Webcasts
related to the Near East Section
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Various Years:
Vardanants Day Armenian Lecture Series
August 19, 2008
Excavations in Afghanistan and Central Asia
The Near East Section of the African Middle Eastern Division at the Library of Congress sponsored at talk by Fredrik Hiebert titled "Excavations in Afghanistan and Central Asia."
June 24, 2008
Publishing Trends in the Islamic Republic of Iran
The Near East Section of The African Middle Eastern Division and the John W. Kluge Center presented a lecture by Nasrollah Pourjavady, Distinguished Visiting Scholar from Tehran University at the Roshan Persian Studies Center of the University of Maryland. He discussed "Publishing Trends In the Islamic Republic of Iran."
June 4, 2008
Women and Education in Saudi Arabia
The Near East Section of the African and Middle Eastern Division of the Library of Congress presented Nihad el- Jesh, consultant of the Majlis al-Shura (Consultative Assembly) of Saudi Arabia, who delivered a lecture titled "Women and Education in Saudi Arabia."
April 11, 2008
Who Speaks for Islam?
The Near East Section of the African and Middle Eastern Division presented, as part of the series "Beyond the Islamist Discourse: Muslims Look at Their Societies," John Esposito, who discussed "Who Speaks for Islam?"
March 27, 2008
Education, Health and Socio-Economic Developments in Iraq Today
Morning Session
Afternoon Session
Representatives from the U.S. Department of State; the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; the Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine; the Office of Iraq Reconstruction (USAID); the International Office for Migration; AMIDEAST; Life for Relief and Development; International Relief and Development; World Learning; and Mobile Medical International Corporation met to discuss their work in Iraq.
March 21, 2008
Oussama Romdhani: The Impact of the Information Technology Revolution on the Youth of Tunisia
Oussama Romdhani, director general of the Tunisian External Communication Agency, made a presentation in the African and Middle Eastern Reading Room on "The Impact of the Information Technology Revolution on the Youth of Tunisia." He commented on the TV viewing habits of the Tunisian public based on a recent Gallup poll, and discussed the impact of satellite dishes in bringing TV programs from Europe and the Middle East to every Tunisian home. He also explained that there were 8.5 million cell phones in Tunisia, which had an impact on family authority, and how the internet promotes modernity and could also be used to recruit young people to radical Islamic causes.
February 26, 2008
Reformist Voices of Islam: Mediating Religion and Modernity
The Near East Section of the African Middle Eastern Division and the John W. Kluge Center hosted a talk by Shireen Hunter on her new book, "Reformist Voices of Islam: Mediating Religion and Modernity."
February 7, 2008
The Druze are a thousand-year-old religious community of the Middle East, whose members today live primarily in Lebanon, Syria and Israel, while others have emigrated to the United States, Europe and Africa. Their historical and intellectual legacy was examined by 10 scholars from the U.S. and Middle East who participated in a symposium at the Library of Congress.
The Druze Heritage: Part I
The Druze Heritage: Part II
The Druze Heritage: Part III
The Druze Heritage: Part IV
Scholars participating in the symposium included Sami Makarem, American University of Beirut; Majid Fakhri, Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown University; Abbas Hamdani, Wisconsin University; Linda Clarke, Concordia University; Melhem Salman, American Druze Foundation; Sumaiya Hamdani, George Mason University; Erlendur Haraldsson, University of Iceland; Intisar Azzam, Lebanese American University in Beirut; Kais M. Firro, Haifa University; and Dr. Anis Obeid, State University of New York, Upstate Medical University. Haraldsson will deliver a luncheon speech titled "Reincarnation, Ancient Beliefs and New Evidence Among the Druze."
February 2, 2008
Classical Music of Persia: The Precious Heritage of Iranians
Honoring the arrival of Spring and celebrating the age old tradition of Nowruz, Roya Bahrami presented a lecture-recital based on her research to give historical and structural review of Persian Classical Music. The recital component was selections from her recently released album "Roya," inspired by the timeless wisdom of Persian poets Rumi, Hafez and Sepehri, as well as Persian roots of Spanish Flamenco.
April 25, 2007
Iranians Writing and Publishing Today, At Home and Abroad
Iranian novelist Moniro Ravanipour, author and publisher Babak Takhti,
author Shahryar Mandanipour and playwright Ezzat Goushegir participated
in a panel discussion on "Iranians Writing and Publishing Today, At Home and Abroad " in
a program sponsored by the African and Middle Eastern Division and
the University of Maryland Center for Persian Studies.
April 25, 2007
The Sama Ensemble
The Sama Ensemble performed traditional Iranian music
and dance as part of the Homegrown Concert Series
sponsored by the
American Folklife Center.
March 27, 2007
Mir Ali Shir Symposium
Panel 1
Panel 2
Panel 3
During the 15th century, Mir Ali Shir (1441-1501) was the major literary
figure among the Central Asian Turkic peoples, the ancestors of today's
Uzbeks. His life, work and legacy was the focus of a symposium held at
the Library of Congress. Sponsored by the Library's African and Middle
Eastern Division and the Embassy of Uzbekistan, the symposium examined
the writings of Mir Ali shir who wrote under the pen name Navoi.
Mir Ali Shir was the author of more than 30 books, written mostly in
Chagatay, also known as Old Uzbek. He also wrote in Persian and Arabic.
As a major patron of the arts, Navoi supported visual artists, calligraphers,
authors and architects. When not involved in artistic and literary pursuits,
he served as an important government official for his friend Sultan Husayn
Bayqarah, ruler of Herat in Afghanistan.
Scholars from Uzbekistan, Europe and the United States participated in
the symposium with presentations about Navoi's life and work and the
society in which he lived. Speakers included Frederique Bressand, International
Society of Timurids; Dilorom Abidjanova, University of World Economy
and Diplomacy at Tashkent, Uzbekistan; Andras Bodrogligeti, University
of California at Los Angeles; Ilse Cirtautas, University of Washington
at Seattle; and Ibrahim Pourhadi, Library of Congress. Uzbek author Shavakat
Azimov and Dwayne Rodeheaver of AmRus Ventures Inc. presented to the
Library and discussed the first English translation of Navoi's work titled "Lisan
al-Tayr ("The Language of the Birds"). Priscilla Roberts, president of
the Friends of Uzbekistan, made concluding remarks.
March 14, 2007
Celebrating Rumi: An Evening of Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi's Poetry and Sufi Music
with Whirling Dervishes
The Library's African and Middle Eastern Division and the Music Division
co-sponsored a poetry and music program with the Turkish Embassy titled "Celebrating
Rumi: An Evening of Mevlana Celaleddin Rumi's Poetry and Sufi Music with
Whirling Dervishes." This was the first of several programs which launched
the UNESCO's International Year of Rumi in the United States.
February 27, 2007
The Middle East Journal 60th Anniversary
Morning
Session
Afternoon
Session
For 60 years The Middle East Journal has provided a forum
for scholarship representing all viewpoints about this complex region
of the world. This milestone was marked with a conference titled "No
Longer 'Terra Incognita?': Six Decades of The Middle East Journal" sponsored
by the Library's African and Middle Eastern Division.
The conference examined how scholarship in the Middle East has evolved
during the past 60 years and the role that the Middle East Journal
has played in that evolution. The conference also explored the legacy
of the past and challenges of the future in the field of Middle East
scholarship and policy.
MEI was founded in 1946 to increase knowledge of the Middle East in
the United States and promote better understanding between the peoples
of the Middle East and America. MEI founded The Middle East Journal
in 1947.
November
30, 2006
Tunisia:Celebrating
Fifty Years of Women’s Emancipation
A symposium titled "Tunisia: Celebrating Fifty Years of Women’s
Emancipation" was held on Thursday November 30, 2006, in the
Thomas Jefferson Building, sponsored jointly by the Library’s
African and Middle Eastern Division and the Embassy of Tunisia. Former
Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor made a special presentation.
The other speakers included Alifa Chaabane Farouk, the Ombudsman
of Tunisia and a member of the Executive Board of Tunisia’s
ruling party, the Democratic Constitutional Rally; Hayet Laouni,
an entrepreneur, and founder of a shipping company Maersk-Tunisia,
and an international trade company, EXECO; and Mounira Charrad a
professor of sociology at the University of Texas at Austin, and
the author of States and Women’s Rights: The Making of Postcolonial
Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco
March 8, 2005
The Near East Section of the African and Middle East Division, Library
of Congress, and the Iraq Memory Foundation co-sponsored a symposium:"The
New Iraq - Memory and National Identity". The keynote speaker
was the Mayor of Baghdad: the Honorable `Ala' al-Tamimi.
.First Panel
Second Panel
The symposium focused on the importance and the preservation
of millions of documents from the Baathist archives of Iraq,
uncovered
after
the war in 2003. Kanan Makiya, the Iraqi born President of the
Iraq Memory Foundation who is in charge of preserving these documents
in Baghdad, discussed the role and significance of memory. The
Mayor
of Baghdad talked about the importance in the life of Iraqis
of the "The
Museum of Remembrance" that will house those documents,
while Dianne van der Reyden, the LC Director for Preservation,
made a
presentation on different threats to those documents and ways
to preserve them
for future generations. Other speakers included Deanna Marcum,
who made the opening remarks, Roger Owen, the Director of the
Middle East Center, Harvard University, Peter Sluglett, Professor
of History,
University of Utah, Falih Jabar, Director of the Iraq Institute
for
Strategic Studies in London, Hassan Mneimneh, Director of the
Documentation Project of the Iraq Memory Foundation, and Carole
Basri, Professor
of Law, University of Pennsylvania. Mary-Jane Deeb, the Head
of the Near East Section, moderated the symposium panels.
March 29, 2005
CHAKAVAK ENSEMBLE PERFORMS PERSIAN CLASSICAL MUSIC
The Chakavak Ensemble showcased examples of Persian
classical music at the Library of Congress's Coolidge Auditorium
on Tuesday, March
29th. The event was sponsored jointly by the Library’s African
and Middle Eastern Division, Music Division and American Folklife
Center.
Under the direction of Dr. Nader Majd, the eight member ensemble
performed on traditional Iranian instruments such as the tar, kamancheh,
santur, zarb,setar, as well as the violin and cello. The concert
was in celebration of Nowruz (New Day) the first day of the Iranian
solar year (March 20) marking the first day of the spring equinox.
Nowruz is an age-old tradition celebrated by the peoples and nations
who share Iran's ancient Persianate cultural heritage
February 22, 2005
John M. Evans, U.S. Ambassador to Armenia, presented “Report
from Armenia, 2004,”on Tuesday, February 22, 2005 at the Library
of Congress. The event was sponsored by the Library of Congress Armenian
Seminar series of the Near East Section, African and Middle Eastern
Division. Robin Philips, USAID/Armenia Director, added remarks on
the situation in Armenia since he became the US representative in
2004.
April 19, 2004
"The
Art of Splendor: Islamic Luxury Goods" By Dr. Rosamund
Mack, author of Bazaar to Piazza: Islamic Trade and Italian Art, 1300-1600.
March 16, 2004
Azar Nafisi delivered a lecture titled "Women
in Iran: Past, Present and Future" at the Library of Congress
on March 16th in the James Madison Building. The event, sponsored by the Near
East Section of the Library's African and Middle Eastern Division, was free and
open to the public.
October 23, 2003
Michael E. Stone, Senior Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the John
W. Kluge Center at the Library of Congress presented a
lecture titled "A
Hidden Treasure: The Armenian Adam Epic by Arakel of Siwnik"
October 9, 2003
The African and Middle Eastern Division and the Kluge Center co-sponsored
a conference on "Islam,
Science and Cultural
Values" with the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding at Georgetown
University, the Dialogue on Science, Ethics and Religion Program
of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and
the Office of International Affairs of the National Academy of
Sciences.
May 20, 2003
The African and Middle Eastern Division sponsored the Eleventh Annual
Vardanants Day Armenian Lecture. Congressman
Frank Pallone, Jr., Democrat 6th District, New Jersey, Founder and
present co-chair of the Congressional Caucus on
Armenian Issues "The U.S. Congress and Armenia Today"
May 19, 2003,
Vartan Gregorian, president of Carnegie Corporation of New York, discussed
his new autobiography, "The Road
to Home: My Life and Times" (Simon & Schuster 2003)
April 22, 2002
The African and Middle Eastern Division sponsored the Tenth Annual
Vardanants Day Armenian Lecture. Michael
C. Lemmon, U.S. Ambassador, the Republic of Armenia (1998-2001),
Dean of the School of Language Studies,
Foreign Service Institute on "Reflections
on Armenia's Place in the Region and the World"
January, 2002
Symposium
on Islam in America:This program, part of a
series of symposia on Islam, was co-sponsored by the African and Middle
Eastern Division and the Office of Scholarly Programs and made possible
in part by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation and the Raja Sidawi
Fund. The participants discussed the historical experience of the three
major Muslim groups in the United States: the Arab, the African and
the Asian.
December 3-4, 2001
"Modern Technology and Traditional
Roles: The Bin Laden Tapes" presented by Mary-Jane
Deeb at the Margaret Mead Symposium at the Library of Congress.
March 7, 2001
The African and Middle Eastern Division and the Women's Learning Partnership
presented a symposium titled
"Life
Lines: The Literature of Women's Human Rights."
November 2, 2000
The Library of Congress organized a series of five symposia on Globalization
and Muslim Societies, three of which were supported
by a grant from the Rockerfeller Foundation. More than three dozen
intellectuals,
policymakers, organizational leaders, journalists, bankers, lawyers
and others, representing some of the best minds in the United States
and the Muslim world, were invited to share their thoughts on
the issues and shed light on the debate.
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