2025
2/27/25 Being Sufi in Central Asia (cosponsored with the Religious Studies Program)
2/10/25 Egyptian Author Youssef Rakha discussed his latest book “The Dissenters” (cosponsored with the Department of African Cultural Studies and the African Studies Program)
2/7/25 Establishing Authenticity: Language, Style, and Theorizing the Qurʾānic Miracle (cosponsored with the Medieval Studies Program)
2/7/25 Working Women in Jordan: Education, Migration, and Aspiration (cosponsored with the Department of Educational Policy Studies)
1/13/25 Children’s African Story Hour: “My Father’s Shop” (cosponsored with the African Studies Program)
2024
12/7/24 Stories of Separation and Belonging: Exploring Migration,
Partition and Displacement (cosponsored with WIRC)
12/4/24 Navigating Childhood and Conflict in “The Cat at the Wall” (cosponsored with IRIS NRC)
11/25/24 Children’s African Story Hour: “Egyptian Lullaby” (cosponsored with the African Studies Program)
11/11/24 Children’s African Story Hour: “Egyptian Lullaby” (cosponsored with the African Studies Program)
11/7/24 Reinventing Islamic Architecture in the 20th and 21st Centuries (organized by the Department of Art History, cosponsored by the Anonymous Fund, the Howard and Ellen Louise Schwartz Fund for Islamic Art, L&S Associate Dean’s Office, the Middle East Studies program, and the Center for Design and Material Culture)
10/16/24 Atef Said (University of Illinois at Chicago): Revolution Squared: Tahrir, Political Possibilities, and Counterrevolution in Egypt (cosponsored with the African Studies Program).
10/2/24 Mouin Rabbani: Gaza Apocalypse: Causes and Consequences (organized by the Havens Wright Center for Social Justice, cosponsored with the Institute for International and Regional Studies National Resource Center (IRIS NRC) and World BEYOND War – Madison. Click here for the video recording.
7/15/24 Dr. Özge Samanci (Northwestern University): Evil Eyes Sea (organized by A Room of One’s Own Bookstore, cosponsored with the Institute for Regional and International Studies-National Resource Center (IRIS-NRC), Kemal H Karpat Center for Turkish Studies, the Middle East Studies Program, and the Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Language Institute (MEDLI))
6/28/24 Climate Optimism: Finding Creative Solutions and Making Positive Impacts (cosponsored online workshop with WIRC)
5/13/24 Children’s African Story Hour: “The Arabic Quilt” (cosponsored with the African Studies Program)
5/1/24 Selçuk Esenbel (Boğaziçi University, İstanbul, Turkey): ‘Twilight Diplomacy‘ and the Japanese Mirror of the Ottoman Turkish World: Yamada Torajirō’s Illustrated Observations of Turkey (cosponsored with the Kemal H. Karpat Center for Turkish Studies)
4/11/2024 Empire of Refugees: Muslim Migration from Russia to the Middle East (cosponsored with the Kemal H. Karpat Center for Turkish Studies)
2023
12/18/2023 Children’s African Story Hour: “The Arabic Quilt” (cosponsored with the African Studies Program)
12/7/23 Rethinking Commemoration: Legacies of 1923 Exchange in the Civilizationist Present (cosponsored with the Kemal H. Karpat Center for Turkish Studies)
12/4/2023 Dreams and Displacement in Afghanistan (cosponsored with IRIS NRC)
12/2/2023 International Children’s Literature Celebration: Folk and Fairytales (cosponsored with WIRC)
11/29/2023 A Panel Discussion: Conflict in Israel-Palestine (cosponsored with the Political Science Department). Click here for an audio recording.
11/27/2023 Children’s African Story Hour: “The Arabic Quilt” (cosponsored with the African Studies Program)
7/24/23 The Good Life: Global Perspectives on Wellbeing and Happiness (online workshop with WIRC)
4/25/2023 CALS Global Day (with the College of Agricultural & Life Sciences)
4/16/2023 Film: “World War III” (with the Wisconsin Film Festival)
4/14/2023 Film: “Cairo Conspiracy” (with the Wisconsin Film Festival)
4/14/2023 Film: “World War III” (with the Wisconsin Film Festival)
4/14/2023 World Cinema Day 2023: “Rickshaw Girl” (with the Wisconsin Film Festival and WIRC)
4/1/23 Overture Center for the Arts International Festival (with WIRC)
3/30/23 Professor Reşat Kasaba (University of Washington): From Gecekondu to A Strangeness: One-Hundred Years of Rural-Urban Relations in Turkey (with the Kemal H. Karpat Center for Turkish Studies, Department of History)
3/1/23 Languages of the World Day (with WIRC)
2022
11/14/22 Peter Alegi (Michigan State University): From South Africa 2010 to Qatar 2022: The lessons and legacies of sporting mega-events (with IRIS NRC)
11/9/22 International Film Club: The Workers Cup with Natasha Iskander (with IRIS NRC)
10/24/22 Film: Distant (Uzak) (with UW Cinematheque)
4/26/2022 Kenneth Moss (Univ. of Chicago): Palestine as Possibility: Polish Jews and the Yishuv as Fact in the 1930s (with the Mosse/Weinstein Center for Jewish Studies)
4/22/2022 Professor Lisa Mahoney (DePaul University): Frankish Church Façades and the Art of Diplomacy (with the UW Department of Medieval Studies)
4/21/2022 Professor Lisa Mahoney (DePaul University): The Lost Royal Tombs of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem (with the UW Department of Medieval Studies)
4/9/22 Film: Amira (with the Wisconsin Film Festival)
4/9/22 Film: At Tale of Love and Desire (with the Wisconsin Film Festival)
4/9/22 Film: Commitment Hasan (with the Wisconsin Film Festival)
4/9/2022 Global Learning Summit 2022 for K-12 teachers (with WIRC)
3/12-13/22 Wisconsin Council for the Social Studies annual conference (with IRIS NRC)
2/23/2022 Nevine El Nossery (UW Madison): When Comics Dismantle Taboos in Morocco (with the UW Department of French & Italian)
1/15/22 Spring 2022 Workshop: Empowering Educators to Teach on Genocide (with IRIS NRC)
2021
11/18/2021 Social Justice: Writing For, Writing Back (with IRIS NRC)
11/17/2021 How to Highlight International Experiences on a Resume (with IRIS NRC)
10/22/2021 Tristan Vigliano (University Aix-Marselle): How to Study Humanism and the Representations of Islam? A Dispatch from the Fronts of Today’s French ‘Culture Wars’ (with the French House)
7/24/2021 APTLI Lecture: Reading Middle Eastern and North African Voices in Translation- What Literature can teach us in a Global Pandemic with Esra Taşdelen (with APTLI)
7/23/2021 APTLI Lecture: Kurds and Yezidis in the Middle East with Tyler Fisher (with APTLI)
7/17/2021 APTLI Lecture: Baha’ AbuShanab, Palestinian Filmmaker (with APTLI)
7/16/2021 APTLI Friday Feature: Persian Dance with Niosha Nafei Jameli (with APTLI)
7/10/2021 APTLI Lecture: Problems of Authoritarianism and Underdevelopment in Muslim-Majority Countries with Dr. Ahmet Kuru (with APTLI)
7/10/2021 APTLI Lecture: “How is it like to be an LGBTI+ in Turkey?” with Emirhan Deniz Çelebi (with APTLI)
7/9/2021 APTLI Friday Feature: Arab Music, a Glimpse into the Soul of a Culture with Musician Karim Nagi (Lecture & Musical Performance) (with APTLI)
7/3/2021 APTLI Lecture: Gamze Canli, How Military Coups Shape Politics & Education in Turkey: 1960 to 1998 (with APTLI)
7/2/2021 APTLI Friday Feature: Istanbul, Bosphorus, and Art with Nurettin Erkan (with APTLI)
7/1/2021 APTLI Special Feature: Arabic Yoga(with APTLI)
6/27/2021 APTLI Lecture: Traditional Miniature Art and Modern Interpretation with Murat Palta (with APTLI)
6/25/2021 APTLI Friday Feature: Persian Poetry Workshop with Ramin Ghamkhar (with APTLI)
4/8/2021 Paul Cobb: “Saladin’s Jerusalem” (with Medieval Studies Program/UW-Madison)
3/17/2021 International Studies Careers: International Education (with IRIS NRC )
3/7/2021 ¡ACTIVISTA! An International Women’s Day Celebration Framing Solidarity Through Culture (with Forward Global Women & others)
2/24/2021 Teaching About the Middle East and North Africa – Rethinking Approaches (with IRIS NRC)
2/17/2021 International Studies Careers: Global Security (with IRIS NRC)
2/2/2021 Using Persepolis to Teach about the Middle East (with IRIS NRC)
2020
10/19/2020 IRIS INTERNATIONAL BOOK GROUP: The 2011 Arab Spring, w/Nevine El Nossery (with IRIS NRC)
9/11/2020 MADISON WORLD MUSIC FESTIVAL (with Wisconsin Union Theater)
2/26/2020 Dr. Charles Cohen Lecture: “The Abrahamic Traditions: A Story of Braided Histories” (with the Center for Humanities at UW-Madison)
2019
11/18/2019 An Evening With Mariela Shaker: Music for Peace, Advocacy, & Social Change (with the Wisconsin Union Directorate)
11/4/2019 An Evening With Daniel Shapiro: Former US Ambassador to Israel (with UW Hillel)
10/6/2019 Asifa Quraishi-Landes: “Sharia and the American Muslim Voter” (with Muslim Women of Madison)
4/22/2019 71 Years Without a Country – Nakba Tour 2019 (with Madison-Rafah Sister City Project)
4/12/2019 MESA Webinar: Academic Freedom in Middle East Studies (with Middle East Studies Association)
3/13/2019 Africa at Noon: Maria Vendetti – “Torture Testimonials of the Algerian War of Independence: Framing the Unseeable” (with African Studies Program at UW-Madison)
3/13/2019 Pontecorvo at 100: Reflections on the Battle of Algiers in Maghrebi Studies (with African Studies Program at UW-Madison)
2/22/2019 Humanities Friday Lunches: Jennifer Pruitt – “Construction, Destruction, and Concealment under Cairo’s ‘Mad Caliph’”(with the Center for Humanities at UW-Madison)
2018
11/29/2018 How Does it Feel to be a Problem? Being Young and Arab in America (with the Chadbourne Residential College)
10/7/2018 Demystifying Muslims and Islam (with Muslim Women United for Peace & others)
9/15/2018 Madison World Music Festival (with Wisconsin Union Theater)
4/12/2018 Soffa Keynote Lecture by Najma Ahmed Abdi (with the Women’s & Gender Studies Consortium)
4/11/2018 Africa at Noon: “Portrait of Rural Egyptian Women: Peaceful Voices from Siwa Oasis, Upper Egypt and Nubia” (with African Studies Program at UW-Madison)
2/9/2018 Cultures in Conflict: Navigating Cultural Difference in International Human Rights Reporting (with IRIS NRC)