"The Class" will be presented and discussed with / by Professor Leon Sachs of French.
For more information visit: http://libguides.uky.edu/eurofilm
For several decades, studying Islam in Central Asia meant beginning with questions, analytical categories, and conceptual frameworks rooted in Soviet and Russian studies; this approach, combined with a lack of basic understanding of the historical experience of Central Asian Muslims prior to the Soviet era, led to host of misconceptions surrounding the character of Muslim religious life in the Soviet era, the impact of Soviet policies and realities, and trends in the renegotiation of religious identities in the post-Soviet age. Recent years have brought, in some circles, growing awareness of the need for approaches drawn from Islamic studies and from a historically-grounded understanding of the history of Muslim religiosity in Central Asia. This lecture will discuss some of the misconceptions rooted in the ‘Sovietological’ approach to Islam in the region, and the lessons to be drawn from viewing the region through the lens of Islamic studies, with a particular focus on the ways in which religiosity was manifested in Soviet times, and on the ways in which religiosity shaped or interacted with notions of ‘national’ identity.
Divahn features the Middle Eastern and Sephardic Jewish Music of Galeet Dardashti.
Iranian-descended singer Galeet Dardashti leads Divahn's edgy all-female power-house ensemble. The group has engendered an international following, performing in venues ranging from international concert halls to the most prestigious clubs in NYC. Infusing traditional and original Middle Eastern Jewish songs with sophisticated harmonies, entrancing improvisations, and funky arrangements, Divahn's thrilling live shows feature lush string arrangements, eclectic Indian, Middle Eastern, and Latin percussion, and vocals spanning Hebrew, Judeo-Spanish, Persian, Arabic, and Aramaic. “Divan,” a word common to Hebrew, Persian, and Arabic, means a collection of songs or poetry. Through their music, the group creatively underscores common ground between diverse Middle Eastern cultures and religion.
Professor Joel Gordon will explore the depiction of ‘normative’ religious practices and personal expressions of religious identity in recent Egyptian movies with a particular focus is on Egyptian youth. Whereas in the past signs of piety had been restricted to either ‘traditional’ Egyptians – often in comic fashion – or political extremists, a few recent films have dared to depict ‘normal’ veiled women and bearded men and even a social environment in which questions of piety, morality and proper behavior dominate the discussions, concerns and conflicts between young Egyptians. These films may point to a growing willingness by film artists to honestly explore social trends that have been taboo, especially as Egypt enters a new political era.
Prof. Joel Gordon: Professor of History and Director of Middle East Studies, University of Arkansas; Specialist in modern Egyptian history and Arab popular culture; Author of Nasser' Blessed Movement, Revolutionary Melodrama, and Nasser: Hero of the Arab Nation
One of the most respected American scholarly authority on Islam, John L. Esposito, visited the University of Kentucky Wednesday, September 10, 2014, to discuss “The Future of Islam: Assessing the Elements of Reform, Revival, and Fundamentalism in the Muslim World,” at the Singletary Center Recital Hall.
This year's Passport to the World will engage the campus community in crucial global conversations through public lectures, cultural events, coursework and travel opportunities.
“Specters of War” examines the influence of post-9/11 American military interventions in the Middle East on the production of both American and Arab literature. Focusing on images of ghosts, spectral illusions, the undead and the undying, the talk attempts to locate zones of inter-textual contact where contemporary American and Arab literary voices move past mutual redactions and engage one another’s respective cultural realities. The goal is to both introduce Arab literary voices into the conversation about America’s presence in the Middle East and to interrogate the haunting presence of the Middle East in contemporary American literature. Works discussed will include Ali Bader’s The Tobacco Keeper, Hassan Blasim’s The Corpse Experiment and Other Stories of Iraq, Mohamedou Ould Slahi’s Guantanamo Diary, Theo Padnos’s “My Captivity,” Phil Klay’s Redployment, and Ross Ritchell’s The Knife.
The youth revolts of 2011 and after in the Arab world have permanently changed the face of the region. While most observers have mainly interpreted them through the lens of high politics, this talk argues that the big story here is the rise of a new generation of young Arabs, the Millennials, who have innovated in grassroots organization (including, but not limited to new ways of using social media for politics). It is too soon to know thow he political struggles that they initiated will end. But it is certain that a new generation, with distinctive values and aspirations, has announced its arrival on the scene.
This lecture will examine the historical foundations of U.S. relations with and approaches to Iraq that influence the dynamics of the current events and crises in that country and its region.
As a research scholar, Professor Hahn specializes in U.S. foreign relations in the Middle East since 1940. His publications include Missions Accomplished?: The United States and Iraq since World War I (Oxford University Press, 2011); Historical Dictionary of U.S.-Middle East Relations (Rowman and Littlefield, 2007); Crisis and Crossfire: The United States and the Middle East since 1945 (Potomac Books, 2005); Caught in the Middle East: U.S. Policy Toward the Arab-Israeli Conflict, 1945-1961 (University of North Carolina Press, 2004); Empire and Revolution: The United States and the Third World Since 1945 (co-edited with Mary Ann Heiss, Ohio State University Press, 2001); and The United States, Great Britain, and Egypt, 1945-1956: Strategy and Diplomacy in the Early Cold War (University of North Carolina Press, 1991).
Professor Hahn’s research has been supported by the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Truman Library Institute, the John F. Kennedy Library, the Lyndon Johnson Foundation, the Eisenhower World Affairs Institute, the Office of United States Air Force History, and the U.S. Army Center of Military History. He has lectured across the United States and in Canada, Britain, France, Switzerland, Norway, Germany, Austria, Russia, and Israel.
Professor Hahn is committed to undergraduate and graduate instruction. In collaboration with Ohio State colleagues, he has advised or co-advised more than two dozen doctoral dissertations in U.S. foreign relations history and has helped to launch new undergraduate study abroad programs on World War II and its impact on the modern world.
Since 2002, Professor Hahn has served as Executive Director of the Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations, a professional society of some 1,600 members in four dozen countries. In 2010, Governor Ted Strickland appointed Professor Hahn to a five-year term on the State of Ohio’s War of 1812 Bicentennial Commission. Professor Hahn served as associate editor of Diplomatic History in 1991-2002.
