"Minorities" in a Multi-Ethnic and Multi-National Empire:
Life in an Ottoman Balkan Town
Gottfried Hagen, University of Michigan, Director of the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies & Associate Professor of Turkish Studies
Friday, 12 January 2007
11am - 12pm, 2004 Modern Language Building (812 East Washington)
Flier
This lecture will use the city of Bitola/Bitolj/Monastir in Macedonia as a case study to discuss legal and social status, daily life, and interaction of Muslims and non-Muslims, Turks and non-Turkish ethnic groups in the Ottoman Empire.
Parallel History and Diplomacy?:
Turkey’s Position toward the Kurdish Question in 1925 and from 2003-2006
Robert Olson, University of Kentucky, Professor of Middle East History and Politics
Friday, 19 January 2007
11am - 12pm, Lecture Room 1, Modern Language Building (812 East Washington)
Flier
This lecture addresses the issue of why Turkey signed the 5 June 1926 Frontier Treaty between Turkey, Iraq, and Great Britain that established the international boundary between Turkey and Iraq which stills obtains (somewhat). Olson argues that it was the Sheik Sa'id rebellion (and not concerns about oil) in spring 1925 that compelled Turkey to sign the 1926 treaty that acceded the province (vilayet) of Mosul (northern Iraq) to British- mandated Iraq. He argues further that in March 2003, again largely because of concerns regarding the challenge of Kurdish nationalism, both in Iraq and in Turkey, Turkey and its armed forces did not join the U.S. in its invasion and occupation of Iraq. Thus, during two of the most crucial periods of Turkey’s history, spanning some 80 years, Turkey did not pursue military intervention in Iraq. It did so in spite of the major challenge that Kurdish rebellion and nationalism posed in both Turkey and in Iraq. The lecture suggests that in both instances there is a parallel historical frame but different diplomatic strategies. The lecture will offer an explanation of the reasons for the similar historical parallel in these two important historical developments, but argues that Turkey pursued, at least up to the end of 2006, different diplomatic and economic strategies in both cases.
Armenians in Lebanon:
A Minority among Minorities
Gerard Libaridian, University of Michigan, Professor of Armenian History
Friday, 26 January 2007
11am - 12pm, Lecture Room 1, Modern Language Building (812 East Washington)
Flier
The lecture will focus on the dual role of Armenians in Lebanon: as an important center of the Armenian Diaspora and as a segment of the complex fabric of Lebanese society and politics. After a brief historical introduction, the lecture will focus on the factors that made Armenians in Lebanon the “beacon” of the Armenian Diaspora in the 1960s and 1970s and the loss of that influence, while the community was “lebanonized” and lost its luster eventually, especially with the rise of the community in the US and of independent Armenia.
Minority Politics in Republican Turkey: The Case of the Alevis
Markus Dressler, Hofstra University, Assistant Professor for Religious and Islamic Studies
Friday, 9 February 2007
11am - 12pm, Lecture Room 1, Modern Language Building (812 East Washington)
Flier
This presentation will introduce into the contestations of certain "modernizing" categories intrinsic to the Turkish nation state project such as "nation," "religion," and "minority."
Dr. Dressler will discuss the negotiation of these categories drawing on the case of the Alevis, who, in an effort to emancipate themselves as a legitimate religious group outside the Sunni-Muslim Turkish paradigm, challenge the ethno-religious parameters of the Turkish nation state project.
Jewish Moroccans and Their Languages
Jeffrey Heath, University of Michigan, Professor of Linguistics & Professor of Near Eastern Studies
Friday, 16 February 2007
11am - 12pm, Lecture Room 1, Modern Language Building (812 East Washington)
This lecture will focus on Jewish and Muslim dialects of Moroccan Arabic, often spoken side by side in the same cities, as of the mid-20th Century.
Minority Rights as Human Rights
Susan Waltz, University of Michigan, Professor of Public Policy
Friday, 23 February 2007
11am - 12pm, Lecture Room 1, Modern Language Building (812 East Washington)
The question of minorities, and their rights, can be fitted into broader questions about human rights standards and practice. The lecture will touch on issues of cultural relativism, review relevant international standards and the participation of Muslim states in their elaboration; and explore some of the debate and discourse about minority rights in Islam.
Constructing Disaporic Circassian Identities:
A Jordanian-born Kabardian remaps 19th Century History
Kari Neely, University of Michigan, PhD Candidate in Near Eastern Studies
Friday, 9 March 2007
11am - 12pm, Lecture Room 1, Modern Language Building (812 East Washington)
Zoroastrians
Gernot Windfuhr, University of Michigan, Professor of Iranian Studies
Friday, 16 March 2007
11am - 12pm, Lecture Room 1, Modern Language Building (812 East Washington)
Teaching Israeli Diversity
Doron Lamm, University of Michigan, Lecturer of Modern Hebrew
Friday, 23 March 2007
11am - 12pm, Lecture Room 1, Modern Language Building (812 East Washington)
Koffar (Infidels)
Film | (40 min., 2004)
*RESCHEDULED *
Friday, 30 March 2007
11am - 12pm, Lecture Room 1, Modern Language Building (812 East Washington)
Directed by Bahman Kiarostami,
INFIDELS is a portrait of a group of Godar gypsies living in northern Iran. Believed to be of Indian descent, the Godars were forced to convert to Islam. Because they are recent converts, they are still considered infidels. This documentary weaves interviews, dances and musical performances to create this portrait of a fascinating yet little-known Iranian community. Kiarostami's clear matter-of-fact images and direct but subtle editing draw us into this world, accenting its uniqueness without taming or exoticizing it. | Website
“Our Monumental History”:
Representations of Chaldean Identities in the Age of Cultural Mainstreaming
Yasmeen Hanoosh, University of Michigan, PhD Candidate in Near Eastern Studies
*CANCELLED *
Friday, 30 March 2007
11am - 12pm, Lecture Room 1, Modern Language Building (812 East Washington)
Greek-Turkish Population Exchange
Asli Igsiz, University of Michigan, Program in Comparative Literature
Friday, 6 April 2007
11am - 12pm, Lecture Room 1, Modern Language Building (812 East Washington)
The Shi'ite Factor in the Lebanon Crisis
Juan Cole, University of Michigan, Professor of History
Friday, 13 April 2007
11am - 12pm, Lecture Room 1, Modern Language Building (812 East Washington)
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