Women in Azerbaijan
Sahiba Gafarova, Institute for Research on Women and Gender (IRWG), Visiting Scholar
Wednesday, 10 January 2007
12:00 - 1:30 pm, 2239 Lane Hall (204. St. State St.)
Lecture sponsored by the Institute for Research on Women and Gender (IRWG)
See the IRWG website for more information.


Koryo Saram: The Unreliable People
Film | (57 min., 2006)
Wednesday, 17 January 2007
12:00 pm sharp, 1636 International Institute (1080 S. University)
Film co-sponsored by the Center for Russian and East European Studies (CREES) and Korean Studies Program (KSP)
This documentary about the Korean diaspora in Kazakhstan was produced by Meredith Jung-En Woo, University of Michigan, Professor of Political Science, and director, Korean Studies Program (KSP), and directed by David Chung, University of Michigan, Associate Professor in the School of Art & Design.



“Establishing Truth and Responsibility in Post-Conflict Societies”
A lecture by Nataša Kandic', founder and director, Humanitarian Law Center, Belgrade, Serbia
Monday, January 22, 2007, 4:00-6:00 pm
Room 1636 SSWB/International Institute (1080 S. University Ave.)

This lecture is part of the University of Michigan’s 20th Anniversary Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium and the International Institute’s “Citizenship at Risk” series contribution to the 2006–07 LSA Theme Year on “The Theory and Practice of Citizenship: From the Local to the Global.” 
For information about additional lectures, films, and courses offered in the winter 2007 “Revisiting Yugoslavia’s Dissolution” series, visit <www.ii.umich.edu/crees> or contact CREES at 734.764.0351 or crees@umich.edu.

Sponsors: Center for Russian and East European Studies, Center for European Studies-European Union Center, Center for International and Comparative Studies, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, and Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning.

How Land Came into the Picture: a Case Study of "Moses Hearing God's Voice" in Fourteenth-Century Ilkhanid History Jami al-Tawarikh  (Compendium of Chronicles)
Min Yong Cho, University of Michigan, PhD Candidate in History of Art
Friday, 26 January 2007
7pm, 180 Tappan Hall (519 South University)

In Ilkhanid Iran (1258 – 1335), a radical change occurred in the manuscript production, from making pictures as synopses or glosses for the text to creating a visual language parallel and correlative to the verbal one.  Moreover, the representations of nature in these paintings were the first to produce an illusion of both three-dimensional space and the passage of time.  My paper names these representations “land renditions” because, while they neither formed an independent genre of landscape paintings nor operated as individual iconic elements, they strategically came together with other elements to generate entire compositions.  Recent scholarship has focused on figural representations and textual narratives to explain the political motivations of Ilkhanid imperial patrons, and has tended to characterize these land renditions as ornaments, as physical or emotional ancillaries to the narratives, or as byproducts of Chinese influence on Islamic traditions. 
In the case study of the image, “Moses Hearing God's Voice,” from the Edinburgh portion of the Jami al-Tawarikh, my paper connects the changes that occurred in the Ilkhanid land renditions to the author, who was a born Jew and later converted to Islam to climb the political ladder to become the vizier of the Ilkhanid court, Rashid al-Din’s new methods of structuring historical spaces in the text of the Jami al-Tawarikh.  This paper argues that the land rendition in “Moses Hearing God’s Voice” provides the viewer with a liminal and kinetic pictorial space where Moses’ and the elders’ states of consciousness and the Ilkhanid collective memories of them could be defined or negotiated.  Both the new appropriation of the Jewish memories of this sacred event, as described in the texts like the Torah, and Chinese landscape styles facilitated these conceptual shifts leading to the significant cross-cultural visuality.
(Contact mycho@umich.edu for more information.)

HYE HOP 2007
ANCIENT ARMENIAN TRADITION / GREATEST NIGHT EVER
Friday, January 26, 2007
Polo Fields Country Club

Come and dance the night away! This year's Hye Hop will feature the live Armenian music and DJ. A Buffet Dinner will be open from 9:15 - 10:30 PM. Tickets cost $33 per person and $23 per student. All proceeds will go towards the Children's Hematology Institute in Yerevan.

Friday, January 26, 2007
8:30 PM - 1:00 AM
At Polo Fields Country Club
5200 Polo Fields Drive
Ann Arbor, Michigan

Buffet (9:15 - 10:30 PM) and Cash Bar
$33 Per Person
$23 Per Student

Fur futher information contact Jessica Stamboulian at jstambo@umich.edu.

From US-23 (North or South) Merge onto M-14 West to Exit 169 (Zeeb Road). Go south approx 1 mile from I-94 (East or West)-- To Exit 169 (Zeeb Road) Go South aaprox 1 mile.

Arab Theatrical Arts Guild and Water Works Theatre Company
present
the Midwest Premiere of
Heather Raffos’ 9 Parts of Desire
- Limited Engagement -
January 31 through February 11, 2007
Ford Dearborn Community and Performing Arts Center

Dearborn, Michigan. The Arab Theatrical Arts Guild (www.arabtheater.org) and Water Works Theatre Company (www.waterworkstheatre.com) are proud to announce the Midwest premiere of the smash hit play Heather Raffo’s 9 Parts of Desire for a limited engagement, January 31 through February 11, 2007, in Studio A at Dearborn’s Ford Community and Performing Arts Center (www.dearbornfordcenter.com).

Starring Sarab Kamoo and directed by Edward Nahhat, Heather Raffo’s 9 Parts of Desire (see: www.heatherraffo.com) has been hailed as an example of how art can remake the world!  Winner of the 2005 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Special Commendation and the Lucille Lortel award for Best Solo Show, Heather Raffo’s 9 Parts of Desire has inspired sold-out audiences in New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Seattle, Berkeley and Philadelphia and is now opening in the Midwest for the first time. 

A Michigan native and Iraqi-American, Heather Raffo (graduate of the University of Michigan) wrote 9 Parts of Desire after an inspiring and life-altering trip to Iraq before the 2003 war.  This beautifully shaped one-woman play is a powerful portrait of the ordinary lives and extraordinary experiences of Iraqi women.  A free-spirited artist, a radical intellectual, doctors, exiles, wives, mothers and lovers share their voices: vivid, sophisticated, simple, emotional and moving.  Together they tell a compelling story of what it means to be a woman in war-torn Iraq. 

Detroit-area actress Sarab Kamoo (Iraqi-Chaldean heritage) teams up with award-winning director Edward Nahhat to bring Ms. Raffo’s play to life.  The play is a performer’s tour de force; one actress portrays nine different characters.  Mr. Nahhat and Ms. Kamoo have consulted extensively with Ms. Raffo for this production.

Tickets for Heather Raffos’ 9 Parts of Desire are now on sale and may be purchased at the Ford Community and Performing Arts Center, by phone at (313) 943-2354 or online at www.dearbornfordcenter.com.  Performances are Wednesday through Saturday 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 7:00 p.m.  Tickets are $23.00 Wednesdays and Thursdays and $29.00 for weekend performances. 
There is a student discount ($23 --> $15,  and $29 --> $20) as well as a discount for any faculty of a Michigan University or College ($23 --> $20,  and $29 --> $25).

There is special Afterglow immediately following the opening night performance on Wednesday January 31.   Afterglow tickets are $45.00 and include the play.  Note that Afterglow tickets cannot be purchased online, but are available at the theatre, by telephone credit card order (313) 943-2354 or by mailing a check to: Water Works Theatre Company, 320 W. Seventh Street Suite 200, Royal Oak Michigan 48067.

Is the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict Exceptional?  A Look at Serbian-Albanian Relations in Kosovo
Tuesday, 6 February 2007
7:00 pm
2401 Mason Hall (435 S. State St.)

Come listen to three UM students talk about their experiences in Serbia and Kosovo – and engage in a discussion about what we can learn from the conflicts in the Balkans.

This event is sponsored by:
Bridge The Gap (UM Student Organization) and Abraham’s Vision (http://www.abrahamsvision.org/)

Questions? Contact Fouad Hassan (fdhassan@umich.edu), Shifra Goldenberg
(shifgold@umich.edu), or Zach Foster (zfoster@umich.edu)

Symposium: The Art and Influence of the Turkish Carpet
Dr. Jon Thompson, Beattie Fellow in the History of Carpets, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford
Dr. Walter Denny, Adjunct Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, University of Massachusetts at Amherst
Dr. Louise Mackie, Curator of Textiles and Islamic Art, The Cleveland Museum of Art
Dr. Estin Atil, Resaearch Associate, Smithsonian Institute, Washington, DC
Sunday, 11 February 2007
1-5pm, Lecture Hall, Detroit Institute of Arts (5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit, Mich. )
*Reception to follow in Kresge Court*
This event is a joint program between the Asian and Islamic Art Forum of the DIA and the Turkish Cultural Foundation.
Flier


Careers in the State Department
Richard Miles, former Ambassador to Georgia, Bulgaria, and Azerbaijan; currently Executive Director
of the Open World Leadership Center
4:00 pm, Wednesday, February 14th
Room 1636, Int’l Institute ( 1080 S. University Ave.)
Sponsored by the Center for Russian and East European Studies and the Ford School of Public Policy


17th Annual David W. Belin Lecture in American Jewish Affairs
“Is It Cause I’s Black?” Jews and the Whiteness Problem
Andrew Heinze, University of San Francisco, Professor of American History
Thursday, 8 March 2007
7:00 - 9:00 pm
Frankel Center for Judaic Studies
202 S. Thayer Street, Room 2022

For the Seventeenth Annual David W. Belin Lecture in American Jewish Affairs, the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies is pleased to host cultural historian and journalist Andrew Heinze. Starting with reflections on the comedy of Sasha Baron Cohen, specifically his infamous "Ali G" persona, Heinze will discuss the heated question of "cultural exploitation" in America (the use of African-American idioms by white entertainers), especially as it pertains to Jewish performers past and present.
Sponsored by Frankel Center for Judaic Studies


 Jewish Babylonia in its Late Antique Persian Context
Richard Kalmin, Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics
Monday, March 12, 2007
4:00 p.m.
Frankel Center for Judaic Studies
202 S. Thayer Street, Room 2022

Drawing on research from his recent book, Jewish Babylonia between Persia and Roman Palestine (Oxford University Press, 2006), Dr. Kalmin examines how rabbinic culture was shaped in part by both Persia and Roman Palestine.  He will discuss how the Babylonian Talmud was compiled within this context.  Dr. Kalmin is Professor of Talmud and Rabbinics at The Jewish Theological Seminary.  He is an expert on the interpretation of Jewish stories, ancient history and development of rabbinic literature.
Sponsored by the Department of Near Eastern Studies and Frankel Center for Judaic Studies

During a sweltering summer vacation on the Aegean coast, the relationship between a middle-aged professor, Isa (superbly played by the film’s director) and his younger, TV-producer girlfriend Bahar (Ebru Ceylan) brutally implodes. She leaves him, returning to Istanbul, where she rekindles a torrid affair with a previous lover. Before long, however, Isa embarks upon an arduous journey—both physically and emotionally daunting—in a desperate attempt to win her back. Amazingly nuanced performances combine with breathtaking cinematography to create one of the year’s most powerful and memorable portraits of the fragility and complexity of human relationships. Winner of the prestigious Fipresci Award at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival. In Turkish with English subtitles.(97 min.)
Fri. & Sat. at 7:00 / Sun. at 4:00 & 7:00
Supported by the Detroit Institute of Arts (DIA)

Photography, Islam, and Art: The Nineteenth Century and Now
Dr. Frederick Bohrer, Assoicate Professor of Art, Hood College, Frederick, Maryland
Friday, 4 May 2007
6:30-7:30pm, Lecture Hall, Detroit Institute of Arts (5200 Woodward Ave., Detroit, Mich. )
*Reception to follow in Kresge Court*
Part of the subseries of lectures on photography within the 2006-2007 Asian and Islamic Art Forum lecture programming.

Hosted by Rutgers University
Please Join us in Honoring
Two Distinguished Middle Eastern Women
Shirin Ebadi, Human Rights Lawyer and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate &
H.E. Sheikha Haya, President of the 61st Session of the United Nations General Assembly

Wednesday, May 16, 2007
6:00 pm – 11:00 pm
Rutgers University Student Center
126 College Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
Program includes, reception, dinner, a panel discussion on “Women andHuman Rights in the Middle East” and live Middle Eastern music

Sponsored by:
Rutgers Center for Middle Eastern Studies • Rutgers University School of Arts and Sciences (SAS) • Office of International Programs, SAS • Department of Women’s and Gender Studies • Center for Women’s Global Leadership• Institute for Women’s Leadership • Middle East Coexistence House

For more information and to reserve seats please contact:
arazani@rci.rutgers.edu • (732) 445-8444, ext. 18

Islam and the Public Sphere in Africa

A conference sponsored by
The Institute for the Study of Islamic Thought in Africa (ISITA)
Program of African Studies, Northwestern University

May 17 – 19, 2007

Funding for this event provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and
the Program of African Studies.

All events are free and open to the public.  No advance registration required for May 18-19. 
RSVP requested for the May 17 event.  Contact Kate Dargis for more information. 
E-mail: k-dargis@northwestern.edu, Tel: 847-491-7325
                                                                               

Heritage Ballroom, Omni Orrington Hotel, 1710 Orrington Avenue, Evanston, IL

4:30-5:00 pm          Refreshments
5:00-5:30 pm          Welcome Remarks

5:30-7:00 pm         Keynote: “Islam, Politics, and the State:  Mediating Permanent Paradox”
                                    by Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im, Charles Howard Candler Professor of
                                    Law, Emory University

7:00 pm                   Buffet Dinner