October 2022
Layla Murad, the Jewish-Muslim Star of Egypt
Professor Hammad discusses the life and legacy of Layla Murad, one of the most beloved and remembered Arab singing stars in the twentieth century, to analyze politics of sexuality, ethnicity, socio-cultural interaction between Muslims and Jews, and the crucial role popular culture played in constructing an exclusive Arab-Islamic Egyptian identity. This lecture will be delivered virtually via Zoom.
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Cultural Administration in Postcolonial Egypt: The Case of the Mass Culture Institute
The Mass Culture Institute embodied the developmental state project to bring “culture” to the countryside through its network of cultural palaces, its support for provincial theatre troupes and musicians, and its culture caravans travelling from village to village equipped with a library, a moving stage, audio equipment, and film projectors. This lecture will be delivered virtually via Zoom.
Find out more »November 2022
“‘All culture is originally colonial’: Derrida, Algeria, and the Latin Empire”
Adam Stern, assistant professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, will discuss a reading of Jacques Derrida’s writing on Algeria, Jewishness, and colonialism. This lecture will be in-person at Ingraham 120.
Find out more »Everyday Choices: The Role of Competing Authorities and Social Institutions in Politics and Development
Drawing on findings from existing literature and the author’s research, this lecture puts forth an institutional approach that takes membership in multiple, often competing communities into account, explaining how the salience of various arenas of authority associated with communities, and of nature of the social institutions within these arenas, affect politics and development. This lecture will be in-person at Ingraham 120.
Find out more »December 2022
Archive Wars: The Politics of History in Saudi Arabia
Rosie Bsheer of Harvard University explores the increasing secularization of the postwar Saudi state and how it manifested in assembling a national archive and reordering urban space in Riyadh and Mecca. This lecture will be delivered virtually via Zoom.
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