The Duke-UNC Consortium for Middle East Studies supports events that increase awareness of the history and cultures of the Middle East and Muslim civilizations, and values diverse perspectives that promote dialogue and understanding. Events listed here originate from a variety of campus units and community organizations. The listing of an event does not constitute endorsement of or agreement with the views presented therein.
For information on how to advertise events on the Center's listserv or calendar, please click here.
To browse upcoming events by location or category, please click here.
Full list of events from current academic year: click here.
February 2020
Cultural Event: Urdu Majlis
Please join us on Saturday, February 22, for the next monthly meeting of Urdu Majlis, the Triangle's Urdu Literary Forum. This Urdu Majlis will concentrate on the life and works of Saleem Ahmad (1927-1983). Participants are invited to bring refreshments to share. This event is free and open to the public. Co-sponsored by the Carolina Asia Center and the South Asia Section of the UNC Department of Asian Studies. Urdu Majlis is an intellectual endeavor with no political or…
Find out more »Documentary Screening & Discussion: The Romey Lynchings
Join us for a screening of The Romey Lynchings, a documentary about prejudice and racial violence against Arab immigrants in the United States. Produced by the Khayrallah Center for Lebanese Diaspora Studies, the film explores the lynching and murder of N’oula Romey and his wife Hasna Rahme in Lake City, Florida. Their murders were indicative of a widespread pattern of racially-motivated hostility, vitriol and physical abuse directed at early Lebanese immigrants who came to America to work and build a…
Find out more »Global Career Night
Hear from a panel of extraordinary UNC alumni in globally focused careers! A networking reception will follow the panel. At the reception, representatives from a variety of UNC units will join the panelists and attendees. Please visit these guidelines for information on weeknight parking on campus. Co-sponsored by the UNC Curriculum in Global Studies, the UNC College of Arts and Sciences, the Carolina Asia Center, the UNC African Studies Center, the UNC Center for Global Initiatives, the UNC Center for Middle…
Find out more »Open House: International Students, Scholars, and Faculty
International students, faculty, and staff are invited to join the UNC College of Arts & Sciences for an open house on February 27, 4:00 – 5:30 pm. Global health scares, new federal travel policies, and international geopolitical tensions have prompted questions and concerns. The College, ISSS, and student support offices will come together to share information, review resources, and answer queries – and have some cookies. Sponsored by the UNC College of Arts & Sciences. FedEx Global…
Find out more »Conference: “Who Speaks for Islam? Approaches to Authority within the Academy and Beyond” – 17th Annual Duke-UNC Graduate Student Conference in Middle East and Islamic Studies
The 17th Annual Duke-UNC conference is the longest running graduate student Middle East & Islamic Studies conference in the country. This year’s conference “Who Speaks for Islam?: Approaches to Authority within the Academy and Beyond” will be held in Chapel Hill, NC on Saturday, February 29, 2020. Keynote speaker Professor Kecia Ali will speak to gendered citational politics and structures of authority within the academy. For more information, please visit the conference website. Sponsored by the Duke-UNC Consortium…
Find out more »March 2020
Carolina Seminar: Varieties of Esoteric Islam in Post-Soviet Tatarstan with Agnes Kefili (Arizona State University)
After the collapse of the USSR, intellectuals from traditionally Soviet Muslim ethnicities began the complicated process of rethinking their religious identities, political philosophies, and worldviews. Although Western scholars often present this process as an unproblematic “return to Islam,” the newly religious thinkers of the 1990s engaged the rich philosophical universe of their time, incorporating and rejecting elements of New Age, occult, and esoteric systems in their efforts to formulate answers for the contemporary world. My paper focuses on the Tatars (the largest…
Find out more »Symposium: Revisiting Discourses of Love, Sex, and Desire in Modern Iran and Diaspora
This one-day symposium is an attempt to provide a safe space for public discussions of the nuances around discourses of love and desire in modern Iran, challenging and contributing to the dominant discourses on key topics. From their mundane to their sublime forms, love and desire have played a central role in various discourses in modern Iran. From romantic epics to ghazals, and from arranged marriages to white marriages, and from companionate love to contemporary cohabitations, desire is undoubtedly one…
Find out more »April 2020
17th Annual Duke-UNC Rotary Peace Center Spring Conference: Voices of Peace
Please join us on 4 April 2020 for the 17th Annual Rotary Spring Conference. The theme this year is "Voices of Peace". Class XVII Rotary Peace Fellows will be presenting their research and sharing examples of hope, peace-making, and positive change from every corner of the world. The conference will take place at the FedEx Global Education Center on UNC-Chapel Hill's campus, from 8.30 am to 4:00 pm. Parking will be available for free in the McCauley Parking Deck,…
Find out more »Public Talk: “Help a Woman, Help the Planet” with Annie Griffiths
Photographer Annie Griffiths will present a 60-minute talk entitled Help a Woman, Help the Planet, followed by Q&A. This touches on all aspects of the Ripple mission of assistance to women globally, and will have a component on Syria and the refugee crisis. She will also show the Ripple Short Film The Water Wheel shot in a refugee camp by Ripple photographer Lynn Johnson, with music written by Syrian-American composer Malek Jandali. Guest Speaker: Annie Griffiths | National Geographic Photographer | Founder and Executive…
Find out more »