The Middle East History and Theory Conference is organized in collaboration with the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago. It is held annually and provides a forum for students and faculty in the social sciences and humanities to present papers treating Middle Eastern and Central Asian art/architecture, literature, society, history and politics from the 7th century to the present. This year, through the organization of the panels, the keynote address by Professor Beshara Doumani (University of California at Berkeley), a plenary session with Professor Kenneth Cuno (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign), the discussion will focus on the topic of “Family in the Middle East”.
In addition, there will be a number of special events taking place in conjunction with the conference. On Friday afternoon, there will be several activities in honor of Prof. Robert Dankoff, on the occasion of his retirement. There will be a roundtable and recognition session in his honor, for his years of dedication to the fields of Turkish and Islamic Studies at the University of Chicago. This will be followed by a reception. Later that evening we will host a concert by the University of Chicago’s Middle East Music Ensemble, directed by Issa Boulos.
Throughout the conference there will be a photograph exhibition in Ida Noyes (Library Lounge) titled Out of Frame: An exploration into the Bigger Picture of Modern Turkey, by artist Meghan Rose MacIver from Simon Fraser University.
The full schedule can be downloaded here.
