ArabishWay

Movie: Advocate via Mideast Focus Ministry
2021-02-19 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
ADVOCATE
This film provides a fascinating look at the life and work of Jewish Israeli lawyer Lea Tsemel who has represented Palestinian prisoners for nearly 50 years, in Israeli courts.
The film follows Jewish-Israeli human-rights lawyer Lea Tsemel as she navigates through the Israeli judicial system in defense of Palestinian political prisoners. The film includes archival footage of past cases Tsemel was involved in over a five-decade long career; interviews with Tsemel and her family members, including her husband, Michel Warschawski and their daughter and son, as well as interns and associates at Tsemel’s law firm; and closely follows two contemporary cases represented by Tsemel and her co-counsel, Tareq Barghout.
Learn more here.
with guest speaker: TBA
Contact info@saintmarks.org to be added to the Mideast Focus Ministry mailing list, or use this form. (Check the box marked “Mideast Focus.”)

The Wandering Palestinian: A Book talk by Author and Activist Anan Ameri
2021-02-25 17:00 - 18:30 (America/Chicago)
Join us for a conversation between Author and Activist Anan Ameri and Professor and Activist Nadine Naber
Dr. Anan Ameri is a scholar, author, activist, and community organizer. She is the founding Director of the Arab American National Museum (AANM) and Palestine Aid Society of America. She holds a BA in Sociology from the University of Jordan, an MA from Cairo University, and a PhD from Wayne State University in Detroit. She was a fellow at the Bunting Institute of Radcliffe College, a visiting scholar in Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University, and served as Interim Director of the Institute for Jerusalem Studies. The recipient of numerous awards, Anan was inducted into the Women’s Hall of Fame in Lansing, Michigan in 2016 and received ACCESS’s Arab American of the Year award in 2020. She enjoys writing and has authored and edited several articles and publications. She lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Dr. Nadine Naber is Professor in the Gender and Women’s Studies Program and the Global Asian Studies Program and holds an affiliation with the Department of Anthropology at UIC. Dr. Naber’s research interests lie at the intersections of transnational feminisms; women of color and queer of color theory; de-colonizing feminisms; empire studies; critical race studies; and Middle East Studies; and Arab American Studies. Dr. Naber is author of Arab America: Gender, Cultural Politics, and Activism (NYU Press, 2012). She is co-editor of the books Race and Arab Americans (Syracuse University Press, 2008); Arab and Arab American Feminisms, winner of the Arab American Book Award 2012 (Syracuse University Press, 2010); and The Color of Violence (South End Press, 2006). Dr. Naber is an editorial board member of the Critical Ethnic Studies Journal, the Journal of Palestine Studies, and Al-Shabakah. Dr. Naber co- founded Arab and Muslim American Studies (an Ethnic Studies unit within the Program in American Culture) at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Dr. Naber’s current book in progress focuses on radical mothering in the context of protest movements of the Egyptian revolution and Chicago’s immigrant and people of color-based movements against state violence.

RSVP: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-wandering-palestinian-a-book-talk-by-author-and-activist-anan-ameri-tickets-139806399705

Beyond the Two State Solution: Book Talk and Discussion
2021-02-27 11:00 - 12:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Jonathan Kuttab’s new book is a short introduction to the crisis in Palestine-Israel, which has been characterized by the competing visions of Zionism and Palestinian nationalism. While many thought the two-state solution would offer a resolution, Jonathan explains that the two-state solution (that he supported) is no longer viable. He suggests that any solution be predicated on the basic existential needs of the two parties, which he lays out in exceptional detail. He formulates a way forward for a one-state solution that challenges both Zionism and Palestinian nationalism. This book invites readers to begin a new conversation based on reality: two peoples will need to live together in some sort of unified state. It is balanced and accessible to neophytes and to experts alike.
Zoom Registration

Arab Film Series Online: There Is A Field + Talkback
2021-02-28 12:00 - 14:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
3 p.m. EST Sunday, Feb. 28, 2021
Arab Film Series Online: There Is A Field (2020) dir. Jen Marlowe
Free with RSVP/$5 suggested donation
RSVP for streaming link
There Is A Field tells the story of Asel Asleh, an unarmed 17-year old Palestinian teenager who was murdered while participating in a demonstration calling for an end to Israeli occupation and settler-colonization.
A play turned performance-reading film, There Is A Field is performed by Black Lives Matter activists in the U.S., and is intercut with the activists’ own realizations of the parallels they see between Asel’s story and the experiences of BIPOC communities in the U.S. Amidst the ongoing Black Lives Matter uprising that reignited in recent months following the police murder of George Floyd, There Is A Field provides a unique and timely lens for discussing decolonization, Black liberation, Black-Palestinian solidarity and cross-movement organizing.
Following the screening, we are pleased to be joined by director Jen Marlowe for a talkback.
Palestine, U.S.A. / 70 minutes / Documentary, Performance / English
For questions, e-mail Dave Serio, Public Programming Specialist at dserio@accesscommunity.org.

Tatreez Workshops and Lectures by Tatreez and Tea - Ongoing
2021-03-01 - 2021-03-02
Your instructor is author and scholar Wafa Ghnaim, founder of Tatreez & Tea!
Tatreez & Tea’s mission is to preserve Palestinian embroidery and storytelling traditions in the diaspora. Tatreez & Tea is the first of it’s kind. When Wafa first founded Tatreez & Tea in 2016, she was the only educator solely focused on Palestinian embroidery, traveling the US and the world. Now, new local initiatives, culture bearers, “tatreez circles”, and mentors are emerging from communities around the world like never before. The tatreez revolution has gained a beautiful momentum and now is the time to join.
Wafa’s goal in her educational classes are three-fold: educate students from art history and oral history perspectives that preserve the meanings, stories and symbolism of traditional Palestinian embroidery motifs; teach versatile skills that allow students to eventually produce large independent projects; encourage students to become creative and grow beyond simply abiding by traditional embroidery principles.
Click here for upcoming events!
https://www.tatreezandtea.com/events

Eggstraordinary Objects: ostrich eggs as luxury items in the ancient Mediterranean
2021-03-06 10:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Dr. Tamar Hodos, University of Bristol
Decorated ostrich eggs were traded as luxury items from the Middle East to the western Mediterranean during the second and first millennia BCE. The eggs were engraved, painted, and occasionally embellished with ivory, precious metals and faience fittings. While archaeologists note their presence as unusual vessels in funerary and dedicatory contexts, little is known about how or from where they were sourced, decorated and traded. An ongoing project between researchers at Bristol University and the British Museum has established techniques to identify where the eggs originated and how they were decorated. This talk shares the results of our study, revealing the complexity of the production, trade, and economic and social values of luxury organic items between competing cultures of the ancient Mediterranean world.
Register Here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMscuGhrzMvGdB8aReWTG8Q5DLaMX2vLsSP

Vaccine Apartheid, Grassroots Resistance and Transnational Connections
2021-03-16 10:00 - 11:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Rachel Corrie: Commemorating 18 Years
Join the Rachel Corrie Foundation for a roundtable discussion commemorating Rachel Corrie’s life, legacy, and commitment to Palestinian solidarity. Huwaida Arraf, Ahmed Abu Artema, Dr. Yasser Abu Jamei, and the Madison-Rafah Sister City Project will be discussing vaccine apartheid, grassroots resistance, and transnational connections in Gaza and abroad.
Registration link: http://bit.ly/2MHVjgC
Livestream link: https://youtu.be/hybPB0EZARQ

Readings & Conversations with Laila Lalami
2021-03-17 19:30 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Join us for a lecture with Laila Lalami, novelist, finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and author of The Moor’s Account and The Other Americans.
LAILA LALAMI was born in Rabat and educated in Morocco, Great Britain, and the United States. She is the author of four novels, including The Moor’s Account, which won the American Book Award and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Her most recent novel, The Other Americans, was a Los Angeles Times bestseller, a best-of-2019 selection from NPR, Time, and Kirkus, and a finalist for the National Book Award in Fiction. Her essays and criticism have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, Harper’s, the Guardian, and the New York Times. In fall 2020, she will release Conditional Citizens, a nonfiction exploration of how the rights, liberties, and protections of American citizenship are not always uniformly applied.

Lecture at San Jose State University: Laila Lalami
2021-03-18 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
The acclaimed, award-winning novelist–author of The Moor’s Account and The Other Americans–now gives us a bracingly personal work of nonfiction that is concerned with the experiences of “conditional citizens.”
What does it mean to be American? In this starkly illuminating and impassioned book, Pulitzer Prize Finalist Laila Lalami recounts her unlikely journey from Moroccan immigrant to U.S. citizen, using it as a starting point for her exploration of the rights, liberties, and protections that are traditionally associated with American citizenship. Tapping into history, politics, and literature, she elucidates how accidents of birth–such as national origin, race, or gender–that once determined the boundaries of Americanness still cast their shadows today. Throughout the book, she poignantly illustrates how white supremacy survives through adaptation and legislation, with the result that a caste system is maintained, keeping the modern equivalent of white male landowners at the top of the social hierarchy. Conditional citizens, she argues, are all the people whom America embraces with one arm, and pushes away with the other.
Brilliantly argued and deeply personal, Conditional Citizens weaves together the author’s own experiences with explorations of the place of nonwhites in the broader American culture.

Movie: There is a Field via Mideast Focus Ministry
2021-03-19 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
THERE IS A FIELD
This film by local filmmaker Jen Marlow, tells the story of a 17-year-old Palestinian peace activist, killed by the IDF. It is told through the lens of Black Lives Matter activists in the U.S.
In October 2000, a police officer shot and killed unarmed 17-year-old Asel Asleh. His story is tragically familiar for Americans, but Asel was not killed in Ferguson, New York City, Atlanta, or Minneapolis. Asel was a Palestinian teenager who was murdered by Israeli police as he participated in a demonstration, calling for an end to the Israeli occupation and settler-colonization.
Learn more here.
with guest speaker: TBA
Contact info@saintmarks.org to be added to the Mideast Focus Ministry mailing list, or use this form. (Check the box marked “Mideast Focus.”)

The Ethnic Cleansing of Sheikh Jarrah - Screening of Short Films & Discussion with Mohammed El-Kurd
2021-03-20 09:00 - 10:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Please click here to register for this event.
A virtual screening of two short films about Sheikh Jarrah followed by a discussion with Mohammed El-Kurd.
Mohammed El-Kurd is an award-winning writer and internationally-touring poet from Jerusalem, Palestine. His work has appeared in The Nation, The Guardian, and Al-Jazeera among others. He is from Sheikh Jarrah, a neighborhood battling ethnic cleansing since 1972. Today, his family, among 12 others, is ruled to be displaced from their homes by August 2021.

Tatreez & Me: Motherhood, Palestinian Identity, and Embroidery
2021-03-21 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Palestinian embroidery, or tatreez, is centuries-old folk art, traditionally passed from mother to daughter over a cup of tea. The traditional Palestinian embroidered dress, also known as the thobe, has traceable origins from the beginning of the sixteenth century and the tatreez, or embroidery, has an iconographical and symbolic significance that ultimately dates back to Chinese symbols found around 5,000 BC.
Award-winning Palestinian embroiderer Feryal Abbasi-Ghnaim began passing the endangered art form to her daughter Wafa Ghnaim at two years old.
This Mother’s Day, we will celebrate the Palestinian art of embroidery and Palestinian stories through a conversation with Feryal and Wafa about motherhood, Palestinian identity, and embroidery. Bring your mom and your girlfriends for what is sure to be a thoughtful, engaging, and heartwarming conversation.

Discussion: Palestine is a Feminist Struggle
2021-03-24 09:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Palestinian women have always been at the forefront of our resistance to Israeli settler colonialism. We are excited to be hosting two remarkable Palestinian feminist organizers, Soheir Asaad of Tal’aat and Sarah Ihmoud of the Palestinian Feminist Collective for a conversation about emerging Palestinian feminist movements. Join us on Wednesday, March 24 at 12 noon EDT (9 am PST & 6 pm Palestine) to learn what we mean when we say: There is no free homeland without free women! Palestine is a feminist issue.
Co-sponsored by the Palestinian Feminist Collective and Middle East Children’s Alliance
Register today: bit.ly/PalFeminists

If you haven’t had a chance to support the Palestinian Feminist Collective’s pledge affirming that Palestine is a Feminist Issue, sign on today and spread the word near and far!

NBF Presents: Borders of Belonging
2021-03-25 15:00 - 16:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
THURSDAY, MARCH 25 @ 6:00PM EST
National Book Foundation Presents

NBF YouTube Channel

NBF Presents: Borders of Belonging
To question the “other” in American identity, join National Book Award–honored authors Laila Lalami (The Other Americans, 2019 Fiction Finalist), Nafissa Thompson-Spires (Heads of the Colored People, 2018 Fiction Longlist), and Karla Cornejo Villavicencio (The Undocumented Americans, 2020 Nonfiction Finalist) for a conversation on borders, immigration, and outsiders, and what it means to write one’s self into existence. Moderated by Concepción de León, a New York Times reporter.

Movie: MAYOR, followed by a discussion with David Osit and Cherien Dabis
2021-03-26 15:30 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
The Museum of the Palestinian People is excited to screen MAYOR, a captivating portrayal of Musa Hadid, the Mayor of Ramallah. The screening will be followed by a discussion with David Osit and Cherien Dabis.
MAYOR follows Musa Hadid, the Christian mayor of Ramallah, during his second term in office. His immediate goals: repave the sidewalks, attract more tourism, and plan the city’s Christmas celebrations. His ultimate mission: to end the occupation of Palestine.
Rich with detailed observation and humor, MAYOR offers a portrait of dignity amidst the madness and absurdity of endless occupation while posing a question: how do you run a city when you don’t have a country?
Suggested donation: The Museum of the Palestinian People is committed to keeping our virtual programming free, but events like these are impossible without supporters like you. Please consider making a donation to the Museum of the Palestinian People when registering for this event.

The Museum of the Palestinian People is screening MAYOR, followed by a discussion with David Osit and Cherien Dabis

Zikra: Remembering ‘Abd al-Halim Hafiz
2021-03-27 11:00 - 12:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
By the end of his career, ‘Abd al-Halim Hafiz was the most popular singer in Egypt. Radio stations received unprecedented numbers of requests of his songs, and he earned more money for his concerts than any other performer of the day. His cassette sales were similarly unmatched. Nor was Halim’s impact limited to the music sphere. As a pop celebrity, he shaped the everyday lives of Egyptians, from the way they dressed and styled their hair to where they spent their wedding night. The event will feature a presentation by Dr. Nicholas Mangialardi on the singer’s musical legacy followed by a live performance of ‘Abd al-Halim hits by Egyptian jazz vocalist Ahmed Harfoush and his band.

The event will feature a presentation by Dr. Nicholas Mangialardi on the singer’s musical legacy followed by a live performance of ‘Abd al-Halim hits by Egyptian jazz vocalist Ahmed Harfoush and his band.
About Presenters:
Nicholas Mangialardi:
Mangialardi received his PhD from Georgetown University in Arabic and Islamic Studies in 2020. His dissertation explores the music, life, and afterlife of Egyptian singer ‘Abd al-Halim Hafiz. He has also conducted research in cities throughout Egypt on the development of hip hop culture in the country. As an ARCE Fellow in 2017-2018, Mangialardi co-organized the conference Egyptian Soundscapes: Music, Sound, and Built Environment, held in Cairo.
Ahmed Harfoush:
Harfoush spent his childhood between Washington DC and Cairo, Harfoush was exposed to both worlds at an early age. Once an Egyptologist then an administrator at Chicago House living in Luxor in the late 90s and later as a United Nations staff member in Cairo.
Harfoush was clasically trained as a tenor performing with a few choirs in Cairo, then switched his interest in jazz. He established the Riff (jazz) Band in 2002 and co-founded the Cairo Jazz Festival in 2009 as well as producing jazz shows at esteemed Cairo music venues. After moving to London in 2014, he joined the local jazz scene and, with a taste for experimentation, brought to life a genre everyone loved unconditionally and a concept welcomed by everyone; The Egyptian Jazz Projekt. This music venture is a merge between songs from 1950s Egypt and America in a new fresh jazz arrangements.
Registration will close 24 hours before the lecture starts. Registration does not include any future lectures in this series.

5.2 Dialogues on the Art of Arab Fashion: Story of A Dress
2021-03-30 09:00 - 17:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Event Description: Dr. Reem El Mutwalli in conversation with Nisreen and Nermeen Abudail from Naqsh Collective on “Story of a Dress”
Date: 30th March 2021
Time: 12 pm NYC, 5 pm London, 8 pm Dubai
Tickets: Donation
Students: If you are a student, or member of academia please register here to receive your complimentary registration links.
Registering will not only give you access to the live session, but also a recorded version to catch up on in your own time.

Returning Home - A tribute to Mourid Barghouti on Land Day
2021-03-30 17:00 - 18:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
In wake of the recent passing of Mourid Barghouti, the PYM is hosting a literary panel inspired by his seminal text “I Saw Ramallah” and other works.
Please join us on the 45th Commemoration of Land Day and upcoming anniversary of the Great March of Return for this special virtual event “Returning Home”, co-sponsored by Palestine Writes and the Radius of Arab American Writers.
The panel will feature Dr. Amanda Batarseh, Dr. Salam Mir and Zaina AlSous, facilitated by Dr. Suja Sawafta, a seated judge for the GK Scholarship and a scholar with focus on the themes of exile, commitment and dissent through the work of Abdul Rahman Munif

Online: us02web.zoom.us

Sa’ed Atshan on “The Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique”
2021-03-31 14:00 - 15:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
UIC Institute for the Humanities’ Race and US Empire Working Group co-sponsored with the Arab American Cultural Center
Prof. Atshan will speak on his book Queer Palestine and the Empire of Critique (Stanford University Press, 2020) which traces the rise of the LGBTQ movement in Palestine even as they are subjected to an ’empire of ciritque’ locally and globally.
RSVP here: Zoom Link
For questions, email: huminst@uic.edu

RSVP

Contact
Arab American Cultural Center
(312) 413-3253
arabamcc@uic.edu

Film Screening and Discussion: “We’re Not White”
2021-04-06 14:00 - 16:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Join us for viewing and discussion of the film We’re Not White by by Arab American comedian, speaker, writer, academic, and adjunct Professor, Amer Zahr.
What does it mean to be invisible in racial categories but distinct and hyper visible as a ‘feared’ and ‘enemy’ minority? Let’s talk about our experiences, the tensions that exist in this statement of disavowing white supremacy while at times benefiting from proximity to whiteness, how do we see ourselves and what we want to change?
Event is co-sponsored by the Honors College.
Live Transcription via zoom will be available.

RSVP

Egyptian Voices from the Past: An Overview
2021-04-07 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Since the Greek historian, Herodotus wrote about the ancient Egyptians, Egypt has fascinated those looking in from the outside. Come with me as we explore the major sites of ancient Egypt from the late Pre-dynastic era (4500 BCE) through the New Kingdom (1090 BCE) including Abydos, the cult city of Osiris; Memphis, the ancient capital; the temple complex of Karnak in Thebes; Valley of the Kings; Deir el-Medina, the village of the workmen who built and decorated the royal tombs in the Valley of the Kings; and King Tutankhamun’s birthplace, Amarna, Akhenaten’s new city.

(This class is the first in a series of 8 classes.)

The Arabesque Table: A Conversation with Reem Kassis
2021-04-11 11:00 - 12:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
A conversation about The Arabesque Table, a collection of recipes and stories by Reem Kassis

About this Event

Cuisine can connect Palestinians between generations, borders, and timezones; writer, chef, and author of the new book “The Arabesque Table” (Phaidon, 2021), Reem Kassis understands this like no one else. Raised in Jerusalem, Kassis is an acclaimed author and chef who weaves together stories of her upbringing and life with contemporary Palestinian and Arab recipes.
Reem Kassis will be joined by Palestinian writer, Zeina Azzam for a converastion about food and Palestinian identity.
About the book: The Arabesque Table is a one-of-a-kind collection of original contemporary recipes from across the Arab world from acclaimed author Reem Kassis. The book takes inspiration from the traditional food of the Arab world, weaving Reem Kassis’s cultural knowledge with her contemporary interpretations of an ancient, remarkably diverse cuisine. She opens up the world of Arabic cooking today, presenting a mosaic of 130 delicious, accessible home recipes — from simple salads to flavorful mains and fragrant desserts. Organized by primary ingredient, her narratives formed by her experiences and influences bring the dishes to life, as does the book’s vivid photography.
MPP is committed to keeping events like these free and available to all. Please consider making a donation to support our programming and mission.

5.4 Dialogues on the Art of Arab Fashion: Dress & Identity: Cultural, Economic and Political Implications
2021-04-27 09:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
5.4 Dialogues on the Art of Arab Fashion: Dress & Identity: Cultural, Economic and Political Implications

Event Description: Dr. Reem El Mutwalli in conversation with Shahira Mehrez, Creative Advisor to the Zay Initiative, Researcher, Collector & Promoter of Traditional Arts & Crafts
Date: 27th April 2021
Time: 12 pm NYC, 5 pm London, 8 pm Dubai
Tickets: Donation
Students: If you are a student, or member of academia please register here to receive your complimentary registration links.
Registering will not only give you access to the live session, but also a recorded version to catch up on in your own time.

The Environment and Me - Isra Hirsi
2021-04-27 18:30 - 20:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
17-year old activist Isra Hirsi details what environmental justice means for urban communities.
Isra Hirsi is a 17-year-old organizer from Minneapolis, MN. She co-founded US Youth Climate Strike in 2019 and has been an environmental justice activist for 3 years. She has recently been put on Fortune’s 40 under 40 for her work.

Water and Peacebuilding
2021-04-29 10:00 - 11:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
Event Description

Throughout history, water has been a source of conflict, as nations wrestle for sovereignty over key waterways, groups fight for access to critical water sources, and populations are forced to leave their homes due to water scarcity. Accelerating climate change such as erratic rainfall, severe droughts, and other extreme weather events creates more competition for a diminishing water supply that leads to more water-related conflicts. Increasingly, humanitarian and development organizations are also seeing water emerge as more than just a basic human right – it’s also an instrument of peacebuilding. Not only can water security reduce conflict triggers in water-scarce areas, but water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) projects present an opportunity for communities to build social cohesion and social capital around a shared resource. Join representatives from World Vision, Yemen Relief and Reconstruction Foundation, and EverVillage as they discuss how water has played a key role in the communities in which they work.

Movie: Mayor via Mideast Focus Ministry
2021-05-07 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
MAYOR
MAYOR follows Musa Hadid, the Christian mayor of Ramallah, during his second term in office. His immediate goals: repave the sidewalks, attract more tourism, and plan the city’s Christmas celebrations. His ultimate mission: to end the occupation of Palestine. Rich with detailed observation and humor, MAYOR offers a portrait of dignity amidst the madness and absurdity of endless occupation while posing a question: how do you run a city when you don’t have a country?
Learn more here.
with guest speaker: TBA
Contact info@saintmarks.org to be added to the Mideast Focus Ministry mailing list, or use this form. (Check the box marked “Mideast Focus.”)

There Is A Field, a film, by Jen Marlowe
2021-05-27 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
There Is A Field

a film by Jen Marlowe
May 27 from 7–9pm PT (Zoom film screening + panel discussion)
May 28–30 (view the film online, on demand)
Sliding scale admission: $0–25. Suggested contribution: $15
Get your tickets here: https://nwfilmforum.org/films/there-is-a-field-online/
Please pay what you can; 25% of proceeds will go directly to support Washington state families impacted by police violence. Remaining proceeds support co-presenting organizations Donkeysaddle Projects, Dunya Productions, and Northwest Film Forum.
About the opening night event:
Dunya Productions, Seattle Rep, and NWFF are partnering on a virtual event which will include watching the film, followed by a meaningful discussion with Seattle-based Black Lives Matter and Palestinian justice activists, exploring the connections addressed in the film, ways to locally embark on joint organizing and solidarity, and the power of theatre and film in social justice movements.

About the film:
In October 2000, a police officer shot and killed unarmed 17-year-old Asel Asleh. His story is tragically familiar for Americans, but Asel was not killed in Ferguson, New York City, Atlanta, or Minneapolis. Asel was a Palestinian teenager who was murdered by Israeli police as he participated in a demonstration, calling for an end to the Israeli occupation and settler-colonization.
There Is a Field began as a play about Asel’s life and his death, told from the perspective of his older sister, Nardin. Through Nardin’s struggle to cope with the murder of her brother, the play offers a uniquely personal lens for learning about intersecting systems of oppression, including Zionism and white supremacy—root causes of state-sanctioned violence and structural racism.
Learn more at https://www.thereisafield.movie/

Film screening and discussion with director - "The Present"
2021-05-29 09:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Please join us for the screening of the Oscar-nominated short film (24 Min) “The Present” followed by a virtual discussion with director Farah Nabulsi
Farah Nabulsi is a Palestinian British Oscar nominated and BAFTA award-winning filmmaker and human rights advocate.
Her latest short film The Present, which is Oscar award-nominated and BAFTA award-winning, sheds light on how Palestinians are deprived of the basic right to freedom of movement. Starring renowned actor Saleh Bakri, it won the Audience Award for Best Film at Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival 2020 (World premiere), the Jury Award for Best Live Action Short at the Cleveland International Film Festival (North American premiere), and has since gone on to win upwards of 25 Audience and Jury Awards at numerous International film festivals as well as being licensed to Canal+ (France), Pacific Voice (Japan), Telefonica (Spain) and Netflix Worldwide.

Open Public Lecture: Egyptian History and its Many Cuisines: An Exploration of Egyptian Food History
2021-05-29 10:00 - 11:00 (America/Los_Angeles)
Presented by: Dr. Mennat- Allah El Dorry; Food archaeologist and archaeobotanist

Blueprints for Bureaucracy: How the Egyptian Government Designed Settlements in the Desert to oversee Amethyst Mining
2021-06-03 18:00 - 19:30 (America/Los_Angeles)
WHEN
Thursday, Jun 3, 2021, 6 – 7:30 p.m.

ONLINE MEETING LINK
us02web.zoom.us…

EVENT TYPES
Academics

EVENT SPONSORS
A Lecture Sponsored by the American Research Center in Egypt – Northwest Chapter
Co-sponsored by the UW Dept. of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization

FACEBOOK
www.facebook.com…

DESCRIPTION

The design of a space is an essential element to the organization of productive work generated by the people using that space. The principles of organization of administration can speak to the greater importance of architecture and design as means of control and productivity. This talk will present results from ongoing archaeological survey and excavation of the Wadi el-Hudi Expedition in Egypt’s Eastern Desert. The focus will be on Sites 5 and 9. These types of settlements have often been confused with fortresses because of elements from their designs, but fortification was not its main purpose. Various architectural and archaeological nuances demonstrate how Egyptian officials designed their spaces to maximize amethyst production quarried at these sites through the organization their workforces and workspaces.
Kate Liszka is the Benson and Pamela Harer Fellow in Egyptology and an Associate Professor of History at California State University, San Bernardino. She received her PhD in Egyptology from the University of Pennsylvania in 2012. From 2012-2015 she was a Cotsen Postdoctoral Fellow in the Society of Fellows at Princeton University. Her research for the last decade has focused on interactions between Nubians and Egyptians. Kate also directs an archaeological project at Wadi el-Hudi, in the Eastern Egyptian Desert, where large Egyptian and Roman expeditions mined amethyst during the Middle Kingdom and Roman Period.
