Middle East Studies and North Africa Studies

“Between Tongues: The Art of Arabic-English Translation"

Anonymous — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 18:45:05 +0000

“Between Tongues: The Art of Arabic-English Translation" Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/23/2025 - 14:45 Axinn Center 232

“Between Tongues: The Art of Arabic-English Translation”

Between Tongues: The Art of Arabic–English Translation – a conversation with acclaimed translator maia tabet, whose career has helped shape the reception of modern Arabic literature in English. She has translated celebrated authors such as Elias Khoury and Sinan Antoon and her work reflects a lifelong engagement with language, politics, and literary form. In this talk, she reflects on the art and labor of translation—its challenges, its pleasures, and its power to mediate between cultures while resisting simplification. The event offers a rare opportunity to hear from one of the foremost voices in contemporary Arabic–English translation.

Patterson, Nicole (802) 443 - 5784 npatters@middlebury.edu Greenberg-Starr Department of Chinese Language and Literature; Middle East Studies and North Africa Studies; Comparative Literature

Academic Freedom in Higher Education - Prof. Asli Ü. Bâli, Yale Law School

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Jan 2025 19:20:03 +0000

Academic Freedom in Higher Education - Prof. Asli Ü. Bâli, Yale Law School Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 01/06/2025 - 14:20 Axinn Center 229 Open to the Public

Asli Ü. Bâli is the Howard M. Holtzmann Professor of Law at Yale Law School. She is an expert in international human rights law and comparative constitutional law focused on the Middle East. Dr. Bâli received her doctorate in Politics from Princeton University in 2010 and her law degree from Yale. Before her academic career, she worked for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and as an associate at Cleary Gottlieb. Shen then went on to UCLA where she was a founding faculty director of the Promise Institute for Human Rights. Dr. Bâli’s scholarship spans topics from nuclear non-proliferation to constitutional design in religiously divided societies. She examines how race and empire shape the interpretation and enforcement of international law, while also studying judicial independence in constitutional transitions and federalism in the Middle East. Dr. Bâli currently serves as President of the Middle East Studies Association. She is also on the board of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association and on the editorial board of the American Journal of International Law.

Cosponsored by the Axinn Center for the Humanities, Departments of Anthropology, Middle East Studies, History, Education Studies, GSFS, CCSRE, and the Academic Speaker Supplement Fund.

Abstract: Dr. Bâli will speak about academic freedom in higher education since the events that have unfolded in the Middle East after October 7. She will address issues of free speech and constitutional rights across universities and discuss how the academic climate of open inquiry has been challenged in recent months.

Mayer, Judy jmmayer@middlebury.edu History; Axinn Center for the Humanities; Education Studies; Center for Comparative Study of Race & Ethnicity; Middle East Studies and North Africa Studies; Gender, Sexuality, & Fem Studies; Anthropology

"Being Jewish after the Destruction of Gaza," A conversation with Prof. Peter Beinart

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Dec 2024 19:45:03 +0000

"Being Jewish after the Destruction of Gaza," A conversation with Prof. Peter Beinart Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 12/10/2024 - 14:45 Wilson Hall, McCullough Student Center Open to the Public

Peter Beinart is Professor of Journalism and Political Science at CUNY. He is also a Contributing Opinion Writer for The New York Times, a political commentator on MSNBC, and Editor-at-Large of Jewish Currents. Over the years he served as Editor of The New Republic and wrote for publications like The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Die Zeit, and the Financial Times. He is the author of four books including The Icarus Syndrome: A History of American Hubris (Harper, 2010) and The Crisis of Zionism (Times Books, 2012). He will speak at Middlebury about his latest book, Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza (Knopf, 2025), which challenges a dominant narrative of Jewish victimhood and argues for a new concept of Jewish identity that links Israeli and Palestinian safety and places equality above supremacy.

Sponsored by: Office of the President; Office of the Provost; Jewish Studies; Middle East and North Africa Studies; International & Global Studies; Departments of History, Philosophy, English, Religion (Charles P. Scott Fund); Writing and Rhetoric Program; Axinn Center for the Humanities

Mayer, Judy jmmayer@middlebury.edu President of the College; Provost's Office; History; Philosophy; Religion; Writing and Rhetoric Program; Axinn Center for the Humanities; Department of English; Middle East Studies and North Africa Studies; International & Global Studies; Jewish Studies

Palestine - Israel: History did not start on October 7

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Oct 2024 14:50:04 +0000

Palestine - Israel: History did not start on October 7 Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/16/2024 - 10:50 Wilson Hall, McCullough Student Center Closed to the Public

Amira Hass, Jerusalem born and daughter of two Jewish holocaust survivors, joined Haaretz daily in 1989 and has been the paper’s correspondent in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 1993. She lived in Gaza between 1993-1997 and since then in El-Bireh, the West Bank. Her book “Drinking the Sea at Gaza” was published by Henry Holt in 2000. Two other books, in various languages, are compilations of her articles in Haaretz and the Italian weekly Internazionale. She also wrote the introduction and afterword for her mother’s diary in Bergen Belsen Nazi concentration camp (1944-1945), published by Haymarket Books in 2008.

This lecture will contextualize Hamas’ attack on Israeli military and civilian localities and the war that has been going on since then against the militant organization and the Palestinian people.

This event is open to Middlebury ID holders only. It will be live-streamed; please join the live stream here.

Bohler, Shannon 802.443.2961 sbohler@middlebury.edu Arabic; Middle East Studies and North Africa Studies; International & Global Studies; Kathryn Wasserman Davis Collaborative in Conflict Transformation; West Asian and North African Students (WANAS)

HSMT Guest Lecture – Prof. Magnús T. Bernhardsson, Ph.D.: HISTORY BE DAMMED

Anonymous — Thu, 03 Oct 2024 18:25:03 +0000

HSMT Guest Lecture – Prof. Magnús T. Bernhardsson, Ph.D.: HISTORY BE DAMMED Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 10/03/2024 - 14:25 Axinn Center 229 Open to the Public

The Promise and Peril of Big Dams in Africa and the Middle East, 1955-1970

This lecture will evaluate the experience of big dams across the Middle East and Africa in the decades following World War II. Situated at the nexus of intellectual, political, and environmental history, the talk will consider the comparative and global dimensions of dam building between 1950-1970 as well as the impact of these major works both locally and globally. Unlike many environmental or dam histories that often focus exclusively on the experience of one nation or project, this lecture will assess the shared rhetoric of progress and modernity, of industrialization and centralization, and the specific administrative ordering of nature and society that lies at the center of big dam building. Furthermore, it highlights how the quest for an electrified future and modernity resulted in large populations becoming displaced and historical sites and local cultures decimated and submerged.

Magnús T. Bernhardsson is Brown Professor of History and Chair of the Global Studies Program and Director of the Global Scholars Initiative at Williams College. An author of several books on Middle Eastern history in both English and Icelandic, he is currently invovled in two major research projects: a) a comparative study of big dams in the MIddle East and Africa in the 1950s-1970 and b) as the co-prinicipal investigator in a large research project on the integration of Iraqi and Syrian refugee children in Iceland (2011-present).

Sponsored by the History Department’s Track in the History of Science, Medicine and Technology, Axinn Center for the Humanities, and Fund for Innovation

Mayer, Judy jmmayer@middlebury.edu Arabic; History; Middle East Studies and North Africa Studies; International & Global Studies

Movement Matters: Mohammed Smahneh-Barges

Anonymous — Fri, 16 Feb 2024 15:55:01 +0000

Movement Matters: Mohammed Smahneh-Barges Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 02/16/2024 - 10:55 Mahaney Arts Center

Mahaney Arts Center, Dance Theatre

Mohammed Smahneh (aka Barges), a self-taught hip-hop and contemporary dance artist, has won various break-dance battles in Palestine and performed in many international and local projects including: Badke, a co-production between KVS, les ballets C de la B & A.M. Qattan Foundation (2013-16, Belgium); B choreographed by Koen Augustijnen and Rosalba Torres (2017-2019, Belgium); Nomads Dance Camp directed by Dina Abu Hamdan with choreographers Jorge Crecis, Taoufiq Izzediou, and Samar Haddad King (2014, Jordan); Naji Ali with Botega Dance Company directed by Enzo Celli (2009, Italy); and was a champion in Floor Wars Battle (2012, Denmark). Mohammed has been a member of Yaa Samar! Dance Theatre since 2013.

Dabke is a Levantine folkloric dance traditionally used in cultural moments of celebration and resistance. YSDT Dabke classes blend contemporary dance and theater with traditional Dabke tools (rhythm, footwork, unison movement etc.) to invite improvisation and play within the traditional form. Class starts with an anatomically mindful warm-up and builds skills including technique, strength, stamina, rhythm and improvisation. Our goals as educators are to provide new tools for creative expression, validate individuals through empowered choice-making, honor diverse perspectives and abilities, and center the power of storytelling in pursuit of social justice. The practice of Dabke is inherently intertwined with social justice movements, and conversations around the use of dance and art in social justice movements will also be incorporated into the class time.

Crosby, Bert (802) 443-2808 bcrosby@middlebury.edu Arabic; Dance; History of Arts and Architecture; Middle East Studies and North Africa Studies; International & Global Studies

Our Palestine Question

Anonymous — Wed, 17 Jan 2024 12:25:01 +0000

Our Palestine Question Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 01/17/2024 - 07:25 Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room Open to the Public

Title: Book talk: Our Palestine Question

Geoffrey Levin (Emory University) will discuss his new book, Our Palestine Question: Israel and American Jewish Dissent, 1948-1978 (Yale 2023), a new history of the American Jewish relationship with Israel, which focuses on its most urgent and sensitive issue: the question of Palestinian rights.

Denis, Danielle 802-443-5532 ddenis@middlebury.edu History; Hebrew; Modern Hebrew; African Studies; Middle East Studies and North Africa Studies; International & Global Studies; Jewish Studies; Global Migration & Diaspora

Gaza in Context: Tracing Violence and Reconciliation in Palestine/Israel

Anonymous — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 13:50:01 +0000

Gaza in Context: Tracing Violence and Reconciliation in Palestine/Israel Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 10/25/2023 - 09:50 Twilight Auditorium 101 Closed to the Public

In this lecture, Dr. Sa’ed Atshan will provide an overview of the hostilities between the Israeli military and Hamas, reflecting on the past, present, and future of this crisis. The talk will also address the impact on Palestinian and Israeli civilians, the provision of international humanitarian aid, the role of the United States, and prospects for reconciliation.

Ayoub, Dima 443-5653 dayoub@middlebury.edu Arabic; African Studies; Middle East Studies and North Africa Studies; Global Migration & Diaspora

The Foretold Story of the Arab Other in Turkish Political Cartoons

Anonymous — Fri, 10 Mar 2023 21:05:02 +0000

The Foretold Story of the Arab Other in Turkish Political Cartoons Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 03/10/2023 - 16:05 Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room Open to the Public

By placing ethnicity at the center, this talk focuses on the stereotyping of Arabs by the Ottoman intelligentsia, first and later by the populizers of the Turkish state discourse from the sixteenth to the mid-twentieth century. Tracing the transformation of the Arab stereotype over a long durée, the talk considers how these stereotypes were reproduced in the nationalist discourse of the late Ottoman and early republican Turkey in the making of the non-national “other” and how these stereotypes that stick to our imagination resurface once we encounter them in the flux of global events such as forced migration.

Ilkim Büke Okyar is associate professor in Political Science and International Relations at Yeditepe University. Buke Okyar studies nationalism and national identities in the Middle East and early republican era in Turkey. She received her PhD degree from Ben-Gurion University in Israel and received Chaim Herzog Award for best dissertation.

Sullivan, Heidi (802) 443-2603 hsullivan@middlebury.edu Middle East Studies and North Africa Studies

Working Papers on the Environment and Society in the Middle East: A Collaborative Workshop

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Aug 2022 23:17:12 +0000

Working Papers on the Environment and Society in the Middle East: A Collaborative Workshop Anonymous (not verified) Thu, 08/04/2022 - 19:17 Robert A. Jones '59 Conference Room

Current academic work by four scholars in the field of social and environmental relations in the Middle East will be read, analyzed, and critiqued by each other and by student attendees in a forum meant to provide Middlebury undergraduate students with an opportunity to enter into this growing field within Middle East Studies and to participate in a core academic activity: editing scholarly work.

Liebhaber, Samuel 802.443.5598 slieb@middlebury.edu Middle East Studies and North Africa Studies