Master’s program in Digital Cultural Heritage

Join The American University in Cairo Press for a virtual book discussion of Edward Said: The Politics of an Oppositional Intellectual by Nubar Hovsepian (AUC Press, 2025), a profound exploration of the life, work, and legacy of one of the 20th century’s most influential thinkers and the foremost advocate for the Palestinian cause in the West. In this special event, author Nubar Hovsepian will be in conversation with acclaimed journalist, interviewer, and award-winning radio host David Barsamian, founder of Alternative Radio.

Together, they will explore the political, cultural, and personal dimensions of Edward Said’s thought—from his groundbreaking work Orientalism to his enduring advocacy for Palestinian rights and his vision for justice and humanism in global affairs. The conversation will also reflect on Said’s relevance in today’s world and Hovsepian’s unique insights as both a scholar and someone who knew Said personally.

About the Author:

Nubar Hovsepian (Author) is associate professor emeritus of political science at Chapman University in Orange, California. He is the author of Palestinian State Formation: Education and the Construction of National Identity, and he edited and contributed to The War on Lebanon.  He is the author of books on Palestine and Lebanon, and editor of several books including on the Iranian revolution. Hovsepian has devoted enormous time to the Israel/Palestine conflict, and served, from 1982 to 1984, as political affairs officer for the United Nations Conference on the Question of Palestine.

About the Discussant:

One of America’s most tireless and wide-ranging investigative journalists, David Barsamian has altered the independent media landscape, both with his weekly radio program, Alternative Radio—38 years and running— and his books with Noam Chomsky, Eqbal Ahmad, Howard Zinn, Tariq Ali, Richard Wolff, Arundhati Roy and Edward Said. His latest books are Culture and Resistance, Retargeting Iran, Chronicles of Dissent and Notes on Resistance. His forthcoming book from Haymarket in March 2024 is with Arundhati Roy, The Architecture of Modern Empire. David lectures on world affairs, imperialism, capitalism, propaganda, the media and global rebellions.

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Souls for Sale: Slavery’s Role in the Growth and Expansion of the Catholic Church and Other American Institutions

Friday, May 9 • 4–5:30pm • Friedman Hall, Room 102 • 90 George Street • Providence, RI

Rachel Swarns, a contributing writer for the New York Times and a journalism professor at New York University, will discuss her recent book, The 272: The Families Who Were Enslaved and Sold to Build the American Catholic Church, and explore how slavery fueled the growth of many contemporary American institutions, including universities, religious institutions and financial institutions.

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Complete Disorder: Resistance and Refusal to Colonial Legacy in the Arts and Humanities

Thursday, May 8 • 10am–6pm • Online Only

This conference asks: is it possible to transform cultural and academic institutions from sites of colonial harm into spaces of justice, care, and community? Bringing together museum professionals, scholars, artists, and community leaders, we explore how museums, archives, and institutions alike are confronting their colonial legacies towards reparative futures and will examine challenges and possibilities for repatriation, community-driven exhibitions, archival intervention, and reimagining history telling.

Check out the conference schedule, session descriptions, and learn about the speakers and moderators on the event webpage.

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“Bending Time & Space in the Sistine Chapel”
Founders Day Public Lecture by Maria Loh
Friday, May 16, 2025
5:00 p.m. | Wolfensohn Hall

What is there left to say about the Sistine Chapel, and why should we still be talking about it in 2025? While more than a generation of scholars and students have set sail for the Global Renaissance or recalibrated their analytic tools towards eco-criticism, Maria Loh, Professor in the School of Historical Studies, will conduct an état de lieux of the Sistine Chapel and consider why and, more importantly, how it should still matter to us today.

Please register below to attend this free event.

REGISTER HERE

SBA Writing Group Kick-Off Meeting

Hosted by Dr. Alicia Odewale, SBA President-Elect

APRIL 25, 2025 | 1:00 – 2:30 PM CST

Register for the Virtual Zoom Meeting

Find a region near you to connect, collaborate and write in community with other SBA members gathering around the world this summer from May 1- August 30th. Join in as the SBA collectively write and publish the next generation of African and African Diaspora Archaeology scholarship.

As they head into 2026 and celebrate the 15 year anniversary of the Society of Black Archaeologists, SBA will be sharing a new hashtag #WritingBlackArchaeology to invite everyone to join in this Black archaeology writing movement. SBA will be thinking about all that’s happened the last 15 years since their founding and charting the course for the next 15 years ahead.

Join AUC Press on April 29th at 12 pm EST for a virtual book talk about Visualizing Egypt: European Travel, Book Publishing, and the Commercialization of the Middle East in the Nineteenth Century with author Paulina Banas who explores how market forces shaped illustrated publications on Egypt at a time of peak European colonial interest. The book features over 70 stunning illustrations and reveals the complex interplay between art, commerce, and imperialism. The event includes a live Q&A.

There will be a Q&A session at the end of the discussion, you can send us your questions ahead of time via email: auc.press@aucegypt.edu.

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Facebook Live-streaming Link

The ARAM Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies is organizing its Fifty-Eighth International Conference on the theme of “Orientalism and the Levant during the Second Half of the Second Millennium (1500-2000).” The conference will take place at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, the University of Oxford, from July 6th to July 8th, 2026.

The conference will begin on Monday, July 6th at 9:00 AM and will conclude on Wednesday, July 8th at 1:00 PM. Each speaker’s presentation is limited to 35 minutes, followed by an additional 10 minutes for discussion. All papers presented at the conference will be considered for publication in a future edition of the ARAM Periodical, pending editorial review.

If you would like to participate in the conference, please contact ARAM at their Oxford address: ARAM Society, Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Pusey Lane, Oxford OX1 2LE, England. You can reach ARAM by email at aram@ames.ox.ac.uk or by phone at 0044 (0) 1865-514041

Registration Form Orientalism & the Levant

The Aram Society for Syro-Mesopotamian (Aram Society for Syro-Mesopotamian Studies) Studies is organizing its Fifty-Eighth International Conference on “The Aramaeans BC: History and Archaeology,” which will take place at the Faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, University of Oxford, from July 14 to 15, 2025.

The conference will begin on Monday, July 14, at 9 a.m. and conclude on Tuesday, July 15, at 6 p.m. Each speaker will have a maximum of 45 minutes for their paper, followed by an additional 15 minutes for discussion. All papers presented at the conference will be considered for publication in a future edition of the ARAM Periodical.

If you wish to attend the conference, please complete the Registration Form Aramaeans and return it to ARAM by the end of March 2025.

Thank you!