HAGOP KEVORKIAN CENTER REVIEW 20 14 /2 015 STAFF Director Helga Tawil-Souri Associate Director Greta Scharnweber Director of Graduate Studies Joanne Nucho Clinical Assistant Professor Benoit Challand Program Coordinator Arthur Starr 2014-2015 Outreach Administrator Diana Shin Administrative Aide Sallie Wade Writer-in-Residence Spring 2015 Adam Shatz

Hagop Kevorkian Center New York University 50 Washington Square South, 4th Floor New York, NY 10012 http://neareaststudies.as.nyu.edu #nyuKevo

The Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies at NYU is a Title VI National Resource Center (NRC) for modern Middle Eastern Studies as named by the United States Department of Education. NRC support is essential to the Center’s graduate program (area and language studies) Editor Greta Scharnweber and bolsters outreach programs to the NYU academic community, local educators, media and culture workers as well as the general public. Title VI funding, through its Foreign Language and Layout and Design Melissa Runstrom Area Studies (FLAS) fellowships, also enables important opportunities for NYU graduate students Cover Design The Goggles (Paul Shoebridge and Michael Simons) to intensively study the languages of the Middle East and South Asia (including Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi, Persian, Turkish and Urdu). Copyright 2015. All rights reserved. Letter from the Director This year the Kevorkian Center was successfully renewed as a Department With new team members and new leadership, we are taking the opportunity Contents of Education Title VI National Resource Center for contemporary Middle to integrate what have been separate components of the Center’s activities Eastern Studies and was awarded Foreign Language and Area Studies into a holistic and updated approach. Enacting this vision is an ongoing, Letter from the Director 5 Fellowships (FLAS) through 2018. Along with the support of the university, overall restructuring of faculty and administrative roles; merging students’ ac- these grants allow the Center to continue operating and support many of ademic and professional needs with our events; and putting communication Scholars our students. technology to better and broader use. Memory, Space and Vision in Bourj Hammoud, Lebanon 6 Views from the Margins: Historicizing the Shi’as of Lebanon through Archival Research 7 Our Master’s program is among the most competitive in the nation, with our For example, this past year we introduced two new programs that help raise Writing for Non-Academics: The Promise (and Perils) of Popular Writing 8 graduates going on to top doctoral programs in the social sciences and hu- the Center’s profile and provide more rigorous academic and professional manities and successful careers in journalism, non-profit organizations, edu- training for our students. This included a prestigious practitioner/scholar in Research cation, and others. This year, we graduated 16 MA students, and 23 are con- residence program launched in Spring 2015. The first holder of the residency Transnational Perspectives on the Life and Work of Sabahattin Ali 9 tinuing on to their second year. At the time of writing, we are preparing for a was Adam Shatz, author and a Contributing Editor at the London Review of What Went Wrong in Syria? 10 new incoming class of 20 students in Fall 2015. As you will notice through the Books, who led a graduate workshop titled “Writing for Non-Academics” and Moroccan Poetry in Text, Translation, and Performance 12 pages of this Review, our academic seminars, workshops, conferences, and hosted a roundtable on Syria. The second was the launch of a new research other educational programs were robust and fostered a vibrant environment methods seminar which serves to highlight the work of our many colleagues Media for students, faculty, and the general public. We continued to provide teacher across the university whose expertise is relevant to the study of the Middle #LastWords 14 training to local middle- and high- school educators and professional devel- East; feature and demystify the various “methods” of studying the region, its Jerusalem, Time Embodied 17 opment to faculty from underserved institutions through the Faculty Resource history, culture, and languages; and expand student-faculty relationships. As Jon Stewart’s Favorite King 20 Network and launched a new partnership with CUNY’s Middle East Center. both of these programs continue in the year ahead, they will be joined by new and exciting ones as well as our recognition that we increasingly live Visual Culture This year has seen some significant changes at the Kevorkian Center. Depar- and work, and teach and learn in a digital environment. Indeed, if you haven’t A Disorderly Sense of Order/A review of the documentary Cairo Drive 22 tures of team members is always a bittersweet – if inevitable – affair. We are yet, follow us on various social media and internet platforms as #NYUKevo. extremely grateful to colleagues moving on, in particular Michael Gilsenan Collaborations for his eight years of leadership as the Center’s Director, as well as to Ali Finally and as importantly, while change has been prevalent at the Center this Research Off the Record 23 Mirsepassi who served as interim Director in Fall 2014. Two long-standing past year, the continued energy, dedication, and knowledge of our Program Soundtrack of the Revolution: Music as Politics in Iran/Iranian Studies Initiative 24 members have moved on this year: our Administrative Aide, Lauren Marten, Administrator, Arthur Starr, and our Associate Director, Greta Scharnweber, The Program in Ottoman Studies 26 who was with us for nearly four years, and Clinical Assistant Professor Benoit have served as the Center’s bedrock. Whether admissions or government Challand who is taking on a tenured post in the Sociology Department at grant applications, daily finances or new programs, none would have been K-16 Outreach the New School. Our graduating student assistants were an indispensable possible without them. Both Arthur and Greta deserve utmost recognition Voices of Contemporary Islam/Faculty Resource Network 27 part of the team, and we wish them success in their next adventures: Adnan and gratitude for these successes and for ensuring that the Center continues Islam and the Americas: A Summer Institute for K-12 Teachers 28 Moussa, Brooke Fisher, Gina Hakim, Keenan Wilder, and May Darmon. to be a vibrant intellectual community that we all benefit from.

Experiences Of course with departures come arrivals, and I am absolutely delighted to On a personal note, I am honored and delighted to be the Director of a Cen- Beyond the Binary: Beirut and the Dahiyeh 30 welcome a number of new members to the Center. Sallie Wade joined us ter as remarkable as NYU’s Kevorkian, and thank each and every one of you Human Rights Watch Internship Provides Insights into Palliative Care in Morocco 31 in the Fall as the Center’s Administrative Assistant and late in the Spring we for your continued support. I trust you will enjoy reading about our progress Between Theory and Practice: Six months at the UAE’s Mission to the UN 31 welcomed Diana Shin in a newly-created position of Outreach Administrator. this past year in the following pages, and hope that it will urge you to continue Both have quickly become indispensable to the workings of the Center. Jo- contributing and participating in the Center’s many facets. It hopefully goes Student News anne Nucho, who began in Fall 2014, has been a boon to the Center in her without saying that as the Middle East goes through important and confusing In Fond Memory of Falak Sufi: Scholarships and Essay Prize 32 role as the Director of Graduate Studies. She improved and streamlined the – if not sometimes disheartening – transformations as we have witnessed this MA Student News 34 Center’s advising process and students’ trajectories in thesis writing, taught past year, the passion, commitment, and curiosity of our faculty, staff, and PhD Student News 37 two new courses, contributed to the Outreach program, and has been a gra- students to better understand the region’s continuities and transformations cious and dynamic presence. In order to improve consistency, quality, and invigorates the very purpose and activities of the Center. Faculty News 39 institutional memory in our program, in Fall 2015, Joanne Nucho steps into Events Archive 48 the Clinical Assistant Professor position while remaining DGS, and we wel- come Begum Adalet as our new Faculty Fellow. —Helga Tawil-Souri, Director The Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies My ethnographic fieldwork looks at this neighborhood today to ex- plore the many historical and material layers that make up Bourj Memory, Space and Hammoud. Primarily, I ask, what are the ways in which everyday Views from the Margins experiences of the built environment and public services help shape, challenge or sometimes reinforce notions of community and Vision in Bourj belonging to a sectarian public in the context of Lebanon today? My research, in conversation with other anthropologists and urban Historicizing the Shi'as Hammoud, Lebanon scholars who study how sectarian parties dominate urban planning processes and services in Lebanon, explores the connections be- of Lebanon through By Joanne Randa Nucho, Director of Graduate Studies, tween political sectarianism and the contingent processes of mak- Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies, NYU ing and remaking social networks through various infrastructures Archival Research and urban development practices, as well as NGOs and sectarian political parties. By Linda Sayed, Visiting Assistant Professor of My film project, which is currently in post-production, incorporates Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, NYU footage filmed in Bourj Hammoud from 2008 through 2015. The film is one way in which I will explore the interconnections between ex- As Lebanon continues without a president for over a year now and the perience, space and memory in Lebanon. During my fieldwork, I ongoing Syria conflict becomes more pressing with Hezbollah’s grow- used the camera not as a tool of documentation, but rather as a site ing involvement and the rise of IS (Islamic State), interest in Shi‘i po- from which to start conversations or collaborations. For example, I litical involvement and mobilization has taken center stage. Historical

worked with many of my interlocutors in Bourj Hammoud to discuss, scholarship on the Shi‘a of Lebanon has largely focused on the 1960s The image, above, is an example of the hand-written court records housed in the Ja'fari Shari'a reenact, or sometimes stage the experiences that were meaning- and 70s lead-up to the civil war, or the post-war period and rise of court in Tyre, Lebanon. The court frequently administered cases dealing with matters of marriage, ful to them in terms of their everyday lives in this city. We filmed political groups such as Hezbollah. My research pays close attention divorce, inheritance, and child custody. The featured case was brought before the court on August 5, 1935 by a woman making demands for alimony. activities as diverse as switching on a generator during one of the to the earlier French Mandate period (1923-1946) to shed light on the numerous rolling electricity cuts that plagued Bourj Hammoud sev- important shifts in the way the Shi‘a of south Lebanon conceptualized of sectarian demarcations, gender formations, transnationalism, and eral times a day, to going shopping or walking home from work. their place in the Lebanese nation-state, both as members of a sect extraterritoriality. With unprecedented access to such archives, I have More recently, I returned to Lebanon to continue the final phase and as citizens of the state. been able to reveal the complex ways in which familial affairs and of the project with Lebanese artist Rosy Kuftedjian. Together, we educational reform were intertwined in practices of sectarianism and

"A street in the Naba'a neighborhood of Bourj Hammoud" conducted a series of “map-drawing” interviews with some of my There are many methods and strategies for conducting such research, communal formations within the broader Lebanese national framework interlocutors as well as their wider network of friends and family particularly when it comes to archives. Archives are a central component during the mandate. members. People were asked to draw a map or some other kind of of any historical analysis or research. As a historian, my research is deep- his year, 2015, marks the hundredth anniversary of the systematic visual representation of a disappeared or altered space that was ly invested in archival repositories that remain untapped in the historical My current project traces the historiography of educational reform and Tmassacres and deportations of Armenians in former Ottoman lands meaningful to them, whether it be a childhood home, a neighbor- study of Lebanon during the French Mandate period (1923-1946). curriculum development in southern Lebanon from the mandate pe- now known as the Armenian Genocide. My research, which is based in hood, a workplace or even a school, and tell some kind of story riod to the rise of politically affiliated educational establishments by Lebanon, is deeply connected to the history of this catastrophe. Since about it. The responses focused on a wide range of topics from the My research takes a different perspective by shifting the focus from a the 1970s and 1980s. I explore how pedagogical and methodological 2008, I have been conducting ethnographic research in and around the mundane aspects of life, such as tracing a path to work to the most narrative of the center to a narrative of periphery and marginal actors. approaches to narrating history in school curricula developed over suburb of Bourj Hammoud, just outside of Beirut’s municipal bound- intricate memories of people and places long since disappeared. I concentrate on the understudied Shi‘i Muslims of Lebanon, where time, and especially how these materials situate southern Lebanon aries. In the aftermath of the genocide in the 1920s, French Mandate One participant carefully related the names of every person living the vast majority of the population resided in the country’s peripheral historically in the larger national narrative. I begin from bottom-up ef- officials resettled Armenian refugees in Lebanon. By the 1930s, the area or working on his block before the ethnic cleansing of the 1970s south and remained politically and economically marginalized. I ex- forts at integrating the periphery into the Lebanese nation-state, and known as Bourj Hammoud, which at the time was mainly agricultural (during Lebanon’s civil war) displaced many from this neighbor- plore different Shi‘i and non-Beiruti archival sources available from the examine how these attempts have served to both form identifications lands, was urbanized through the joint efforts of Armenian town associ- hood for several decades and in some cases permanently. Another mandate period, such as the Ja‘fari shari‘a courts’ archives (located and establish institutional bureaucracies. Through this work I aim to ations and French mandate officials in order to settle Armenians more participant drew a map tracing all of the various times she and her in Beirut, Tyre, Saida, and Baalback, among others) and those of Shi‘i provide a more nuanced understanding of the growing political and permanently in what would soon become an independent Lebanon in family had to move, including periods of squatting during the war. educational institutions established during the Mandate period (such social mobilization of the Shi‘as in the current Lebanese context. 1943. Today, neighborhoods within Bourj Hammoud still bear the names As I work towards completing the film, I aim not to make the film a as the ‘Amiliyya Society in Beirut and the Ja‘fariyya school system in of the towns from which the Armenians had been displaced – like Sis, kind of representation of life in Bourj Hammoud. Rather, I approach Tyre). These sources provide a complex look into the ways in which I tackle these issues not only in my research but also in my teaching. Adana, Marash. Though Bourj Hammoud is popularly known as Beirut’s it as a collaborative exercise in remembering and reimagining the Shi‘as of Lebanon came to negotiate notions of citizenship, national- My seminar on “Nationalism and Nation-State” takes into account the

“Armenian neighborhood,” it is, in fact a highly diverse working class past, present and alternate possible futures through the materiality ity, and sectarianism, among other issues. My investigation into the need to focus on peripheral spaces, and explores the ways in which Scholars suburb that has long been at the center of migration within Lebanon as and the richness of space in Bourj Hammoud and the creativity of Ja‘fari shari‘a court records uses an interdisciplinary approach, and archival historical research can help us to better understand questions well as from Syria and elsewhere in the world. my interlocutors. shows how matters of marital affairs or personal status probed issues of nationality, sectarianism, law, and educational reform. Scholars 6 7 Writing for Non-Academics Transnational Perspectives The Promise (and Perils) of Popular Writing on the Life and Work of By Simone Rutkowitz, MA NES ‘16

ast spring, the Hagop Kevorkian Center hosted Adam Shatz Las the first practitioner in its inaugural residency program. The new program supplements the Kevorkian Center’s existing Sabahattin Ali course offerings by inviting individuals whose work engages with the Middle East to teach a short seminar. The program, designed to host a variety of artists, scholars, and practitioners, demon- strates how different practices and approaches can be applied to By Ilker Hepkaner, PhD Candidate, Middle Eastern Studies. “Writing for Non-Academics: The Prom- Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies ise (and Perils) of Popular Writing,” taught by Shatz, examined the practice and art of long-form narrative non-fiction.

A contributing editor at the London Review of Books, Shatz fre- quently reports on cultural and political stories from the Middle East. Occupying “a liminal space between academia and jour- nalism,” his writing is characterized by an evenhandedness and Photo Courtesy of The Archives of Filiz Ali. inquisitive spirit that is hard to come by in most coverage of the Sabahattin Ali in Urfa, March 1, 1948. region. Weaving between his central narrative and contextual ma- terial, Shatz skillfully fills out a region of the world far removed from many in his readership. y the late 1940s, Sabahattin Ali’s never-ending incarceration due to and authorship. Alongside new, original literary analyses of his novels Bhis influential opposition to the government had destabilized his life and short stories, each participant also shed more light on Ali’s cre- Personally, Shatz’s class acted as a stylistic intervention. After a and writing; therefore he tried to provide for his family by driving trucks ative process and the aftermath of his works. We discussed which semester of consuming and producing only academic literature, across the country. On one of his last journeys before his assassination political and social issues crystallize over Ali’s work and life, what the my vocabulary was dense, my sentences riddled with commas. on the Turkish-Bulgarian border, he took a self-portrait on his camera. In author and his works stand for in Turkish literary studies today—apart While most courses at the Kevorkian Center are content driven, this picture, he stands all by himself on a rock overlooking a rural town from his contemporary bestselling status which came 70 years after “Writing for Non-Academics” aimed to develop the form and in late afternoon, dressed in leather boots and a jacket. He doesn’t look his death—and what else can we learn about and from him regard- structure of students’ writing. Designed to “expose students to “authorly” at all; he looks pensive. He casts a gigantic shadow over the ing literature of the early Republican era. The presence of Sevengul different modes of narration,” Shatz chose essays from a range of authors, including Rachel Aviv, Peter Hessler, Tony Judt, and Janet town down the hill, thanks to the setting sun behind the camera. Sonmez, the literary archivist, scholar, and editor of volumes on Saba- Malcolm. Covering a broad scope of topics, these selections demonstrate how well crafted writing captures and holds a reader’s hattin Ali’s life, enabled the workshop to have a methodological advan- attention, regardless of the subject matter. During a conversation outside of class Shatz noted that, “a potential disadvantage” of a When Sevengul Sonmez showed this picture following her keynote tage: she directed scholars to primary sources on the author’s life that place like the Kevorkian Center is that scholars may forget that others might not share our enthusiasm for the Middle East. This point address at the research workshop “Transnational Perspectives on could sharpen their readings of his works. This advantage has made resonated with me. If scholars want to be heard outside of the academy then we need to garner interest in our findings and perspec- the Life and Work of Sabahattin Ali,” I immediately thought that this an epistemological statement: when literary criticism and historical re- tives. Long-form non-fiction writing – when successful – holds the potential for academics to diversify and expand readership. self-portrait captured—within the medium’s capacity—Sabahattin Ali’s search converge, the relevancy of scholarship increases. life and works: he was a prolific author who did not conform to one’s In his own writing, Shatz uses straightforward and precise language. Rather than hiding behind the latest jargon, he takes care to tell expectations of a writer, and he left a complex yet spectacular legacy With the co-organizers, we aim to extend the success of this workshop his story, to set the scene. Out of the clarity of Shatz’s prose, the reader is able to glean the nuances and inconsistencies he identifies in behind. Scholars from the US, Germany, and Turkey convened at the by following up on a Turkish publishing house’s request to turn the his subject matter. Shatz does not shy away from controversial or unpopular positions. In “Moral Clarity,” an essay from January 2015, Hagop Kevorkian Center on May 6-7, 2015, in order to discuss and proceedings of the workshop into an academic volume dedicated to he describes how “exercises in ‘moral clarity’” – assertions like ‘je suis Charlie’ made by liberal hawks in the US – obfuscate the facts learn more about his life and works, but at the end of the workshop we the author, and submitting our articles as a special issue to an inter- on the ground in France and refuse to truly engage with “the full measure of the moral and political challenge at hand.” Shatz’s ability to were left with more questions, and were even more fascinated with the national academic journal. When these endeavors bear fruit, not only move between personal experiences, current events, historical context and individual subjects makes his writing easy and pleasurable to author. Regardless, the workshop has achieved its goals. will the groundbreaking scholarship on Sabahattin Ali contribute to Research read. “Stranger Still,” his profile on Kamel Daoud, published in April 2015 during his residency at the Kevorkian Center, served as much methodological and contextual debates on literary studies in general as a lesson on the history of Algeria as it did a profile of Daoud. While not a scholar of the Middle East by profession, Shatz’s work is an Since the initial stages, we had planned the workshop as an opportu- and Turkish literature in particular, it will also reinforce NYU’s well-de- example of how non-academic writing can be smart, opinionated, and relevant to both the public and academic circles. nity for scholars to research and present neglected aspects of Ali’s life served place in the scholarship of Turkish literature. Scholars 8 9 What Went Wrong in Syria? By Nader Attasi, MA NES ‘16

dam Shatz, contributing editor at the London Review of Books ly. It was because of Assad’s marked brutality against, first, chil- Aand the Spring 2015 writer-in-residence at the Kevorkian Cen- dren in Der‘a, and, later, protesters, that caused the uprising to ter recently hosted an event entitled “What Went Wrong in Syria?” spread like wildfire to other cities. Short of killing every protester The panel brought together speakers from a wide range of pro- and potential protester, the government could not have acted in a fessions and political leanings who sought to answer how an im- manner harsh enough to prevent protests from spreading. mensely hopeful uprising, in the image of the rest of the uprisings throughout the region, had descended into the situation we see But there is something larger that those brutal realists miss. Some- today of violence, destruction, and widespread warlordism. thing was cultivated in those first days of the uprising that could not be anticipated by political calculations. Between the fanatical Adam Shatz began by posing a provocative question. Citing a despotism of the Islamic State and the ruthless cruelty of the As- friend who from the very beginning of the uprising had warned that sad regime, it is hard—perhaps impossible—to see the remnants the uprising was not what it seemed and that things would take a of what once was a hopeful, largely nonviolent mass movement turn for the worse, Shatz asked whether the seeds of the current calling for genuine change in Syria. Factionalism, foreign funding, impasse were already there for all of us to see at from the start. At and sectarianism have rendered the rest of the Syrian opposition stake in such a conversation was not only the wrong moves that ineffective and marginal at best, and viciously sectarian at worst. Photograph by Bo Yaser, via Wikimedia Commons. led to the tragic state Syria is in today, but whether there ever was Nevertheless, there was another strand, a strand that truly strove Anti-regime demonstration in the city center of Homs, 18 April 2011. any other way—whether the large protests and hopeful slogans for a democratic and socially just Syria, despite all the odds, that masked something much deeper that we could not already see dominated the initial uprising. Lisa Wedeen, professor of political but would inevitably turn the situation into a blood-soaked conflict. science at University of Chicago and author of the book Ambigu- ities of Domination, was the only panelist who mentioned this. She George Saghir, under his pseudonym “Ehsani,” became known pointed out that, while not everything was as clean and clear-cut via Joshua Landis’s blog Syria Comment by being a vicious advo- as some may like to think, many Syrians did come together at the naïve to think that such forms of collective action could actually de- Syrian society is not intrinsically good and pure nor is it latently cate for neoliberal reform. While Bashar al-Asad was liberalizing beginning of the uprising and cultivated what she called “novel feat tyrants of the secular or Islamist variety with expert knowledge evil and sectarian. It is a society that is, like all societies, rife with the economy in a gradual manner to avoid alienating the original forms of togetherness.” Something really different was happen- in torture and an endless supply of jail cells. Such devastating clarity contradictions. Those same impulses that caused people to come rural and working class base of the Ba‘th party that would be most ing, and it was this that was electrifying and prevented the upris- was perhaps what was needed all along. Johnathan Littell summa- out into the streets in solidarity with their fellow countrymen caused affected by said reforms, Saghir argued on Syria Comment that ing from being put down despite the government’s best attempts rizes this position succinctly in his book Syrian Notebooks: Inside the others to wish death upon their fellow countrymen. Thus is the par- the reforms were a step in the right direction but did not go far at brutality and harshness. This was what caused people in Homs Homs Uprising: “The people still believed that song, dance, slogans, adox of a civil war that began with an uprising. If we ever wish to enough, and advocated for more aggressive, shock-therapy type to go chant in solidarity with the people of Der’a who were getting and prayer were stronger than fear and bullets. They were wrong, of see that strand of Syrian society that we saw at the outset of the free market reforms. Saghir approached the topic of this panel shot at, which would then lead to a protest in Hama in solidarity course, and their illusions would soon drown in a river of blood.” Per- uprising, the strand that cultivated “novel forms of togetherness,” with a similar disposition. One of his most memorable remarks with the live ammo being fired at the people of Homs. haps Shatz’s skeptical friend was right after all, and such an outcome then the first thing that needs to happen is the war needs to end Research was that the entire war could have been avoided had Assad re- was inevitable, but not due to a latent sectarianism that was waiting to in order for politics to return to Syria. In war, this tendency doesn’t acted more harshly to the initial protests in Der‘a. Even within the So what went wrong? This strand, despite being the best hope for be unleashed, but rather, due to the number of political actors on both stand a chance. Only in a political landscape dominated by ideas realm of brutal realism, such analysis misses the point complete- Syria, lost. They lost, Lisa Wedeen suggested, because they were sides who were ready to ruthlessly exploit the situation to their benefit. can it flourish once again. Research 10 11 ك ت با و يشح إ د ر سي ع ي ىس

اغ ب ة نم یخن ل خ ت ىلجت ،اننیعأل مأ ك ت با تم هن نم رش و د ا ل ت ب تا و نم غ شب ا ل رجف ذإ ی ع فر ا ل وض ء برد ا ر طس و ر ه حیر ةیبونج و وح یشا ه نم مظ إ و رس ا ب ؟بار ك ت با و يشح إ د ك ر فی سي هؤرقن ع ي ىس نیدیعتسم ذ ركا ة ا ل ن لخ

اغ ذإ ب ة نم ی ت یخن ع ا ىل ل ل جرخی نم وھز ه ھ ت ىلجت ف كل ،اننیعأل نم مأ رع ك نیجا ت با ر لحا ة ح تم هن نم رش و د ا ل ت ب تا و نمال رودت غ شب ا ل رجف ع ىل ذإ ی ع فر ریغ ا ل وض زع ء ل برد اھت ا ؟اتلز

طس و ر ه حیر ةیبونج و وح فوس یشا ه نم ن ن مظ إ ىس و رس ا ب ؟بار in newspapers and literary magazines inside and outside ك فی هؤرقنpieces نیدیعتسمmany ذ ركا ة ا ل ن published لخ Idriss Aissa has Nicosia), Mawaqif (Paris), al-Mada (Nicosia), al-Adab ذإ ل then ن ی ت ركذ ع ا ىل ل جرخی ,Paris) لثم نم ءالدألا وھز ه al-Karmil ت وھا ا :Moroccan Poetry in Text, Morocco, including (Beirut), Nizwa (Muscat), Kalimat (Manama), al-Shiʿr (Cairo), Ibdaʿ (Cairo) and al-Naqid (London). His ف كل نم رع نیجا ر لحا ة ح the Remotest of Winds, won the Yusuf al-Khal prize. He is رخ ا from طئ و احا Woman ت A ن ا ,volume of poetry 1989

to publish a new collection titled Nimble Beings who ال رودتLondon ع ىل ,Press ریغ زع ل اھت Tuwa ؟ Translation, and Performance currently in contract. with فوس مث . ن ن Void لخد ىس of the ط سق غ ی با Formulate the Verifications Translated by Deborah A recent visit from two Moroccan poets illuminated a vibrant poetry ل ن ركذ لثم ءالدألا ت وھا ا scene and identified a gap in scholarship pertaining to North African Kapchan, Associate Professor the zajal form (poetry in Moroccan colloquial Arabic) in Morocco رخof ا طئ و احا voices ت ن ا literature. NYU’s Deborah Kapchan, who has worked with a number is one of the major of Performance Studies, Driss Mesnaoui Association for Popular Poetry. He has published numerous مث ن لخد طMoroccan سق غthe ی با of poets and is editing a forthcoming anthology, Poetic Justice: An and is one of the founders .of Anthropology, Middle Eastern Anthology of Moroccan Contemporary Poetry translated the following poetry collections, essays, and novels, all in Moroccan colloquial Arabic. His zajal collections include Soil of and Islamic Studies, and Music poems by Aissa and Mesnaoui from their original Arabic. Meanings; Whose Life is it?; and Among you, who still remembers my name? among many others.

THIRST ا ل ا ع ل شط ع شط WILD BOOK ك ت ك با ت با و يشح و يشح By Driss Mesnaoui إ د ر سي نسم ا يو By Idriss Aissa إ د ر سي ع ي ىس إ د ر سي نسم ا يو إ د ر سي ع ي ىس

Before night gathered its blankets and birds decorated their feathers قبل ما يجمع الليل غطاه وتز ّوق الطيور ريشها بلون A grove of palm trees اغ ب ة نم یخن ل خ /with the color of morning ا بصل ا ح Appears to our eye, or is it a book ت ىلجت ،اننیعأل مأ ك ت با اغ ب ة نم یخن ل خ I was standing on my feet ك تن قب ول ا فق م ا ع ىل ي يلجرجمع الليل غطاه وتز ّوق الطيور ريشها بلون Whose body is made of stray herbs تم هن نم رش و د ا ل ت ب تا washing my face with the regard of my mother's eyes سغ ل ت و يهج ب ا ل وش ف ه ف ع ي نو ا يم And of the breaking of dawn when light finds its path و نم غ شب ا ل رجف ذإ ی ع فر ا ل وض ء برد ا ر ت ىلجت ،اننیعأل مأ ك ت با .and wearing the day, a pure weather ل ب ا بصل تس ا ل راهن ا ح وج اص ف ي Its lines a southern wind طس و ر ه حیر ةیبونج .On a string of dreams I planted a footstep ... sun on my shoulders ع ىل طيخ ل مالح ز ر تع ا ل طخ و ه … ا ل ش سم ع ىل ا ك ت ا يف ?And its margins, are they thirst or mirage و تم وح هن یشا ه نم نم مظ رش إ و و د رس ا ل ب ت ؟ ب تا .The road was longer than my imagined exile ك ا ك تن تن ا ل رط و ي ا ق فق وط ي ل ه رثكا ع ىل نم ا يلجر ل برغ ه ا ل يل ك تن ن وصت ر How do we read the memory of the palm tree ك فی هؤرقن نیدیعتسم ذ ركا ة ا ل ن لخ و نم غ شب ا ل رجف ذإ ی ع فر ا ل وض ء برد ا ر .I traversed two of its generations in the time allotted for me تعطق اهيف سم ا ف ة جوج يجا ا ل ف و تق ك ت با ع يل ّ هيف Rising so that out of its splendor ذإ ی ت ع ا ىل ل جرخی نم وھز ه ھ سغ ل ت و يهج ب ا ل وش ف ه ف ع ي نو ا يم .I waited for what my soul tasted of the fire's heat بصن ر ع ىل ام ذ ا تق ر و يح نم رح ل ع و ا يف A celestial body of fleeting roots emerges ف كل طس نم و رع ر نیجا ه حیر ر لحا ة ةیبونج

.The sea waves having washed my feet of fatigue ك ل ا تن ب ا تس وم جا ل ا رحب ل راهن ك ت لسغ وج يلجر م اص يعل ف ا ي ?Turning around nothing but solitude ال رودت ع ىل ریغ زع ل اھت ؟ و وح یشا ه نم مظ إ و رس ا ب ؟بار .From time to time memories splattered me, making me forget myself ك ا تن نم نيح ا نيحل ك ت ينشر ب ركذ ي تا تيسن اهيف ر ا يس We will forget فوس ن ن ىس

.When I felt thirsty a door opened in my chest م ّل عي ىل حس يت طيخ بلعط لش ك مالح يحل با ب ز ر ف تع صد ر اي ل طخ و ه … ا ل ش سم ع ىل ا ك ت ا يف So as to remember the maps of our oases ل ن ك ركذ فی لثم هؤرقن ءالدألا ت وھا نیدیعتسم ا ذ ركا ة ا ل ن لخ

.I threw my palms between two laughing waves ر م تي ك ف و يف نيب جوج تاجوم اض ح ك ا ت ,Like the humble ones, the lost رخ ا طئ و احا ت ن ا ك ا تن ا ل رط ي ق وط ي ل ه رثكا نم ا ل برغ ه ا ل يل ك تن ن وصت ر ذإ ی ت ع ا ىل ل جرخی . نم وھز ه ھ .The water swallowed me in a single gulp رش ب ن ي املا ف غج م ة دحو ه We will enter the order of oblivion مث ن لخد ط سق غ ی با

The thirst of the sea was more powerful than my own! Research ناك تعطق ع شط ل رحب اهيف أ ق ىو سم نم ع ا يشط ف ة ! جوج يجا ا ل ف و تق ك ت با ع يل ّ هيف ف كل نم رع نیجا ر لحا ة ح ال رودت ع ىل ریغ زع ل اھت ؟اتلز

بصن ر ع ىل ام ذ ا تق ر و يح نم رح ل ع و ا يف Research 13 فوس ن ن ىس 12 ك ا تن ا وم جا ل رحب ك ت لسغ يلجر م يعل ا ا ل ع شط إ ل د ن ر سي ركذ نسم لثم ا يو ءالدألا ت وھا ا ھ ك ا تن نم نيح ا نيحل ك ت ينشر ب ركذ ي تا تيسن اهيف ر ا يس رخ ا طئ و احا ت ن ا ح م ّلي حسيت بلعطش كيحل باب ف صدري قبل ما يجمع الليل غطاه وتز ّوق الطيور ريشها بلون ا بصل مث ا ن ح لخد ط سق غ ی با . ر م تي ك ف و يف نيب جوج تاجوم اض ح ك ا ت ك تن و ا فق ع ىل يلجر سغ ل ت و يهج ب ا ل وش ف ه ف ع ي نو ا يم رش ب ن ي املا ف غج م ة دحو ه ل ب تس ا ل راهن وج اص ف يفا ع ىل طيخ ل مالح ز ر تع ا ل طخ و ه … ا ل ش سم ع ىل ا ك ت ا يف ناك ع شط ل رحب أ ق ىو نم ع يشط ! ك ا تن ا ل رط ي ق وط ي ل ه رثكا نم ا ل برغ ه ا ل يل ك تن ن وصت ر ص تعطق اهيف سم ا ف ة جوج يجا ا ل ف و تق ك ت با ع يل ّ هيف بصن ا ل ر ع ع ىل شط ام ذ ا تق ر و يح نم رح ل ع و ا يف ك ا تن ا وم جا ل رحب ك ت لسغ يلجر م يعل ا ع ك إ ا تن د ر نم سي نيح ا نيحل نسم ك ت ا ينشر يو ب ركذ ي تا تيسن اهيف ر ا يس م ّلي حسيت بلعطش كيحل باب ف صدري ر م تي ك ف و يف نيب جوج تاجوم اض ح ك ا تاكحا رشقب ب ن ل ي املاما يف ج غجم م ع ة دحوالل ه يل غطاه وتز ّوق الطيور ريشها بلون ناك ا بصل ع شط ا ل ح رحب أ ق ىو نم ع يشط ! ك تن و ا فق ع ىل يلجر سغ ل ت و يهج ب ا ل وش ف ه ف ع ي نو ا يم ل ب تس ا ل راهن وج اص ف يفا ع ىل طيخ ل مالح ز ر تع ا ل طخ و ه … ا ل ش سم ع ىل ا ك ت ا يف ك ا تن ا ل رط ي ق وط ي ل ه رثكا نم ا ل برغ ه ا ل يل ك تن ن وصت ر ص تعطق اهيف سم ا ف ة جوج يجا ا ل ف و تق ك ت با ع يل ّ هيف بصن ر ع ىل ام ذ ا تق ر و يح نم رح ل ع و ا يف ك ا تن ا وم جا ل رحب ك ت لسغ يلجر م يعل ا ع ك ا تن نم نيح ا نيحل ك ت ينشر ب ركذ ي تا تيسن اهيف ر ا يس م ّلي حسيت بلعطش كيحل باب ف صدري ر م تي ك ف و يف نيب جوج تاجوم اض ح ك ا تاكحا رش ب ن ي املا ف غج م ة دحو ه ح ناك ع شط ل رحب أ ق ىو نم ع يشط ! #LastWords by Shirin Barghi (MA NES/Journalism, ‘12)

This year has been marked by heightened racial tension in the U.S., in part due to outrage over shootings (often by police) of unarmed black men. In Fall 2014, Shirin Barghi, a graduate of Kevorkian’s joint MA program with Journalism and the creator of Humans of Tehran, drew a parallel with her own experiences with "A man was watching him," said Rachel police brutality in her native Iran, tweeting that “the struggle here Jeantel, 19, who was on the phone with to confront that violence resonated with me.” Martin just before he was fatally shot. "He said the man kept watching him. He kept complaining that a man was just She created simple images paired with the victims’ last words in watching him." order to “raise awareness about racist police violence in America and as an expression of solidarity.” These images and captions, a selection of which follow, flooded social media and continue to At one point, Guzman says, he spoke to Sean Bell and said, “S, I love you, son.” He says Bell said, “I love you circulate a year later. too.” Then Guzman says Bell “stopped moving.” They said they thought McDade was armed because ... he clutched his waste band as they chased him onto a dimly lit neighborhood street.

He was at the video games playing vid- eos and he went over there by the toy section where the toy guns were. And the next thing I know, he said ‘It’s not real,’ and the police start shooting and they said ‘Get on the ground,’ but he was already on the ground because they had Jonathan never had an opportunity to The medical examiner’s office later ruled Mehserle testified that he meant to zap shot him. And I could hear him just cry- reply. He had bullets in him before he Garner’s death a homicide, caused by Grant with his Taser in an Oakland sta- ing and screaming. I feel like they shot could ever hit the ground. So there was the officer’s chokehold as well chest and tion - but instead pulled his .40 caliber him down like he was not even human.” Diallo was shot outside his Bronx apartment. not sufficient warning. No one ever told neck compressions and prone position- handgun and blasted the man. Media The police officers had mistaken him for a serial him to stop. He didn’t have time to react. ing “during physical restraint by police.” rapist, who was later apprehended. Media 14 15 plete. Similarly, in just a few years, the desert Jerusalem, Time Embodied regions scattered with houses and filled with olive groves, transformed into upscale neigh- By Jabra Ibrahim Jabra borhoods with stone buildings and many gar- dens, all of modern design. Translated by Thalia Beaty (MA NES/Journalism ’15) Now, the first thing that the observer must say about Jerusalem is that it is an Arab city— gates. It began to spill over these walls more Arab to the core!—even though Zionists oc- This translation of an excerpt than seventy years ago when, bit by bit, it cupied its new half. The new half under occu- started to reach the suburbs surrounding it pation remains as Arab as its old half does, as of Jabra Ibrahim Jabra’s 1967 on all sides. This expansion accelerated after Arab as the rest of occupied Palestine. When essay, “Jerusalem, Time the destruction of a section of the wall at Jaffa one of Jerusalem’s children speaks about his Gate in 1898. Only then was the core, walled city, it is impossible for him to restrict himself Embodied,” appeared on Jan city organically tied to its extensions. to the walled city and to the buildings and ex- 26, 2015, on Jadaliyya. It is pansions that have appeared around it in the Originally stopped for walking in the New York City police officers shot and The newly released cell phone footage The oldest extension of the city outside the period after the Nakba. street, Michael Brown was shot by a killed 16-year-old Kimani Gray in East undermines the statement, showing Pow- excerpted and reprinted here walls lies in the Nabi Dawood area, south of police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, two Flatbush, Brooklyn. ell approaching the cops, but not coming with permission. the city. It goes back several centuries, un- For Jerusalem is a single, natural entity whose days before he was set to begin classes as close as was reported, with his hands like the larger extensions of the city that were separation is as illogical as it is criminal. The at Vatterott College. at his side. The officers began shooting completed in one moment between 1920 and division of Jerusalem is but a miniature ver- within 15 seconds of their arrival, hitting 1948 to the north, west, and south. sion of the insanity that arbitrarily partitioned Powell with a barrage of bullets. The city of Jerusalem is not just a place; it is one piece of Palestine for the Jews. Years also a time. One cannot understand it only in The new parts of Jerusalem sprung up then. have passed since this injustice, but the Jeru- its limited physical boundaries. It must be seen They extended on one side along Jaffa Road, salemite will never imagine his city without the in its historical perspective, as if it were history and from the other, along Mamilla Street and occupied half, with its Arab neighborhoods, itself. As if an observer might grasp the history Ma’man Allah Cemetary, and after the YMCA Arab houses, and Arab color. of four thousand years in a single glance. was built in the 1930s, along St. Julian Street. In this way, ties were built between the distant bor- Because of this, I do not see anywhere to start In this city, history lives. Every stone pro- oughs of new Jerusalem and the old city itself. but from a purely personal perspective. nounces it. This history is full of contradic- tions, full of disasters, but it is also the story of In the middle of the nineteenth century, the I lived in a low area outside of the wall under a city for which all of humanity has yearned. Germans established a colony a few kilome- the heights of Nabi Dawood that was known Because it has never been, not for one day, ters from the walls. A Greek colony followed. by the name “Jawrat al-Enaab.” It was one merely a city composed of stone and dirt, Then, monasteries and neighborhoods ap- of those first neighborhoods that sprung up business and politics. It has always been a peared here and there belonging to Catho- outside of Jerusalem at the turn of the twenti- city of dreams and longing, and of the human lics and Roman Orthodox and others. Jewish eth century. I have seen its transformation—it spirit’s gaze toward God. The city has stood neighborhoods began to spring up, funded used to have an animal market every Friday, as a tower on a mountain. On the one side, it by the Englishman, Moses Montefiore. Until and turned into an industrial area with black- looks towards the sea. On the other, toward the end of the twenties, the neighborhoods of smith, carpenter, and plumbers’ shops. In the the barren desert. And between its walls, the Fawqa, Talbiyya, and Katamon, were owned early thirties, I worked there for two consecu- city joined together both of these spirits, these by individuals from Jerusalem and Bethle- tive summers during summer vacation, earn- two civilizational forces—the sea and the wil- hem and had been little more than recreation ing two and a half piasters a day. derness—in a never-ending back and forth. spots for Jerusalemites. However, in the thir- This interplay is the secret of its tragedy and ties, these lands were surveyed and devel- Our home was a single room in a big build- of its greatness. oped in one massive tract that encircled the ing whose ground floor lay beneath the main She pushed out a back door and ran into the darkness be- walled city on most of its sides. With that, the street. It was made up of an uncovered,

neath overarching oaks. He lay on the floor near his kitchen, Media Originally and until the end of the last century, establishment of modern Jerusalem with its square courtyard you reached by a staircase. two bullet holes in his chest, blood pooling thick, dying. Jerusalem was the walled city with its seven two parts—the old and the new—was com- On each side was a room. In each of these, Media 16 17 lived an entire family. From the door of our room I and walk south, behind the British military base, ar- began first by blowing up government build- Jewish neighborhood of Rehavia. Residents As for me, I remember the new Jerusalem— could see the minaret of Nabi Dawood looming over riving at the top of Mount Scopus where the college ings, one after another, including, famously, of Katamon were terrorized, and began to the Jerusalem that was stolen from us—much us from its great height. There was only one small sat in the middle of a wide-open expanse, some of it the King David Hotel, seat of the Mandate flee. Arabs responded to the provocations, as Adam remembered the Garden of Para- window next to the door leading out to the court- composed of sports fields. Around the edges, hun- government. After the UN Partition was an- and a few months later, new Jerusalem had dise. As I grew up, the city grew up with me. yard—and we would pile our books and school dreds of pine seedlings had been planted. Between nounced in November 1947, they began to become a terrifying labyrinth of barbed wire, My childhood was a reflection of its hundreds things in it. The landlord let us open a small square 1935 and 1938, we watched those trees grow. blow up Arab houses at night. In Katamon abandoned houses, and scattered ruins. Bul- of roads, houses, stores, alleyways, and hole at the top of the back wall to help ventilate the it was particularly bad, since it abutted the lets snarled back and forth day and night. trees. It echoed the gardens that bloom in the place. The opening was exactly at the ground level I spent my last year inside at the Arab College, and spring and wither in the winter, and the many of the main street. There was no asphalt in those I will never forget the view of Jerusalem across the scattered rocks that make up this city. Where days, so we put a metal screen and a small curtain over Valley of Rababa. In the day the city was covered does my self end and the subject of my dis- it. I was in the habit of waking before dawn to the voic- with purple clouds. At night it gleamed and lit up. cussion begin here? A street is where this es of the peasant women coming from the surrounding boy cried, where he grew hungry, where he villages carrying baskets of vegetables to the market. In those days, about 120 students attended the laughed, and where he longed for a girl whose They would sit close to that window as they rested from Arab College, and they were selected from among name he never knew because she smiled at their arduous walk up to the vegetable market at Jaffa the very best graduates of Palestine’s schools. him without meaning to. A city street is where Gate. They and their donkeys made a huge racket. This remained the case until the Nakba. Apart from this boy ran through the rain. This is where he their intelligence, most of the students were distin- sat in the dark with his brothers, with his par- On school days I would climb out of the “pit” we guished by an amazing capacity for intense study. ents, with tens of his friends whose voices he lived in and go up to Jaffa Gate. The place was One of the duties of the administration was to re- can still hear in his mind ringing between the awash with cars and buses, crates of fruit and veg- strain students from the desire to continue all-night buildings. Could such a street remain merely etables, and of course, sellers and buyers and por- “secret” study in their beds after the lights had gone an objective, technical extension? ters. Then, I would go to the Rashidiyya School— out! It is not surprising that a large number of the which still stands in its place outside of Herod’s young men that graduated from the college went When an enemy comes and crushes side- Gate—either by way of Hebron Gate and the old on to become famous in the Arab world. At night, walks with armored cars, when he blows up city or by way of Jaffa Road. Then I would climb to we would gaze across to Jerusalem from there, our houses with everyone in them, when he tears the Old Post Office, passing by the office of Bou- place of devotion. On that same mountain, thirteen family and friends up from their roots, when lous Saeed. Then I would descend Aqbat al-Manzil hundred years before us, ‘Umar bin al-Khattab had he casts a boy—now a young man—across passing by the New Gate and the French Hospital, stood to look upon the holy site for the first time. “A valleys and deserts, from one road to another, which is attached to Notre Dame Monastery. Then I chain of chandeliers stretching to the stars in the from one home to another, is this not a brazen would pass by Musrara to Damascus Gate. But to- heavens.” That is how we would describe the city, attempt to sever Self from Self? day, all of this is part of the forbidden zone full of de- radiant in the darkness, across the valley that was bris and barbed wire. Looking west from Damascus called in times past the Valley of Jehenem (Hell). From this experience comes every Palestin- Gate, you see the big monastery across the wires. We would talk and talk about the things that young ian’s feeling that he must return. Return is It was destroyed and abandoned after the violent people talk about¬—especially literature and poli- more than a reclamation of the land stolen by battle that took place there between Arab and the tics, not to mention our ferocious lessons that some an enemy. It is winning back that part of the Jewish forces in 1948. Jewish units wanted to use of us would memorize by heart, by walking around Self that had been taken, and returning it to the monastery as a platform from which to attack and around the huge playing fields, “cramming” itself so it can be whole again. Damascus Gate and invade the old city. The fight- endlessly. ers and the Arab armies defied them. After a fierce confrontation, they were driven back. A few years later, we moved again, this time west, to the suburb of Katamon. It was on the summit of a We moved after that to a different neighborhood hill that overlooked rocky slopes on one side – that between Mamilla Street and Shamaa. Before the reached a valley with the road that leads to the vil- famous general strike in 1936, Jerusalem had been lage of Maliha – and on the other side, slopes full growing rapidly. After the strike, the city’s expansion of the beautiful, stone houses for which Jerusalem

resumed. In this period, the Arab College was built is known. Now, in the beginning of 1947, the city UN Map No. 229 (1949): Central Portion of the Jerusalem on Mount Scopus, south of the city. Its provost was had reached its greatest extent and splendor, even Area, Principal Holy Places. This map shows some of the Professor Ahmad Samih al-Khalidi, God have though three years prior, the Jewish terrorists had the places that Jabra mentions. Other landmarks, like the Media offices of Boulous Saeed, a publisher and the grandfather mercy on him. After riding the bus, I would get off a brutal plan to destroy the new Jerusalem. They of Professor Edward Said, are not marked Media 18 19 Even after the threat of the Arab Spring sub- Jon Stewart’s Favorite King sided, significant abuses persist and Jordan’s political system remains restricted. The 2014 Annual Report from Human Rights Watch re- ‘Daily Show’ host turned filmmaker needed to shoot in Jordan, port finds that “perpetrators of torture or other ill-treatment continued to enjoy near total im- punity. Credible allegations of torture or other so he overlooked its appalling human rights record ill-treatment are routinely ignored.” Just last year the government blocked access to over This article is reprinted with permission from a December 15, 2014 post on Al-Jazeera America 300 news websites in a nationwide crackdown by Avi Asher-Schapiro (MA NES/Journalism, ’15) on independent journalism.

The irony of shooting a movie intended to criti- cize the abuses of Iran, all the while cozying up When "Daily Show" host Jon Stewart first interviewed King Abdullah II Abdullah inherited the throne from his father, Hussein, who inherited it to Abdullah, seems to escape Stewart. In promot- of Jordan in September 2010, the monarch and comedian really hit it from his father, Abdullah I, who inherited it from the British Empire. The ing “Rosewater,” he has often recounted to inter- off. Stewart praised Abdullah for his moderation, saying he had spent small kingdom, which is about the size of Indiana, has always been a viewers that filming in the family-ruled kingdom a lifetime “fighting poverty.” The king chuckled, thanked Stewart and close ally of the United States. was both cheap and easy. “The general tenor of returned the compliment. “I watch ‘The Daily Show’ every night,” he Amman is very calm, ” he told National Public Ra- said, half-kidding. In the early days of the “war on terrorism,” the Central Intelligence dio’s Terry Gross. “Honestly, it makes my job very difficult when I’m trying to call attention Agency would send terror suspects to Jordan to be tortured by Jor- to Jordan’s political climate and human rights abuses, and everyone As the two men chatted, a student named Hatim al-Shuli was spend- dan’s General Intelligence Directorate, a secret police force that re- A few months after Stewart finished filming, Jordanian military- po continues to say that Jordan is run by these nice guys,” Coogle said. ing his second month in a Jordanian military prison, after he allegedly ports directly to the king. Inside the kingdom, questioning the political lice arrested three opposition activists — Hamam Qafisheh, Ayman penned a poem “critical of the king” — a crime that carries a three- order is rarely tolerated and political opponents are often intimidated al-Bahrawy and Diaa al-Shalaby — for producing and distributing Stewart’s film, “Rosewater,” may win an Oscar and in doing so draw year sentence. (Al-Shuli denied writing it.) and detained. posters associated with the Muslim Brotherhood. According to the attention to the troubling atmosphere of oppression for journalists Geneva-based Human Rights watchdog Al-Karama, the organizers working in Iran. As an enemy of the United States, Iran’s human rights No one would ever suspect that the guest on “The Daily Show” that A 2008 Human Rights Watch report on the Jordanian prison system were tortured by Jordanian police and then transferred to Al-Rami- record is already the source of justifiable but also self-serving- out night, with his charming English accent and dignified demeanor, was found torture to be “routine and widespread” for both political prison- meen prison, just outside of Amman — the very prison Stewart used rage. To draw public attention to the conduct of U.S. allies such as at the helm of a family-run autocracy with a long track record of human ers and ordinary criminals. Every prison in the country had a special to film “Rosewater.” the kingdom of Jordan is a much less comfortable exercise. It upsets rights abuses. iron holding pen where inmates were often suspended by their wrists the fundamental fallacy that U.S. policy abroad is guided by principles and beaten with knotted electrical cables and hoses. When asked, the producers of the Rosewater would not discuss abuses beyond U.S. security and economic interests. Three years later, Stewart began shooting “Rosewater,” his directori- in the Jordanian prison system. And they would not speak more broadly al-debut film about the torture and imprisonment of the Iranian-Cana- In the wake of that report, Jordan undertook reforms, says Adam Coo- about Stewart’s approach to the king, and why in two interviews on “The This task seems perfectly suited for an iconoclastic political comedian dian journalist Maziar Bahari at the hands of the Iranian police. The gle, Human Rights Watch’s Amman-based researcher. Over the last Daily Show,” the host failed to ask Abdullah a single question about Jor- like Stewart, who has made a career out of exposing the hypocrisy of movie is shot in Abdullah’s backyard, Jordan’s capital, Amman. decade, the kingdom upgraded its prisons and largely restricted tor- dan’s human rights record. When Rolling Stone asked Stewart about the those in power. Of course, he can’t reverse Jordan’s human record or ture to suspected members of terrorist organizations. Soon after Ab- decision to shoot in Jordan, which requires permission from the Royal push for regime change. But he could at least point out the absurdity Using an actual Jordanian prison as a movie set, Stewart staged emo- dullah appeared on “The Daily Show,” in the face of pressure from for- Film Commission of Jordan run by Abdullah’s brother, he responded that an unelected monarch with a vicious human rights record claims tional scenes in which the Iranian secret police torment Bahari and eign human rights organizations, he pardoned the imprisoned al-Shuli. vaguely. “Uh … people on the set have certain connections with people the mantle of the Arab Spring. And that the premier U.S ally in the re- accuse him of being a foreign spy. Stewart later said that he hoped who were maybe in the government there,” he said. gion imprisons students for their poetry. that audiences would take away from the movie that “those who wish Still, when the Arab Spring protests hit Amman, Jordanian police round- to express themselves should not ever be subjected to the terrible ed up protesters, beat them and quickly quashed any hope of signif- That Stewart appears completely unconcerned with Jordan’s political cli- In the end, by lobbing softballs at the king of Jordan and accepting conditions that Maziar found himself in.” icant political change. A few months after the crackdown, Abdullah mate is not entirely unsurprising. In fact, Adam Coogle, of Human Rights his political authority at face value, Stewart ducked both a political and again appeared on “The Daily Show,” where he expressed support Watch, says the comedian’s attitude is typical of Westerners, whose per- comedic opportunity. Imagine if Stewart interviewed Abdullah wearing Unfortunately for many in Jordan, Bahari’s plight would not be unfamil- for the idea of the Arab Spring, but claimed that each country should ception of Jordan is limited to its role as a strong ally to the United States a Burger King crown. Or if he sat the king in an ornamented throne. iar. For the past 15 years, political life in the kingdom has been domi- have its “own unique experiment” with democracy. Stewart didn't ask and a necessary interlocutor with Israel. “Jordan spends a fortune on PR,

nated by Abdullah, Queen Rania and a close network of allied families for specifics, and instead suggested that it was the king’s “humility” that and it works,” Coogle said. “Then they can say one thing to people like Now that would have been gutsy political humor worthy of “The Media known as east bankers, who hail from the east side of the Jordan river. “earned him the authority” to govern Jordan as a hereditary monarch. Stewart, and then turn around and do whatever they want at home.” Daily Show.” Media 20 21 Research A Disorderly off the Record Sense of Order By Greta Scharnweber, Associate Director, Hagop Kevorkian Center

A review What is interdisciplinary research? What are the limits of area studies and how do we challenge and/or overcome those limits? How and why do scholars do what they do? What questions do they ask? What are of the documentary the unexpected joys and challenges that arise in the everyday life and practice of an academic? What are the untold stories of academia--the behind-the scenes deliberations made by scholars that never make it problems on the misbehavior and lack of education of citizens, par- Cairo Drive into the final publications? ticularly, the subaltern citizen. In the film we see a children’s play Mariam Elba, MA, NES, ‘16 being staged in an elementary school that, almost comically, runs In an effort to both demystify research methodologies and learn more through the traffic rules. We see this again in the film as prepara- about faculty projects across NYU, the Kevorkian Center has launched Cairo Drive, a documentary produced and directed by Sherief Alk- ya donya zahma,” roughly translated as “it’s crowded everywhere” tions for President Obama’s visit in 2009 are underway by cleaning its new series Research Off the Record, in Spring 2015 featuring an atsha was screened at the Kevorkian Center recently in a series of as indicative of how Cairo’s characteristic over-crowdedness has the streets, repainting signals, fixing streetlights that drivers claimed historian, a business and policy expert, and an ethnomusicologist. three documentary films on urban public space in the Middle East, historically been present and continues to be part and parcel with have not worked for months, and even going so far as to declaring a aptly titled Megalopolis. The unique focus on traffic in particular, Cairene public consciousness. The film shows how the overcrowded public holiday so that regular commuters would not be out driving in Notes from the Archives: Zachary Lockman’s latest project explores how gives viewers another perspective of urban Cairo that is defining to environment in the city is very much entrenched in the way in which the streets. The streets become a medium through which the state the field of Middle East studies in the United States was built after WWII. daily life there. Indeed, if one has been to Cairo in recent years, even Cairo is spoken about in popular discourse. There is a distinct culture frames and curates the image of the city in such circumstances. Utilizing the archives of the big foundations, academic organizations if just for one day, the most vivid memory one might leave with is surrounding traffic and being in one’s car. Whether it’s vendors offer- like the SSRC and ACLS, and various universities, he seeks out funding the somehow functioning, yet intense disorder that exists on Cairo’s ing shisha to drivers during a traffic jam, or others offering water and The film also illuminates how the state has attempted to compen- rationales, follows efforts to shape a coherent vision of area studies, and roads. The documentary is filmed mostly within the confines of a car, dates to drivers still on the road at sunset during Ramadan. Because sate for the rapidly growing population in Cairo and the increase in traces the development of what he terms the field’s infrastructure (as where we hear the stories of various drivers who are making their so much time is spent on the road, an informal system of rules and jammed traffic. We see in the film the many extra highways, such well as the anxieties that accompanied these developments). way through Cairo’s congested and chaotic streets, and how they a street traffic subculture emerges made by the drivers themselves. the Ring Road that circles around the city, and the many bridges collectively create their own form of order. that are built above other roads in an attempt to alleviate conges- Notes from the Scaffold: Natasha Iskander’s research seeks to under- But Cairo’s streets are also a larger arena for something much greater: tion. The absence of an adequate public transportation system in stand how untrained migrant workers in Qatar’s construction industry The documentary shows a different dimension to the practice of driving neoliberal urban expansion. Foreign investors and state officials who the city is evident from these details, though public transportation develop skills on-the-job and how they learn to advocate for better work- a car and regularly dealing with consistently jammed and unregulated have been pushing for urban development under neoliberal terms have is not mentioned adequately in the film. ing conditions. She examines the institutional structures and regulations traffic. Even when driving in solitude, interacting with other drivers and used the over-crowdedness and traffic as the primary reason - toes that govern migration, employment, and labor standards in Qatar and pedestrians becomes inevitable and necessary to maneuver through tablish a “new capital city” to the east of Cairo. The current plan for Out of the lack of a formal system of regulations, the unorganized the ways in which these shape worker access to skills training. the jumble of cars, trucks, buses, and pedestrians attempting to cross the new capital city was revealed in the recent economic development mess of roads and bridges that proves to be unpractical for the the road. This film very thoroughly shows that driving is a public and conference in Sharm el Sheikh last March. An Emirati firm, the same one city’s needs, comes an informal system of orders produced by the Notes from the Firing Range: Professor Daughtry recently completed a social practice in Cairo. It requires constant and nuanced interaction behind the construction of the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, is set to house 5 cab drivers, microbus drivers, and car drivers that routinely make monograph about sound, music, and trauma within the context of the with other drivers around you, whether through honking your car horn million Cairenes and establish a Gulf-like metropolis next to Cairo prop- their way through the city’s streets. This sense of chaotic disorder Iraq war. While he was researching the book, he began collaborating in a certain rhythm, or keeping your window open to easily talk to sur- er, if indeed construction is to take place. Many residents and scholars stems from the interactions that happen regularly between drivers, with a group of technicians on a virtual-reality platform that is used rounding drivers. Formal traffic signals are nonexistent. Instead, one have decried the move as one that inflicts further neglect on Cairo, and whether it’s the language of horn honks, headlight flashes, or hand to help treat war-related post-traumatic-stress disorder. He described might ask the driver in the car next to them if they can pass in front of pushing forth a neoliberal version of modernization that excludes over waves to signal each other. the logistical and intellectual challenges of working on these two inter- them using this highly developed language of the road. 13 million Cairenes who live in informal housing. secting projects, as well as the hoops he had to jump through in order Alkatsha aptly summarized the culture around traffic and driving Collaborations to make a short research trip to U.S. military bases in Iraq. The documentary was filmed between 2009-2012, but Cairo’s unbear- The state narrative of the cause of Cairo’s traffic is that it’s framed as in the streets of Cairo with a Maria Golia quote that he displayed able traffic has always been dominant in Egyptian public discourse. stemming from misbehavior on the part of the average driver. This at the very beginning of his film: “Cairo is an essay in entropy, These inaugural conversations have launched for us a new way of Once can trace Cairo traffic’s presence in pop culture as far back as echoes a similar refrain in many academic works on urban space a measure of disorder or randomness. But order is nonetheless reflecting upon and teaching about diverse research methods across 1977 with sha’abi singer, Ahmed Adaweya’s popular song, “zahma in Cairo that reveal a state tendency to blame the causes of many maintained, if barely.” disciplines, geographies, sectors, and time periods. Visual Culture 22 23 most Iranians on satellite television – Who makes up the primary audience presented a sort of “what life would be of underground/socially and politically if the revolution had never happened.” It charged music, both in Iran and abroad? supplied the music for parties and wed- dings in Iran. But in the late 1990s the You have to remember that not all under- Soundtrack of the Revolution situation started to change. Once the Is- ground music in Iran is necessarily socially lamic Republic stopped its ban on pop or politically charged. Unlike its namesake Music as Politics in Iran music, homemade pop music offered in other contexts, underground music in An interview with Nahid Siamdoust, Research Scholar, Hagop Kevorkian Center an alternative to “musiqi-ye los anjele- Iran simply refers to music that has not si.” Musicians inside and outside of Iran attempted or succeeded in receiving the Questions by Nafi Dhanani, MA NES ‘16 started collaborating and both scenes necessary permits in order to be exhibit- benefitted. And then over the last- de ed and traded officially. Barobax’s “Susan Given the controls placed upon musical pro- ingly, the biggest shift in post-revolutionary Alireza Assar, one of the musicians Siamdoust researches, is one of post-revolutionary Iran’s most successful pop stars. He cade famous musicians have left Iran Khanum,” an underground song that ex- duction in Iran, what is one strategy employed Iran happened with new media. Thanks to the relies on Sufi signifiers to defy official norms. for Los Angeles and some of them, like pressed mainstream Iranian views about by the artists you have researched that you Internet, all of a sudden, musicians no longer Googoosh, have taken advantage of the marriage, for example, was played at all feel has been effective in communicating their needed permits from the Ministry of Culture with great impact over the Internet, though the freedom they have to express political sorts of family functions for years. So the politically and socially critical messages? and Islamic Guidance in order to publish their interpersonal medium of the concert is still of criticism or broach taboo subjects. audience of underground music can cut work and reach thousands of people and great relevance because it is the only setting across age and cultural disposition. Of I think the preeminent vocalist of Persian clas- even achieve fame. Aside from distribution, in which large numbers of strangers can come How would you characterize the shift in course there is also underground music sical music, Ostād Mohammad Reza Shajar- they also wielded freedom over the content face to face and unite in their sentiments. women’s participation in music before that is very critical or violates conventional ian, has been the most successful musician so musicians started making work that was and after the revolution? Are there any norms or beliefs, say for example Shahin in creating a discursive field wherein protest explicitly political, or broke social taboos on What does it look like to be a musician in the other interesting developments that you Najafi’s “Naqi,” which offends in the worst or discontent of a political nature has been sex and religion. Iranian diaspora, and what does this music have observed along gender lines? terms the tenth Shia Imam Ali an-Naqi. expressed for nearly the entirety of the Islam- communicate in contrast with or in relation to But I would say that for the most part, ic Republic. He has done this by drawing on Has the ease of access to musical production the artists in Iran? Some of the most popular Iranian musi- Frank Zappa’s definition that “mainstream the nuances of Persian poetry, using typical technology had a discernible role to play in cians of the past century have been wom- comes to you but you have to go to the tropes of Persian literature – ‘gol o bolbol’ (the music’s social and political role? The shape and importance of diaspora mu- en, starting with Qamar ol-Moluk Vaziri, underground” doesn’t apply to Iran. And rose and nightingale) – to signify loss and sic has evolved somewhat over the last three who in a concert in 1924 broke the norm that is because of the constrictions on the mourning, not for the lover but for a political Audio production technology has been instru- decades. At the time of the revolution, many by singing unveiled in front of a mixed The famous pre-revolutionary pop singer Googoosh appeared on the musical sphere. Popular songs from the struggle, but also by plugging into a “protest mental to music’s capacity to have reach and of Iran’s famous musicians left the country cover of “Javanan” magazine in 1975, with the caption audience, to the sensual cabaret danc- underground can be so much a part of repertoire” that hails from the era of Iran’s impact. At the time of the constitutional revo- for fear of persecution and eventually estab- “Beauty queen of the year, chosen by the people.” er/singer Mahvash or the vocalist diva daily life that they are as present as the constitutional revolution (1906-11) when lution, for example, when musical productions lished a vibrant scene in Los Angeles. Sub- Delkash in mid-century, and pre-revolu- mainstream. songs were for the first time used in an activist were extremely costly, the “inventor” – if you sequently, music coming from LA was called tionary pop stars, with the most famous male audiences. But girls and women have political context. Other musicians have facili- will – of critical music, Aref Qazvini, could not “musiqi-ye los anjelesi.” For the most part, this among them, Googoosh. After the revolu- been studying music in great numbers over tated a sphere of critical discourse by offer- on his own afford the production of a record of music remained consistent in form and spir- tion, the solo female voice was banned. This the last decades, and this is only now really ing a sort of alternative religiosity to that of the his will. Musical groups often traveled to other it, meaning it was dance or melancholic pop Nahid Siamdoust is a visiting meant the female voice was practically elim- coming to the fore. We see a great presence state’s officially propagated religion. I study countries with more advanced technology to music with themes of love or nostalgia. What inated from the official realm. Half the- pop of women instrumentalists, and very recently, Research Scholar at the the work of one of post-revolutionary Iran’s record, and many musicians refused to play is astonishing is that for a decade and a half, ulation was told their voice was not halal for there have even been some female solo sen- most popular pop stars, Alireza Assar, who political pieces in fear of persecution. Hence, these musicians continued to supply Iranian Hagop Kevorkian Center. mixed-gender pubic sations. But at the end of relies on Sufi signifiers to defy official norms, the most important medium for spreading mu- music to Iranians inside (and outside) the She presented pieces of consumption. Women the day, we have to face for example. sic was the concert itself, and subsequent re- country. There weren’t really any alternatives musicians continued the truth that the policies her research in the Iranian ports of the concert via word of mouth. With to it in terms of Iranian pop or dance music. making music in Los “We have to face the of the Islamic Republic Studies Initiative lecture In your opinion, what has been the biggest the advent of the more affordable and easily Interestingly, this music remained fairly apolit- Angeles and else- truth that the policies have drastically reduced shift post-revolution in music’s social and po- produced small medium of the cassette tape ical throughout. There were occasional songs series and organized a where, but female the presence and impact litical role in Iran? in the years leading to the 1979 revolution, that commented on the situation back in the of the Islamic Republic teacher-training workshop on singers in Iran were of women on music. Collaborations the Chavosh group could get together in a homeland, and some singers – like Dariush have drastically relegated to dubbing the same subject for Center’s Music has played an important role through- basement, produce a record, and distribute – were more likely to sing songs with critical for children’s pro- reduced the presence K-12 outreach program. out the political upheavals in Iran over the it in squares the next day. Fast forward less content, but for the most part it was as if time grams, and eventual- and impact of women past century, but its significance has depend- than three decades and musicians can very stood still. This music, and the kitschy videos ly, to singing for all-fe- ed on available media forms. So, not surpris- cheaply produce tracks and distribute them that accompanied it – viewed by many if not on music.” Collaborations 24 25 Voices of Contemporary Islam The Faculty Resource Network at NYU Vernon Schubel, Professor of Religious Studies, Kenyon College & The Program in Ottoman Studies Nurten Kilic Schubel, Associate Professor of History, Kenyon College

By Alex Boodrookas, MA NES ’14, PhD Candidate MEIS The religion of Islam has been at the center of political discourse in recent years. Issues of terrorism, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the debate over the proposed Park 51 Islamic Center, “the Arab Spring” and the rise his year, the Hagop Kevorkian Center hosted Beth Baron, Günhan Börekçi, Amy Singer, Zeynep Çelik, Tuna Artun, and Adam of ISIS/ISIL in Iraq and Syria have focused attention on Muslims and their TBecker as part of the ongoing Ottoman Lecture Series. religion. The ways in which Islam has been discussed within the media and certain corners of the academy since the tragic and morally inexcus- Beth Baron examined the 1933 Turkiyya Hasan orphan scandal, an event that triggered a backlash against missionary institutions able events of September 11, 2001, have often been problematic. Over and helped transform the nascent Muslim Brotherhood into an organization with national reach. Despite their differing worldviews, the last decade there has been a veritable explosion of books and articles Baron drew out the similarities between the Brotherhood and the missionaries, which both sought to mobilize a network of social on Islam, many of which decry what they see as a lack of intellectual services in a struggle for the bodies and souls of Egypt’s children. debate and moral discourse in the Islamic world. Pundits on cable news networks continually assert that “it is a shame that there are no anti-terror- Günhan Börekçi, scholar and academic consultant for the Turkish TV series The Magnificent Century (Muhteşem Yüzyıl), dis- ist, pro-democratic voices within Islam.” Muslims are regularly accused cussed the difficulties of fictionalizing historical events and individuals for a broad audience. Beyond the challenge of ensuring of “whitewashing” the negative aspects of their faith by journalists and that every set and costume piece was correctly reconstructed, he found that it was difficult to explain the motivations and personal commentators who have little or no scholarly knowledge of Islamicate cul- lives of characters without psychologizing and personalizing historical events, even as the challenged itself provoked interesting ture, history or languages and often no personal experience of the Muslim questions about the impetus behind historical change. world. These same opinions are also found in academic circles.

Amy Singer’s talk centered around Edirne, the early Ottoman city connecting Istanbul to the Balkans. However, it raised wider issues These kinds of opinions are at best rooted in ignorance and, at their worst, Photo Courtesy of Nafi Dhanani. about the writing of urban history in the pre-document era, a challenge that helps explain the dearth of work on Edirne. Her detailed in prejudice and hostility. While it is true that there are “fundamentalist” Participants in the “Contemporary Voices of Islam” intensive seminar contemplated Islam’s diversity and parsing of the human and physical geography of the city offers an example to historians seeking to map the cities of the early empire voices within Islam which resist complex and multi-vocal interpretations ability to adapt to changing historical and cultural circumstances through discussion of a wide range of and the local, translocal, and regional networks in which they are intimately imbedded. of the basic sources of the tradition, they do not now, nor have they ever, writings by contemporary Muslims ranging from “fundamentalists” and political Islamists to passionate advocates for gender equality and human rights. Clockwise from back left: Lynn Rozzi (Nassau Com- In a talk entitled “Archaeology, Ethnography, and Everyday Life at the Dig,” Zeynep Çelik examined the lived experience of the represented the mainstream of Muslim thought. Islam has always main- munity College), Joyce Zonana (Borough of Manhattan Community College), Vernon Schubel (Kenyon diverse array of individuals who worked on archaeological excavations in the late nineteenth century Ottoman Empire. Rather than tained a variety of philosophical, theological and mystical expressions. It College), Nurten Kilic-Schubel (Kenyon College), Ashton Loye (Tougaloo College), Silvia Marsans-Sakly framing archaeology as the extraction of information from inert objects, she sees knowledge production as a dynamic process that is Islam’s diversity and ability to adapt to changing historical and cultur- (Fairfield University), Brian Royster (Saint Peter’s University), P.V. Viswanath (Pace University), Hector Martinez (University of Puerto Rico), and Greta Scharnweber (NYU’s Hagop Kevorkian Center). was shaped by the interactions of European archaeologists and local workers. Çelik draws out the significance of the quasi-eth- al circumstances that is one of its primary characteristics and greatest nographic depictions of local life that saturate archeological memoirs, revealing the privileged gaze that underpinned the work of strengths. This remains true today as Muslim intellectuals trained both in among the membership of NYU’s Faculty Resource Network participated European archaeologists. the West and in the Islamic world continue to address the complexities of in an intensive, week-long seminar that explored some of these crucial is- the contemporary world. Among the numerous problems and issues that sues and debates in the contemporary Muslim world. The course conve- Tuna Artun challenged the narrative of Ottoman alchemy as an inevitable victim of the scientific revolution. Instead, he sees alchemy have drawn the attention of today’s Muslim intellectuals has been the rise ners, Professors Vernon Schubel and Nurten Kilic-Schubel, both of Kenyon as one field among many that embraced a new method of inquiry that relied on experimentation and observation. His work uncovers to prominence of “fundamentalists” and “Islamists” willing to use violence College, presented examples of diverse theological, political, and social a global network of alchemists, from Istanbul to Hyderabad, who maintained and expanded on the alchemical tradition well into the to achieve their goals. “Political Islamism” it must be noted is only one thought. Discussions involved the compatibility of Islam with democracy, twentieth century. By salvaging a field now dismissed as “unscientific,” Artun presents a non-teleological history of science, one that strain of thought in the Muslim world and it is rarely violent. More impor- the connections between Islam and terrorism, the role of Wahabism in the acknowledges the significance of both dead ends and triumphs. tantly, it is actively challenged by numerous alternative perspectives. Not construction of contemporary Islamic movements, feminist movements only are “traditional” Muslims critiquing and challenging movements like within Islam, Islam and pluralism, and Sufism in the contemporary context.

Using a close reading of a nineteenth century neo-Aramaic travelogue, Adam Becker traced the emergence of Assyrian identity in the Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS/ISIL as theologically incorrect readings The course introduced teachable primary sources, including writings by K-16 Outreach contestation and conversation with American evangelical missionaries and their “native assistants.” As they traveled from the moun- of Qur’an and hadith, but there are also vibrant “progressive” movements Khaled Abou Fadl, Amina Wadud, Osama bin Laden, and Michael Mu- tains of Hakkari to Mosul in the south, these new arrivals brought conceptualizations of modernity and nation that were rejected, mod- which draw upon feminist theory and liberation theology to develop radi- hammad Knight. Participants also explored varied “Muslim Voices” through ified, and redeployed in a struggle between the reform church and its indigenous counterparts that would help shape the contours of cal new expressions of Muslim piety and political action. selected films and literary works created by artists from a number of differ- ethnic nationalism into the twentieth century. ent contexts, and shared strategies as to how to introduce complex and This summer at the Hagop Kevorkian Center, seven faculty members from controversial issues in the classroom. Collaborations 26 27 Photo Courtesy of Diana Shin. During a field trip to an Arab neighborhood in Bay Ridge, Islam and the Americas Brooklyn, teachers enjoyed lunch at the acclaimed Yemen Café. A Summer Institute for K-12 Teachers By Diana Shin, Outreach Administrator, Hagop Kevorkian Center

In August 2015, in partnership with the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies at NYU, the Hagop Kevorkian Center hosted its Summer Institute on «Islam and the Americas.» 32 teachers based in New York City and the broader tri-state area benefited from the Summer Institute. The intensive and interactive three-day course was taught by Aisha Khan of NYU’s “This workshop really brought together a wide array of speakers and resources that “Islam and the Americas was such a wonderful course. Anthropology department and an affiliate of both the Kevorkian Center and CLACS, and fea- helped teachers connect Islam to their teaching practice. It also illustrated some of The course opened up a dialogue for teachers on tured several guest speakers. The group also took field trips to the Metropolitan Museum of Art the struggles Muslims students face “growing up Muslim in the U.S” and how we Islam and the Muslim community that was very much and to a local mosque and community center in Bay Ridge, a predominantly Arab-American should be tolerant of all the diverse students that we teach. I look forward to taking needed. Dr. Aisha Khan led energetic discussion neighborhood. Throughout the course, participants learned to probe key presumptions about future workshops through NYU.” sessions with fantastic speakers. The Kevorkian Center Muslims as well as challenge conventional views of Islam. The contours of the course topics is truly a fantastic resource for teachers, and I will defi- traversed time and space: the religious festival of Hosay as practiced in the Caribbean; Islamic —Saji James, Concord High School (Staten Island, NY), Global nitely be utilizing the resources I have gained from this Photo Courtesy of Diana Shin. History and Economics Teacher, Grades 9-10 art in the lands of Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later Southeast Asia; the Haitian Revolution; A Teacher regards a piece in the New Galleries for the Art of the course to enrich aspects of my Global History and U.S. the observance of Muslim holidays in New York City and throughout the globe; cosmopolitan Arab Lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and Later South Asia at History curricula.” “The course was so rich, so vast and varied, so multi-dimensional, that I am hard put to find halal consumption; and the experiences of transnational Muslim youth growing up in the United New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. words to capture the experience. I took this course to get an overview and better under- States, Jordan, and Palestine. For the first time, the Kevorkian Center was pleased to offer the —Marium Rizvi, M.S. 354 The School of standing of the history and culture of the Muslim communities in this city, country, and the option of allowing participants to take the course for “P-credit” through the New York City’s Integrated Learning (Brooklyn, NY), History Americas. In order to teach, and in some cases, dispel myths, we need be informed about Department of Education’s After School Professional Development Program (ASPDP). We will Teacher, Grades 6-8 “As an NYC public school teacher, it’s the history of our students’ histories. During these 3 very intensive days, which felt like a let the teacher feedback speak for itself: invaluable to have the opportunities to journey to another place, we received a vivid introduction from scholars, discussions, films, “I am so glad to have been in this workshop, as I am cur- take advantage of the myriad academic a curator-led field trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, an outing to a Muslim neighbor- rently receiving lots of newly identified immigrant students “Islam and the Americas was quite possibly the most informative and beneficial workshop that institutions the city has to offer. Making hood’s mosque, food shops, and a restaurant, and a talk with a spokeswoman from the from East Africa and Middle East, and most speak Arabic I’ve attended in my thirteen years of teaching. I went in to this with a cursory understanding of the world relevant and accessible for stu- Muslim community working with schools and other social justice groups. or are of Muslim background. I am currently also coach- Islam and its history and then learned so very much…I didn’t just learn about Islam in the Amer- dents is my everyday job, and the Kev- ing a summer refugee camp, and all 150 students are icas. I also developed a whole new understanding of the practices of Islam, how regular people orkian Center has helped bridge higher “Islam and the Americas was truly an experience, an immersion experience, lacking only from these countries. This workshop has assisted me in actually practice these beliefs and about the challenges Muslims face today in the United States. education and secondary education the language component. It was a comprehensive introduction to the history of the Muslim improving my instructional as well as intervention practices And of course, I next to knew nothing about specific customs and beliefs in Trinidad and Jamai- - something that is easily forgotten by the people and cultures here, emanating from the Middle East, Africa and Asia; it put many tremendously.” ca. As a Global Studies teacher, this will greatly impact my curriculum and lesson plans for so wayside. Most importantly, the urgency faces to Islam, not sensational, helping to correct misconceptions spread by the media.” many different units, such as the Golden Age of African Empires, the Golden Age of Islam, the of this particular course in today’s polit- —Montana Lee, Brooklyn High School for Development of the Ottoman Empire, and Indian Independence. It’ll also help my Imperialism ical climate excites and empowers me —Miriam Pope, PS 321K (Brooklyn, NY), Library/Social Studies Law and Technology, ESL Teacher, module. I take my students to the Met several times throughout the year and our personal tour of as an educator to make more immediate Teacher, Grades k-5 Grades 9-10 the Near Eastern wing gave me many ideas on what direction to take my class next year. Addi- change in my classroom and our many “Each presentation deepened my understanding of Islam and the issues facing “When I thought about Islam, it was defined to me as the old tionally, a significant percent of my students are Muslim and this seminar will allow me to better communities.” Muslims living in United States today on a personal level, and the presentation on world; however taking Islam in the Americas has opened a include and support them. I can even explain why we have the days of Eid off. It’s not just the the role that Islam played in the Haitian revolution will allow me to enrich our study new school of thought for me-it was here too. This will be a K-16 Outreach students though, quite a few of my fellow teachers are shockingly ignorant on this subject matter —Charles FitzGibbon, of the island and examine the presence of a growing Muslim community there great segue into my teaching unit on the explorers.” and I now feel confident teaching them about it.” Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School, (Queens, NY), today in a new light.” —Maria Sanchez, Department of Education —Tara Harding, NYC Museum School (Manhattan, NY), Social Studies Teachers, —Brittan Lambrix, Scarsdale High School, French Teacher, (Queens, NY), Social Studies Teacher, Global Studies Teacher, Grades 9-10 Grades 11-12 Grades 11-12 Grades k-5 K-16 Outreach 28 29 Human Rights Watch Internship Provides Insights into Palliative Care in Morocco By Jeffrey Eamon, MA NES ‘15

Over three quarters of the world’s populations has limited or no access ing access to pain relief in public medical facilities, however palliative care in to adequate pain treatment. Most within this group suffer from chronic the country is still in its nascent stages and, in some respects, remains limit- pain associated with cancer, HIV/AIDS, or non-life threatening, yet incur- ed. Working under the guidance of associate director Diederik Lohman and Beyond the Binary able, illnesses. Palliative care describes the variety of pain reduction and HRW fellow Matt Simon, I conducted research on Morocco’s existing health prevention treatments used to improve a patient’s quality of life while not care system, its legal statutes pertaining to access to essential medicines, Beirut and the Dahiyeh being used to cure his or her condition. While many developed and de- and also conducted phone surveys with health care facilities in Morocco. By Adnan Moussa, MA NES ‘15 veloping countries alike have taken positive steps towards incorporating palliative care into their existing healthcare systems, many have yet to Working at HRW gave me insight into the actual impact of the work of have made such progress and continue to provide inadequate access. international human rights organizations and also provided the oppor- tunity to employ my Arabic and research skills. Prior to my internship, This past fall, I had the opportunity to work as an intern for Human Rights I was aware of HRW’s literature as well as the public outreach cam- Watch (HRW) in the Health and Human Rights department where I contrib- paigns that it carries out, but it was only during my internship that I uted to their upcoming report on Morocco’s palliative care system. Morocco witnessed the ways in which it collaborates with government actors to represents one of the countries that has taken positive steps towards provid- enact meaningful, positive change where it is needed.

Urban Data--2007/Flickr Protestors blocked off the Prime Minister's Headquarters until the government met their demands.

Recent research and publications have tried to deconstruct the binary that is often thought to separate the Lebanese capital, Beirut, from its Between Theory and Practice southern suburb, the Dahiyeh. Although these works provide alternative ways to reconceptualize these particular urban spaces, many politicians Six months at the UAE’s Mission to the UN and members of the press continue to espouse certain rhetoric that rei- fies the imagined boundary separating the capital from its suburb. By Keith Colella, MA NES ‘16

recently interned for the United Arab this internship was the detailed, person- This binary came to strong light during the 2006-2008 sit-ins, when Emirates’ Permanent Mission to the Unit- al knowledge I was able to obtain about thousands of Lebanese descended to Beirut’s Central District de- I ed Nations in New York. My duties were a number of landmark regional events. In manding economic justice. Rather than understanding this moment as split between two functions: reporting on addition to attending meetings on Syria, a call for political redress, the press reshaped the sit-ins in ways that proceedings in the Security Council, and Sudan, Libya and the nuclear negotiations Photo Courtesy of the UAE Mission. drew a clear line between “us,” residents of Beirut, and “them,” the providing preparatory briefs for H.E. Am- with Iran, I was able to watch the events UAE Ambassador Lana Nusseibeh, (for whom Keith helped Hezbollah-supporting Shi’a in the Dahiyeh. Farah Kobaissy--2007/Flickr prepare briefs at the Mission), speaking on 20 April at an event bassador Lana Nusseibeh. I learned a great leading up to the Saudi-led “Operation Thousands of protestors from various backgrounds took to the streets of Beirut demanding leading up to the World Humanitarian Summit’s “ReShape Aid” economic justice. deal during this time, both about the UAE, Storm of Resolve” in Yemen unfold in re- campaign. In order to better understand how this binary is evoked and imagined the Gulf, and the UN. I became familiar with al-time. I witnessed how diplomats from in popular discourses, I traveled to Beirut this past winter to interview I returned to the Kevorkian Center and began writing my thesis using the UAE’s policy on a number of regional the UAE—who remain closely involved in However engaging and instructive this experi- with people living in the Dahiyeh. Almost all of my interlocutors de- these interviews, as well as newspaper articles and statements made and international issues; I learned how GCC the campaign—reacted to changing con- ence, it was also challenging. At the Center, we scribed a certain reluctance to leave their neighborhoods and enter by prominent politicians. In doing this, I found it challenging to ac- states coordinate with one another and with ditions on the ground and tried to gather strive to apply critical perspectives to develop- Beirut. Many felt that Beirutis would give them scrutinizing glances count for popular understandings of the binary without reproducing the wider Arab group on the international international support for their intervention. ments in the region, but I was disappointed with that would make them feel “less entitled” to public spaces in the the categories “Beirut” and “the Dahiyeh” as undisputed, diametrical stage; and I saw first-hand how the Security What was most interesting was how the in- the lack of nuance in a number of the debates I

capital; others felt the pressure to be on their “best behavior” to dis- opposites. At the same time, however, it was important for me to chal- Experiences Council functions and responds to interna- ternational community’s stance began to witnessed at the UN. This experience therefore prove the binary that reserves adjectives like “crass” and “uncouth” lenge recent scholarships that reduce the binary, and denounce it as tional crises. shift as the campaign wore on and human- reinforced how important it is that these critical for them specifically. These interviews helped me understand how a political fabrication. On the contrary, the binary is not exclusive to the itarian truces—carefully brokered through insights we work so hard to develop are brought many residents of the Dahiyeh internalize the binary, and their con- political, but it also plays a significant role in popular discourses where I think what was most valuable about continued negotiations—were violated. to the mainstream and into the political realm. sequential responses to it. it intimately impacts how people lead their lives. Experiences 30 31 In Fond Memory of Falak Sufi Scholarships and Essay Prize

Falak Sufi was born in Pakistan in 1983. She possessed a stan to see family and begin conducting archival research generous heart, the urge to engage with and change the for her thesis project which tentatively will explore the narra- world, and a brilliantly original, vivacious mind. She grad- tives of national identity and affiliation based on communal uated from the National University of Singapore with first violence experience by the groups during the ’47 partition. class honors in Political Science. While young, she began Next year she hopes to intern at the UN, continue her studies to publish the work that showed her great gifts and talent. of Arabic (perhaps partially abroad), and continue exploring Among her interests were women and gender in South Asia, the inexhaustible collection of cuisine options in NYC. the historiography of this region, and the strength of the hu- manities. However, no list can capture the range of subjects This Fall, Sabahat Zakariya will be joining us as our newest about which she thought, spoke and wrote. She was a much Falak Sufi scholar in the class of 2017. She is a BA graduate beloved, deeply admired graduate student in Near Eastern (English Literature and Mass Communication/Journalism) of Studies at New York University when she died tragically in the Lahore College for Women, and holds previous Master’s Spring 2008. With the generous support of her family, Kev- Degrees in English Literature from the Kinnaird College for orkian has awarded an annual scholarship in honor of her Women and the University of Punjab. She has been a writing/ memory. literature teacher of middle and high school students in La- hore, and has found her own voice as a writer and editor for The Falak Sufi Scholars have had a very busy year. Maham various print and online publications in Pakistan, including Javaid, ‘15 interned at CNN's Fareed Zakariya GPS show The Nation, the Daily Times, and The Friday Times. At the while continuing to study Persian and Political Economy at Kevorkian Center, through our joint program in Near Eastern the Kevorkian Center. Maham went back to Bannu over the Studies and Journalism, Sabahat plans to develop her ac-

winter break to complete filming for her documentary (about ademic skills to engage with popular culture seriously, and The Falak Sufi Scholars and Essay Prize Winners celebrate with members of Falak Sufi’s family at the Kevorkian Center on April 2, 2015. From Left to Right: Raza Sufi; Azhar Sufi; Aqsa Khaled, ’16; the Pakistani Taliban's takeover of North Waziristan) which has a particular interest in critiquing the very powerful social Maham Javaid, ’15; Anna Reumert, ’15; Jeffrey Eamon, ’15; and Rashiq Sufi. she submitted as part of her thesis prior to graduating in messages of Pakistani television programs. She is also ex- among Palestinian and Israeli communities; ficient humanitarian services; the ways in ter the discovery of oil in 1932. Here he links May. The other part of her thesis, a narrative about her trip cited to delve into Middle East studies and reinvigorate a post-freedom struggles by black slaves in which the concepts of “refugee,” “displaced Bapco’s policy of relegating unskilled Bah- and the stories she found there, were published as an arti- personal and past academic connection to Iranian/Persian 19th-century Egypt. The papers relied on ar- person” or “asylum seeker” fall terribly short rainis to low-paying manual labor positions cle, “Pakistan’s Neocolonial War,” in The Nation magazine studies. chival work, on ethnographic methods, on vi- in describing Syrians displaced to Beirut; and to the longer-term cultivation of animosities in June. Maham also interned at Women's eNews, a news sual cultural analyses and political economy, the complex landscape of identity that these and unrest among the local population. In website that focuses solely on women's issues, and covered Kevorkian also awarded the seventh annual Falak Sufi Me- and everything in between. individuals negotiate through their struggles the decades that follow, Eamon argues, this stories from New York, London and New Delhi. She took a morial Essay Prize that recognizes originality and promise to exist and survive in a “temporary” space. worker unrest (in comparison with sectarian writing workshop for non-academic at the Kevorkian Center in M.A. scholarship in April 2015 to Jeffrey Eamon ’15. An The paper that received honorable men- difference) serves as a crucial catalyst for with writer-in-residence Adam Shatz. She has been working honorable mention went to Anna Reumert ‘15. tion was Anna Reumert’s “Intimate Strang- The winner of the Falak Sufi memorial essay Bahrain’s gradual institutionalization of state since graduation as a freelance reporter based in NYC. ers: Practices of Syrian Refugees in Beirut.” prize was Jeffrey Eamon, whose paper, “Co- repression, thereby laying the groundwork A number of outstanding essays were submitted for com- This essay is a beautifully written piece that lonial Policing in the Bahrain Islands: Labor, for the Bahraini regime’s undeniably effective Aqsa Khalid ‘16 enjoyed her first year at the Center, noting petition on a wide diversity of topics, geographies, histori- weaves together interview testimony, empiri- Migration, and the Outsourcing of Bahrain’s suppression of dissent today. the thriving intellectual environment at the center--from the cal time periods, and from a variety of methodological ap- cal evidence and complex theoretical analy- Security Apparatus” is an ambitious analysis events and classes to her new friendships with fellow stu- proaches. The subject matter ranged among the following sis and presses us to rethink our conceptions of labor unrest and policing in Bahrain. He Applications for next year’s scholarship will dents. Managing (and surviving) the everyday rigors of life topics: Tunisian agricultural cooperatives; Pakistani return-

of refugee life. Reumert explores the territory traces the early 20th-century relevance of arrive in Fall 2015, and the essay prize com- Student News in New York City will, she says, contribute to her mental and ing migrants from the Gulf; NYC and the 9/11 memorial; ur- (spatial, discursive, and bureaucratic) inhab- Britain’s commercial interests in the region petition will take place in Spring 2016. The physical strength for years to come! She has been pushing ban movements of Syrian refugees in Lebanon; Lebanon’s ited by Syrian “refugees” in Beirut. Her explo- and the tandem recruitment of foreign work- Hagop Kevorkian Center remains indebted to herself out of her comfort zone academically and engaging urban renewal; a Marxist critique of ‘green capitalism’ in the ration of their practices reveals, at a minimum, ers for both security services and skilled labor the family of Falak Sufi for supporting this rec- in coursework completely different from her previous training UAE; legacies of British colonialism in Bahrain; visual analy- the yawning gap between those displaced in this period, and then profiles the practices ognition of outstanding M.A. candidates and in economics. This summer she heads to the UK and Paki- ses of solidarity and awareness campaigns; sites of memory and those who officially navigate the insuf- of the Bahrain Petrolum Company (Bapco) af- their writings. Student News 32 33 as good. I am studying Arabic on a Foreign the program, I studied Arab-Israeli rela- system for my thesis under at the Galla- Language Area Studies Fellowship in Am- tions at the Hebrew University of Jerusa- tin Global Fellowship in Human Rights, man, Jordan and reporting and research- lem. Now I am working on my Arabic at awarded by NYU. I am also interning in ing my thesis in Israel/Palestine. My thesis Al-Azhar University in Cairo. My thesis re- an Egyptian NGO that focuses on crimi- is about Israel’s internet-based surveillance search should tentatively be on the mod- nal justice. In the Spring semester, I was of Palestinians, particularly Palestinian so- ernization of the Egyptian prison system. awarded a Deadline Club scholarship. cial media activity. I am investigating why Israeli authorities are arresting Palestinians Colin Murtha: This summer I’ve gone to Kat Thornton: I spent the summer in Is- based on Facebook posts and what these Boğaziçi University for intensive Turkish tanbul, Turkey, participating in Boğaziçi arrests say about the larger surveillance language training after receiving a FLAS University’s intensive Turkish language apparatus Israel has constructed in the grant. I’ve also been teaching myself the course while also doing research for my West Bank and Gaza. Ottoman Alphabet in an effort to ready my- joint Middle Eastern Studies-Journalism self for my thesis and ultimately PhD work MA thesis. This year I hope to return to MA Student News: Class of 2016 Aqsa Khalid: During the summer, I am (I’ve also been looking into programs). I the Kevorkian Center to finish my MA taking a trip back to Pakistan and the UK am thinking I will be writing my thesis on and continue my research on journalistic Nader Atassi: During my first year in the sion to the United Nations. In addition to contact me if you want to contribute! to visit family and simply unwind. I will start the intersection of law, religion, and legiti- practices and foreign correspondents in MA program, I took classes in political beginning preliminary research for my planning my thesis and shall utilize my time mization in the Ottoman Empire. southeastern Turkey. economy and history, and began learn- thesis—which will offer a critical analysis Mariam Elba: This summer, with the help in Pakistan to conduct archival research ing Modern Turkish. This summer, I was of micro-finance/multilateral development of a FLAS, I am continuing my studies in which tentatively would explore the nar- Paris Osmanovic: This summer I have Jeremy Wheatley: I’m currently in Jor- awarded a FLAS scholarship to take an efforts in the Middle East—I am currently Arabic at the Lebanese American Univer- ratives of national identity and affiliation been consulting with and meeting work- dan studying Arabic (been here since intermediate Modern Turkish intensive applying for internships in financial analy- sity in New York, and will be spending a based on communal violence experienced ing professionals across the public and June). Looking forward to the coming se- course at Boğazici University. Next year, sis and market research. number of weeks in Egypt to begin thesis by the groups during the ‘47 partition. I private sectors to explore employment mester of coursework and research. My I plan to continue studying Turkish and reporting in Cairo. I also hope to do further hope to come back and find an internship opportunities after graduation. I have also thesis will likely focus on visual culture start work on a thesis focusing on the Jessica DeOliveira: I spent my summer research and reporting on ways in which in the city to apply the knowledge and skills been researching PhD and MBA pro- and control, potentially in regards to ISIS economic history of Syria under the Otto- working at a Management Consulting firm in public spaces in Cairo and Alexandria are that I have acquired at the Kevorkian Cen- grams that may support further study of or Israel-Palestine. man Empire. New York City. Following graduation, I have utilized and changing in light of continuing ter and continue studying Arabic. Islamic Finance and Shariah-Compliant plans to continue my career in consulting contestation between the state and vari- Investments. More than anything, I have Zavier Wingham: As an incoming first Emily Bader: After an invigorating first abroad, focusing on strategy for the public ous youth movements. Brian Lewis: I have greatly enjoyed and enjoyed spending time with my son this year, I was not quite sure what to expect. year with the Kevorkian Center, I flew to sector in Abu Dhabi, Doha, and Dubai. appreciated the shift from the working Summer and teaching him Persian as he There was not a “here’s how to be a grad- Amman to join the first cohort of scholars Ezgi Aydin: I am planning to write my world back to academia. The intellectual is learning to speak. uate student” checklist, which I found to at Sijal Institute. Nafi Dhanani: I’m spending the summer thesis on the Arab Alawis in Anatolia and challenge has been immensely gratifying be one of the beautiful charms of Kevo. researching the jirga system in the Pash- how they reacted/joined the forces of na- and fulfilling and I am excited to continue Julian Phillips: I was awarded fellowships The academic freedom to pursue my own Paul Bielecki: This summer I am study- tun regions along the Afghanistan/Pakistan tionalism in Turkey and Ottoman Empire, my studies in the fall. I am continuing my to study missionary papers in two archives interests, assisted with the guidance of ing Arabic in Oman. I am also excited to border for my thesis. The jirga decisions so I have been spending the summer con- Arabic studies at the New York office of in Pennsylvania. I was also awarded a fel- our stellar faculty and a fantastic group spend some time in Iran at the University have tended to have a highly negative ef- ducting research in the Ottoman Archives Lebanese American University and work- lowship to study Arabic at the Qasid Insti- of Kevo friends that have become my of Tehran to conduct research for my MA fect on the rights of women and children, in Istanbul and Republican Archives in ing for the NYU Sociology Department. My tute in Amman during the summer break. NYC family, encouraged me to present at thesis in medical anthropology. My French and I’m exploring community awareness Ankara. I have been doing an indepen- strongest potential thesis topic is to ex- several conferences in my first year, win- translation of “Molekularbiologie der Zelle” programs currently in place to mitigate the dent study (Master’s Research) with Dr. plore if and how Orientalist tropes are be- Simone Rutkowitz: I was fortunate to re- ning second best graduate paper at one written by Ulrich Schafer (Germany) will be effects of these decisions. My hope is that Joanne Nucho and reporting to her about ing expressed through the current gener- ceive a FLAS scholarship for Spring 2015 conference. Many might know about the published this year by the Sorbonne Uni- this will help me to devise strategies for the my progress in the archives. I also began ation of “post-LGBTQ” queer institutions in and this coming academic year. This sum- academic rigor of the program, but the versity. This summer my artwork exhibition prevention of future occurrences. In other to learn basic Ottoman Turkish in order to the West and how these tropes are being mer I am strengthening my Arabic skills heart, inspiration, and dedication that’s (28 pieces-oil on canvas) sold out so I was news, I’m working on a student blog for the transliterate and comprehend the Ottoman engaged with and challenged by queer through tutoring sessions with MEIS PhD behind the vigor is the true beauty of our able to buy new medical equipment for a Kevorkian Center so that we can all have documents on the Alawis. voices in the Middle East. I may potentially candidate Eman Morsi. I am looking for- program. It’s the reason why I’m spending hospital in the Bourj el-Barajneh Palestin- a space to contribute academically and focus on how Israeli pinkwashing reflects ward to working as a research assistant to my summer in Ankara, Turkey on a Crit-

ian refugee camp in Lebanon where I will show the world how great we are! It’ll also Alex Kane: Everything about my first year Student News new discourses in queerness. Prof. Joanne Nucho and exploring topics ical Languages Scholarship for Intensive be working at the end of the summer. be a great resource for incoming students at the Kevorkian Center was fantastic, from for my thesis. Turkish, and the following academic year and where current students will be able to digging into academic work on the Arab Soleiman Moustafa: My main area of in- on a Fulbright Research Grant in Istanbul Keith Colella: I have just completed a stay abreast of our crazy event calendar. revolts to attending various events at the terest is Egyptian, Israeli, and Palestinian Nadeen Shaker: I am currently in Egypt and Kayseri, Turkey conducting research six-month internship with the UAE Mis- See http://studentblog.nyukevo.com and center. My summer is shaping up to be just politics in the 20th century. Before joining covering protest issues and the prison on Iranian migrants. Student News 34 35 MA Student News: Class of 2015 Dima Abi Saab: This summer, I am traveling to Lebanon to expand on my citizenship in post-Green Movement Iran. For the summer, I am planning research on the way in which experiences of reincarnation impact familial to take advantage of all of the things that New York City has to offer before relations and political affiliations in Mount Lebanon. In the Fall of 2015, I starting my PhD in Anthropology at City University of New York in the Fall. PhD Student News will begin the Ph.D program at NYU’s Departmetn of Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, expanding on the research I conducted for my Master’s Maham Javaid: I am moving to San Francisco to work as an Editorial Dena al-Adeeb: In the Summer, I will pres- 2015 for my dissertation project which exam- research in the Foreign Ministry Archives at thesis titled: “Beyond Death: How Reincarnation and Memory Reshape Assistant for Timeline magazine. I will also be working on editing my ent a paper at the “Precarious Radicalism on ines the emergence of a Palestinian diaspora La Courneuve and Nantes. In May I published Kinship and Politics in Mount Lebanon.” documentary film (part of my MA thesis) so that I can start screening it by Shifting Grounds: Towards a Politics of Pos- in Latin America during the first decades of an article with fellow NYU Ph.D. student Shay the start of next year. sibility,” International Conference of Critical the 20th century. I will spend the summer of Hazkani in the International Journal of Middle Thalia Beaty: I am spending the summer working part-time as a produc- Geography in Ramallah, Palestine. I will also 2015 conducting final dissertation research in East Studies titled “’Impossible is not Otto- er for a podcast and for a couple of shows at WNYC, and am currently Hannah Lawrence: A rewarding development internship with Just Vision defend my dissertation prospectus. In the Mexico and Palestine/Israel in order to con- man’: Menashe Meirovitch, ‘Isa al-’Isa, and figuring out the next steps! this past spring prepared me to join Ceres -- an environmental nonprof- Spring, I taught a course titled “Media and tinue the writing process which I also began Imperial Citizenship in Palestine.” I’ll be in it based in Boston -- as a Development Associate on their Foundations Globalization,” in the Department of Media, over the last year. I hope to defend my disser- London through NYU’s Global Research Ini- Belle Cheves: My final year at Kevo was incredibly rewarding. I finished Team. In this role, I work closely with program staff to track and articulate Culture and Communication at NYU. I also tation in the spring of 2016. tiatives program in the fall. my thesis on prison memoirs in 1970s Iran, and am extremely excited to Ceres’ campaigns and initiatives, support the output stream of proposals taught a course titled “Transdisciplinary Writ- continue and expand my research as I begin my PhD in the fall at Harvard and reports, and manage a portfolio of foundation grants. ing for Architecture,” in the Humanities and Alex Boodrookas: Having completed my first Ilker Hepkaner: My second year at the de- in their dual History and Middle Eastern Studies program. I will miss Kevo Media Studies Department at Pratt School of year in the joint PhD program, I am spending partment was very exciting. I was a teach- dearly, and am so grateful for everything I learned in my two years here - Adnan Moussa: I completed my thesis on urban spaces in Beirut, focus- Architecture. My video work was exhibited this summer studying Farsi and Tajiki in Tajik- ing assistant in the undergraduate courses can’t wait to come back for events! ing particularly on how the binary between the capital and its southern at “Ten: The Exhibition,” at the Arab Ameri- istan on a CLS scholarship. “Islam in the World” and “Literature and So- suburb is often shaped and discussed in popular discourses. This sum- can National Museum, Dearborn, Michigan. I ciety in the Middle East,” and I learned a lot Jeffrey Eamon: Starting in fall 2014 I began my thesis research on the mer, I will travel to NYU Abu Dhabi where I intend to gain further experi- presented several papers at numerous con- Sheida Dayani: In Fall 2014, I taught Be- about pedagogy from the professors and col- origins of Bahrain’s internal security forces, some of which I carried out at ences in higher education, not as a student myself, but as an instructor ferences including; “Radical Increments: To- ginner Persian I and Intermediate Persian I leagues I worked with. I co-organized the in- the US National Archives over winter break. In the spring I was awarded helping other students prepare their college applications. ward New Platforms of Engaging Iraqi Stud- courses at NYU. In Spring 15, I defended my ternational research workshop “Transnational the Falak Sufi Memorial Essay Prize for my research on the topic and am ies” at Colombia University, “The Language PhD prospectus (became ABD) and got a full- Perspectives on the Life and Work of Saba- currently mulling over plans to pursue the research further in the form of Anna Reumert: After two very fruitful and informative years at the Kev- of Architecture and Trauma” at Pratt Institute, time faculty position at Harvard as a Persian hattin Ali” at the Hagop Kevorkian Center, and a Fulbright or journal article. My last year at Kevo I also did internships at orkian center, where I had the opportunity to conduct fieldwork among “Open Engagement 2015: Place and Rev- Preceptor. I also attended the annual confer- I presented a paper at this workshop. I also Human Rights Watch and Physicians for Human Rights researching Mo- Syrian refugees in Beirut for my thesis, I am now embarking on the world olution” at Carnegie Mellon University, “Col- ence of the American Comparative Literature passed my first round of comprehensive ex- rocco’s nascent palliative care system and attacks on medical personnel of humanitarianism and refugee policy. I am currently enrolled in the in- or of Violence 4: Beyond the State: Inciting Association. ams on the culture and representation track, in Syria’s ongoing civil war. Currently I am spending the year in Cairo as tensive Arabic summer program at American University of Beirut, after Transformative Possibilities: Women of Color and prepared for the second round during a CASA fellow. which I will return to NYC to intern with the Afghanistan mission at the UN Against Violence.” Aviv Derri: I finished my second year in the summer. general assembly in the fall. After that, I’m hoping to work with refugee joint PhD program in History and MEIS. I was Brooke Fisher: This year I competed my MA thesis which focused on resettlement either in NYC or back in Beirut. Ryvka Barnard: In March I presented a part of awarded the GSAS pre-dissertation research Matthew Keegan: In the fall, I completed the memorialization of the 1991 uprisings in Iraq by various groups in my dissertation at the Brown University “New fellowship for this summer, as well as a schol- my coursework and took a comprehensive Iraqi society and examines the use of these memories as a mechanism of Keenan Wilder: My second year at Kevorkian was a great experience, Directions in Palestine Studies/Palestine: arship from Koç University in Istanbul for an exam on Islamic studies. I presented a MESA inclusion or exclusion from belonging to the national community. Moving I did my thesis work on the labor movement in Tunisia and was able to Political Cultures and the Culture of Politics” Ottoman language course. I plan to spend paper on legal riddles in Islamic legal dis- forward I will be joining the Global Exploration for Educators Organization make two trips to Washington DC to do archival research. Since gradu- conference. I also had the GRI fellowship at July and August 2015 in Istanbul, learning Ot- course. In the spring, I organized a seminar as their Outreach Director. ating I got a job teaching at Amideast in Tunisia, and am planning to stay NYU London in the spring semester. Mainly, I toman and working in the Ottoman archives. on commentaries in the Islamicate world at here for at least the coming year. started a new job as the Senior Campaigner the American Comparative Literature Associ- Gina Hakim: Following graduation, I spent some time over the summer on Global Justice at the London-based NGO Ahmad Diab: While I worked on my disserta- ation annual meeting. In the summer of 2015, traveling in Lebanon after which I began working at a school in the Los Ella Wind: This past year I finished my thesis on the implementation of War on Want. In that role, I published several tion over the past months/years, I worked at I prepared for my second comprehensive Angeles metropolitan area. In December I hope to move to Egypt where industrial planning in Turkey and applied for PhD programs. I will begin a articles on the UK-Israel arms trade and a re- Google on Arabic language-related issues. I exam and wrote my dissertation prospectus I will expand on my thesis, focused on economic development, tourism PhD in sociology at NYU in the fall. I also continued studying Turkish and search report on the same topic. successfully defended my dissertation on July on the 12th century commentaries on al- and terrorism in the Sinai Peninsula, and conduct additional research. I am taking an advanced intensive Turkish course at Bogazici University 30th, 2015 and will begin in a new job soon! Ḥarīrī’s Maqāmāt. Student News over the summer through a scholarship from the American Research In- Nadim Bawalsa: As a 5th-year joint MEIS Shima Houshyar: From learning to play the setar to protesting police bru- stitute in Turkey. Outside of my schoolwork, I served as a bargaining com- and History PhD candidate, I used my SSRC Samuel Dolbee: I was in France for most of tality to presenting my first paper at the OASIES conference, it has been a mittee member in the NYU graduate student union and helped organize funds to conduct archival research in Chile, the academic year 2014-2015 while begin- productive year. I wrote my thesis on evolving notions of motherhood and the Historical Materialism 2015 conference held in New York. England, and Palestine/Israel during 2014- ning to write my dissertation and continuing Student News 36 37 PhD Student News Faculty News Shimrit Lee: This year I worked towards com- with MA student Adnan Moussa as part of the Jennifer Varela: This past academic year, I Richard Allen: At the end of last spring semester. Although I have Origins of Assyrian Nationalism one is still working -- it is not free pleting my coursework and preparing for com- Kevorkian Center’s Visual Culture Series. prepared and wrote my two comprehensive year I relinquished (for good!) taught here before, it feels differ- (UChicago Press, 2015). I in fact time, only the tasks are different. prehensive exams. In the summer, I began exams and worked two terms as a research the role of Cinema Studies de- ent when I continue teaching with gave a talk for Ottoman Studies on I miss the students and Universi- preliminary fieldwork in Israel/Palestine and Suneela Mubayi: I am working full time on my assistant for Ella Shohat. I also presented at partment chair and embarked on the same group of students and one of my chapters and also had ty atmosphere. As my first task, France for my dissertation project on Israel’s thesis, and was awarded the Mellon-GSAS the 2015 ACLA conference in Seattle and semester’s sabbatical leave and am able to see them advance an opportunity to discuss some of I decided to take care of my pri- arms industry. I contributed my writing to Jaco- fellowship for the upcoming academic year to had a paper accepted to the upcoming 2015 a semester at NYU Abu Dhabi and improve in their language the book in Prof. Keshavarzian’s vate library -- I had many books in bin, Warscapes, and Ballast Magazines. finish it. I also hosted a visit from Palestinian MESA conference. I was awarded the GRI where I taught (for the first time) skills. One of the highlights of the graduate seminar. I also gave three locations: my office on the writer Raji Bathish this Spring that focused in fellowship for the NYU Tel Aviv site and this a course in film production, “Film past academic year was receiv- two lectures on the so-called Per- 4th floor of Kevorkian (all three Matt MacLean: I spent the 2014-2015 aca- Queer writing in Palestine. summer I will be working on my prospectus Style: Theory and Practice,” and ing an FAS Office of Educational sian Martyr Acts, a large corpus walls); my office at home; and demic year as a Humanities Research Fellow and traveling in the field. a core class on “Art and Emotion” Technology Innovation grant. The of Syriac texts that describe the the upper level of the Kevorkian at NYU Abu Dhabi, conducting research for Jennifer Pineo-Dunn: This was my first year which included a comparative Office has agreed to my proposal purported Christian martyrdoms library. When I studied at my first his dissertation on the history of infrastructure in the program, and I was fortunate enough to Rustin Zarkar: This year I managed to juggle discussion of “affective piety” to support the creation of an Ara- in Sasanian (pre-Islamic) Iran. My alma mater, Jagiellonian Universi- and national identity in the United Arab Emir- receive the Dean’s Student Travel Grant which coursework and teaching while passing the in medieval Christianity, Sufism, bic language resource site for the research has returned primarily to ty in Krakow, Poland, there was a ates. I presented my work at NYU Abu Dhabi, allowed me to attend and to present a paper first of my comprehensive exams. I present- and the Krishna tradition. Both 3 main language levels at NYU. I antiquity after the mission book great shortage of books. During MESA, WOCMES, the Gulf Research Meeting, at the American Comparative Literature Asso- ed my paper, “Monuments, Memory, and the classes were extremely reward- have discussed the project with but I continue to have 19th and WWII, the Nazis had forbidden all and Exeter, and will return to the UAE this fall ciation’s Annual Meeting in Seattle. I also re- Politics of National Delimitation in Uzbekistan” ing. In the meantime, in the cur- officials in the office, and- hope 20th century interests. One re- education above the elementary as a visiting researcher at the al-Qasimi Foun- ceived the Betty Jones Scholarship to attend at the OASIES Conference held at the Kevork- rent work of mine that may be of fully my colleagues and I will be cent project was on the reception school level and had systemati- dation in Ras al-Khaimah. Middlebury College’s Master’s in Arabic pro- ian Center in March. I also earned a summer interest to readers of this bulletin, able to secure a bigger budget of certain late antique scholastic cally destroyed libraries. I had at- gram (Pedagogical Track) held at Mills Col- fellowship from the Jordan Center for the Ad- I have been chipping away at my for an even more ambitious proj- texts in Syriac among Chaldean tempted to read the great Persian Zainab Mahmood: My paper, “A Kingly Ap- lege in California, where I completed the first of vanced Study of Russia to conduct language book manuscript on the poetics ect that will take our Arabic pro- Catholic intellectuals in turn of the epic, The Shahnameh, but there pointment: al-Malik, Fir’awn and concepts of four summer semesters of intensive Arabic im- study and archival work in St. Petersburg. My of recognition in Hindi Cinema gram to a different level. The idea century Iraq. were no Persian/English, Persian/ kingship in medieval Muslim exegetical writ- mersion, research and pedagogical training. translation of Farhad Behbahani’s 1990 pris- entitled Bollywood Poetics. I pub- of this project came as a result French, or Persian/German dictio- ing” was accepted for the upcoming MESA on memoir, “The Story of a Confession,” will lished a part of this as “Comedies of continuous discussions with Peter Chelkowski: After 45 years naries. Not even Persian/Russian. panel “The Language of Power: Articulating Tara Stephan: This past year, I finished my be published by the Association for the Study of Error: Shakespeare, Indian my colleagues at the Arabic lan- of teaching at NYU, suddenly I ended up reading it with a Tajik/ Kingship in the Medieval Islamicate World,” comprehensive exams and began develop- of Persian Literature this fall. Cinema, and the Poetics of Mis- guage program, and comments one day in a classroom I had the Russian dictionary! So when I re- chaired by Roy Mottahedeh and sponsored ing my dissertation topic. I have spent the taken Identity” in a book entitled and feedback from our students. feeling that my lecture was not tired, I decided to send a great by the Middle East Medievalists association. summer researching chronicles, biographical Ayelet Zoran Rosen: This year I had a baby, Bollywood Shakespeare, and a We strongly feel that this project, reaching my students. The next part of my library to Jagiellonian. dictionaries, and other materials, looking at wrote two chapters of the dissertation (now spin-off essay on filmmaker Rit- once it is in place, will provide ef- day despite the fact that the class I have shipped 52 boxes of books Amir Moosavi: This year I was a fellow at women’s involvement in Mamluk urban life. I working on the last one, wish me luck!), par- uparno Gosh, “Closeted Desires ficient and attractive tools to help was smaller, the feeling persisted. to the Department of Iranian Stud- the NYU Humanities Initiative. I made signif- am currently honing in on my thesis so I can ticipated in one conference (The Australia and Open Secrets: Raincoat and our students learn Arabic faster I had very good students - intel- ies there. Middle Eastern Studies icant progress on my dissertation and hope defend my prospectus soon and make plans and New Zealand Medieval and Early Mod- Noukadubi,” that is out in the next and more easily. I am hopeful ligent, hard-working, and friendly, have a long tradition in Poland to defend in early fall 2015. During the spring, for archival research. ern Studies 10th Biennial Conference) and re- issue of South Asian History and that my entry in next year’s HK but the feeling went on for two or since the country needed trans- aside from dissertation research, I taught Ele- cently started working as an assistant editor Culture and was a keynote talk Review will talk about how the three weeks. At that point, I decid- lators and interpreters during the mentary Persian II and presented dissertation Ian Vandermeulen: It has been an inspiring at the university of Auckland’s Europe Insti- at the Global Women’s Cinema students are benefiting from this ed to retire. I went to see the chair- wars with the Ottoman Empire research the NYU Iranian Studies Initiative. and challenging first year in the MEIS PhD tute peer-reviewed journal, The New Zealand Conference at Stony Brook. new platform that reflects a new man of the Department of Middle (for almost 300 years). As for my program, capped by my wedding at the end Journal for Research on Europe. approach to teaching Arabic. Eastern and Islamic Studies and research, I’m going to work on Eman Morsi: This year is my seventh and fi- of May! I’ve spent the early part of the summer Ali Adeeb Alnaemi : This is my the Director of the Kevorkian Cen- several subjects which I start- nal year. I received a postdoctoral fellowship developing a research interest in Egypt’s Shi- first academic year as a full time Adam Becker: This past aca- ter and announced my decision. ed years ago and now hope to Faculty News at the Core Curriculum program and I am ite minority and will be spending the second Arabic language lecturer. I taught demic year I was happy to see It was a mistake: I should have bring to completion. Aside from currently finalizing my dissertation for a sep- half studying Arabic at the Qalam wa Lawh in- three elementary classes in the the publication of my book, Re- overcome my malaise and kept this, my biggest project this year tember defense and graduation. I also co-cu- stitute in Rabat, Morocco. I also look forward fall semester and two elementary vival and Awakening: American on teaching. Retirement is not was to prepare to move out of our rated an Algerian film program in Fall 2014 to my first teaching assignment in the Fall. II and one intermediate II in the Evangelical Missionaries and the what one conceives it to be while apartment in Silver Towers, where Student News 38 39 we have lived since 1968. Since Soysal’s Hanife” is in print in an speak at the Dar al-Athar al-Islami- January, I spent my sabbatical Normal in 21st Century America, cluded material on the Israeli-Pal- of scholars writing on sacred sity) with a presentation respond- it was not possible to find any- edited book on the works of Sevgi yyah in Kuwait. In June, I spoke on year in New York. Part of the time with support from the NYU Hu- estinian conflict, U.S. sanctions shrines in the Caucasus region. ing to the book by Alexander thing affordable in NYC, we are Soysal. I completed my term on the “Stories in Stone: Self-Made Imag- was spent in reading up on dis- manities Initiative and a Collab- on Iraq during the 1990s, and This summer, I returned to the Kazamias (Coventry University). migrating to Torino, Italy where editorial board of the International es in Mosques and Modernism” in cussions of translation, language orative Research/Writing Grant the conflict between the U.S. and Caucasus to spend time in Tbili- The interaction with colleagues our daughter lives. Since we have Journal of Middle East Studies in a symposium organized to honor and the role of interpreters in co- from the National Endowment Al Qaeda. In the spring of 2015 si, Georgia, for archival research and the audience’s impassioned 47 years worth of belongings to March. I was elected to the exec- Professor Dame Marina Warner, lonial/imperial politics. I decided for the Humanities. I have been I taught both undergraduate on a project on the role of satire responses to the intersections of pack, this has been a huge un- utive board of the Institute of Turk- this year’s recipient of the Holberg that working on Singapore in the carrying out work on this project and graduate courses on social in authoritarian settings as seen things Egyptian and things Greek dertaking! We are grateful to have ish Studies and started serving in Prize, in Bergen, Norway. While in 1880-1914 period demands at since 2007, along with my col- movements. Speaking of which, through the life and work of Celil were quite enriching. been part of the NYU Community November. I am currently on the India in January, I traveled in the least some understanding of the league in the Department of An- 2015 saw the publication of the Memmedquluzade, editor of the for all these years and are sad to best book prize committee for the Deccan region of the south, vis- extraordinary violent pressures thropology, Rayna Rapp. Togeth- third edition of The Social Move- Azeri-language, Tbilisi-based, Gabriela Nik Ilieva: During the be saying farewell. Please visit if Association of Ottoman and Turk- iting medieval and early modern by Britain, France and others on er we are looking at how activists, ments Reader: Cases and Con- multi-regional journal, Molla last academic year I continued you are in Torino! ish Studies, which will announce its sites with Dipti Khera and other the Qing Empire in China from innovators, schools, scientists, cepts (Wiley-Blackwell), which I Nesreddin, which was published teaching Hindi and Ancient Indi- decision at the MESA conference colleagues in preparation for a the Opium Wars of the 1840s artists, museum professionals coedited with James Jasper. This from 1906-1931. I am full time an as well as Modern South Asian Sibel Erol: Turkish classes, assist- in November. graduate colloquium that we co- right through to the dynasty’s fall and media makers are changing edition includes some new ma- again in the Department of An- literature. I continued working ed by our Fulbright assistant Yavuz taught this spring in connection in 1911. Hence the London visit the face of the American body terial on the Arab Spring. In No- thropology for 2015-2016, where on developing and organizing Özdemirel, had an excellent year. Finbarr Barry Flood: At the start with the exhibition Sultans of Dec- to track down records concern- politic to include the broad face vember of 2014 I was a speaker I will be offering a graduate sem- Hindi and Urdu materials for the Students from various levels, Nad- of the 2014-15 academic year, can India, 1500-1700: Opulence ing young elite Chinese naval of humanity that includes people on a panel called “Studying Con- inar in political anthropology in study and training of Hindi and er Atassi, Aviv Derri, Isaac Hand, I gave a lecture at the Asian Art and Fantasy at the Metropolitan officers who started going to the with a wide variety of disabilities tentious Politics and Social Move- the spring, among other courses. Urdu teachers. I advised last Colin Murtha, Ella Wind and Zavi- Museum in San Francisco and the Museum of Art. During the year I Royal Naval College at Green- 25 years after the passage of the ments after the Arab Uprisings” at year’s Foreign Language Teach- er Wingham have participated in Wilkinson Lecture at the Metropol- organized, with the help of Fati- wich in the 1870s. Some of them Americans with Disabilities Act. the annual meeting of the Middle Hala Halim: In fall 2014, I had the ing Assistants from India and Pa- summer programs in Turkey with itan Museum of Art on the topic ma Quraishi, a new lecture series becoming key naval or imperial While attending a think tank this East Studies Association (MESA) pleasure of leading a four-part kistan, Madri Kakoti and Bushra support from a variety of scholar- “From Mali to Alchi: Art on the Mar- on Islamic Art, Points of Contact: officials, including in Singapore, summer, Lights, Camera, Ac- in Washington, DC. In June I de- discussion of Naguib Mahfouz’s Mahmood, who did a remarkable ships. I attended two conferences gins of the Caliphate.” In Decem- New Approaches to Islamic Art, while one of them became per- cess, 2.0, I had the opportunity livered a keynote presentation Cairo Trilogy and Miramar at job working with our students, fa- in Turkey last year and gave two ber I was in Ethiopia, continuing which brought scholars working haps the most important trans- to encounter the extraordinary called “Problems in the Study of the Brooklyn Public Library with cilitating extracurricular activities papers on two Turkish women ongoing research on early histo- on Islamic art in regions ranging lator in modern Chinese history. Palestinian American actress, State Terrorism: The Question of a delightfully engaged group of and supporting their projects. In writers. In October, I presented a ries of globalization, and traveling from Spain and Ukraine, East Af- There followed months of reading comedian and disability activist Intent” at a conference on “Un- readers. March 2015 saw me addition, under the umbrella of paper on Adalet Ağaoğlu, “A Ba- on to India to give a series of sem- rica and Indonesia, to the Institute on a period and political relations Maysoon Zayid, considered one derstanding Conflict” at the Uni- travel to Seattle for the American the Alliance for the Promotion of roque History and A Novel with inars on Islamic art at Jnanapra- of Fine Arts to speak about their of which I knew virtually nothing. of America’s first Muslim women versity of Bath. In this talk I exam- Comparative Literature Associa- Urdu Studies (APUS) we estab- Tics: Adalet Ağaoğlu’s novel Ro- vaha, Mumbai. While there, I also research. I also published an ar- Humbling and highly instructive. comedians and the first person ined several Israeli tactics during tion annual meeting at which I or- lished an NYU Student Initiative mantic, A Vienna Summer” at Bil- delivered a lecture on “Deccani ticle on the theme of “Bodies and The rest of the time is being spent ever to perform standup in Pal- Operation Protective Edge in the ganized a three-day seminar en- in Brooklyn to help children from gi University, and in December a Art Across the Ocean: Hoysalas, Becoming: Mimesis, Mediation writing chapters on matriarchs estine and Jordan. She had the summer of 2014 which resulted in titled “Bandung, Afro-Asianness, under-privileged immigrant fam- paper on Halide Edib, “Emotion Kadambas and Medieval Ethio- and the Ingestion of the Sacred in and patriarchs for my book on most viewed Ted talk in 2014. large numbers of civilian casual- Non-Alignment, Tricontinentalism ilies with their school studies. I as Basis for Ethics: George Sand, pia” in Mumbai and at the National Christianity and Islam,” published law, conflict, and the transmission She tours the US, Canada and ties and can be fairly considered and Global South Comparatism,” received several awards recog- George Eliot and Halide Edib” Gallery Of Modern Art, Bangalore, in Sally M. Promey, ed., Sensa- of goods among Arab families of the Middle East with a band of as state terrorism. I continue to the theme of which was drawn nizing my community work, in- at Şehir University. In March we India. I ended my time in India by tional Religion: Sensory Cultures Hadhrami descent in Singapore, Arab-American comedians under work on a book on violence and from a graduate seminar I taught cluding a citation from the Brook- hosted a successful workshop on participating in two panels, one on in Material Practice (Yale Univer- Indonesia and Malaysia. At the the banner Arabs Gone Wild. Her terrorism, which looks at several at NYU in fall 2013. Indeed, two lyn Borough President. I have also the works and life of Sabahattin the Buddhas of Bamiyan and the sity Press, 2014). I am about to Kevorkian we held the sixth of our organization, Maysoon’s Kids, case studies of both state and in- among the excellent presenta- enjoyed serving on the advisory Ali organized by İlker Hepkaner other on The Rise of Monotheism co-teach a session entitled “Inter- workshops on Islamic Law and works with children across the surgent terrorism. tions given at the ACLA seminar board of the STARTALK initiative and Kristin Dickinson. My paper at the Jaipur Literary Festival, the rogating the Late Antique Visual Society, with a record number of West Bank, using art to help them were by NYU graduate students and as the curriculum committee at this workshop was on Ali’s sec- world’s largest literary festival. In Tradition and Its Legacy” in a circulated papers, fourteen, that deal with the difficulties of lives Bruce Grant: This past year I who had taken my course. In chair of the first Master’s in Hindi ond novel, “Dreaming Up a Dif- April, I spoke on my research in summer school organized by the seemed only to energize our re- under occupation. I am hoping was pleased to see the release April I traveled to Athens, at the and Urdu Language Pedagogy ferent: Sabahattin Ali’s The Devil Ethiopia and India at the Univer- Humboldt University in Berlin un- markable participants even more to persuade her to come to NYU of a new essay in Public Culture, invitation of the Cavafy Archive Program at Kean University. My Within Us.” Last year, I published sity of Pennsylvania and present- der the rubric of Globalized Clas- than usual. and the Kevorkian Center to talk “The Edifice Complex,” on the and the Onassis Foundation, to translation work continued with an essay entitled “ Does Turkish ed a talk on “Sanctified Sandals: sics. During the academic year about her life and work. stunning and sometimes violent give a presentation on my book, short stories by Yashpal. I also

Literature Exist?: An Attempt to Polemics and Relics in an Era of 2015-16 I will be a fellow at the Faye Ginsburg: I was fortunate transformations of the once di- Alexandrian Cosmopolitanism, at co-authored an article “Assess- Faculty News Answer Through the Works of Ley- Technological Reproducibility,” in Wissenschaftskolleg, Berlin. to have Sabbatical for the 2014- Jeff Goodwin: During the fall of verse Azerbaijani capital into a a roundtable entitled “Alexandria ment in the Heritage Language la Erbil, Şavkar Altınel and Ataol the History, Theory and Criticism 15 year to carry out research and 2014 I taught an undergraduate new, nationalizing metropolis. I Still. Returning to the Cavafian Classroom: Towards HL profi- Behramoğlu” in The Journal of Le- Lecture Series of MIT. In May, I Michael Gilsenan: Apart from a writing for a book entitled Dis- sociology seminar called “Un- have also remained part of a Ger- Alexandrian” moderated by Dimi- ciency standards,” forthcoming vantine Studies. My essay “Sevgi made my first visit to the Gulf, to short research visit to London in ability, Personhood, and the New derstanding Terrorism,” which in- many-based, international team tris Papanikolaou (Oxford Univer- in Innovative Approaches to Her- Faculty News 40 41 itage Language Teaching: From tion as a co-labor and a co-in- of 2014 and 2015. It began as year, and spent it in residence at events, including a conversation their studies and witnessed them the National Archives at Kew Gar- for the first time in six years in or- Research to Practice, George- spiration. I have added a writing a sound study of the island and the Institute for Advanced Study with Amitav Ghosh and Marc Co- winning grants, conducting orig- dens, London, where I continued der to thank my colleagues and town University Press. component to two of my gradu- an analysis of the diegetic sound in Princeton. (I also had funding hen on the Cairo Geniza and it’s inal field research, and produc- my exploration of British colonial friends who helped me during ate seminars – The Performance tracks of Bergman’s films, but it from an ACLS Fellowship.) In significance. I co convened with ing promising early dissertation policy toward religious traditions in that 2009 research trip. Then I Asli Igsiz: This year I taught four of Everyday Life and Memoir and has expanded to become a po- addition to enjoying peace, qui- Marina Warner a workshop on “A chapters and proposals as well the Caribbean—the subject of my traveled to Tokyo briefly to start new courses (two undergradu- Ethnography. I run these classes etic and critical evocation of the et, and the company of rabbits Corpus not a Canon: The Library as completed theses on topics monograph, “Sacred Sacrilege,” working on an article on the jour- ate and two graduate seminars), as writing workshops. The stu- sensory ecologies and ontol- and deer, I had the opportunity of Arabic Literature” at All Souls ranging from the political econ- on which I am currently working. neys of the first Japanese hajj, published two articles and gave dents write every week and four ogies of the island itself. I had to pursue research on the history College, Oxford. This was full of omy of labor in Tunisia to the For an anthology on Caribbean who traveled around the world in two interviews, one of which ap- students read each week. While several invited speaking engage- of domestic labor as a topic in Is- comparatists and produced some development of policing in Brit- popular culture I contributed a the first few decades of the 20th peared in the Ottoman Histo- we read theory, ethnography and ments this year. I was the keynote lamic legal texts from the 11th to very insightful conversations ish-ruled Bahrain to ethnograph- chapter, now in press, on “Hosay,” century. Upon my return to the ry Podcast. One of the articles literature in these classes, the speaker at the University of Chi- 14th centuries. As I pursued the about how non-Arabists might ic work on Syrians in Beirut. My this region’s version of Muharram. U.S., I have been preparing for draws from my current work on hour we devote to reading and cago for a conference entitled, issue of domestic labor through read pre-modern Arabic works. I own research on the Gulf region I also accepted an invitation to my relocation to New York City. liberal multiculturalism in Turkey, writing critique each week trans- “Music, Islam and the Sublime.” debates in areas such as the va- took part in a conference on Fal- has continued with writing stand- join the editorial board of a new I very much look forward to the and the other one is partly related forms the class, encouraging I also gave a keynote address for lidity of contracts of hire and the conry in December in Abu Dhabi alone essays as well as trying to book series, “Islam of the Global new experiences at NYU in the to my future project on cultural trust, but also fostering an atten- the International Society of Eth- evaluation of competing claims and in May in Cambridge I spoke marshal my analysis into a book- West,” with Bloomsbury Academ- coming year. policy, nation branding, and the tion to style and voice in writing. nology and Folklore -- SIEF -- in to ownership of marital goods, it at a conference on the Qur’an, length manuscript. Meanwhile, an ic Publishing. As part of a New UN Alliance of Civilizations initia- This year acclaimed memoirists, Zagreb, Croatia in June 2015, became clear that this issue was discussing how the LAL might essay on smuggling in postrevolu- York Council for the Humanities Zachary Lockman: During the tive. Both nation branding and Al- Nick Flynn (Another Bullshit Night entitled “Slow Ethnography, Slow deeply embedded in conceptual consider producing a new trans- tionary Iran that I co-authored with educational outreach program, I 2014-2015 academic year I was liance of Civilizations had import- in Suck City) and Danielle Trus- Activism: Listening in the Longue questions regarding the valori- lation in its series. For the second Narges Erami, an anthropologist served as scholar-facilitator for a a fellow at NYU’s Humanities Ini- ant implications for the Middle soni (Falling Through the Earth) Durée.” I was also invited to zation of the human person and year running I taught a survey at Yale, was published in Econo- six-month, local community-target- tiative. It was a pleasure to get East, with claims to fix the image led stimulating discussions about speak at Washington University its various capacities (both sex- course on the history and culture my and Society. This essay builds ed seminar, “Muslim Journeys.” to know my fellow fellows (so to of the countries in the region after writing. I also organized a 3-hour in St. Louis and Brown Universi- ual and productive). Jurists also of the UAE. on two separate ethnographies of In conjunction with the Kevorkian speak), a very interesting group 9/11. Yet, seeking to remedy a writing workshop with Kathleen ty in Providence. In May 2015, I grappled with the coexistence of bazaars in Iran and an engage- Center, this summer (August 2015) of faculty and graduate students position (seeking a better brand Stewart, author of Ordinary Af- spoke at an international confer- legal and moral entitlements to Arang Keshavarzian: During the ment with political economy and I am holding a three-day seminar, most of whom I would otherwise image of a nation or “civilization”) fects (a book of ficto-criticism ence on Sufism in Fes, Morocco. labor within the family. I’m look- 2014-5 academic year I returned anthropological of studies of infor- “Islam and the Americas,” for local probably never have encoun- vis-à-vis a discourse (“clash of that I teach in the Memoir and This year saw the publication of ing forward to pursuing these to full-time teaching after several mality. However, I will remember K-12 teachers, combining group tered. Whether we actually ad- civilizations”) without putting into Ethnography class). In collabo- a volume that I edited and con- questions further in the coming years as the department’s direc- this past academic year as Minu’s discussion of assigned readings, vanced the humanities is not for question the discourse itself in ration with the PEN World Voices tributed to entitled Cultural Heri- years. The year was a wonderful tor of undergraduate studies. first year and my (not always suc- field trips, films, and guest speak- me to say; but I learned a lot about the first place risks reproducing Festival and the Kevorkian Cen- tage in Transit: Cultural Heritage opportunity to immerse myself Among other courses, I devised cessful) attempt to juggle teach- ers as we explore new and better a range of fields and disciplines, the same dynamics rather than ter for Near Eastern Studies, I or- and Human Rights (University of in fiqh texts and in secondary a new undergraduate seminar ing, research, writing, and aca- ways to teach about Islam and and the reduced teaching load debunking it. This was also the ganized and moderated a panel Pennsylvania Press, 2014). Also reading far beyond my field. The titled “The Persian Gulf and the demic labor, while enjoying my Muslims in this hemisphere. Final- accompanying this fellowship en- theme of the Ottoman History with Moroccan poets Idriss Aissa published: 2015 “The (Sound) fall also saw the publication of U.S. from ARAMCO to NYU-AD.” time with both her and Leo. ly, I received NYU’s Golden Dozen abled me to complete a draft of Podcast and two of the cours- and Driss Mesnaoui, “Moroccan Body”. In Matt Sakakeeny and my most recent book, Women in We read works and discussed is- Award for Teaching Excellence. my book manuscript on the his- es I taught this past year. I look Poetry Between the Lines: Text, David Novak, Eds. Keywords in the Mosque: A History of Legal sues related to understanding the Aisha Khan: During 2014-2015, tories of area studies and Middle forward to completing my manu- Translation and Performance.” In Sound Studies. Durham: Duke Thought and Social Practice (Co- rise of US global power through is I offered a new, interdisciplinary Mikiya Koyagi: I am joining NYU East studies in the United States. I script on diversity in Turkey and October 2014 I organized, with University Press. In addition, I lumbia University Press). engagements with the Saudi Ara- graduate seminar, “Islam and the as new faculty in Fall 2015 and gave a talk about that book project to focus more on this new project. visiting scholar, Maria Malmstrom have two full-length manuscripts bia, Iraq, Iran, and the UAE since Americas,” drawing in part from am excited about working with at the Kevorkian Center in Febru- (Nordic Africa Institute, Uppsa- currently under review: Theoriz- Philip Kennedy: I signed a con- World War I. This enabled us to my newly published anthology new colleagues and students ary 2015, to kick off a new series Deborah Kapchan: 2014-15 was la) a 2-day conference entitled ing Sound Writing. Deborah Kap- tract with Edinburgh University interpret the transformations in of the same name, which was in this intellectually vibrant envi- titled “Research Off the Record.” a very exciting year for me. I re- The Materiality of Affect: North chan, Editor, Wesleyan Universi- Press to publish Recognition in the region’s politics and society in launched recently at the Kevorkian ronment. The academic year of Anyone who was at the talk can ceived a Collaborative Teaching African Politics in Flux. I partici- ty Press, and Poetic Justice: An the Arabic Narrative Tradition (Vol- relationship to the formation of US Center. I was invited to present pa- 2014-2015 was a year of chang- confirm that the account of my talk Award from the Humanities Cen- pated in a Cross-Tisch presenta- Anthology of Moroccan Contem- ume 1) in their new series on Clas- global hegemony. I thoroughly en- pers on my new research on Islam es for me. In Spring 2015, I de- that promptly appeared on the Ji- ter to teach a graduate seminar tion on the theme of “trance” with porary Poetry, Center for Middle sical Arabic Literature. Finalizing joyed debating these issues with in Haiti (begun in 2013) at the Mu- fended my dissertation, entitled had Watch website (http://www. entitled “Listening” with my col- Robert Stam and Awam Amkpa. Eastern Studies Translation Se- the type script has taken most of the students; both my experience seu Nacional, Federal University of “Mobilizing Iran: Experiences of jihadwatch.org/2015/03/nyu-prof-

league Martin Daughtry in the I received a fellowship and writ- ries, printed by the University of my spring and summer, since it and the comments of the students Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Columbia the Trans-Iranian Railway, 1850- admits-mesas-anti-israel-stance- Faculty News Music Department (we are also ing residency from the Bergman Texas Press. is due in September. I carried on have encouraged me to offer it University, and Brooklyn College. 1950,” and received a doctoral rails-against-israel-lobby#com- writing a book together on the Foundation to spend six weeks as Vice Provost for Institute Pub- again in the future. I have worked With a National Endowment for degree in history from The Uni- ments) bore very little relation same theme). The students had on the Bergman Estate on Faro Marion Katz: I was on leave for lic Program this year and hosted closely with graduate students in the Humanities summer grant I versity of Texas at Austin. During to reality, providing yet another a chance to witness collabora- Island, Sweden in the summers the the 2014-2015 academic and moderated some interesting various programs and stages of was able to conduct research in the summer of 2015, I visited Iran illustration of the kind of craziness Faculty News 42 43 to which scholars in Middle East ular West. The film also features students and overseeing some by a major transition: My home refugees” their preservation en- life has been that I’ve completed Orfali at the American Universi- secc. XII-XX” (“The transgres- studies are routinely subjected. extensive interviews with Fardid’s of their thesis projects on a di- base, the International Relations gendered—not my usual course three book projects. I served as ty in Beirut on the maqāmāt of sions of the flesh: Homosexual Such incidents bolster my com- former colleagues, associates, verse set of topics and subjects. program, separated from the Pol- material. I also had the honor of editor for the Festschrift in honor Badīʿ al-Zamān al-Hamadhānī desire in the Islamic and Christian mitment to the Middle East Stud- students, as well as scholars of This year I taught two graduate itics Department and became a participating in several stimu- of my adviser, Wadad Kadi, enti- continues to move forward. We worlds, twelfth through twentieth ies Association’s Committee on modern Iran. I am pleased to level courses, one on the “Ur- free-standing graduate program lating conferences: in a work- tled, The Heritage of Arabo-Islam- finished several publications:- in centuries”). I did, however, have Academic Freedom, whose North say that on October 14, there will ban Anthropology of the Middle under GSAS. Aside from the lo- shop on the “public humanities” ic Learning (Brill: Leiden, 2015). I cluding “Maqāmāt Badīʿ al-Zamān to check the translation careful- America wing I continue to chair. be a screening or the film and a East” and another interdisciplin- gistics of the transition, on the at NYU-La Pietra, Florence; in a submitted the book manuscript for al-Hamadhānī: al-Naṣṣ wa-l- ly, despite my somewhat limited Though my CAF colleagues who panel discussion about the docu- ary seminar on “Syria and Leba- personal front, this meant devel- scientific conference convened another volume of collected works Makhṭūṭāt wa-l-Tārīkh.”Ostour 1 knowledge of Italian: at one point focus on violations of or threats to mentary, at NYU. Richard Wolin, non.” I also had the opportunity oping new courses better fit for by the “Friends of Socotra” in provisionally entitled, In the Pres- (2015): 38-55 which is a general my “stable master” became “a academic freedom in the Middle Asef Bayat, Andrew Arato, and to participate in a K-12 outreach the new program and redesign- Rome; on my own recent archi- ence of Power: Court and Perfor- study of the manuscript tradition master of stability,” with no hors- East and North Africa unfortunate- I will discuss the documentary Saturday seminar, where I gave a ing my old ones. I taught two new val research on British policies mance in the Pre-Modern Middle of Hamadhānī’s Maqamat; es in sight, until I corrected it. ly had a much busier year, the film. I also have a piece, “Debat- brief talk about my ethnographic courses, “International Political in Socotra and al-Mahra in the East. I also completed a revised “Three Maqāmāt Attributed to North American academic scene ing Marshall Berman in Iran,” in research in Lebanon. This past Development” and ‘”tate Failure 1940s-1960s at the University of version of my dissertation on the Badīʿ al-Zamān al-Hamadhānī Ella Shohat: This year my was by no means free of incidents Urban Research 5, ed, Jennifer April, I was honored to give a and State Building.” Although Malaysia and at an Indian Ocean letters of the tenth-century Buyid (d. 398/1008).” Journal of Ab- co-edited volume Between the in which we were compelled to in- Corby and Michael Sorkin. This talk at the Middle East and Mid- neither of these were exclusive- Studies Conference at NYUAD; statesman and polymath, Al-Ṣāḥib basid Studies 2.1: 38-60 which Middle East and the Americas: tervene. As the old saying goes: volume is published to honor our dle Eastern American center at ly about the Middle East, in both and on a Socotra museum proj- b. ʿAbbād. My current book proj- provides further materials for the The Cultural Politics of Dias- the struggle continues. late friend and colleague Marshal the CUNY graduate center as courses, we made heavy use of ect at the Agha Khan Symposium ect is a monograph focusing on study of the historical evolution of pora received an Honorable Berman’s tremendous contribu- part of the Armenian Genocide case studies from the region. on the “Politics of Time, Material the circulation and transformation this important collection of Arabic Mention in the Non-Fiction cat- Ali Mirsepassi: This was a very tion to the intellectual and aca- Centenary series. In November, I also taught my staple “Mid- Heritage and Islamic Religiosity” of maqama genre over the longue tales; we submitted a further study egory for the 2014 Arab Amer- eventful year for me. I stepped demic life of our time. This was I screened an excerpt from my dle East Politics” course in the at Brown University. When not durée. I recently presented a on Hamadhānī as an author to a ican Book Award, The Arab in as the acting director of the also another successful year for film-in-progress at an LA -Free Spring, but this time with a stron- teaching or traveling, I completed paper at the School of Mamluk volume edited by Lale Behza- American Museum. My book Kevorkian Center in the Fall and the Iranian Studies Initiative. We waves event in Los Angeles. The ger focus on the regional and a draft manuscript on the Socotra Studies in University of Venice Ca’ di and Jaakko Hämeen-Anttila Unthinking Eurocentrism (coau- the acting dean of the Gallatin organized 11 lectures and oth- Wenner-Gren Foundation has transnational dynamics, which Archipelago under British Pro- Foscari which dealt with the ways on the question of authorship in thored with Robert Stam) was School in Spring. In addition to er events for ISI-NYU. We have generously supported the com- added a whole new dimension to tection (17th century–1967) and that a unpublished picaresque pre-modern Arabic and Persian honored for its 20th Anniversary teaching and advising, I was able planned several very interesting pletion of my ethnographic film the class. On the research front, worked on my book manuscript tale collection of maqāmas from texts which will be published in with a 2nd Edition, for which we to finish a documentory film and a lectures and other events for this project, shot in Lebanon, which I have been working on a paper titled, Islands of Heritage: Revo- the 14th century represented fea- 2016. I am happy to report that I wrote a new Afterward chap- book manuscript. My book manu- coming fall. We have worked out will be in post-production for on the evolution and current state lutionizing Patrimony and Sover- tures of geography and economy will spend next year at the Institute ter, “Thinking about Unthinking: script, Islam After Islam: The Life a colaboration with Princeton much of this year. I am current- of political science in the United eignty at the Margins of Arabia. of the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt. for Advanced Studies in Princeton, Twenty Years After.” Our co-au- and Thoughts of the Ahmad Far- University’s Center for Iran and ly revising my book manuscript, States, which I will be present- Pleased to have passed my third- I’ve subsequently published a where I plan to work on my mono- thored Race in Translation: did, is now complete and being Persian Gulf Studies, and the Uni- which is under contract with ing at a conference in Belgium in year review in the spring, I will be detailed description of this man- graph on the maqama genre, Culture Wars around the Post- reviewed for publication. But, a versity of Pennsylvania’s Middle Princeton University Press. The September. on leave this fall and look forward uscript in “A Maqāma collection work on a critical edition of a ma- colonial Atlantic was translated more exciting experience for me East Center to organize an an- manuscript is tentatively titled to an extended period of writing. by a Mamlūk Historian: al-Ma- qāma collection, spend time with into German, entitled Race in is the film (“The Fabulous Life nual, “the Iran Graduate Student Everyday Sectarianism: Infra- Nathalie Peutz: This past year, qāmāt al-Jalālīya by al-Ḥasan my parents in Philadephia, and Translation: Kulturkämpfe rings and Thought of Ahmad Fardid”) Workshop (IGSW).” The work- structures, Public Services and I taught my course on “Anthro- Maurice Pomerantz: This aca- b. Abī Muḥammad al-Ṣafadī (fl. go for long walks in the woods. I’ll um den postkolonialen Atlan- based on my book manuscript. shop will provide a valuable ven- Power in Urban Lebanon, and pology and the Arab World,” demic year has passed perhaps 8th/14th c.).” Arabica 61 (2014): look forward to trips to New York tik, while a number of our es- We were fortunate to access ue for academic exchange and will focus on the relationship be- which engages students on the more quickly than any other in 631-66. I was invited to take part city to reconnect with my friends says were published as book rare and previously inaccessible production, giving distinguished tween urban infrastructures, ser- ever-relevant topic of Gulf labor, recent memory. I taught and co- in a conference in Abu Dhabi on and colleagues at MEIS and other chapters: “Race in Translation: footage to include in this docu- young scholars of the field an vices and the production of sec- and “Heritage, History and Mem- taught several courses in the «Islam in the Eighteenth Century» departments at NYU. The Red, Black, and White mentary. The film explores the unrivalled opportunity to present tarian publics in Lebanon. I am ory in the Modern Middle East,” NYUAD Literature major, “Foun- organized by Sajjad Rizvi (Univer- Atlantics” in Sabine Broeck life and thought of Ahmad Fardid, and promote their research. On also currently revising an article which includes a weekend sem- dations of Literature I & II,” as sity of Exeter) and my colleague Everett Rowson: Among the and Carsten Junker’s Postco- who is also known in Iran as the April 29-30, 2016, Princeton Uni- about transnational infrastructure inar in Oman. A highlight was well as a course on the figure of Justin Stearns (NYUAD) where I pleasures of the past year for me loniality, Decoloniality, Black Iranian Heidegger. Fardid called versity will host the first meeting building projects in Lebanon. I designing and teaching a new the “Trickster in World Literature.” presented another paper devot- was the publication of an Italian Critique: Joints and Fissures; for the recovery of modern Iran of this joint workshop. look forward to another produc- core course on “Extinction” (bi- These courses were a delight ed to Arabic Picaresque Tales translation of my article “Homo- “Tropical Orientalism: Brazil’s to its spiritual and Islamic roots, tive year at Kevorkian this fall in otic, cultural, and metaphorical), mainly for the wonderful discus- set in late Mughal India, entitled, erotic Liaisons among the Mam- Race Debates and the Sep-

a project fueled by his concept Joanne Nucho: The 2014-2015 my new role as Clinical Assistant through which I had the great sions and energy that my stu- “Cosmopolitan Confidence Men luk Elite in Late Medieval Egypt hardi-Moorish Atlantic” in Paul Faculty News of Ghabzadegi (“Westoxifica- academic year was my first as Professor. privilege of bringing my students dents and co-teacher (Bryan Wa- in 18th-century India: Bā ʿAbbūd and Syria”, in a volume of es- Amar’s The Middle East and tion”)—which would quickly be- Director of Graduate Studies at to Uganda to encounter endan- terman NYU English) brought to al-Ḥadramī and his al-Maqāmāt says titled “Le trasgressioni della Brazil: Perspectives on the New come a buzzword in the Iranian the Kevorkian Center. I enjoyed Asli Peker: The 2014-2015 aca- gered mountain gorillas and the classroom. Perhaps the most al-Hindiyya.” My long-term col- carne: Il desiderio omosessuale Global South; and “Afterword: critique of the modern and sec- working with our incredible MA demic year for me was marked to meet with the “conservation significant event in my academic laboration with my colleague Bilal nel mondo islamico e cristiano, History, Empire, Resistance” Faculty News 44 45 to Rebecca Weaver-Hightower the European University, Cy- 2015, I will make a seminar pre- throughout the year to address periences. I also used the oppor- my writing on this subject at dif- started researching back in grad- Memory Project in China” will be & Peter Hulme’s Postcolonial prus, Nicosia; Opening Panel sentation trying to demonstrate Religious Diversity and Sectari- tunity of being in the UAE to travel ferent conferences. At the 2014 uate school when I audited class- published this fall in Film Quar- Film:History, Empire, Resis- Presentation, “The Janus-Faced that two of the late passages in anism in Islamic History, attract- through the country and across American Comparative Literature es at the High Institute of Theatre terly. After a year’s sabbatical tance. Some my essays have Blackamoor: Figuring Africa Judges are answering questions ed a large audience (next year in the region, including a class- Association conference at NYU, I Arts in Damascus. Then in the leave, I will return to NYU in fall also been republished: “Re- and the Orient,” in “Black Por- raised by earlier material, some- we’re organizing a series on Syr- trip to Bahrain, a relaxing visit to presented, “Global South to Glob- Spring semester I got a chance 2016 to resume teaching “Reli- membering a Baghdad Else- traiture[s] II: Imaging the Black what like Jewish midrash. ia). In addition — the joys of ten- Oman, and research trips to Pal- al South: Intersections of Global to co-teach a course on Syrian gious Bodies” and “Religion as where: An Emotional Cartog- Body and Re-Staging Histories” ure — I spent time on hiring and estine/Israel and Lebanon. I am Capital and Politics of Translational theatre with the Syrian theatre Media” in both Anthropology and raphy” (2013), in A Biography: Conference, Villa La Pietra, Dris Soulaimani: During the promotion committees, as well as happy to share that a number of Cultural Flow.” In May 2014 I par- director, Naila al-Atrash who was the Religious Studies Program, An Interdisciplinary Quarterly; Florence, Italy; “The Question of previous academic year (2014- serving as co-Chair of the Facul- articles have been published this ticipated at the “Transnational Me- at NYU through a Vivian G. Prins and once again do exciting, me- “Dislocated Identities: Reflec- Judeo-Arabic(s),’” Arab Cross- 2015), I published a new article ty Advisory Committee on Labor past academic year: “Occupation dia and Film Studies” Conference, Global Scholars Fellowships. I’ll dia-centered programming with tions of an Arab-Jew,” (1992) roads Lecture Series, NYU-Abu entitled “Writing and rewriting and Social Responsibility, which Apps” in Jacobin; “Media, Glo- organized by Ella Shohat and Rob- get a chance to teach again with our partners in the Hagop Kev- in Live Encounters Magazine; Dhabi; “Genealogies of Fear: Amazigh identity: Orthographies submitted a report and series of balization, and the (Un)Making of ert Stam at NYU, Abu Dhabi Insti- Naila in the Fall 2015 semester. orkian Center. “The Imperial Imaginary,” sec- Jews, Muslims, and the West,” and language ideologies” in the recommendations to NYUAD’s the Palestinian Cause” in Popular tute, “Transnational Connections, Last Fall I served as Naila’s dra- tions from Unthinking Eurocen- a lecture delivered at the Musée journal of Writing Systems Re- Vice-Chancellor and Provost at Communication; “Cinema as the Translational Disconnects: Turkish maturg for a production of the trism (1994) republished in Rijin Des Civilisations De l’Europe search, a study which addresses the end of the year. On the re- Space to Transgress Palestine’s Soap Operas and Global Medi- play The House of Wives by Fati- Sahakian’s Shangri LA: Imag- Et De La Méditerranée and the ideological issues surround- search front, I continue to slowly Territorial Trap” in Middle East ascape.. In May 2015 I present- ma Gallaire at the Experimental ined Cities; and a brief text for co-sponsored by Mediapart , ing Berber/Amazigh script se- work on translating al-Yusi’s Mu- Journal of Culture and Commu- ed “Borders, Translations, Trans/ Theatre Wing. I’ll be her drama- the Exhibition “Protest against Marseille, France; Presentation lections in Morocco. Currently in hadarat for the Library of Arabic nication; and a co-written piece, nations”, at the International Con- turg again Fall 2015 for a produc- Forgetting,” Curated by Hans and conversation with filmmaker summer 2015, I have received Literature, and at the beginning “Intifada 3.0? Cyber Colonial- ference on Language, Literature tion of Tawfiq al-Hakim’sThe Sul- Ulrich Obrist, the Italian Pavilion Avi Mograbi, Musée Jeu de a grant from the American Insti- of the summer traveled to Moroc- ism and Palestinian Resistance” and Culture, B/Orders Unbound: tan’s Dilemma at the New School. for the 56th Venice Biennial, in Paume, Paris; and “The Ques- tute for Maghrib Studies (AIMS) co with the help of an AIMS grant in Arab Studies Journal; as well Transgressing the Limits in Arts Vincenzo Trione’s Codice Italia. tion of Judeo-Arabic(s),” Cultur- to conduct research in Morocco to continue researching seven- as a number of book chapters. and Humanities at the Suleiman Angela Zito: I spent Fall 2014 I enjoyed participating in the al Studies & Middle East Stud- on Amazigh manuscripts written teenth century Moroccan intellec- It was bittersweet to have a two- Demirel University in Turkey. Since in Shanghai setting up the work following conversations and in- ies Programs, George Mason in Arabic script for insight into tual history. This past spring, I re- year long research workshop on” the month of May, I have been there that will continue in fall terviews: “Intellectual Journey: University. the historical and sociolinguis- ceived a Research Enhancement Producing the Arab Public” fund- staying in Istanbul to continue the 2015 on the revival of old dis- Language, Identity, and Dis- tic contexts within which these Fund (REF) grant from NYUAD to ed by the Arab Council for the research on my current project. courses of filaility or xiao by the location” by Bassam Haddad, Mark Smith: The challenge for documents are written. In addi- help continue work on the same Social Sciences end with a cul- government. These old styles Inaugural Interview for the new me is to continue on several tion to offering a language class project over the next two years. minating conference in Beirut in Musseref Yetim: The 2014-2015 of organizing social life are now series, “Status Hour,” Jadaliyya; projects at the same time. In the to heritage language learners, Aside from speaking about the March. The Spring semester was academic year was one of the being taken up as a mode of “You are Eating a Dying Lan- spring semester I began a re- I taught an advanced content importance of the rational sci- a busy time between teaching busiest with new courses, but state-influenced ethical reflection guage: Arab Jewish Identity and search project on the production course called “Arab Cultural Ex- ences in 17th century Morocco and stepping in as the Kevorkian the biggest achievement for me in post-socialist China, and as a the Art of Hospitality-- a Conver- of the core tradition of the bibli- plorations,” which focused on at TALIM in Tangiers this past Center’s new director. I thank ev- for was the completion of my means of extracting tighter famil- sation” (with Michael Rakowitz cal book of Isaiah (specifically in the cultural and artistic diversity June, in December I also spoke eryone - students, faculty, staff, book manuscript, tentatively enti- ial care for the elderly in the wake and Regine Basha), first pub- the seminal chapters 6-8). I am of the Arab world in modern and at a conference on Mathematics and administrators – for your help tled, Bargaining for International of state draw-down in healthcare. lished in Creative Time Reports offering a paper on this project pre-modern eras through analy- and the exact sciences in Tiaret, and support in making the tran- Water Rights: The Euphrates and This year saw the publication of and republished in Jadaliyya at the summer 2015 meeting of sis of linguistic documents and Algeria, which was a first trip for sition seamless. I look forward Tigris Basin. In this book I seek DV-Made China: Digital Subjects ((2014); and “Bodies and Bor- the Catholic Biblical Association. literary genres written in Arabic. me to a country to which I hope to to working with all of you in the to respond to growing concerns and Social Transformations af- ders” by Manuela Boatca and In May I completed Where the be able to return. coming year. over the supply and management ter Independent Film, co-edited Sergio Costa (first published in Gods Are, a study of the anthro- Justin Stearns: This was a busy of scarce water resources and to with Zhang Zhen. This collec- Jadaliyya (2013) and translat- pomorphism of deities in relation year for me (but then, isn’t every Helga Tawil-Souri: I spent Fall Shouleh Vatanabadi: I was on provide a political economy anal- tion of essays draws on our de- ed into German: “Über Körper to place and space (Yale Univer- year?), between teaching and 2014 at NYU-Abu Dhabi and medical leave during the spring ysis of the determinants of the cade-long commitment to the und Grenzen,” Zeitschrift fur sity Press). Most of my efforts in running Arab Crossroads Stud- taught “War and Media in the semester and could only teach emergence of property rights re- ethical work done through inde- Weltgeschichte, Berlin. My re- the summer of 2015 are going ies. The ACS weekly lecture se- Middle East.” Interacting with my courses in the fall semester of gimes in international basins. pendent documentary in China, cent lectures included: Keynote into a detailed commentary on ries was a success, bringing in what really are top-notch stu- the past academic year. As for my something funded in part by the

address, “Disorienting Cleop- the biblical book of Judges that scholars from across the Gulf and dents and faculty there, being scholarly work, I have been busy Ted Ziter: Last December I pub- NYU Center for Religion and Me- Faculty News atra: A Modern Trope of Med- I am pursuing with my wife, the beyond to talk about their work. more closely involved with the writing on my ongoing project on lished Political Performance in dia which I co-direct. My latest iterranean Identity,” in “Lines archaeologist Elizabeth Bloch- Similarly, our annual public lec- Arab Crossroads major, and politics of translation and cultural Syria: From the Six-Day War to essay on Chinese film, “The Act Between: Culture and Empire Smith. For the Colloquium for ture series with the NYUAD Insti- living and working on the new flow across the different regions of the Syrian Uprising with Palgrave of Remembering, the Xianchang in the Eastern Mediterranean,” Biblical Research in August of tute, which brought four scholars campus were all noteworthy ex- the Middle East. I have presented Macmillam. It’s a subject I first of Recording: The Folk/Minjian Faculty News 46 47 University; Gulnar Kendirbai, History, RESEARCH WORKSHOPS NEW BOOKS Columbia University; Clayton Merkley, Slavic Department, Columbia University; Hamed Kazemzadeh, Center for East European he program’s academic cornerstone series featuring new, groundbreaking Studies, University of Warsaw; Zhumatay 2014-2015 Events Archive Tfeatures new unpublished work by A publications with relevance to the field Gabit, Harriman Institute, Columbia established and up-and-coming scholars of Middle East Studies. University; Christopher Edling, School of the region. Promotes cross-regional of the Arts, Columbia University; Rustin Queer Writing in Palestine: Between The Warm Sands of the Coast of Tantura: RESEARCH and interdisciplinary engagement of Rebel Music: Race, Empire, and the New Zarkar, MEIS, NYU; Aura Young, Slavic Resistance and the Deconstruction of History and Memory in Israel After 1948 analytical issues in Middle Eastern Muslim Youth Culture (Pantheon, 2014) Languages and Literatures, Yale University; Nationalism Alon Confino, University of Virginia, Ben- Hisham Aidi, International and Public Affairs, Shima Houshyar, Hagop Kevorkian Center OFF THE RECORD Raji Bathish, Palestinian Writer; Sinan Gurion University Studies and beyond. Columbia University for Near Eastern Studies, NYU; Belle Antoon, Gallatin School, NYU; Suneela Cheves, Near Eastern Studies, NYU; Serkan Mubayi, MEIS, NYU Citizen Strangers: Palestinians and the Jihad in a World of Sovereigns: Violence, The Way It Was: The US, Israel and Yolacan, Anthropology, Duke University; new series designed to introduce Birth of Israel’s Liberal Settler State Islam, and the Bosnia Crisis Palestine 1948-9 (Columbia University Ilke Denizli, School of International and Rethinking the Arab Conquests and the Steven Salaita, Independent Scholar Darryl Li, Law, Yale University; Discussant: students and others to the variety of Press, Forthcoming) Public Affairs, Columbia University; Marintha A Remaking of the Late Antique Middle East Lauren Benton, History, NYU ways research is done, thus rendering Irene Gendzier, History, Boston University Miles, Anthropology, George Washington Robert Hoyland, Institute for the Study of the The Warm Sands of the Coast of Tantura: the ‘methods’ aspects of research more University; Shoshana Keller, History, Ancient World, NYU History and Memory in Israel After 1948 Western Promises: Abbas Hilmi II and the transparent and concrete whilst engaging The History Of Afghanistan: Fayz Hamilton College Alon Confino, University of Virginia, Ben- Pursuit of Sovereignty in Siwa with faculty across NYU who work on Muhammad Katib Hazarah’s Siraj Al- Pioneering Modern Arabic Poetry Gurion University Matthew Ellis, International Affairs and issues related to the Middle East. Tawarikh (Brill, 2013) Transnational Perspectives on the Life Amjad Nasser, Jordanian Writer, Poet, and Middle Eastern Studies, Sarah Lawrence; Robert McChesney, MEIS, NYU; Mehdi and Work of Sabahattin Ali: Seminal Journalist; Sinan Antoon, Gallatin School, NYU Citizen Strangers: Palestinians and the Discussant: Khaled Fahmy, History, Khorrami, MEIS, NYU Author of Turkish Literary Modernism, Notes from the Archives: Anxieties of Birth of Israel’s Liberal Settler State American University in Cairo 1907-1948 Field-Building in U.S. Middle East Studies A Short History of the Israeli and American Shira Robinson, History, George Washington Poetic Trespass: Writing between Hebrew A closed research workshop chaired by Sibel Zachary Lockman, Middle Eastern and Discourses on Terrorism University The Political Geography of Protest in Jordan and Arabic in Israel/Palestine (Princeton Erol, MEIS, NYU, and Ilker Hepkaner, MEIS, Islamic Studies, NYU Remi Brulin, Journalism and History, NYU With the Taub Center for Israel Studies Jillian Schwedler, Political Science, Hunter University Press, 2014) NYU, and cosponsored by the Program in College (CUNY); Discussant: Jeff Goodwin, Lital Levy, Comparative Literature, Princeton Ottoman Studies, the Department of Middle Notes from the Scaffold: Research on What is Left of Arab Hope? The Challenge of Building Mental Walls: Israeli Textbooks Sociology, NYU University Eastern and Islamic Studies, and the German Migrant Workers in Qatar Democracy and Security in the Middle East as a Means of Legitimation With the Taub Center for Israel Studies Department at NYU Natasha Iskander, Wagner School of Public Sarah Leah Whitson, Executive Director, Nurit Peled-Elhanan, Language and Transnational Islamic Pedagogical Participants: Sibel Erol, MEIS, NYU; Ilker Policy, NYU Middle East Division, Human Rights Watch Education, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Networks Islam and the Americas (University Press of Hepkaner, MEIS, NYU; Zeynep Seviner, With the Department of Media, Culture, Zareena Grewal: American Studies and Re- Florida, 2015) University of Washington; Ali Bolcakan, Notes from the Firing Range: Collecting Reassessing The Turkish ‘Linguistic and Communication, Steinhardt, NYU ligious Studies, Yale Univeristy; Discussant: Aisha Khan, Anthropology, NYU U Michigan - Ann Arbor; Kader Konuk, the Sounds of the Iraq War Revolution’: Toward a Working Model Leslie Turnbull, Anthropology, NYU With the Center for Latin American and University of Essen; Sevengul Sonmez Martin Daughtry, Music, NYU Emmanuel Szurek, Near Eastern Studies, Social Stimulants: Performing Practices in Caribbean Studies, NYU Independent Scholar, Editor; Kristin Princeton University Sultanate India The Cinematic World of Arab Oil Dickinson, UC-Berkeley; Elizabeth Nolte, Emma Flatt, History, University of North Mona Damluji, Asian and Islamic Art University of Washington; Nicholas Can Palestinian Men Be Victims? Gendering Carolina Chapel Hill History and Visual Culture, Wheaton SEMINARS Glastonbury, Penn State University Israel’s War on Gaza With South Asia @ NYU, the Gulnar K. College; Discussant: Pascal Menoret, Arab CONFERENCES Maya Mikdashi, Women and Gender Studies, Bosch Lecture Fund and the Department Crossroads Studies, NYU Abu Dhabi. Approaches to Islamic Law in Society Rutgers University of Art History n interdisciplinary series of lectures With the History of Women and Gender Inner Eurasia Then and Now: Legacies of A closed research workshop chaired by and presentations pertaining to the Thought , Space, and Empire Michael Gilsenan, Middle Eastern and Islamic Program, NYU The Art and Politics of Translation: A Afield of Middle East Studies. A graduate student conference with OASIES, Studies and Anthropology, NYU

Conversation with Maureen Freely Events Archive the Organization for the Advancement Participants: Ghislaine Lydon, History, UCLA; Inter/Nationalism: Encountering Palestine Maureen Freely, English and Comparative of Studies of Inner Eurasian Societies at Jonathan Brown, School of Foreign Service, On Egypt, Revolt, & Music: A in American Indian Studies Literary Studies, University of Warwick, and Columbia, Princeton, and NYU Georgetown University; Guy Burak, History Conversation with Ramy Essam Steven Salaita, Independent Scholar translator of Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk’s Participants: Abby Amanda Downing- and MEIS Librarian, NYU; Morgan Clarke, Ramy Essam, Egyptian Rock Musician works. Moderated by Sibel Erol, MEIS, NYU. Beaver, Harriman Institute, Columbia Social Anthropology, Oxford, Samera Esmeir, Events Archive 48 49 Rhetoric, Berkeley, Khaled Fahmy, History, Explaining Labor Autonomy in Tunisia; Battling Truths: Defending the Islamic Archaeology, Ethnography, and Everyday Initiative, NYU; Sarah Leah Whitson, Human BDS: Israel, the US, and the Struggle for American University in Cairo; Michael Peletz, Philip Marfleet, Egypt’s Revolution: The Left Republic of Iran’s Sacred Memories in Life at the Dig Rights Watch Palestinian Rights Anthropology, Emory; Benam Sadeghi, Reflects; Ozgur Genc and Ozgur Narin, Film and Literature Zeynep Çelik, Architecture, New Jersey With the NYU Coalition for Fair Omar Barghouti, Human Rights Activist Religious Studies, Stanford; Omar Farahat, Kobane, Gezi and Other Communes: A Narges Bajoghli, Anthropology, NYU; Amir Institute of Technology Labor, the Departments of Social and and Founder of the BDS Movement; Corey Anthropology, Columbia University; Sohaib Critique on Autonomy and Rethinking Moosavi, MEIS, NYU Cultural Analysis, English, History, and Robin, Political Science, Brooklyn College; Khan, Anthropology, Columbia University; Communes; Chaired by Ella Wind, Hagop The Last Alchemists: Practicing al-Kimye Anthropology; the American Studies J Kehaulani Kauanui, American Studies, Adam Mestyan, History, Harvard; Beshara Kevorkian Center, NYU Soundtrack of the Post-Revolution: Music in the Modern Era from the Ottoman World Program; the Asian/ Pacific/American Wesleyan Doumani, History and Middle East Studies, as Politics in Iran to South Asia Institute; the Coalition for Fair Labor; the With Gender and Sexuality Studies, Brown University; Tamir Moustafa, Politics, Nahid Siamdoust, Hagop Kevorkian Center, NYU Tuna Artan, History, Rutgers University Gallatin Human Rights Initiative; South American Studies, Social and Cultural Simon Fraser University; Linda Sayed, MEIS, IRANIAN STUDIES Yes, We are Syrians: National Asia at NYU; the Center for Media, Analysis, Asian/Pacific/American NYU; Darryl Li, Law, Yale University; Iza Mojtahed Shabestari: On Faith and Contestation and Evangelical Culture and History; and Human Rights Studies, and Students for Justice in Hussin, Politics and International Studies, Revelation Consciousness in a Neo-Aramaic Watch Palestine, Jewish Voice for Peace Cambridge; Daragh Grant, Anthropology, Soroush Dabbagh, Historical Studies, Travalogue from 19th-century Hakkari University of Chicago; Jessica Marglin, cholarly presentations on Iran, University of Toronto Adam Becker, Religion, NYU Notes from the Field: Reading between the Lines/Languages: Religion, University of Southern California, curated by Professor Ali Mirsepassi S A Human Rights Briefing on the Middle East Moroccan Poetry in Text, Translation, and Brinkley Messick, Anthropology and with a steering committee drawn from #Iranelection: How Solidarity Around Adam Coogle, Jordan and Saudi Arabia Performance MEESAS, Columbia University MEIS and other faculty and students a Hashtag Transformed the Ecology of Specialist, Human Rights Watch; Lama Idriss Aissa, Author of A Woman from with support from the Gallatin School PANEL DISCUSSIONS Online Life During the 2009 Election Crisis Fakih, Syria and Lebanon Specialist, Human the Remotest of Winds; Driss Mesnaoui, Negar Mottahedeh, Literature, Duke University New Directions in the Cultural and for Individualized Study and the Hagop Rights Watch Renowned zajal poet (colloquial strophic Intellectual History of China: Conference Kevorkian Center. Reflections on Gaza poetry), founder of the Moroccan Association in Honor of Benjamin Elman Helga Tawil-Souri, Media, Culture, What Went Wrong in Syria? for Popular Poetry; Omar Berrada, Director, A closed workshop chaired by Zvi Ben-Dor The Effects Of Coercive Diplomacy On OTTOMAN STUDIES Communication, NYU; Zachary Lockman, Adam Shatz, Contributing Editor, London Library and Translation Center, Dar al- Benite, History and MEIS, NYU, cosponsored The Iranian Public’s Attitudes Towards MEIS, NYU; Ron Zweig, Hebrew and Judaic Review of Books and Spring 2015 Writer- Ma’mûn (Marrakech); Alexander Elinson, by Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies, Global Iran’s Nuclear Program Studies, NYU; Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, History in-Residence, Hagop Kevorkian Center; Arabic, Hunter College, CUNY; and Research Initiatives (GRI) and NYU Abu Dhabi Ebrahim Mohseni, World Studies, University and MEIS, NYU; Jehad Abusalim, Hebrew Mohamad Bazzi, Journalism, NYU; Steven Deborah Kapchan, Performance Studies, Participants: Sheldon Pollock, Columbia rofessor of History Leslie Peirce of Tehran and Judaic Studies, NYU; moderated by Heydemann, VP of Applied Resesarch, US Anthropology, Music, and Middle Eastern University; Brigid Vance, Princeton University; curates this wide-ranging P Arang Keshavarzian, MEIS, NYU Institute of Peace; George Saghir, Business and Islamic Studies, NYU Ori Sela, Tel Aviv University; Carla Nappi, interdisciplinary series on the Ottoman Aesthetic and Power in the Islamic With the Taub Center for Israel Studies Analyst; Lisa Wedeen, Political Science, With the Maison Francaise at NYU and University of British Columbia; Pingyi Chu, Empire and its legacies. Republic (1978-1988) and the Department of Middle Eastern University of Chicago PEN World Voices Academia Sinica (Taiwan); Minghui Hu, Hamed Yousefi, Freelance Journalist and Islamic Studies University of California Santa Barbara; Bruce Turkiyya Hasan, The Orphan Scandal And Labor In Abu Dhabi 101: Careers: MA Alumni Open House Rusk, University of British Columbia; Susan The Rise Of The Muslim Brotherhood Time Will Say Nothing: A Philosopher Interpreting the ISIS Threat A Cross-Campus Teach-In Rachel Smith-Levy, US Foreign Service Naquin, Princeton University; Miaw-fen Lu, Beth Baron, History, The Graduate Center, CUNY Survives an Iranian Prison Sinan Antoon, Gallatin, NYU; Mohamad Ba- Kristina Bogos; Coalition for Fair Labor, Officer; Cyrus Roedel, Preventive Case Academia Sinica (Taiwan); Roger Hart, Ramin Jahanbegloo, Islamic Studies, York zzi, Journalism, NYU; Arang Keshavarzian, NYU; Jess Champagne, Workers Rights Planner, Arab American Family support Stanford University; Chunmei Du, Western Choreographies of Sharing: Sacred Sites University MEIS, NYU; Joanne Nucho, Hagop Kevorki- Consortium; Arang Keshavarzian, MEIS, Center; Mara Kronenfeld, Director, MENA Kentucky University; Yuan-ling Chao, Middle in Ottoman and Contemporary Turkey an Center, NYU; Sara Pursley, MEIS, NYU NYU; Martin Klimke, History, NYUAD; Erum Partnership Development, International Tennessee State University; Yang, Jui-Sung, Karen Barkey, Sociology, Columbia University The Politics of Honor and Rights in Iran Raza, Compliance and Risk Management, Youth Foundation; Anjali Kamat, Fault Lines National Chengchi University (Taiwan); Shellen Ziba Mir-Hosseini, School of Oriental and Beyond the Arab Spring: Political (De) NYUAD; Kimberly Rodriguez, ADvocacy, Correspondent, Al-Jazeera English; Killian X. Wu, University of Tennessee; Eugenia Lean, Featuring Fictionalized Ottomans: ‘The African Studies, London formation and Social Revolution in Rojava NYUAD; Andrew Ross, Social and Cultural Clarke, Politics, Princeton University Columbia University; Meng Yue, University of Magnificent Century’ and the Problem of Nazan Ustundag, Sociology, Bogazici Analysis, NYU; Justin Stearns, Arab Toronto; Benjamin Elman, Princeton University Historical Accuracy in Turkish TV Series Courtier, Laborer, Dancer, Spouse: The University; Sirwan Kajjo, Journalist; Christian Crossroads Studies, NYUAD Gunhan Borekci, History, Istanbul Sehir Multiple Dimensions and Histories of Sinclair, Middle Eastern Studies, University With the American Association of Univeristy Historical Materialism: Returns of University Slavery in Qajar Iran of Arizona; Hisyar Ozsoy, Anthropology, Professors, Asian/Pacific/American Institute, Capital: Revolutions in the Middle East

Nahid Mozaffari, MEIS, NYU University of Michigan, Flint the Center for Media, Cutlure and Hsitory, Events Archive and North Africa Destination Edirne: Approaching the Early Anthropology, English, History, Social and Deniz Solmaz, Transformation of Northern Ottoman Capital Revolution Street: Tehran, Trapped Who Enjoys Human Rights in Abu Dhabi? Cultural Analysis, South Asia @ NYU Iraq: An Analysis of Class Struggle And Amy Singer, Middle Eastern and African Between the Past and the Future Nicholas McGheehan, Human Rights Watch; Possibility of a “Passive Revolution”; Keenan History, Tel Aviv Univeristy Amir-Hassan Cheheltan, Karnameh Cultural Sean O’Driscoll, Independent Journalist; Wilder, Representative and Policeman?: Institute, Tehran Vasuki Nesiah, Gallatin Human Rights Events Archive 50 51 POINTS OF CONTACT: VISUAL CULTURE The Desert Ark (L’arche du Desert) (1997, Logical Revolts University of Toronto; Salmak Khaledi, JACK G. SHAHEEN 90 min) A film by Mohamed Chouikh (2012, 44 min) A film by Louis Henderson musician and producer. NEW APPROACHES After-film discussion with the filmmaker and ARCHIVE Afghan Cinema 1946-2014: A Bittersweet Khaled Fahmy, History, American University Voices of Contemporary Islam series of films, presentations, Narrative in Cairo This seminar explores some of the crucial TO ISLAMIC ART performances, and exhibitions A Habib Sadaat, Visiting Scholar, Tisch Film With the Colloquium for Unpopular Culture issues and debates in the contemporary centered on visual art and media from and TV; moderated by Dana Polan, NYU and Muslim world and presents examples of YU holds the archive of media scholar and about the modern Middle East. Lynne McVeigh, NYU diverse theological, political, and social NJack Shaheen, which includes his ongoing series is curated by K-16 TEACHER TRAINING thought. Issues examined include the over 3,000 TV shows, feature and Finbarr Barry Flood and Dipti Khera Gaza Film Festival The Emergence of a New Afghan Cinema: compatibility of Islam with democracy, the documentary films, movie posters, comic Tof the Art History Department and the A series of documentaries curated by Eman Political Economies of Filmmaking after 9/11 connections between Islam and terrorism, books, editorial cartoons, and personal Morsi, PhD Candiate, MEIS, NYU, and Wazhmah Osman, Temple University; Habib the role of Wahabism in the construction of papers focused on stereotypes and Institute of Fine Arts s mandated by our Title VI grant, cosponsored with the Asian/Pacific/American Sadaat, Afghan Filmmaker contemporary Islamic movements, feminist images of Arabs and Muslims in American Institute at NYU, The Taub Center for Israel K-16 workshops are hosted by movements within Islam, Islam and pluralism, Persianate Images Between Europe and A popular culture. Studies, and the Department of Middle Shattered Rhymes: The Life and Poetry the Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near and Sufism in the contemporary context. China:The “Frankish Manner” in the Diez Eastern and Islamic Studies of Erez Bitton (2014, 63 Min) A film by Sami Eastern Studies in collaboration with the Led by Vernon Schubel, Religious Studies, and Topkapi Albums, ca. 1350-145 Powerful, accessible and compelling, Shalom Chetrit Steinhardt School of Education at New Kenyon College, Nurten Kilic-Schubel, Gulru Necipoglu, Hilstory of Art, Harvard the A is for Arab traveling exhibition, Tears of Gaza (2010, 81 mins) A film by Discussion with Ella Shohat, Art and Public York University as well as NYU’s Faculty History, Kenyon College, and Greta University which features images from the Jack G. Vibeke Løkkeberg Policy, Tisch, NYU; Sami Shalom Chetrit, Scharnweber, Associate Director, Hagop Resource Network. Middle and High Shaheen Archive, reveals and critiques poet, thinker, and filmmaker; and Erez Bitton, Kevorkian Center A Tumulus in the Pontic Steppe: School teachers as well as Community the stereotypical portrayals of Arabs and Flying Paper (2013, 71 min) A film by Nitin pioneer of Mizrahi poetry With the Faculty Resource Network at NYU Reconstructing Ritual, Community and College faculty from the tri-state area Muslims in U.S. popular culture. Providing Sawhney and Roger Hill Polity in the early Thirteenth Century CE regularly attend alongside teachers-in- historical context about these images, which Megalopolis Islam and the Americas Renata Holod, History of Art, University of training from Steinhardt. The programs range from film stills to comic books to Strawberry Fields (2006, 60 mins) A film by A film series about life in the Middle East’s Participants will explore the complexity and Pennsylvania editorial cartoons, this traveling exhibition Ayelet Heller three largest cities curated by Greta increase the quality of Middle East-related diversity of daily life among Muslims in the aims to educate and stimulate discussion Scharnweber, Associate Director, Hagop content in our region’s K-16 curriculum. Americas (the U.S., the Caribbean, and Latin A Receptacle for the Absent Body: The about the impact of stereotypes on both Gaza: Another Kind of Tears (2006, 55 Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies America), probing key presumptions about Chasuble of Thomas Becket in Fermo individual perceptions and national policy. mins) A film by Abdel Salam Shehada Spotlight on Lebanon: Pluralism, Muslims and challenging conventional views Avinoam Shalem, Art History and This year, the exhibit was featured at several Tehran Has No More Pomegranates! (Iran, Citizenship, and Daily Living 1900-2015 of Islam. Sessions focus on cross-cultural Archaeology, Columbia University universities, organizations, and conferences, Where Should the Birds Fly (2012, 58 2006, 68 min) A film by Massoud Bakhshi How does pluralism affect daily life for comparisons of Muslims as they craft Islam including: mins) A film by Fida Qishta After-film discussion with Arang individuals and families as they interact in the “New World” of the Americas, where Regional and Transregional Negotiations Keshavarzian, MEIS, NYU with each other across multiple scales Muslims make their presence felt in both in Southeast Asia’s Islamic Architecture • Boise State University Algerian Cinema and settings (i.e. private/public, urban/ direct and oblique ways. Imran bin Tajudeen, Architecture, National • University of San Diego A selection of Algerian films curated by Cairo Drive (Egypt, 2013, 79 min) A film by rural, family/community/city/state)? What is Led by Aisha Khan, Anthropology, NYU and University of Singapore • Georgia Southern University Eman Morsi (PhD Candidate, MEIS) and Sherief ElKatsha sectarianism and how do we understand it Diana Shin, Outreach Administrator, Hagop • Pepperdine University Adnan Moussa (MA ‘15, NES) After-film discsusion with filmmaker historically? Kevorkian Center Islamization and Material Culture in • Stony Brook University Joanne Nucho, Hagop Kevorkian Center, With the Center for Latin American and Eastern Africa: Recent Fieldwork • Lebanese American University Chronicle of the Years of Embers (1975, Ecumenopolis: City Without Limits NYU; Linda Sayed, Middle Eastern and Caribbean Studies, NYU Mark Horton, Archaeology, University of • National Conference on Race and 175 min) A film by Mohamed Lakhdar- (Turkey, 2012, 93 min) A film by Imre Azem Islamic Studies, NYU Bristol; Bertrand Hirsch, History, University Ethnicity in Higher Education (NCORE) Hamina After-film discussion with Duygu of Paris and Director, Center of African • Asian/Pacific/American Institute, NYU Parmaksizoglu, Anthopology, CUNY Music Inside-Out Iran: Popular Music, Research Omar Gatlato (1976, 90 min) A film by Politics, and Culture Merzak Allouache Making the Invisible Visible An exploration of music production and Art and Architecture of the Deccan: A Artists’ Talk with Wafaa Bilal, Arts, NYU, consumption and their effects on culture Conversation Events Archive Une Femme Taxi à Sidi Bel-Abbès (Female and creator of the performative art project both inside Iran and in the diaspora Navina Haider, Islamic Art, Metropolitan Cabby in Sidi Bel-Abbès) (2000, 52 min) A Domestic Tension throughout Iran’s major political changes Museum of Art; Phillip B. Wagoner, Art History film by Belkacem Hadjadj prior to and since the 1979 revolution. and Archaeology, Wesleyan University Nahid Siamdoust, Hagop Kevorkian Center, NYU; Farzaneh Hemmasi; Ethnomusicology, Events Archive 52 53

HAGOP KEVORKIAN CENTER REVIEW 2014/2015