News

On October 22nd, we will welcome Dr. Younus Mirza  of Shenandoah University to discuss his book The Islamic Mary: Maryam Through The Centuries. Visit go.unc.edu/islamicmary to receive a selection of the text in advance of the talk! About the text: Mary, the mother of Jesus, has been historically revered throughout [...]

As part of  University Research Week (October 20–24), we are hosting a roundtable discussion on the future of Arabic language pedagogy and research. This conversation will bring together UNC faculty and students to reflect on current approaches to teaching Arabic, explore emerging directions in pedagogical research, and imagine the evolving [...]

On November 3, as part of the 2025–26 UNC-CH CMEIS Annual Academic Lecture Series, artists, scholars, and authors Danielle Dardashti and Galeet Dardashti will discuss their documentary podcast series, The Nightingale of Iran.   

As part of the 2025–26 UNC-CH CMEIS Annual Academic Lecture Series, on October 1 we will screen the documentary The Dawn is Too Far: Stories of Iranian-American Life, followed by a Q&A session with co-director, Dr. Persis Karim (San Francisco State University).  This 60-minute documentary explores the history, struggles, and [...]

As part of the 2025-26 UNC-CH CMEIS Annual Lecture Series, artist Maryam Safajoo will speak about her exhibition, My Bitter Childhood Window. The exhibition will be on display from August 8 to September 25, open on weekdays from 7:30AM-7:30PM in the FedEx Global Education Center atrium. A reception will be held [...]

In celebration of the 2024 winners of Carolina’s Outstanding Contribution to Middle East and Islamic Studies Book Award winners, Dr. Elizabeth Perego will deliver a lecture on her book, Humor and Power in Algeria, 1920 to 2021. The book "reveals how Algerians have harnessed humor to express competing visions for [...]

In celebration of the 2024 winners of Carolina’s Outstanding Contribution to Middle East and Islamic Studies Book Award winners, Dr. Mike O'Sullivan will deliver a lecture on his book, No Birds of Passage: A History of Gujarati Muslim Business Communities, 1800 - 1975. The book offers "a sweeping account of three Gujarati [...]

Are you are a UNC student interested in joining a four-part reading group celebrating the 2024 winners of Carolina’s Outstanding Contribution to Middle East and Islamic Studies Book Award? Join us for our second reading group session of the semester. This will be a space to discuss an excerpt of Dr. [...]

Are you are a UNC student interested in joining a four-part reading group celebrating the 2024 winners of Carolina’s Outstanding Contribution to Middle East and Islamic Studies Book Award? Join us for the first event of the series. This will be a space to discuss an excerpt of Dr. Mike [...]

On August 28, CMEIS is excited to kick off the AY 25-26 CMEIS Annual Lecture Series with a talk by Dr. Dominic Brookshaw (University of Oxford). The lecture will explore the feminist essays of Esmat Ashtiyani. This event will also include a welcome reception in the FedEx Global Education Center [...]

Please join us on April 14th to celebrate the work of our Carolina Public Humanities Fellow and three Career Pathways Initiative interns! Participants will include: Ellen Perleberg, selected join a cohort of ten other fellows from various disciplines across the campus to become a Caroline Public Humanities Fellow; Shamim Hossain, [...]

Please join us for a graduate student presentation on April 9th, 2025 at 3PM with Abdul Basith Basheer, a PhD student in the UNC Department of History. Basheer's presentation investigates intellectual linkages between three prominent Muslim journals published throughout the 20th century. Ultimately, his paper [on which the presentation is [...]