2004-2005 NES Activities and Events

Café Arabia
Saturday, September 4, 9:00 pm-2:00 am
Rawlings Green on North Campus
Come join us for fascinating music by the Cornell Middle East Ensemble and belly dancing by Teszia. Exotic food, henna, and hookas await you in an enchanted ethnic celebration!
Sponsor: Cornell Arab Association
Hope Not Hate Forum
Tuesday, September 14, 6:00 pm
165 McGraw Hall
Disciplinary Bodies Conference
Friday and Saturday, September 17 and 18, all day
A.D. White House
Sponsor: Department of Comparative Literature
Dissenting Islam
Professor Lucette Valensi, former director of Institut d'Etudes de I'Islam et des Societes du Monde Musulman
Thursday, September 30, 4:30 pm
Guerlac Room, A.D. White House
Armenian Genocide and America's First International Human Rights Movement
Peter Balakian
Tuesday, October 5, 4:30 pm
Goldwin Smith Auditorium D
Film Broken Wings
Saturday, October 9, 7:15 pm and Tuesday, October 12, 9:15 pm
Willard Straight Hall
Israeli film directed by Nir Bergman, with Orly Silbersatz Banai, Maya Maron, Nitai Gaviratz. 1 hr 24 min
“A shattered family struggles to deal with the death of its father in this affecting film from Israeli filmmaker Nir Bergman. This poignant, acutely observed movie is eloquent and suggestive in dramatizing a particular trauma in the context of an ordinary Haifa family.”
- Village Voice
NES Graduate Student/Faculty Colloquium
Wednesday, October 13, 4:00 pm
Location TBA
Daniel Pearl Music Day
Thursday, October 14, 7:30 pm
Alice Cook House Common Room
Panel Discussion: Genocide in Darfur and the Crisis of Governance in Sudan
Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Africana Studies, University of Pennsylvania
Tuesday, October 19, 4:30 pm
Goldwin Smith Auditorium D
A More Dangerous World
Nicholas Kristoff, New York Times
Thursday, October 21, 4:15 pm
Alice Cook House Common Room
Bedouin Folks Art Festival
Friday, October 22 - Saturday, October 23
For further information visit www.ithacaworldartsalliance.com
Film Final Solution
Rakesh Sharma, independent documentary director
An investigation of the anti-Muslim pogrom violence and its aftermath in Gujarat 2002
Monday, October 25
4:30 pm in Kaufman Auditorium
Good Muslim, Bad Muslim: America, The Cold War, and The Roots of Terror
Mahmood Mamdani, The Herbert Lehman Professor of Government, Columbia University
Thursday, October 28, 4:30 pm
The Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Lecture Gallery
Arthur Hertzberg
Sunday, October 31, 11:00 am
Sage Chapel
Iranian Cinema: New Views
Crimson Gold (2003)
Nov 4, 6 & 9
Under the Skin of the City (2001)
Nov 11 & 13
Animation from Iran
Nov 18 & 20
The Lizard (2004)
Dec 1 & 3
Complete details
The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: A Post-Election Reassessment
Ziad Asali, President of the American Task Force on Palestine
Thursday, November 4, 4:30 pm
McGraw Auditorium
Yoel Ben Simhon and Sultana Workshop with Cornell Middle East Music Ensemble
Saturday, November 6, 1:00-3:00 pm
B21 Lincoln Hall
Iftaar Banquet with Professor Omed Safi and Reverend Janet Shortall
Tuesday, November 9, 4:00 pm
Alice Cook House
Interrogating Iberian Frontiers: A Cross-Disciplinary Research Symposium on Mudejar History, Religion, Art and Literature
Thursday, November 11 through Sunday, November 14
A three-day international and interdisciplinary research symposium concerning the history and historiography of cultural interaction in late medieval Iberia and the first century of Spanish colonial presence in the Americas. The symposium's overall objective is a significant reshaping of medieval Iberian and early Colonial studies, using the notions of convivencia and mudejarismo as its points of departure. All lectures are free and open to the public. Seating is limited. For more information, please contact .
Turkey and the Secular State (Mediterranean Studies)
Friday, December 3 and Saturday, December 4
More information forthcoming
Battle of Algiers
Wednesday, January 26, 8:00 pm
Alice Cook House
Further details
Public Opinion about Civil Liberties and Other Freedoms
Professor James Shanahan, Department of Communication
Thursday, February 10, 12:15 pm
G08 Uris Hall
An American Woman's Jihad
Screening of National Geographic Inside Mecca film followed by talk by Professor Fidelma O'Leary, St. Edwards University
Friday, February 11, 7:00 pm
Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith
Islam and the West Since Iraq: The Return to Politics
Provost's Visiting Professor Ambassador Thomas Simons
Monday, February 21, 4:30 pm
Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith
NES students are invited to accompany Professor Ross Brann from the talk to Alice Cook House for dinner and discussion.
From the Middle East...a series of events exposing the Arab world
AIESEC Salaam Program Info Session
The Salaam Program is an initiative to build U.S.-Arab cooperation by internship exchange
Wednesday, February 23, 4:30 pm
RPCC Auditorium
Life: Moderation or Fanaticism
Ghazi Knankan, Senior Advisor for Council for American Islamic Relations (CAIR)
Thursday, February 24, 4:30 pm
HEC Auditorium
Arabian Nights: A Middle Eastern Feast
Performances by the Teszia Belly Dancers and the Cornell Middle Eastern Ensemble
Friday, February 25, 5:00-8:00 pm
6:00 pm - Teszia Belly dancers
6:45 pm - Cornell Middle Eastern Music Ensemble
Alice Cook Dining
Study Abroad in North Africa or the Middle East
Information session on incorporating study in Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, or Morocco into your Cornell education
Wednesday, February 23, 4:30-6:00 pm
250 Caldwell Hall
Pakistan: Back to the Future?
Provost's Visiting Professor Ambassador Thomas Simons
Thursday, February 24, 12:15 pm
G08 Uris Hall
Islam Awareness Week
February 21-26
Milosevic and Hussein on Trial
Cornell International Law Journal Symposium
February 25-26
Keynote Address: Geoffrey Robertson QC
Leading international human rights lawyer, Appeals Judge at The Special Court for Sierra Leone, and author of Crimes against Humanity: The Struggle for Global Justice
Friday, February 25, 12:15 pm
Saperston Lounge
Complete program
Morocco in Europe Colloquium
March 5-12, 2004
The colloquium focused on Morocco and its relations with Europe, past and present under the auspices of the Mediterranean Initiative of the Institute for European Studies. The events were co-sponsored by the Cornell-Syracuse Upstate Consortium for Trans-European Studies, Cornell Department of Near Eastern Studies, the Suter-Staley Endowment for Global Business Education, Cornell Cinema, Comparative Muslim Societies, French Studies, Peace Studies, and the Music Department. Items representing Moroccan culture were created by Berber sources and were on display in the Department of Near Eastern Studies, 409 White Hall, until the end of the Spring '04 semester.
Life and Death in Southern Judea in the Iron Age II
Public lecture by Professor Oded Borowski, Emory University
Tuesday, March 8, 4:30 pm
McGraw Hall Auditorium
A Mass Movement in Baghdad and the Formation of Islamic Law
Professor Nimrod Hurvitz, Ben Gurion University
Tuesday, March 8, 4:30 pm
110 White Hall
Islam: Empire of Faith
PBS Documentary Film
This three-hour documentary by PBS tells the spectacular story of the great sweep of Islamic power and faith during its first 1,000 years - from the birth of the Prophet Muhammed to the peak of the Ottoman Empire under the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. Historical re-enactments and a remarkable exposition of Islamic art, artifacts and architecture are combined with interviews of scholars from around the world to recount the rise and importance of early Islamic civilization. The film also demonstrates increasing recognition of the profound impact of Islamic civilization on Western culture and the course of world history by historians and scholars.
Part I - Wednesday, March 9th, 5:00 pm-6:30 pm
Part II - Wednesday, March 16th, 5:00 pm-6:30 pm
106 White Hall
Free pizza and beverages will be served
Contact:
Sponsor:Cornell Society for Islamic Spirituality
Happy 500th Birthday, Don Quijote!
Professor Michael Harney, University of Texas at Austin
Friday, April 1, 4:30 pm
Guerlac Room, A.D. White House
Reception follows
New Amarna Period Archive Discoveries - German Excavations at Ancient Qatna (Tell Mishrife), Syria
Thomas Richter, University of Frankfurt
Tuesday, April 5, 4:30 pm
110 White Hall
New Belgian Excavations at Ancient Gabala (Tell Tweini), Syria
Karel Van Lerbergher, Katholieke Universität Leuven
Wednesday, April 6, 4:30 pm
110 White Hall
Palestinian-American gives poetry reading
Professor Emeritus Reja-e Busailah, Indiana University, Kokomo
Wednesday, April 6, 4:30 pm
Guerlac Room, A.D. White House
Women and Civil Society in Contemporary Iran
Professor Arzoo Osanloo, University of Washington
Thursday, April 7, 4:30 pm
110 White Hall
Abraham and Abrahamic Religions in Islamic Sources
Bekir Aksoy, President of the Golden Generation Students Association and Director of Camp Chestnut, Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania
Thursday, April 7, 5:00 pm
HEC auditorium, Goldwin Smith
Shabbat Dinner - Lecture
Lavon Mercer, Athletic Director, Spelman College
Friday, April 8, 7:00 pm
RPCC Multipurpose Room (North campus)
Translations of Exile: Contemporary Iranian Literature and Arts in the West
Conference
Friday, April 8 & Saturday, April 9
Conference program
Third Path
Dinner and discussion with Israeli student peace activists and NES Professor Ross Brann at Alice Cook House. We will be discussing our different experiences with peace activism here and in Israel and ways that we all can get more involved. We are hoping to hear the perspectives of a wide variety of activists to make for a really interesting exchange. This is an opportunity not to be missed! Dinner will be graciously provided by Professor Brann. For more info or to RSVP please email .
CURW 75th Anniversary Speaker
Karen Armstrong
Thursday, April 14, 4:30 pm
Sage Chapel
Complete details
Rwanda: A Lesson Yet to Be Learned
Paul Rusesabagina, real life hero of the film Hotel Rwanda
Wednesday, April 20, 8:00 pm
Statler Auditorium
For more information, please contact
Mediterranean and Middle Eastern Poetry Night
Thursday, April 21, 6:00 pm
Cervantes and the Frontiers of Fiction: A Celebration of Don Quijote (1605-2005)
International Colloquium
Friday, April 22 and Saturday, April 23
A.D. White House
Blue Voyage on the Aegean Sea
An evening of speeches, dinner, music, dance performances, and more
Friday, April 22
8:45 pm-1:00 am at Trillium
Complete details
Finding the Missing Peace? The Middle East in 2005
Dennis B. Ross, former U.S. Ambassador and chief peace negotiator in the Middle East
Wednesday, April 27, 8:00 pm
Statler Auditorium
Admission is free and open to the public
Cornell Middle East Music Ensemble
Monday, May 2, 8:00 pm
Barnes Hall
A Conversation with Dr. Nabil El-Sharif, Jordanian Ambassador to Morocco
Saturday, May 28, 4:15-5:15 pm
Alice Cook House seminar room
Please join us for a round-table discussion with the Ambassador. Dr. El-Sharif can share his thoughts on many topics, including:
  • Democracy and the Middle East
  • The media
  • Diplomacy in the Arab world
  • Islam's image today
Brief biography: Before his appointment as Jordanian Ambassador to Morocco in August of 2004, Dr. El-Sharif served as the Minister of Information in Jordan in 2003. Prior to that, he was the Editor-in-Chief of Jordan's oldest Arabic daily newspaper Ad-dustour. Dr. El-Sharif is considered an authority on Arab media and has participated in a number of international conferences as a representative of the Arab press. He is the only Arab member of the Paris-based World Editors Forum. The Ambassador has been a regular columnist in Arabic and English newspapers. He is the author of several books on media studies and literature. He was also the host of the English television program Face to Face in Jordan. Dr. El-Sharif worked as an Assistant Professor of English literature at the University of Jordan and Yarmouk University from 1982 to 1991. He graduated from Indiana University in Bloomington with a Ph.D. in English literature.