These lecture series are designed to create a campus-wide conversation, and an opportunity to interact with leading scholars in the field who are nationally and internationally renowned. The lecture series allows students to network with the guest speakers who are often invited to partake in classroom visits in addition to their public lectures. This opportunity provides them with an extraordinary exposure they need to solidify their next steps in their academic career and to meet the people who will help get them there.

“Art(s) of Protest: Social Movements, Artistic Practices, Literary Reimaginings”

This lecture series, hosted by the UNC Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies, delves into the interplay between art and activism within the context of social movements. “Art(s) of Protest” explores how artistic practices and literary works have been instrumental in challenging power structures, advocating for social justice, and reimagining societal norms. The objective of this series is to bring together scholars working on various social and political questions in the broader “Middle East” through the mediums of art, literature, and music. By engaging with artistic media such as street art, post-colonial novels, and song, the series seeks to bridge the fields of arts, humanities, and area studies.

Lecture 1: Dr. Firoozeh Kashani-Sabet (University of Pennsylvania), “From Heros to Hostages: How America and Iran ended up on opposite sides.”

August 22, 2024
Nelson Mandela Auditorium, 6:30-9:00 PM

Lecture 2: Dr. Nadine Sinno (Virginia Tech), “Beirut is a Cement Paradise/بيروت جنة إسمنت: Graffiti and Street Art in Postwar Beirut.”

November 4, 2024
GEC 1005, 5:30-7:00 PM

Lecture 3: Dr. Amal Eqeiq (Williams College), “Brush Strokes of Global Dissent: On South-South Solidarities”.

March 20, 2025
GEC 3024, 6:00-7:30 PM

Lecture 4: Dr. Annette Damayanti Lienau (Harvard University), “Postcolonial Futures and the Battle for Meaning: Literature, Mass Protests, and the Evolution of Anti-Authoritarian Writing in the 21st Century—from Jakarta to Cairo.”

April 22, 2025
GEC 1005, 5:30 – 7:00 PM

2023-2024 “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility In The Language Classroom”

UNC-Chapel Hill Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies hosted four public lectures as part of the AY23-24 Lecture Series. The lecture series aimed to first reach educators and support them in expanding their DEIA practices in the language classroom. Read more about this lecture series in the 2023-24 annual newsletter.

2022-2023 “Legacies Of Middle East’s Global 20th Century: Moments Of Worldmaking And Worldbreaking”

UNC-Chapel Hill Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies hosted six public lectures on the significance of twentieth-century Middle Eastern and Muslim experience in the formation of the contemporary world order.  Six leading scholars of the modern global history shared their research findings on transformative moments and processes of the previous century in the Middle East and Muslim Societies across Asia to make sense of their impact on our contemporary times. Read more about this lectures series in the 2023 annual newsletter.