The Chicago Palestine Film Festival with Nina Shoman

UChicago Center for Middle Eastern Studies · Chicago Palestine Film Festival In this episode of Ventures, Nina Shoman-Dajani, Executive Director of the Chicago Palestine Film Festival, tells the story of how the organization began and shares a behind-the-scenes look at how the film festival comes together each year. She also offers some movie recommendations from the CPFF archives, and films she’s looking forward to watching at the May 2022 film…

Humanitarian Aid Is In-Sight, featuring Madi Williamson and Leena Zahra of In-Sight Collaborative

UChicago Center for Middle Eastern Studies · Humanitarian Aid Is In-Sight: A Converstion With Madi Williamson And Leena Zahra In this episode, CMES Outreach Coordinator Krishna Kulkarni speaks to Madi Williamson and Leena Zahra of In-Sight Collaborative, a humanitarian aid organization working with refugee communities in Europe and the Middle East. Madi and Leena detail their experiences with aid delivery to refugees and identify key problems in how non-governmental organizations…

Hip-Hop, History, and Identity: Breaking it Down with Syrian American Rapper Omar Offendum

Syrian American hip-hop artist, poet, and peace activist Omar Offendum discusses hip-hop as history and education with Thomas E.R. Maguire, Associate Director of the University of Chicago Center for Middle Eastern Studies (CMES). Omar tells the story behind his recent Little Syria project and addresses his experience as Citizen Artist Fellow at the Kennedy Center, the bilingual nature of his work, and his collaborations with the Arab American National Museum,…

Revolution and Disenchantment with Fadi Bardawil

In this episode of “Ventures,” Professor Fadi Bardawil of Duke University discusses his new book, Revolution and Disenchantment: Arab Marxism and the Binds of Emancipation (Duke University Press, 2020). Bardawil traces the rise and fall of the Lebanese New Left during the 1960s. He focuses mainly on the Marxist organization Socialist Lebanon, a small group of militant intellectuals who mostly left political practice for the academy after the beginning of…

A Conversation with Mandy Terc

In this episode of Ventures, Mandy Terc, the executive director of the Middle East Research and Information Project (known as MERIP), explains how the organization tries to make the knowledge of academics digestible to a more general audience. She also discusses her own fieldwork in Syria before the civil war, and the ethical questions that arise when White western researchers write about people in the Middle East. Interview by Clarissa…

Arabic Oration: Art and Function with Tahera Qutbuddin

In this episode of “Ventures,” Professor Tahera Qutbuddin discusses her recently published book, Arabic Oration: Art and Function. Qutbuddin’s book, 10 years in the making, presents theoretical tools to analyze speeches and sermons given in the early Islamic period, from the 7th to 8th centuries AD. Though the book’s true scope is enormous, Qutbuddin also analyzes modern day orations, from Friday sermons she attended at the Blue Mosque in Istanbul,…

Who Are Our Boys? A Conversation with Israel Institute Visiting Professor, Noa Lavi

In this episode of Ventures, visiting Israel Institute Professor Noa Lavi explains why it’s worthwhile to analyze Israeli TV through a sociological lens. Interview by Zak Witus.   Ideas and opinions expressed in the episode are the participants’ own, and do not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Chicago Center for Middle Eastern Studies.

Welcome to “Ventures,” the UChicago Center for Middle Eastern Studies Podcast

Taking a cue from Marshall Hodgson, the former University of Chicago Professor and author of the renowned Venture of Islam series, this podcast dives into the expansive geographical and historical terrain covered by Islam and Muslims. “Ventures” features interviews with leading lights in the field of Middle Eastern & Islamic studies as well as artists, musicians, and journalists. Views and opinions expressed in episodes of “Ventures” are the participants’ own,…