News & Happenings

News & Happenings

The King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies Newsletter

Upcoming Events Page 2 Recent Events Page 6 Faculty News Page 10 Graduate News Page 16 Undergraduate News Page 18 Alumni News Page 21

King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Arkansas Volume 3 • Issue 1 October 2014

202 Old Main, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, AR 72701• http://mest.uark.edu • mest@uark.edu • 479-575-2175

King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arkansas

We certainly have not been lacking for headlines of late in our part of the world. When we held a King Fahd Center forum in late August we contemplated the ‘worst summer in history.’ Some of us came up with alternate dates, but few could argue that the geographic spread of civil strife, military activity, sectarian-national antipathy, and the destruction of human life, cultural heritage and the environment reached startling new levels in terms of scope, intensity and simultaneity.

Our mission remains ongoing: to teach about the Middle East and Islamic world, to humanize its people, to describe realities without veiling them, from the vantage points of our various disciplines and years of experience on the ground. Above all, we keep going back where we can, when we can. Center affiliated faculty/students traveled this summer to Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, Iraq, Bosnia and Bangladesh. We continue to explore options for undergraduate study abroad and to weigh the viability of graduate student and faculty research.

We endeavor to provide fresh critical perspectives on current developments and historical roots, and to highlight the power of creative cultural expression.

So far this semester we have hosted a visiting lecture

by Professor David Romano, an expert on the Kurds.

Many of us have already presented papers and talks at conferences and symposia in this country and abroad. In November we will host Aizzah Fatimah who will perform ‘Dirty Paki Lingerie.’ Her 1-woman show speaks in comic tones to the ongoing journey of Muslims throughout the American social landscape – reminding us that there is much beyond daily headlines to which we also should pay attention.

UPCOMING: MESA ANNUAL MEETING November 21-25, 2014

King Fahd Center faculty, students and alumni will be attending and presenting their work at the upcoming Middle East Studies Association annual meeting to be held in Washington, D.C. Ahmet Serdar Akturk (PhD/HIST 2013) ‘Kurdish Nationalism and Clothing Reform in the Post-Ottoman Era’ Sanket Desai (PhD/HIST) ‘Just Keep the Sheep Thieves Away: Minority Challenges to Iraqi Nation-State Building, 1933-1945’ Manal Al-Natour (PhD/CLCS 2012) ‘Women “in the Crossfire”: The Syrian Revolution 2011’ Asaad Al-Saleh (PhD/CLCS 2010) ‘Serving the Regime: Buthaina Shabaan and the Legacy of a Public Intellectual Siding Against the Syrian Revolution’ Nadine Sinno (PhD/CLCS 2009) ‘Lebanon, the Land of Milk and Honey, Tabbouleh, and Coke: Orientalist, Local, and Global Discourses in Alexandra Chreiteh’s Always Coca-Cola’ Ted Swedenburg (ANTH) ‘The New Social Media Archive of Maghrebi Popular Music’ Wawan Yulianto (PhD/CLCS) ‘Al-Shanfara’s Lamiyyat al-Arab’

Dr. Joel Gordon, Director

King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies Cover: Tapa Maranjan, Kabul, Afghanistan Photo courtesy of Khalid Ahmadzai

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http://mest.uark.edu • 479-575-2175 • mest@uark.edu

King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arkansas

UPCOMING: STUDENT FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES The King Fahd Center offers financial support to advanced undergraduate MEST majors who have demonstrated a serious commitment to study and excellent performance in the classroom, as well as graduate students at the MA and PhD level working in academic disciplines with a focus in Middle East/Islamic Studies. Applications and further details can be found on the King Fahd Center website.

MEST Summer Study Abroad Scholarship Deadline February 1, 2015

Graduate Summer Research Grants February 6, 2015

The King Fahd Center offers study abroad scholarships for undergraduate students majoring in Middle East Studies. A limited number of grants will be available on a competitive basis. Scholarship applicants must declare a MEST major prior to application. Applicants must secure positive recommendations from two faculty members; at least one recommender should be a faculty member affiliated with the MEST program. Financial need will be considered in awarding funding.

Graduate Students working in Middle East Studies may apply for funding to support summer research or language study. Such funds are awarded on a competitive basis and may provide only partial support, based upon the submitted budget.

MEST Undergraduate Academic Year Scholarship Deadline March 13, 2015 The King Fahd Center offers scholarships for advanced undergraduate MEST majors who have demonstrated a serious commitment to study and excellent performance in the classroom. To be eligible, scholarship applicants must have a minimum of 3.5 in MEST core courses and 3.25 in overall GPA, must attain junior status by the beginning of the specified funding period and must declare a MEST major prior to application.

Applicants must secure positive recommendations from two faculty members; at least one recommender should be a faculty member affiliated with the MEST program.

Transfer students are also eligible and should solicit letters from professors at their prior institution who can speak to their interest and academic potential. Financial need will be considered in awarding funding.

http://mest.uark.edu • 479-575-2175 • mest@uark.edu

Conference Travel Grants Applications accepted on a rolling basis Any Graduate Student funded by the King Fahd Center and/or working on a relevant geo-cultural topic under the supervision of a MEST faculty member may apply for travel funds to support participation (presentation of a paper/poster or participation in a workshop/roundtable) at an academic conference. Proposals will be judged on merit and the amount of support will be determined by available funds.

Complete applications include: • Statement of Purpose indicating the nature of the project, relevance to academic program, and anticipated outcome; • Any relevant letters of invitation or affiliation with an academic/research institution, or application to and (if possible) acceptance into conference/ academic program; • A Proposed Budget outlining expected expenses; • Indication of support from any other source; • A formal Recommendation Letter from the applicant’s MEST faculty advisor.

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King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arkansas

UPCOMING: COMMEDIENNE AIZZAH FATIMA AND DIRTY PAKI LINGERIE The King Fahd Center is pleased to welcome writer and actress Aizzah Fatima to the University of Arkansas for one-woman comedy play entitled Dirty Paki Lingerie.

Dirty Paki Lingerie will be performed in Giffels Auditorium (201 Old Main) on Thursday, November 6th at 7pm, and is free and open to the public.

Set in post 9/11 America, Dirty Paki Lingerie depicts the stories of six Pakistani-American Muslim women ranging in age from a six year old girl to a sixty-five year old woman at the chaotic juncture of two different cultures.

Cross-cultural sparks fly and preconceptions about Muslim women, sex, and politics are hilariously shattered in the show The Wall Street Journal says “Breaks down stereotypes of Muslim women in America” and that reviewers call a “must-see” production. Playing to soldout houses in NYC, Toronto, Pakistan, and Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Dirty Paki Lingerie transcends boundaries of culture, religion, and gender, moving and entertaining audiences with its unique and universal appeal. A rich, sexy, and infectiously entertaining mosaic of the sublime, the comic, the poetic, and the political.

In addition to her performance on November 6th, Fatima will also take part in a special Nadi Cinema screening of director Chris Morris’ 2010 film Four Lions, a ‘smart, pitchblack comedy’ (Rotten Tomatoes), which saw only limited release in the US, about a group of hapless British jihadis set out to wreak havoc in their native country.

Fatima will also speak with students in a workshop that will further the discussion on religious, gender and ethnic stereotypes in America, and the difficulties and opportunities in taking a show like Dirty Paki Lingerie to audiences abroad. The workshop will also take place on Thursday, November 6th before the play’s performance; time and location to be announced.

Aizzah Fatima is a writer and actress who has most recently appeared in Half Hearted (Cherry Lane Theater), #serials@theflea (The Flea Theater), Play by Play:Rendezvous (Stageworks, Hudson), Circumcaedere (LABrynth Ensemble), Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues (V-Day 2010), Seven by Paula Cizmar, Catherine Filloux, Gail Kriegel, Carol K. Mack, Ruth Margraff, Anna Deavere Smith and Susan Yankowitz (Hostos Cultural Arts Center), the interactive musical Bollywood Wedding, and Ripe For The Picking, an original ensemble piece about human rights violations around the world. She can be seen on the hit Pakistani TV series Mata-e-jaan on HUM TV, which was directed by the acclaimed Mehreen Jabbar. Other TV credits include: The Good Wife (CBS), Patrice O’Neil’s Guide to White People (Comedy Central), Food Detectives with Ted Allen (Food Network), and Cinematherapy with comedian Chuck Nice (WEtv). She has performed at Upright Citizen's Brigade, and appeared in sketches for collegehumor.com. She co-produces and co-stars in the webseries Landing in Mumbai (www.mumbaichopra. com). More details at www.AizzahFatima.com

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http://mest.uark.edu • 479-575-2175 • mest@uark.edu

NADI CINEMA FALL 2014 7:00 PM WEDNESDAYS - AFLS 107E

King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arkansas

RECENT EVENTS Middle East Studies & Spring International Langage Center Student Mixer September 24, 2014 Hailing from all over North Africa and the Middle East, International English teachers who teach economically disadvantaged youth in their home countries through the ‘Access’ program funded by the U.S. Department of State met with students and faculty from the Middle East Studies program to practice their English and share their culture. Organized in conjunction with the Spring International Language Center.

Joel Gordon, Matt Parnell and Nani Verzon with visiting students from the Spring International Language Center.

Photo courtesy of Nani Verzon.

The Empire Strikes Back (Episode 3): ISIS, Iraq, Kurdistan and the U.S. September 19, 2014 Dr. David Romano is the Thomas G. Strong Professor of Middle East Politics at Missouri State University. He teaches courses in politics and government of the Middle East, international relations theories, foreign policies of Middle East States, and political violence and terrorism.

The author of The Kurdish Nationalist Movement: Opportunity, Mobilization and Identity (Oxford University Press 2006), he is a leading expert on Kurdish politics and political movements across the Middle East. His lecture addressed the impact of events in Iraq and Kurdistan, particularly in light of the dramatic emergence of ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) this summer, the degree to which the political maps of Iraq and Syria have been reshaped, and the potential for increased US military involvement in the region.

Dr. David Romano lectures on the emergence and impact of ISIS. Photo courtesy of Kathleen Doody.

Assessing the Worst Summer in the Middle East August 27, 2014 King Fahd Center faculty members Nikolay Antov, Mounir Farah, Joel Gordon, Adnan Haydar, and Ted Swedenburg discussed the waves of political violence -- civil war, holy war, insurrection, invasion and occupation, the destruction of civil society and failure to conclude elections, and the erasure of traditional borders and alliances -- that swept the Middle East and adjacent regions, from Libya to Afghanistan during the summer months of 2014.

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MEST sophomore Jacob Rowlett presents on street art in the Middle East. Photo courtesy of Sarwar Alam.

http://mest.uark.edu • 479-575-2175 • mest@uark.edu

King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arkansas Visit from Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud University August 18, 2013

Solving Mysteries in the Valley of the Crescent Moon: Two Decades of research in Petra, Jordan April 18, 2014

The King Fahd Center hosted a group of students from the College of Computer and Information Sciences at AlImam Muhammad Ibn Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The students were accompanied by Dr Ali Saad alAli, Vice Dean for Administrative and Student Affairs and Dr. Ahmed Abu Halimeh, a graduate of UALR. The group also visited Little Rock and Atlanta.

Dr. Tom Paradise discussed the university’s Petra Project using photographs from the site. This 25-year research project is one of the oldest programs in the ruined Jordanian city described as a ‘rose-red city half as old as time.’ Research in the area has focused on identifying and assessing the impact of nature and tourists on the Valley of the Crescent Moon.

Undergraduate Islamic Studies Symposium April 30, 2014

2014 Arabic Speech Contest April 18, 2014

On April 30, select students from Sarwar Alam’s courses (MEST 2003 Intro to Islam and MEST 410V Sufism: Islamic Mystical Traditions) who had papers accepted at the 12th Annual Research in Religious Studies Conference at the University of Calgary, and the 2014 Eastern International Regional Meeting of American Academy of Religion at Syracuse University. Students presented their papers in a one-day forum on ‘Islamic Studies: Belief, Expression, Journey, Debate’ at the University of Arkansas sponsored by the King Fahd Center. Participants were:

The King Fahd Center helped to sponsor the annual WLLC Speech Contest, which is part of the Fulbright College Language Festival and held every April. A total of 11 undergraduate and graduate students participated at Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced levels.

Brian Hughes, ‘Apostasy in Contemporary Islam: Use of Hadith Narratives in Contradiction with Qur’anic Revelation within Islamic Jurisprudence’ Deborah Lee, ‘Me, My Nafs and I: The Journey of Spirituality in Islam’ Meghan Perry, ‘The Hijab and Women’s Sexuality in Islamic Culture’ Jacob Rowlett, ‘From the Qur’an to the Can: An Exploration of the Roots of Modern Islamic Graffiti’ Kacee Sparks, ‘On the Edge of the Binary and Society: Sufism’s Role in Social Tolerance of Hijra and Transgender Communities in Pakistan’

http://mest.uark.edu • 479-575-2175 • mest@uark.edu

Elementary: Chris Cowan, Daniel Ince, Khalid Ahmadzai, Bradley Graves, Josie Graves-Long (Runner-Up), Mehreen Humayun (Winner) Intermediate: Tanner Callison (Runner-Up), Sara Kouchehbagh, Susanna Ripley (Winner) Advanced: Delilah Clark (Runner-Up), JP Huber (Winner) Students also created a trailer video about Arabic at the U of A (Arabic with English subtitles.) The video is now posted on the Arabic Program web page of WLLC. Performers: Tad Moore, Julia Gardner, Bradley Graves, Khalid Ahmadzai, Rebekah Harvey

Follow the King Fahd Center on Facebook and Twitter for news and upcoming events.

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King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arkansas Lebanese Zajal Performance April 5, 2014 The King Fahd Center hosted and produced ‘Zajal Live: A Poetic Duel in Lebanese Arabic,’ a special public performance by two of Lebanon’s masters of the art of oral poetry – zajal – Antoine Saadeh and Bassam Harb.

Antoine Saadeh is one of the leading zajal poets of his generation and one of the most famous senior duelists in Lebanon. Bassam Harb, the son of poet Edward Harb, is a star of the new generation of poets keeping the zajal tradition alive.

Dr. Anna Stevens presents on archaeological work in Amarna, Egypt. Photo courtesy of Nani Verzon

Visiting Scholar Dr. Anna Stevens April 14-18 Dr. Anna Stevens is affiliated with two important sites in the Nile Valley. She is Assistant Director for the Amarna Project in Upper Egypt, where she works in tandem with UA archaeologist Jerome Rose, and is Site Supervisor and Project Curator for the Amara West Project in Northern Sudan. Her primary research interests are the reconstruction of urban life and religion in ancient Egypt, primarily through material remains. She is the author of Private Religion at Amarna: The Material Experience, The Amarna Stone Village Survey, and co-editor of Busy Lives at Amarna.

Dr. Stevens delivered a public lecture entitled ‘Akhenaton’s People: Excavation of the Amarna Cemetery (Ancient Egypt)’ on April 17 and participated in a King Fahd Center ‘On the Ground’ forum on Archaeology and the Egyptian Revolution’ on April 18 along with Professor Gretchen Dabbs of Southern Illinois University (PhD/ANTH 2009).

She and Jerry Rose prepared for the upcoming research season at Amarna, along with Professor Dabbs and a number of Rose’s graduate students, and sketched out plans for the publication of data of approximately 400 skeletons excavated in recent years.

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Zajal, a traditional form of oral poetry declaimed in colloquial Arabic dialects, is semi-improvised and semisung and is most often performed in the format of a lively duel on a common theme between as many as 8 poets, who divide into competing jawqas or teams. Their word play consists of original rhyme schemes, punning, satire and colorful insults.

As a prelude to the performance, UA faculty member Paula Haydar delivered an introductory lecture on the history and tradition of zajal poetry. Prior to the event, Professor Adnan Haydar explained the ‘rules of engagement’ and during a short intermission he summarized the opening half of the duel.

Iranian Poetry in Translation April 1-3, 2014 The King Fahd Center, in conjunction with the Program in Creative Writing, sponsored the visit of 10 Iranian poets and translators to Fayetteville. The visitors toured campus and met with King Fahd Center faculty, representatives of UA Press and Fulbright College deans. They participated in the Poetry Translation Workshop and an evening recitation in which students from the workshop read translations of their works.

http://mest.uark.edu • 479-575-2175 • mest@uark.edu

King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arkansas

Antoine Saadeh, Mounir Farah, Ted Swedenburg, Joel Gordon, Adnan Haydar, Pierre Chelala, and Bassam Harb attend the postduel reception. Photo courtesy of Jaime Holland.

Malcolm X and the African-American Journey to Islam March 28, 2014 Richard B Turner is Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Iowa, where he also holds joint appointments in the programs of African American Studies and International Programs. He is the author of Islam in the African-American Experience, Jazz Religion, the Second Line, and Black New Orleans, and chapters in The Cambridge Companion to Malcolm X, The Black Muslims in America, and Black Routes to Islam. He is currently writing a book on John Coltraine. Dr. Turner’s lecture was co-sponsored with African-American Studies, UA Multicultural Center, and al-Islam RSO. Visiting Scholar Dr. Ali Ahmida March 17-21, 2014 Dr. Ahmida, Chair of the Political Science Department at New England University, visited the University of Arkansas in March. The author of The Making of Modern Libya and Forgotten Voices: Power and Agency in Colonial and Postcolonial Libya, ahis scholarship focuses on power, agency and anti-colonial resistance in North Africa, especially modern Libya.

http://mest.uark.edu • 479-575-2175 • mest@uark.edu

Ted Swedenburg, Ali Ahmida and Joel Gordon.

Photo courtesy of Nani Verzon.

Professor Ahmida spoke in 3 classes: Middle East Politics, Introduction to Comparative Politics, and the graduate seminar in Modern Middle East History. He met informally with graduate students. He co-hosted a special screening of Mustapha Akkad’s Lion of the Desert – the epic tale of the Libyan resistance against Fascist Italy led by Omar Mukhtar. He also spoke on Italian Colonialism in Libya to the Society of European Historians, and led a King Fahd Center ‘On the Ground’ forum on ‘Libya: Beyond Qaddafi and Benghazi.’

In the Presence of the Imam: Core Beliefs and Ritual Practices in Shi’ite Shrine Architecture January 31, 2014 Dr. Yasser Tabbaa, Professor of Art History and the Dorothy Kayser Hohenberg Chair of Excellence at the University of Memphis, presented a lecture based on his book project, entitled In the Presence of the Imam: Architecture, Ritual, and Representation in Shi’i Shrines, examining Shi’i shrines with special emphasis on those in Damascus and Najaf, against normative and widely accepted Shi’i core beliefs and ritual practices.

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King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arkansas

FACULTY NEWS Sarwar Alam (MEST) will publish his essay in a forthcoming issue of Journal of Comparative Islamic Studies, entitled ‘Sufism Without Boundaries: Pluralism, Coexistence, and Interfaith Dialogue in Modern Bangladesh’. He is coediting a volume on Sufism, Pluralism and Democracy (Equinox) that will include his essay, ‘In Search of God and Humanity: Vilayet-e-Mutlaka of Hazrat Delaor Husayn Maizbhandari.’ He recently taught two mini-courses for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at the UA Global Campus, on Islam and Hinduism.

Nikolay Antov (HIST) presented ‘The Abdals of Rum(eli): Heterodox Islam, Turcoman Colonization, and Legitimacy in the Eastern Ottoman Balkans (15th-16th centuries)’ at the American Research Institute in Turkey’s annual meeting in May 2014.

Jesse Casana (ANTH) was published ‘The Late Roman Landscape of the Northern Levant: A view from Tell Qarqur and the lower Orontes River Valley’ in the Oxford Journal of Archaeology and ‘Landscapes of Tells in the Near East and Beyond’ in Antiquity. His chapter ‘A Landscape Context for Paleoethnobotany: The Contribution of Aerial and Satellite Remote Sensing’ appeared in John M. Marston, Jade d’Alpoim Guedes and Christina Warinner (Eds.), Theory and Method in Paleoethnobotany (University Press of Colorado). He co-authored ‘Satellite-based monitoring of looting and damage to archaeological sites in Syria’ in the Journal of Eastern Mediterranean Archaeology and Heritage Studies.

Mounir Farah (CIED) spoke to KNWA regarding the history and nature of ISIS in light of recent acts of violence in Iraq and Kurdistan.

Joel Gordon (HIST) was sought by KNWA for comment on the recent Sulphur Springs scandal that shined a light on culturally insensitive social media messages being distributed by the city’s mayor.

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Deema Shehabi, Marilyn Hacker, and Mohja Kahf at the 2014 RAWI conference. Photo courtesy of Mohja Kahf.

Mohja Kahf (ENGL) gave a reading at the Radius of Arab American Writers (RAWI) conference in September 2014 in Minneapolis, MN. Her essay ‘Lord, Make Me Not Obvious: The Things I Want My Daughters to Know’ appeared in Iraj Omidvar and Anne R Richards (Eds.) Muslims and American Popular Culture, Vol 2: Print Culture and Identity (Praeger 2014).

Adnan Haydar (WLLC), collaborating with Paula Haydar (MEST) and Nadine Sinno (UA PhD 2009) of Virginia Tech, completed work on Haki bil-Lubnani, their textbook for Eastern Arabic (Lebanese) dialect. The text has been published by Georgetown University Press as a companion volume to al-Kitab, the leading text for Modern Standard Arabic in this country.

Paula Haydar (MEST) published her translation of Jabbour Douahi’s novel June Rain (Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing) in July, and will publish (with Nadine Sinno) the translation of Who’s Afraid of Meryl Streep (University of Texas Press) by Rashid al-Daif in October. She also defended her dissertation ‘The Art of Verbal Dueling in Lebanon: the Battle of Beit Mery and Beyond’, and graduated with her PhD in August.

Tom Paradise’s (GEOS) article ‘Earth-Sun relationships and Architecture in Petra, Jordan: an assessment of principal tombs and structures’ will appear in a forthcoming issue of the American Journal of Archaeology; his chapter ‘Analysis of sandstone deterioration on petroglyphs, architecture, inscriptions, and dressed surfaces across

http://mest.uark.edu • 479-575-2175 • mest@uark.edu

King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arkansas Wadi Rum, Jordan’ is forthcoming in S. Fares (Ed.) Desert & Man (University of Lorraine Publications). Paradise will appear in the NOVA-PBS special ‘The Lost City of Petra’ (premiering in January/February 2015).

Jerry Rose (ANTH) and his team excavating Amarna, Egypt were featured in the cover story (‘Egypt’s City of the Sun God’) of the May/June 2014 issue of Archaeology, published by the Archaeological Institute of America.

Ted Swedenburg (ANTH) penned program notes, ‘Electro Sha’abi: Autotune-Rebels in Cairo’ for the Norient Music Film Festival in Bern, Switzerland in January. His chapter ‘Mizrahi/Arab/Israeli/Queer: The Cultural Politics of Dana International’ was recently published in The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Jewish Cultures (Routledge); his article ‘Beur/Maghrebi Musical Interventions in Contemporary France: Rai and Rap’ is under review for a special issue of Journal of North African Studies (2015). He has recently joined the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Middle East Studies (IJMES).

KING FAHD CENTER IN THE FIELD The King Fahd Center supports financially the operation of two archaeological field schools organized/supervised by faculty members Jerome Rose and Jesse Casana.

Amarna – Egypt. Despite concerns with the political stability in Egypt, Professor Rose was able to lead a field expedition of faculty and advanced graduate students to continue analysis and exacavation of remains at the Amarna field site. This May Professor Rose’s team included faculty colleagues Gretchen Dabbs and William Schaffer, and UA graduate students Heidi Davis and Ashley Shidner. Davis and Shidner are among 4 graduate students working under Professor Rose’s supervision on dissertations rooted in the Amarna excavations.

Upper Diyala River Valley – Iraqi Kurdistan. Since 2013 Professor Casana has been scouting sites in the Upper Diyala River Valley in Iraqi Kurdistan with an eye towards future excavation projects. In May 2013, supported by King Fahd Center funding, he led a team of 5; this summer he returned to the area with a team of 3 graduate students (Mitra Panahipour, Chris Fletcher, Autumn Cool) and a recent PhD (Eric Jensen), all supported by a combination of KFC Summer Travel Grants and general KFC support funds.

Bioarchaeology Field School Egypt Summer 2016 Applications for Dr. Rose’s Summer 2016 Bioarchaeology Field School in Egypt are currently being accepted by the Study Abroad Office.

Visit the UARK Study Abroad Website at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/egypt for more pricing and program information.

Tom Paradise on location with PBS film crew in Petra, Jordan.

Photo courtesy of Tom Paradise.

http://mest.uark.edu • 479-575-2175 • mest@uark.edu

Application Deadline: August 1, 2015

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King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arkansas The King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies supports graduate study for students at the MA and PhD level working in academic disciplines with a Center faculty specialist in Middle East/Islamic Studies by providing graduate assistantships. The following students will be supported by King Fahd Center assistantships during Academic Year 2014-2015.

Kaveh Bassiri is a PhD student in Comparative Literature concentrating on translation and post-colonial studies.

Bassiri’s current research is in modern Iranian and American poetry; his thesis will bring together these two cultures in an anthology of contemporary Iranian poetry with English translations by leading American poets. He has taught honor seminars on Iranian and Muslim mystical literature, and has recently presented at both the Iranian Studies and American Comparative Literature Association annual meetings.

Baris Basturk is a PhD student specializing in Ottoman intellectual history. He hopes to trace how early Islamic and Persianate concepts and ideas permeated Ottoman thought, how the Ottomans reflected on the past and their place in the wider world. His Master’s thesis, from Sabanci University examined the 17th Century Ottoman intellectual Katip Celebi and how he reflected on the politics, law, and society of the age.

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Dhia Ben Ali is an MA student in Political Science, interested in the role NGOs and Civil society play in advancing democracy in post-revolutionary countries, particularly Tunisia and Egypt. His research includes the study of Islamic governments after the Arab Spring, their ability to develop democratic processes, and the reactions of Middle Eastern governments to new Islamic regimes.

Dhia recently completed an internship with a Public Affairs firm in Little Rock that helped introducing him to local political campaigns.

Clayton Clark is an MFA student in Creative Writing and Translation. He is currently working on a number of translation projects including short stories by Fayyeza Bint Muhammad Abdullah, short stories and children’s stories by the Syrian Zakaria Tamer, and a book on Lebanese culture and traditions by Joseph Abee Dhaher, ‘A al-Barakeh. Clayton recently published two short stories by Zakaria Tamer in Banipal, and teaches Arabic levels one and two with Adnan and Paula Haydar.

Charles Davidson is an MA student in Anthropology. He has traveled extensively in the Middle East, Africa and Latin American and will focus his thesis on the effects of war and violence on culture in war-torn countries in the Middle East. Charles is a national member of the Explorer’s Club, and spent part of the summer undertaking field research in Jordan, supported by a grant from the King Fahd Center. http://mest.uark.edu • 479-575-2175 • mest@uark.edu

King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arkansas Sanket Desai is a PhD student in History interested in ethnic and religious minorities in the modern Middle East with a special focus on Iraq.

This summer he conducted research at the Briscoe Center for American History (Austin, TX) and the Eisenhower and Truman presidential libraries.

Kathleen Doody is working toward the MA in Political Science.

Her academic interests are the Middle East and North Africa and international relations. After living in Jordan for the year of 2012, with the Arab Spring revolutions underway in the MENA, she is primarily interested in working toward the resolution of modern problems facing Jordan, Syria, and Palestine, in particular issues surrounding the current refugee crisis.

Blake Duffield is a History PhD candidate specializing in 19th and 20th century British Empire. His dissertation is ‘The Grey Men of Empire: The British Colonial Service, 1854 to 1931,’ and will explore the impact of colonial administrative officers on the formulation of imperial policy. Blake began his research in July at Rhodes House Library, Oxford. He is currently running the International Relations Academic Learning Community and teaching Introduction to International Relations.

http://mest.uark.edu • 479-575-2175 • mest@uark.edu

Nicole Fares currently completing her PhD in Comparative Literature and working on translating a novel

by Mahmoud Shukair. Her research focuses on gender and Lebanese LGBT literature under the supervision of Dr. Mohja Kahf. Excerpts from Nicole’s most recent translation were published in Jadaliyya and Alchemy Journal of Translation.

Mehreen Humayun is a PhD student in History, specializing in the Modern Middle East and South Asia.

She completed her MA in History at Karachi University, where she has been appointed a full-time lecturer.

She is interested in pursuing comparative legacies of Gamal Abdel Nasser and Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, two charismatic revolutionary leaders, in national, regional and trans-regional perspective.

Erika Morey is a new PhD student in Anthropology with interests in Egyptian archaeology.

Michelle Moody is a Geography MA student interested in conflict within the European Muslim community regarding the use of Shariah Law, particularly in the case of arranged and forced marriages. Michelle is an active member of the Geosciences honors society Gamma Theta Upsilon.

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King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arkansas Mitra Panahipour is a PhD student in Anthropology, specializing in ancient Near Eastern landscapes, utilizing remote sensing data, prospecting technologies and GIS and spatial analyses, combined with field survey and excavation to uncover longterm patterns of cultural activities. She has been working on the ongoing and remote sensing-based project ‘Planning for Safeguarding Heritage Sites in Syria’ over the past year; during the summer she participated in the Sirwan Regional Project, an archaeological landscape survey and site documentation in Kurdistan Region of Iraq.

Wawan Eko Yulianto is a PhD student in Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies. He is interested in American literature by Muslim authors, authors of Middle Eastern heritage and ethnic American literature in general. He also has a passion for literary translation. In addition to translating English and American literary works into Indonesian, he also translates Indonesian poems and short fiction into English. His translation of a celebrated Indonesian author Seno Gumira Ajidarma has been published in Moon City Review of Missouri State University.

Harris Sheikh is a new PhD student who will begin a program in Public Policy in Spring 2015.

Malek Zuraikat is beginning a PhD program in Comparative Literature.

Peter von Groote IV is an MA Geography student specializing in historic geography and cartography.

His thesis, ‘A Spatial Assessment of the Crusader Fortress of Al-Habis -implications for the Medieval Landscape of Petra, Jordan,’ sheds light on Petra during an era that has been poorly documented and often overlooked.

Keith Whitmire is an Anthropology PhD student with interest in Morocco, particularly social class and masculinity in Moroccan coffee houses which will be the topic of his dissertation.

Keith spent two and a half months this summer in Morocco to conduct preliminary field research and undergo language training in Moroccan darija.

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JOIN MESGA! The Middle East Studies Graduate Association (MESGA) is a Registered Student Organization under the auspices of the Arkansas Student Government (ASG) run by graduate students affiliated with the King Fahd Center.

MESGA welcomes new members, and is open to graduate students of all disciplines either working or interested in the Middle East. Members help facilitate each other’s research and endeavor to provide academic outreach to the university and broader community, in addition to sponsoring guest speakers, film screenings, current events forums, language circles, and provides a forum to discuss graduate student issues and to peer review each other’s work.

To get involved, email MESGA President Nicole Fares at nafares@uark.edu

http://mest.uark.edu • 479-575-2175 • mest@uark.edu

ARABIC CONVERSATION TABLE

Tuesdays 4-5 PM & Thursdays 5-6 PM in Arkansas Union 308SW September 2 - December 11

Practice your Arabic conversational skills with fellow students and native speakers, learn to speak about daily life and current events with confidence, and improve your spoken Arabic for class, travel, and study abroad.

Join the Facebook group Arabic Table at University of Arkansas for updates and changes to the schedule.

For more information, contact Delilah Clark at ddc001@uark.edu (Tuesdays) or Clayton Clark at cjc005@uark.edu (Thursdays) Sponsored by the King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies and the WLLC Arabic Program

King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arkansas

GRADUATE NEWS Kaveh Bassiri (PhD/CLCS) presented ‘The Scorned Avant Garde: Reconsidering Tundar Kiya and the Emergence of Iranian Postmodern Poetry’ at the Tenth Biennial Iranian Studies Conference in Montreal, Canada, and ‘Considering Arabic Prosody when Translating Persian Poetry’ at the American Comparative Literature Associations annual meeting in New York. He is also teaching a course for the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute on the Mystical Dimension of Islam. His translations of Yushij’s poems ‘Night’ and ‘Phoenix’ were published in the Fall 2014 issue of Two Lines Online (Issue 21), and he is a regular contributor to the Michigan Quarterly Review; his postings ‘The Middle East through Graphic Novels’, ‘Iranian Literature Born in Exile’, and ‘On Transformative Compassion’ have appeared recently on the site.

Baris Basturk (PhD/HIST) studied Arabic at the Indiana University’s Summer Language Workshop this summer, supported by a grant from the King Fahd Center.

Dhia Ben Ali (MA/PLSC) completed a 2-semester internship with Impact Management Group, a public affairs firm in Little Rock that assists clients with political strategy, research, evaluation, image consulting, campaign management, and other objectives.

Clayton Clark (MFA/TRANS) published the translations of two poems by Zakaria Tamer, ‘The Treasure’ and ‘Stars Above the Jungle’ in the Spring 2014 issue of Banipal.

He also led weekly sessions of Arabic Conversation Table during Spring 2014, sponsored by the King Fahd Center.

Delilah Clark (PhD/CLCS) led weekly sessions of Arabic Conversation Table during Spring 2014, sponsored by the King Fahd Center.

Autumn Cool (MA/ANTH) undertook field research in Northern Iraq along with Professor Jesse Casana, supported by a grant from the King Fahd Center.

Charles Davidson (MA/ANTH) presented ‘Mitigating the Effects of Poverty through Closed Religious Community’ at the 2014 Southwestern Social Science Association Annual Meeting in San Antonio. He spent this summer in Jordan undertaking research for his MA thesis on the effects of war on Syrian refugees, supported by a grant from the King Fahd Center.

Heidi Davis (PhD/ANTH) accompanied Jerry Rose to Amarna, Egypt this summer to continue skeletal analysis from prior excavations.

Sanket Desai (PhD/HIST) passed his comprehensive exams in September, and defended his dissertation prospectus in May. He won the Willard B. Gatewood Graduate Fellowship from the UA Department of History and a Research Grant from the Harry S. Truman Library Institute to pursue archival research, as well as a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship by the U.S. Department of Education to study Arabic at the University of Wisconsin’s Arabic, Persian and Turkish Language Immersion Institute (APTLII). This summer he conducted research at the Briscoe Center for American History and the Eisenhower and Truman presidential libraries.

Dhia Ben Ali at the offices of Impact Management Group, Little Rock, AR. Photo courtesy of Dhia Ben Ali.

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http://mest.uark.edu • 479-575-2175 • mest@uark.edu

King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arkansas Blake Duffield (PhD/HIST) defended his dissertation prospectus, and spent much of Spring 2014 in UK conducting research at the National Archives in Kew, Rhodes House and Bodleian Libraries in Oxford, and the British Library in London.

Nicole Fares (MFA/TRANS) defended her thesis and graduated in May 2014, and will begin a PhD program in Comparative Literature and Cultural Studies beginning Fall 2014. She published an excerpt of her translation of Sahar Mandour’s novel 32 in World Literature Today; another excerpt will be included in a forthcoming issue of Art Amiss Publishing. Her paper ‘Maternity as a Social Construct in Huxley’s Brave New World’ appeared in Keith Booker’s (Ed.) Brave New World (Critical Insights).

Christopher Fletcher (MA/ANTH) accompanied Professor Jesse Casana on a field research trip to Northern Iraq in Summer 2014.

Kaelin Groom (MA/GEOG) defended her thesis and graduated in May 2014. She will begin a PhD program in Environmental Dynamics beginning Fall 2014. In March 2014 she was invited to speak before the Wadi Rum UNESCO Conclave, presenting ‘Assessment and preservation of rock art: a proposal for the Thamudic petroglyphs of Wadi Rum’ at Man and the Deserts, 2nd International Conference in Wadi Rum. She also presented ‘Assessing Environmental Influences on Dressed Stone Decay via Tafoni Development on Hewn Djinn Block X in Petra, Jordan’ at the 2014 Association of American Geographers Annual meeting in Tampa, FL. Jaime Holland (MA/ANTH) defended her thesis ‘Beirut Speaks: Street Art in the City’ and graduated in May 2014. She was awarded funding and one of 12 open positions in the new Parsons Paris MFA program in Design & Technology in Paris, France and began her program this Fall.

http://mest.uark.edu • 479-575-2175 • mest@uark.edu

Jaime Holland at the Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France.

Photo courtesy of Jaime Holland.

Sonia Kapur (PhD/PUBP) defended her dissertation ‘Immigration Policy and Domestic Violence: The Case of Asian Indian Marriage Migrants’ this summer and graduated in August 2014. She has accepted a tenuretrack position in International Studies at the University of North Carolina-Ashville.

Ethan Morton-Jerome (PhD/ANTH) has been awarded a Mediterranean Regional Research Fellowship from the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. The award will support research for his dissertation, ‘Palestinian Labor on West Bank Settlements and Palestinian Authority Efforts to Create Employment Alternatives.’

Shereen Nadoum (MA/GEOG) defended her thesis on immigrant labor segregation in Kuwait. She will be working with the Kuwait Ministry of Environment and began the PhD program in Environmental Dynamics this Fall.

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King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arkansas Mitra Panahipour (PhD/ANTH) accompanied Professor Jesse Casana on a field research trip to Northern Iraq in Summer 2014, supported by a grant from the King Fahd Center.

Simon Reid (MA GEOG) defended his thesis ‘Perceptions of Equality and National Identity amongst Young British South Asian Muslims in Bradford, England’ in December 2013 and graduated in May 2014. He is a spatial analyst, focusing on the Middle East, with GEOEye (Digital Globe) the world’s largest satellite imaging company. Simon assists various countries from Morocco, to the Gulf, the US and various international agencies (UNESCO, UN, WHO, FAO) in using satellite imagery for various purposes including agricultural, conflict, resource management issues.

Ashley Shidner (PhD/ANTH) is accompanied Professor Jerry Rose as part of his team to Amarna, Egypt this summer 2014 to continue analysis of skeletal remains.

Teresa Wilson (PhD ANTH) defended her dissertation ‘Health, Nutrition, and Disease in Rural Northern Jordan: A Study of Enamel Defects Related to Childhood Stress in Skeletal Samples from the Bronze Age to the Byzantine Period’ and graduated in May 2014. She has accepted a position as an Assistant Professor of Research in the Department of Geography and Anthropology at Louisiana State University. She was also accepted into the Summer Internship for Native Americans in Genomics workshop (SING) with the Institute for Genomic Biology with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

UNDERGRADUATE NEWS Congratulations to Khalid Ahmadzai (IR/MEST), Bailey Cox (IR/MEST), Chelsea Del Grande (IREL/MEST/GEOG), Mary Goodwin (IREL/MEST), Elizabeth Heckmann (IR/ MEST), Macyn Hunn (COMM/MEST), Robert Peiser (IREL/ MEST), David Sommi (IREL/MEST), Kacee Sparks (IREL/ MEST) and Madeline Upson (IREL/MEST) who have been awarded undergraduate scholarships from the King Fahd Center for academic year 2014-2015.

Khalid Ahmadzai (IREL/MEST; HIST minor) published two op-ed pieces in the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, entitled ‘A new day, destiny: Afghan election starts new chapter’ (April 14, 2014) and ‘Why should we care? – The Taliban’s legacy lives on in ISIS’ (August 24, 2014).

Sean Bryant (IREL/MEST, HIST; ARAB minor) travelled to Jordan in Summer 2014 for an intensive study abroad language and culture program sponsored by California State San Bernardino University.

Keith Whitmire (PhD ANTH) was awarded funding from the King Fahd Center during Summer 2014 to to support language study and preliminary PhD research on café culture in Morocco.

Matthew Clothier at the Jewish Studies Research Symposium.

Photo courtesy of Nani Verzon.

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http://mest.uark.edu • 479-575-2175 • mest@uark.edu

King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arkansas Matthew Clothier’s (ANTH/MEST) paper ‘Pashtunwali and the Last Jew of Kabul’ was accepted for presentation at the 12th Annual Research in Religious Studies Conference at the University of Calgary. He also presented this paper at the Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Jewish Diversity Symposium on October 1.

Chelsea Del Grande (IREL/MEST, GEOG; ARAB and SUST minors) is currently spending the Fall semester abroad in Morocco, partially supported by a King Fahd Center undergraduate scholarship.

Steven Escalante’s (IREL; GEOG minor) paper ‘Inter-faith Cannibalism? The Volatile Relations between the Salafis and the Sufis’ was accepted for presentation at the 12th Annual Research in Religious Studies Conference at the University of Calgary and the 2014 Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion to be held in Indianapolis in October 2014.

Elizabeth Heckmann (IREL/MEST) spent AY 2013-2014 in Amman, Jordan for two semester-long programs with CIEE in Arabic Language and Culture, supported by scholarships from the Honors College, the Sturgis Grant, the CIEE Gain Scholarship, and the King Fahd Center.

Brian Hughes (IREL/MEST; ARAB and PLSC minors) was awarded Center funding to take part in an Intensive Arabic Program in Amman, Jordan this summer. He also participated in the King Fahd Center Undergraduate Paper Symposium in April, presenting ‘Apostasy in Contemporary Islam: Use of Hadith Narratives in Contradiction with Qur’anic Revelation within Islamic Jurisprudence’. This paper was also presented at the 2014 American Academy of Religion Eastern International Regional Meeting.

Daniel Ince (IREL/HIST; MEST minor) was accepted to participate in the highly competitive Marquette Project Global Officer program in Amman, Jordan in Summer 2014, run in conjunction with AMIDEAST and the Qasid Institute. Ince was one of only 16 ROTC students from across the country to be accepted. http://mest.uark.edu • 479-575-2175 • mest@uark.edu

Jessica Jayakaran poses with a monkey in Azrou, Morocco.

Photo courtesy of Jessica Jayakaran.

Joseph Largent (GEOL) presented ‘The Light of the Prophet, The Light of the Soul: The Musical Traditions of Sufism’ at the 2014 Annual Conference of the Southwest Commission on Religious Studies in Irving, TX. Deborah Lee (NURS) presented ‘Me, My Nafs, and I: The Journey of Spirituality in Islam’ at the King Fahd Center Undergraduate Paper Forum in April 2014. This paper was also accepted for presentation at the 12th Annual Research in Religious Studies Conference at the University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada and the forthcoming 2014 Annual Meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion to be held in Indianapolis in October 2014.

Jessica Jayakaran (IREL/MEST; ARAB minor) was awarded a U.S. State Department Critical Languages Scholarship for Arabic study in Meknes, Morocco in Summer 2014.

Sara Kouchehbagh (IREL/MEST; ARAB and PLSC minors) interned with the US State Department at the US Embassy in Manama, Bahrain under the Near Eastern Affairs Bureau for ten weeks during the summer. She is planning to graduate in December and has just accepted a full time teaching position at the UK’s English Time schools in Istanbul, Turkey beginning Spring 2015.

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King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arkansas David Mills’ (HIST) paper ‘Death Comes Dressed in Black’ was accepted for presentation at the 2014 North American Undergraduate Conference in Religion & Philosophy at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, PA. Meghan Perry (IREL/EUST; MRST minor) presented ‘The Hijab and Women’s Sexuality in Islamic Culture’ at the King Fahd Center Undergraduate Paper Forum in April 2014. This paper was also accepted for presentation at the 12th Annual Research in Religious Studies Conference at the University of Calgary.

Jacob Rowlett (IREL/MEST) presented ‘From The Qur’an to the Can: An Exploration of the Roots of Modern Islamic Graffiti’ at the King Fahd Center Undergraduate Paper Forum in April 2014. This paper was also accepted for presentation at the 12th Annual Research in Religious Studies Conference at the University of Calgary.

Marion Schulz’s (IREL; PLSC and PSYC minors) paper ‘Converging Paths in the Pursuit of Everlasting Bliss’ was accepted for presentation at the 2014 North American Undergraduate Conference in Religion & Philosophy at Lebanon Valley College in Annville, PA. Zach Schwermann (IREL/MEST) completed a study abroad program this summer at the American University of Sharjah, supported by the Sturgis Study Abroad Grant.

Kacee Sparks (IREL/MEST, ARAB minor) presented ‘The Last Frontier on Basic Human Rights: Western Influence and its Effects on the LGBTQ Community in Oman’ at the 2014 Annual Conference of the Southeastern Commission for the Study of Religion in Atlanta, GA. His paper, ‘On the Edge of the Binary and Society: Sufism’s Role in Social Tolerance of Hijra and transgender Communities in Pakistan’ was presented at the King Fahd Center Undergraduate Paper Forum in April, and has been accepted for presentation at the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion Annual Convention in Indianapolis, IN. He will also take part the 2nd MESA Undergrad Research Workshop in Washington DC, November 22nd.

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Walt Wright and Joseph Largent at the 2014 Annual Conference of the Southwest Commission on Religious Studies in Irving, TX. Photo courtesy of Sarwar Alam.

Madeline Upson (IREL/MEST) is currently spending the Fall semester abroad in Morocco, partially supported by a KFC undergraduate scholarship.

Derek Walker’s (COMM) paper, ‘The Logical Standpoint of Islam and Atheism’, was accepted for presentation at the 2014 Annual Conference of the Southwest Commission on Religious Studies in Irving, TX. Walt Wright (IREL; HIST and MEST minor) presented ‘Martyrdom and Jihad in the Arab Spring’ at the 2014 Annual Conference of the Southwest Commission on Religious Studies in Irving, TX. Hilary Zedlitz (PLSC/MEST) completed an internship with the Department of State’s Foreign Service Institute in Washington, D.C. this summer, and wrote a posting entitled ‘Staying in the States for State’ for the Fulbright Honors College Blog.

http://mest.uark.edu • 479-575-2175 • mest@uark.edu

King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arkansas

ALUMNI NEWS Ahmet Akturk (PhD/HIST 2012) has just completed his first year as Assistant Professor of History at Georgia Southern University.

Charles Argo (PhD/HIST 2004) will publish Stolen Boys of the Ottoman Empire: The Child Levy as Public Spectacle and Political Instrument (IB Taurus).

Gretchen Dabbs (PhD/ANTH 2009) was recently awarded a large, multi-year grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities to fund three years of excavation of the northern cemeteries at Amarna, a project that has its foundations in the South Tombs Cemetery project the King Fahd Center has funded for several years.

Rasha el-Endari (MA/ANTH 2012) is in her second year of study in the PhD program in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at the University of Toronto. She presented (with Joanna Kader) ‘Assad and Isis: Syrians on the horns of a dilemma’ at the University of Toronto’s 18th Annual Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations Graduate Students Symposium in February 2014. She is also an active member of the Computational Research on the Ancient Near East (CRANE) project, in which she has helped facilitate the integration of the Tell Tayinat Archaeological Project’s GIS data into the OCHRE database.

Kevin Fisher (Postdoctoral supervisee, 2011/12) who worked under Jesse Casana was hired in a tenure-track position in Near Eastern Studies at University of British Columbia.

Jason Hermann (PhD/ENDY 2012) was hired in a two-year research position at University of Tubingen, Germany.

Robert Hintz (BA/HIST/MEST 2011) completed his MA in International Studies at the University of Denver.

http://mest.uark.edu • 479-575-2175 • mest@uark.edu

Clea Hupp (PhD/HIST 2004) published The United States and Jordan: Middle East Diplomacy during the Cold War (I. B. Tauris, 2014), and is currently running for Arkansas Congress from the 31st District.

Tuna Kalayci (PhD/ANTH 2013) holds a postdoc at the Institute for Mediterranean Studies in Crete. He has coauthored articles forthcoming in Internet Archaeology and ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing.

Amy Karoll (MA/ANTH 2012) is in her second year of study in the PhD program in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations at UCLA. Gary Noel (BA/GEOG/MEST 2011) was recently promoted to Research Analyst at the UAE Embassy in Washington DC. James Redman (MA/ANTH 2003) will defend his anthropology dissertation on diwaniyyat in Kuwait at the University of Utah.

Sanaa Riaz (PhD/ANTH 2011) published New Islamic Schools: Tradition, Modernity, and Class in Urban Pakistan (Palgrave 2014). She presented collaborative research on ‘Student Engagement and the Role of E-textbooks’ at the 2014 US Distance Learning Association Annual Meeting in St Louis in May 2014.

Farid al-Salim (PhD/HIST 2008), will publish ‘Muslim Mothering and Migration’ in Dana Olwan (ed), Muslim Mothering: Local and Global Histories, Theories, and Practice (Demeter, forthcoming 2014). His book, Palestine and the Decline of the Ottoman Empire is forthcoming (I. B. Tauris, 2014).

Keep up with the King Fahd Center: podcasts, video clips and articles are regularly posted on the King Fahd Center website under News & Media.

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King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arkansas Nadine Sinno (PhD/CLCS 2009) authored the chapter ‘Empowered Muslim Mothering: Navigating War, BorderCrossing, and Activism in El-Haddad’s Gaza Mom’ in Muslim Mothering: Local and Global Histories, Theories, and Practice (Demeter, forthcoming). Her translation, with Paula Haydar of Who’s Afraid of Meryl Streep by Rachid al-Daif is forthcoming with the University of Texas Press.

Yulia Uryadova (PhD/HIST 2012) began a tenure-track position in History at Longwood University in August.

Anna Weiser (MA/ANTH 2012) completed her second year in the Anthropology PhD program at Kansas University.

She won this year’s departmental Mark Kapelman Award, which helped support summer fieldwork at the Crenshaw site in Southwest Arkansas.

James Wesolowski (MA/ANTH 2012) is in his second year in the PhD program in ENDY at UA. Melissa Zabecki (PhD/ANTH 2009) will publish ‘Suffering in the City: Skeletal evidence for possible ritualized punishment at Tell el-Amarna’ in International Journal of Paleopathology, as well as the chapter ‘Abandoned memories: a cemetery of forgotten souls?’ in Remembering and Commemorating the Dead: Recent Contributions in Bioarchaeology and Mortuary Analysis from the Ancient Near East (forthcoming; University of Colorado Press), both co-authored with fellow alumna Gretchen Dabbs (PhD ANTH 2009).

Ghadir Zannoun (PhD/CLCS 2011) presented ‘The Downfall of Granada and the Reconfiguration of Modern Arab Identity in Radwa Ashour’s Granada,’ at the 2014 American Comparative Literature Association Annual Meeting in New York in April 2014. Her article ‘Resisting Appropriation: Gendered Nationalisms in Zeina Ghandour’s The Honey,’ accepted for publication in Arab Studies Journal. This fall she began a tenure-track position in Arabic at the University of Kentucky, where she has been a lecturer since graduating.

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UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS ARABIC TRANSLATION AWARD 2015 The King Fahd Center awards an annual prize up to $10,000 for the best book-length translation of Arabic literature from any of the following genres: poetry, novel, short story collection, drama, or literary nonfiction such as autobiography or memoir. Submitted translations must be previously unpublished in book form. All translation rights must be cleared for publication.

For this award the original author (if still holding rights to the work) will receive, in lieu of royalties, $5,000 and the translator (or translators) will receive a total of $5,000. Independent judges select the award winning translation, which will be published

by Syracuse University Press as part of its prestigious Middle East Literature in Translation series.

Submitted translations must be previously unpublished in book form. All translation rights must be cleared for publication. Submissions from current faculty, students or anyone affiliated with the University of Arkansas will not be considered.

Submissions for the 2015 University of Arkansas Arabic Translation Award will be accepted through April 30, 2015. Award winners will be announced the following fall, in conjunction with the annual meeting of the Middle East Studies Association.

For more submission details and a list of previous winners, visit the King Fahd Center website.

http://mest.uark.edu • 479-575-2175 • mest@uark.edu

King Fahd Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Arkansas

CHRONICLES OF MAJNUN LAYLA AND SELECTED POEMS Chronicles of Majnun Layla and Selected Poems brings together in one volume Haddad’s seminal work and a considerable selection of poems from his oeuvre, stretching over forty years. The central poem, Chronicles of Majnun Layla, recasts the seventh-century myth into a contemporary, postmodern narrative that revels in the foibles of oral transmission, weaving a small side cast of characters into the fabric of the poem. Haddad portrays Layla as a daring woman aware of her own needs and desires and not afraid to articulate them.

The author succeeds in reviving this classical work of Arabian love while liberating it from its puritanical dimension and tribal overtones.

Written by Qassim Haddad; Translated from the Arabic by Ferial Ghazoul and John Verlenden ISBN: 9780815610373

The selected poems reveal Haddad’s playful yet profound meditations. A powerful lyric poet, Haddad juxtaposes classical and modern symbols, and mixes the old with the new, the sensual with the sacred, and the common with the extraordinary. Ghazoul and Verlenden’s masterful translation remains faithful to the cultural and historical context in which the original poetry was produced while also reflecting the uniqueness of the poet’s style and his poetics.

Winner of the King Fahd Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies Translation of Arabic Literature Award 2013

HAKI BIL-LIBNANI Haki bil-Libnani provides students of Arabic with an opportunity to acquire substantial and systematic proficiency in Lebanese dialect and culture, and is designed to work either on its own or alongside the bestselling Arabic-language textbook Al-Kitaab Part One, Third Edition. This fully online textbook and interactive website features two video story components, designed to foster proficiency as students work through each lesson while practicing vocabulary, cultural expressions, and short dialogues. The first story recreates the stories of Maha and Khaled Abul’ila from Al-Kitaab, recast in a Lebanese context starring Yara and Jamil Haddad, who speak the Lebanese dialect and reference Lebanese institutions, places, and customs. A second storyline consists of an original series of short Adnan Haydar, Paula Haydar, dialogue scenes involving three main characters: Jamal, Raghida, and John Douglas. Jamal and Nadine Sinno and Raghida serve as cultural liaisons who help the Lebanese-American John navigate ISBN: 9781626161542 daily life in Lebanon—buying groceries, taking cabs, and doing Arabic homework—while John’s linguistic and cultural struggles will resonate with many students.

The integration of speaking, listening, grammar, and cultural competency skills in Haki bil-Libnani: Lebanese Arabic Textbook and Companion Website to Al-Kitaab Part One, Third Edition, will facilitate the teaching and learning of Lebanese Arabic, while introducing students to Lebanon’s vibrant and charming culture. All Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) drills and exercises from the Al-Kitaab Part One, Third Edition, website are included here, so that students using Haki bil-Libnani alongside the Al-Kitaab Part One, Third Edition, textbook will only need to purchase access to the Haki bil-Libnani companion website. Haki bil-Libnani will also be useful to individual learners with some proficiency in Arabic, who desire to learn Lebanese. http://mest.uark.edu • 479-575-2175 • mest@uark.edu

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King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies 202 Old Main University of Arkansas Fayetteville, AR 72701 http://mest.uark.edu Phone: 479-575-2175 Fax: 479-575-3629 mest@uark.edu

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Joel Gordon, Center Director • Tom Paradise, Faculty Editor • Nani Verzon, Program Coordinator & Editor-in-Chief