Professor Miriam Cooke (Duke University & Honorary Research Fellow, Exeter) presents "Dancing in Damascus: Creativity, Resilience and the Syrian Revolution"
Part of the IAIS Visiting Speakers Series
Miriam Cooke is Braxton Craven Professor of Arab Cultures emerita at Duke University. She has been a visiting professor in Tunisia, Romania, Indonesia, Qatar and Istanbul. She serves on several national and international advisory boards, including academic journals and institutions. Her writings have focused on the intersection of gender and war in modern Arabic literature, Arab women writers’ constructions of Islamic feminism, contemporary Syrian and Khaliji cultures, and global Muslim networks.
| An Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies seminar | |
|---|---|
| Date | 27 February 2019 |
| Time | 17:15 to 18:45 |
| Place | IAIS Building/LT1&2 |
| Intended audience | Everyone |
Event details
Abstract
Revolution, pure war, civil war, proxy wars, regional jihads and trans-regional interventions: this is how the media have represented the trajectory of violence in Syria over the past eight years. The country seems to be spinning in a vortex of hatred and destruction. However, the intellectuals and artists whose works I will discuss refute this dismal assessment. How can we make sense of their insistence that despite the apocalypse engulfing the country their revolution is ongoing and that their works participate in its persistence?
In addition to co-editing five volumes, she is the author of several monographs that include The Anatomy of an Egyptian Intellectual: Yahya Haqqi (1984); War’s Other Voices (1987), Women and the War Story (1997); Women Claim Islam (2001); Dissident Syria (2007), Nazira Zeineddine: A Pioneer of Islamic Feminism (2010), Tribal Modern: Branding New Nations in the Arab Gulf (2014) and Dancing in Damascus: Creativity, Resilience and the Syrian Revolution (2017). She has also published a novel, Hayati, My Life (2000). Several books and articles have been translated into Arabic, Chinese, Dutch and German.
Tea and coffee will be served in the IAIS Common Room from 17:00. Everyone is welcome to attend and registration is not required.
Professor Miriam Cooke
Dancing in Damascus: Creativity, Resilience and the Syrian Revolution
Location:
IAIS Building/LT1&2
