Children’s International Story Hour: “These Olive Trees”

Pinney Library, 516 Cottage Grove Rd., Madison, WI 53716
@ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

We are excited to present the children’s book:  These Olive Trees by Aya Ghanameh (Author, Illustrator). We will be reading the book to children, introducing basic Arabic words, teaching basic facts about Palestine, creating an art project based …

Art and Resistance in “Power Born of Dreams”

@ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

Join us online for a discussion with Mohammad Sabaaneh, the author and illustrator of the award winning graphic novel "Power Born of Dreams: My Story is Palestine".

Mohammad Sabaaneh Headshot

Annual MESP Conference: The Global Middle East

Memorial Union, UW-Madison

Join us for our annual spring conference!  Hear from a variety of Middle East scholars from around the globe on this important and fascinating theme. 

Event Banner: The Annual MESP Conference: The Global Middle East, April 10, 2025

Siege Creep: Waste, Airbnb, and Speculation between Israel/Palestine and Athens

Online via Zoom
@ 12:00 pm - 1:15 pm

Sophia Stamatopoulou-Robbins (Bard College) draws on long term fieldwork for two book projects, one based in Palestine and the other based in Greece, to make the case for thinking about the strategies people use to mitigate besieging circumstances through questions about infrastructure.

Sophia Stamatopoulou-Robbin Headshot

Staple Security: Bread and Wheat in Egypt

Online via Zoom
@ 12:00 pm - 1:15 pm

Jessica Barnes, associate professor at the University of South Carolina, explores the anxiety that pervades Egyptian society surrounding the possibility that the nation could run out of wheat or that people might not have enough good bread to eat.

Jessica Barnes, Associate professor, University of South Carolina

Protesting Jordan: Geographies of Power and Dissent

Ingraham 206
@ 12:00 pm - 1:15 pm

In this talk based on her new book, "Protesting Jordan: Geographies of Power and Dissent" (Stanford University Press, 2022), Jillian Schwedler considers how space and geography influence protests and repression, and, in challenging conventional narratives of Hashemite state-making, offers the first in-depth study of rebellion in Jordan.

Dr. Jillian Schwedler Headshot