On Friday, February 17, 2023, the Center for Middle East Studies and Islamicate Graduate Student Association collaborated on a research colloquium where graduate students and faculty specializing in Middle East and Islamic Studies workshopped their in-progress research, building bridges across various disciplines and departments across campus. John Miller (Ph.D. Candidate, Religious Studies, and President of the Islamicate Graduate Student Association) presided over the colloquium. Twenty-five people attended, representing various specialties and interests, who shared insight and cross-connections during thoughtful question-and-answer periods. Presenters shared and received feedback on topics including:

“Echoes of a Revolution: Egyptian Nationalist Records at the British Library” (Melissa Camp, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Music)

“The Roots of Leftist Movements in Morocco (1912-1945)” (Samir Sefiane, MA student, Asian, and Middle Eastern Studies)

“Reading and Writing Modernity: Women’s Pulp Fiction in Urdu” (Afroz Taj, Associate Professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies)

“The Geo-Gendered Contradiction of the U.S. Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency in the Middle East” (Caroline Williams, MA Student, Asian, and Middle Eastern Studies)

“The Vast Oceans: Remembering God and Self on the Mustafawiyya Sufi Path” (Youssef Carter, Assistant Professor of Religious Studies)

The guiding principle of the colloquium was that continual intellectual support by thoughtful feedback from peers as part of academic life.