Panel Video: Ziad Abu-Rish & Maya Mikdashi on the Beirut Explosion, Its Context, and Developments

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Aug 24, 2020 Lebanon

Panel Video: Ziad Abu-Rish & Maya Mikdashi on the Beirut Explosion, Its Context, and Developments

By : Jadaliyya Reports

On 17 August 2020, the Center for Contemporary Arab Studies (CCAS) at Georgetown University hosted a virtual panel titled "Beirut Explosion: Context and Developments," featuring Jadaliyya Co-Editors (and CCAS alumni) Ziad Abu-Rish and Maya Mikdashi, moderated by CCAS Director Joseph Sassoon.

The panel began with 15-minute presentations by each of Abu-Rish and Mikdashi. Abu-Rish set the stage by discussing what is known about the explosion, its aftermath, and its broader contexts. Mikdashi then spoke on the question of meaningful change in Lebanon and what that would look like. The remainder of the panel featured responses by the presenters to audience questions, moderated by Sassoon.

Panelists


Ziad Abu-Rish is a 2020-21 American Druze Foundation Fellow at CCAS. He is Co-Director of the MA Program in Human Rights and the Arts at Bard College. Abu-Rish’s research interests center on the intersections between state formation, economic development, and popular mobilizations in the mid-twentieth-century Levant, especially Lebanon and Jordan. Abu-Rish holds a Ph.D. in History from the University of California Los Angeles and an MA in Arab Studies from Georgetown University. He serves as Co-Editor of Arab Studies Journal and Jadaliyya, and has been based in Beirut since December 2019. He is currently a research fellow at the Lebanese Center for Policy Studies (LCPS).

Maya Mikdashi is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies and a lecturer in the program in Middle East Studies at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. She received her Ph.D. from the Department of Anthropology at Columbia University and holds an MA in Arab Studies from Georgetown University. She is an interdisciplinary scholar of the state, and is currently completing a book manuscript that examines political difference, sexual difference, sovereignty, secularism and state power in Lebanon. Maya uses both archival and ethnographic research in her work, and is particularly interested in the everyday ways that people talk about, imagine, work within, challenge, and turn towards state power. She is a co-founding editor of Jadaliyya.

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Sep 24, 2015 Lebanon
Jadaliyya Reports By :
Jadaliyya Reports

Fifth Annual DC Palestinian Film & Arts Festival Runs October 1-4, 2015

The DC Palestinian Film and Arts Festival (DCPFAF) is pleased to announce the full program for the fifth annual festival, which will take place between 1-4 October 2015. The festival will feature ten films, discussions with filmmakers from as far as Chile and Palestine, a musical program featuring a seven-piece ensemble, a talk by a photojournalist from Gaza, and a literature program featuring authors Suad Amiry and Ibtisam Azem who will introduce Arabic to the festival for the first time. The fifth DCPFAF will open with the DC-premiere of The Wanted 18 with co-director Amer Shomali and a reception at E Street Cinema (555 11th St NW) at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday 1 October 2015.

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[Giraffada]

Feature films being screened at the Goethe-Institut include Rani Massalha’s Giraffada (8 p.m. on Oct. 2), Salim Abu Jabal’s documentary Roshmia (2:15 p.m. on Oct. 3), and Suha Arraf’s critically-acclaimed Villa Touma (3:30 p.m. on Oct. 3). This year’s selection of films address a range of issues from the intifadas to displacement to social norms to the psychological impact of occupation. Filmmaker, Jessica Habie will premiere her first-feature, Mars at Sunrise (5 p.m on Oct. 4) and join the Festival in Q & A to follow the screening.

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 [Wanted 18]

Short films will be screened on Saturday and Sunday morning at the Goethe-Institut (812 7th St NW). Among them is Mauricio Misle’s experimental documentary, Hamule (11 a.m. on Oct. 4). Misle’s film addresses the fragmented and often painful journey of Palestinian exiles in Chile and their families, and he will be joining the festival all the way from Chile. Following the short film segment on Saturday, photojournalist Eman Mohammad will join festival goers at 12:45 p.m. for a discussion moderated by author Laila El-Haddad. 

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[Ibtisam Azem] 

The musical program at Tropicalia (2001 14th St NW) from 6-10 p.m. on Saturday evening promises to be a special treat bringing together Iraqi and Palestinian influences. Rahim AlHaj, virtuoso oud musician and composer, is widely considered to be one of the best oud players in the world. Wanees Zarour, a composer, buzuq player, violinist and educator, specializes in Maqam music and has been featured in music festivals and concerts globally.

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[Villa Touma]

The full program, along with online tickets and festival passes, can be found at www.dcpfaf.org. To review the films, request a press pass, and/or request an interview with one of the artists, please contact palestinefilmdc@gmail.com.

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[Hamule]

2015 DCPFAF co-sponsors: Arab Studies Institute, The Institute for Palestine Studies, Arab America, Institute for Policy Studies, Neal Mufti, and WHUT PBS. To learn how to become a co-sponsor of the DCPFAF, please contact Alaa’ Odeh at alaa.m.odeh@gmail.com.

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[Hamule]

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