2003-2004 NES Activities and Events

The Transformation of Islamic Law in Modern Times: From Jurists' Law to Statutory Law
Professor Aharon Layish, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Friday, September 5, 12:00 pm
273 Myron Taylor Hall
Contact:
Sponsors: Clarke Fund for the Middle East Speaker Series, Near Eastern Studies, Comparative Muslim Societies, Law and Society Program
Abrahamic Faiths and the Enviornment
Sunday, September 7, 3:00-5:00 pm
Anabel Taylor Hall
David & Goliath (1 Samuel 17): An Illustrated Slide Lecture
Professor Moshe Garsiel, Bar-llan University, Israel
Wednesday, September 10, 4:30 pm
110 White Hall
Contact:
Sponsor: Near Eastern Studies
White Hall Dedication
September 12, 4:00-5:00 pm
Islam and Human Rights
Professor Khaled Abou El Fadl, UCLA Law School
Friday, September 19, 5:00 pm
Goldwin Smith D
Contact:
The Enemy at Home: Sexual Politics in a Jewish Marriage Debate
Professor Tovah Rosen, Tel-Aviv University
Tuesday, September 30, 4:30 pm
106 White Hall
Contact:
Sponsors: Near Eastern Studies, Jewish Studies
Ritual Purity Systems in the Academic Study of Religion
Professor Jane Marie Law, Asian Studies, Cornell
Wednesday, October 1, 12:15 pm
One World Room, Anabel Taylor
Contact:
Sponsors: Near Eastern Studies, Jewish Studies, Religious Studies
The Only Female Muslim Comic in America
Tissa Hami
Opening performance by Ordinary People
Thursday, October 2, 7:30 pm
145 Warren Hall
Contact:
Sponsors: Near Eastern Studies; Theater, Film and Dance; SAFC
Turkish-U.S. Relations: The New Political Landscape of the Middle East since the Collapse of the USSR
H.E. Süleyman Demirel, former President of Turkey
Tuesday, October 7, 8:00-9:30 pm
Call Auditorium, Kennedy Hall
Contact:
Sponsor: International Programs - CALS
The Place of P: The Priestly Source in the Torah
Professor Gary Rendsburg, Near Eastern Studies, Cornell
Wednesday, October 8, 12:15 pm
One World Room, Anabel Taylor
Contact:
Sponsors: Near Eastern Studies, Jewish Studies, Religious Studies
Hizbollah and Israel's Northern Front
Daniel Sobelman, Ha'aretz newspaper
Wednesday, October 8, 4:30 pm
106 White Hall
Contact:
Sponsors: Peace Studies, Near Eastern Studies, Jewish Studies
Edward Said Memorial Gathering
Edward Said was a scholar literary critic, and member of the Department of English and the Comparative Literature Program at Columbia University. He was also a Messenger Lecturer at Cornell in 1986. He died at the age of 67, in New York City, on September 25, after battling leukemia for many years. Professor Martin Bernal has gone to great lengths to assure that this will be a beautiful service. Professor Malcom Bilson will play Schubert, and Sylvia Alajaji, Said's niece, will come from the Eastman School in Rochester to speak. The gathering will be held on Thursday, October 9, at 3:30 pm in the Guerlac Room at the A.D. White House
Purity and Danger at Forty
Mary Douglas, University College, London
Wednesday, October 15, 4:30 pm
Kaufman Auditorium, Goldwin Smith
Contact:
Sponsors: Near Eastern Studies, Jewish Studies, Religious Studies, Anthropology
Jacob's Tears: Reflections on the Loss of the Kingdom of Israel in the Book of Genesis
Mary Douglas, University College, London
Thursday, October 16, 12:15 pm
One World Room, Anabel Taylor
Contact: By invitation only. Please contact or
Sponsors: Near Eastern Studies, Jewish Studies, Religious Studies, Anthropology
The Celibate Bridegroom: The Ambiguous Marriage of Jesus in Early Christian Ascetic Exegesis
Elizabeth Clark, Duke University
Thursday, October 23, 4:30 pm
A.D. White House
Contact:
Sponsors: Near Eastern Studies, Jewish Studies, Religous Studies, Society for the Humanities
Milton R. Konvitz Memorial and Reception
There will be a special Remembrance Service for Professor Emeritus Milton Konvitz on Sunday, October 26, 2003, at 3:00 pm in the Statler Hotel Ballroom on Cornell's campus in Ithaca, N.Y. Konvitz, an authority on constitutional and labor law and civil and human rights as well as a scholar of Jewish studies, died September 5 at the age of 95. He was a professor in Cornell's School of Industrial and Labor Relations and Law School from 1946 until his retirement in 1973. In addition, Konvitz was a founder of Cornell's Department of Near Eastern Studies and Program of Jewish Studies. He was best known for his American Ideals course, which he taught to more than 8,000 students over the course of his career. His work was cited in many Supreme Court decisions, and Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg considered him a mentor. A write-up of his life appeared in the New York Times on September 11, 2003.
Contact:
Living and Working in an Unpredictable Reality
Orly Castel-Bloom, Israeli writer
Thursday, October 30, 4:30 pm
106 White Hall
Contact:
Sponsors: Near Eastern Studies, Jewish Studies, Society for the Humanities, Comparative Literature
Kabir Singers Perform
Wednesday, November 5, 8:00 pm
Barnes Hall Auditorium
Contact:
Sponsors: Near Eastern Studies, South Asia Program
A new interpretation of Amos 1:13 based on the words of Sennacherib, King of Assyria in his own Assyrian annals and in the Hebrew Bible
Professor Chaim Cohen, Ben-Gurion University, Israel
Thursday, November 6, 4:30 pm
106 White Hall
Contact:
Sponsors: Near Eastern Studies, Jewish Studies
Freud on War: Violence, Politics, and the State
Dr. Anthony Sampson, Universidad del Valle, Cali, Colombia
Thursday, November 6, 4:30 pm
Guerlac Room, A.D. White House
Contact:
Sponsors: Romance Studies, Near Eastern Studies, Jewish Studies
The Royal burial of King Shu-Suen at Ur, 2029 BCE: The Archaeological and Historical Evidence
Walther Sallaberger, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Munich
Monday, November 10, 3:00 pm
106 White Hall
Contact:
Sponsors: Near Eastern Studies, Jewish Studies
Cornell Middle Eastern Music Ensemble
November 17, 7:30 pm
Cornell's Big Red Barn
A wonderful evening of Greek, Turkish, Arabic, and Persian sounds
Muslim Migrants in Europe: Between Euro-Islam and Ghettoization
Professor Bassam Tibi, University of Göttingen, Germany
Tuesday, November 18, 4:30-6:00 pm
A.D. White House
Contact: , 255-7592
Middle Eastern Film Screenings
Mondays at 7:30 pm
106 White Hall
Complete list of films
Yair Dallal, Iraqi Jewish Desert Music from Israel & Masterclass with CU Middle Eastern Music Ensemble
Workshop
Thursday, February 19, 7:00 pm
124 Lincoln Hall
Free and open to the public
Concert
Yair Dalal (oud, violin) and Avi Agababa (percussion) with guest appearances by local musicians
Saturday, February 21, 8:00 pm
First Unitarian Church
Tickets on sale at: Small World Music, Ithaca Guitar Works, Greenstar, CU Hillel, Anabel Taylor Hall or call 277-0573
Advance: $18; Door: $22; Students with ID: $10
Sponsors: Near Eastern Studies, CMEME
Figurations of Desire: Celestina and the Threshold of Modernity
Professor E. Michael Gerli, University of Virginia
Friday, February 20, 4:00 pm
Guerlac Room, A.D. White House
Sponsors: Near Eastern Studies, Jewish Studies, Medieval Studies, Institute for European Studies, Romance Studies
International Law Journal Symposium
Keynote Address
Friday, February 20, 4:30 pm
McDonald Moot Court Room
Reception
Friday, February 20, 6:00 pm
Foyer, MTH
Public Events
Saturday, February 21, 9:30 am-6:30 pm
McDonald Moot Court Room
9:30-11:30 am - First Panel: The UN Protocol Barring Child Soldiers in Combat: Problems in Enforcement
12:00-1:00 pm - Lunch
Berger Atrium
1:00-1:30 pm - Soldier Boy
UNICEF's documentary film of Child Soldiers in Liberia
2:00-4:00 pm - Second Panel: Should Children be Criminally Responsible for Crimes they Commit in Combat?
Berger Atrium
4:30-6:30 pm - Third Panel: The Problem of Re-Acclimating Child Soldiers into Society
Contact:
Sponsors: Near Eastern Studies, Cornell Law School
On Writing, Desire and 2 Billion Hungry People
Ronit Matalon, Israeli novelist
Monday, February 23, 4:30
106 White Hall
Contact: or
Sponsor: Near Eastern Studies
Islamic Culture Awareness Week
February 25-29
Tuesday, February 24
Tabling in Ho Plaza
11:00 am-2:00 pm
Get your Islam Awareness Week calendar of events and find out more about IAW
Islam, 9/11 and Iraq
Tom Simons, Ambassador to Pakistan, Visiting Professor at Stanford and Harvard
5:00 pm
Statler Auditorium
Wednesday, February 25
Tabling in Ho Plaza
11:00 am-2:00 pm
Panel of Muslims open Q&A session
Everything you ever wanted to know, but were too afraid to ask...about Islam!
7:00 pm
Noyes Multipurpose Room
Thursday, February 26
Guest speaker Alex Kronemer
Writer, speaker, filmmaker, and producer of PBS documentary Muhammad: Legacy of a Prophet
4:30 pm
Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium, Goldwin Smith Hall
Co-sponsored by ISPB
Screening of Malcolm X with the Black Students Union
8:00 pm
Location TBA
Friday, February 27
Women's Rights in Islam
Guest Speaker Asma Barlas, Associate Professor and Chair, Politics Department, Ithaca College
Brief talk followed by Q&A and free pizza
Her recent book is called Believing Women in Islam : Unreading Patriarchal Interpretations of the Qur'an
7:00 pm
106 White Hall
Saturday, February 28
Islamic Tile Painting Workshop
Explore the museum's Islamic Tile collection and make your own tile using traditional colors and patterns at the Tatkon Center. Supplies provided, bring your creativity! Program begins at Johnson and proceeds to Tatkon Center in Balch Hall. Class size is limited. Email to reserve your spot!
2:00 pm
Johnson Museum
Sponsored by the Carol Tatkon Center
Around the World in 8 Days...goes to the movies with Shawkat M. Toorawa
Stop 6: London
My Son the Fanatic
Film screening followed by discussion
7:30 pm
RPCC Auditorium
Another free event brought to you by the Department of Near Eastern Studies, the Religious Studies Program, MECA, and Faculty Programs in Residential Communities
Tuesday, March 2
Special MECA & Arab Club student meeting with Tom Simons, former US Ambassador to Pakistan, Visiting Professor at Stanford and Harvard
4:30 pm
106 White Hall
Open to undergraduates and graduate students
Arranged by Ross Brann and the Department of Near Eastern Studies
Unless otherwise noted, all events sponsored by MECA and the Department of Near Eastern Studies
Thomas W. Simons, Jr.
Former US Ambassador to Pakistan, Visiting Professor at Stanford and Harvard
February 19 - March 2
Complete list of events
Public Lecture: Islam, 9/11 and Iraq
Tuesday, February 24, 5:00 pm
Statler Auditorium
Near Eastern Studies Table
Wednesday, February 25, 11:45 am-1:00 pm
Northstar Dining, Appel Commons
Hosted by Professor Ross Brann
Films From Along the Silk Road: Central Asian Cinema
Complete list of films
Jesus in Islam
Dr. Zeki Saritoprak, Department of Religious Studies, John Carroll University
Thursday, March 11, 7:30 pm
Anabel Taylor Auditorium
Pizza and soda will be served
Sponsors: Department of Near Eastern Studies, Cornell Society for Islamic Spirituality
Morocco in Europe Colloquium
Friday, March 5 - Friday, March 12
Complete list of events and information
Contact:
Sponsors: Institute for European Studies, Cornell-Syracuse Upstate Consortium for Trans-European Studies, Cornell Department of Near Eastern Studies, Suter-Staley Endowment for Global Business Education, Cornell Cinema, Comparative Muslim Societies, French Studies, Peace Studies, Music Department
Special Middle Eastern Lunch Table
Monday, March 15, 12:20-1:10 pm
Risley Dining
Please join us for a special lunch table with the students from our Hebrew and Arabic language classes, including our language instructors, Shalom Shoer and Munther Younes. Risley will prepare Middle Eastern food and Shalom will provide the music. It will be a nice opportunity for the students to meet, open a dialogue, share and realize how much we are the same. If it works well, it may turn into a monthly event.
Courtly and Non-Courtly Love: The View from the East
Julie Meisami, Professor, Aga Khan Program, Harvard University
Wednesday, March 31, 4:30 pm
110 White Hall
Sponsors: Near Eastern Studies, Jewish Studies, History of Art, Society for Humanities
The Stakes: America in Iraq and the Middle East
Shibley Telhami, Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development, University of Maryland
Friday, April 2, 7:30-8:30 pm
Kennedy Hall Auditorium
Contact:
Arab and Muslim Political Forum
Community Forum
Friday, April 2, 6:00 pm
Maplewood Community Center, 201 Maple Avenue
Leadership Workshop
Saturday, April 3, 10:00 am-3:00 pm
Goldwin Smith Auditorium D
Complete information
Contact:
Sponsors: Cornell Arab Association, Muslim Educational and Cultural Association
Headscarves and Islam in Germany and Europe Today: A conversation with Bassam Tibi and Heiko Henkel
Bassam Tibi, University of Goettingen, Germany
Heiko Henkel, Doctoral Candidate in Anthropology, Princeton University
Discussant: Max Pensky, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Binghamton U. and Society Fellow, Cornell
Thursday, April 8
11:45 am - Buffet Lunch
12:30 pm - Lecture
A.D. White House
Sponsors: Anthropology, Comparative Muslim Societies, Institute for European Studies, German Studies, Near Eastern Studies, Institute for German Cultural Studies, Society for the Humanities
Cultural relations between Istanbul and Ottoman Egypt
Michael Winter, Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic History, Tel-Aviv University
Wednesday, April 14, 4:30 pm
106 White Hall
Sponsor: Near Eastern Studies
Some Thoughts on Government in Biblical Prophecy
Baruch Levine, Skirball Professor of Bible and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, NYU
Thursday, April 15, 4:30 pm
106 White Hall
Sponsors: Near Eastern Studies, Jewish Studies, Religious Studies
Visual Literacy and Language Teaching
Friday, April 16 and Saturday, April 17
A two day conference exploring the impact of the new visual literacy on language teaching and learning
Complete details
Barely Visible but Very Real: Women's Religious Culture in Ancient Israel
Carol Meyers, Mary Grace Wilson Professor of Religion, Duke University
Monday, April 19, 4:30 pm
106 White Hall
Sponsor: Near Eastern Studies
Jesus in Sepphoris and the Common Judaism of Roman-period Galilee
Eric Meyers, Bernice and Morton Lerner Professor of Judaic Studies, Duke University
Tuesday, April 20, 4:30 pm
106 White Hall
Sponsor: Near Eastern Studies
Sumerian and Semites in 19th Century Paris: Racial Theory, Academic Politics and Political Anti-Semitism
Jerrold Cooper, Professor of Assyriology, Johns Hopkins University
Wednesday, April 21, 4:30 pm
Guerlac Room, A.D. White House
Sponsors: Near Eastern Studies, Jewish Studies, Romance Studies, French Studies
Bam Dinner Banquet
In memory of the recent tragedy at Bam, Iran
Wednesday, April 21, 6:00-9:00 pm
Statler Ballroom
Tickets available by contacting or at the Willard Straight box office. Vegetarian and Kosher meals available. Formal attire.
Sponsors: Iranian Students Organization, SAFC, Near Eastern Studies, Cornell Hillel, Bartels Family, Office of the Vice Provost, Dean of Students, Mr. Vahid Alaghband, and generous outside donations
Kenneth Stein, W.E. Schatten Professor of Middle Eastern History & Political Science, Emory University
Tuesday, April 27, 5:00 pm
Location TBA
Sponsor: Near Eastern Studies
The American Academy of Religion, Eastern International Region Conference
April 30 - May 1
The Religious Studies Program at Cornell University announces the regional AAR-EIR conference April 30 and May 1, 2004 to be held on the Cornell University campus in the historic A.D. White House. The theme for this year's conference is Religion and War, and although the sessions are soliciting papers on this broad topic, we are also open to other topics. We are also interested in panels combining activism or performative dimensions with scholarly inquiry. Furthermore, we encourage interdisciplinary panels which maintain religion as a central theme. Scholars from any region may apply to participate.
Contact:
Shoghake (traditional Armenian music)
Tuesday, May 4, 8:00 pm
Barnes Hall Auditorium
Sponsor: Near Eastern Studies
Near Eastern Studies Seniors' Dinner
Thursday, May 6
Information forthcoming
Cornell Middle Eastern Music Ensemble
Wednesday, May 12, 8:00 pm
Barnes Hall Auditorium
The Cornell Middle Eastern Music Ensemble (CMEME) has been practicing and performing together since 2002. It is a credited class whose members are composed of students, Cornell staff and faculty, as well as Ithaca residents. CMEME continues to expand its repertoire of music and attract new talent each semester, and provides an opportunity to experience culture through music. CMEME is directed by Nikolai Ruskin and Professor Martin Hatch.