented by The Dornsife Commons.

• October 27, 2011: “Octobre 61 a 50 ans, Paris Massacre: Then and Now”

  A one-day symposium marked the 50th anniversary of the fatal crackdown on Algerian protesters on October 17, 1961 in Paris. Presented by the USC Department of French and Italian, co-sponsored by the Middle East Studies Program.

• October 25, 2011: “The Moslem Harbors of the Coastal Mediterranean (Bilad al-Sham): Sources and Methods of Analysis”

  Christophe Picard (Paris-La Sorbonne, History). Presented by Mediterranean Seminar.

• October 3, 2011: “Jews in Islamic Courts: The Moroccan Legal System in the 19th Century”

  Jessical Marglin (PhD Candidate, Princeton University, History). Presented by Mediterranean Seminar.

• September 26, 2011: “Sing us a Mawal: The Politics of Culture-Brokering Palestinian-Israeli Musicians in Israel”

  Dr. Galeet Dardashti discussed recent Israeli interest in Arab classical music and the ways performances of the music of artists like Oum Kalthoum, Mohammad Abdul Wahab and Farid Al-Atrash have taken on multiple and divergent meanings in Israel for Palestinian-Israelis, Mizrahim, and peace activists. She described Israeli culture brokers' attempts to balance these sometimes incongruous audiences. Co-sponsored by the Middle East Studies Program.

• March 8, 2011: “The Roots of pre-Adamism in Pre-Islamic Mesopotamia

  Professor Kevin van Bladel (Classics) has been researching the most ancient traces of the belief in people before Adam as part of a group of scholars coordinated from the Institute for Advanced Study. He discussed the genesis of pre-Adamism among ancient Aramaic speakers in Mesopotamia and their indirect legacy for European thinkers who developed pre-Adamism into its racial forms in early modern times. Presented by The Dornsife Commons.

• September 23, 2011: “The Use of Ethnicity in Administrative Categories: Comparing Hellenistic and Roman Egypt”

  Christelle Fischer-Bovet (Classics).  Presented by Mediterranean Seminar.