Nationalism, Anarchism, Reform: Understanding Political Islam from the Inside Out

Nationalism, Anarchism, Reform: Understanding Political Islam from the Inside Out

A lecture by James Gelvin

How can the United States identify its true enemies in what George W. Bush called the “Global War on Terror”? How useful and accurate are the labels such as “Islamo-fascist” or “violent extremist” in this task? This talk will lay out a framework for understanding political Islam in all its diversity. That framework is based on a close examination of the rhetorical battle currently being waged amongst Islamists themselves from pulpits and television studios, in print and in cyberspace.

January 21, 2011

12:30-2 PM

Science Center 101

Nationalism, Anarchism, Reform:

Understanding Political Islam

from the Inside Out

James L. Gelvin is professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles. His research interests include the social and cultural history of Greater Syria during the late nineteenth/early twentieth centuries, Islamic movements, and nationalism in the Arab Middle East. He is author of Divided Loyalties: Nationalism and Mass Politics in Syria at the Close of Empire (1998), The Modern Middle East: A History (2004, 2007, 2011), and The Israel-Palestine Conflict: One Hundred Years of War (2005, 2007), along with numerous articles and chapters in edited volumes. He is presently co-editing a volume entitled, Circuits and Networks: Islam and Islamic Communities During the First Age of Globalization: 1815-1914.

Hosted by The Department of History Co-Sponsored by the French section of Modern Languages, Political Science, Religion, and Sociology and Anthropology Departments, and the Islamic Studies, and Peace & Conflict Studies Programs at Swarthmore College and the Middle East Center at the University of Pennsylvania

Directing Workshop and Lighting Design present a NIGHT OF SCENES

The Department of Theater’s

Directing Workshop (THEA 035)

In collaboration with Lighting Design (THEA 004B)

Presents

A NIGHT OF SCENES

Consisting of excerpts from:

Miss Julie, by August Strindberg

Directed by Michelle Fennell ‘12

Lighting Design by Isa St. Clair

Betrayal, by Harold Pinter

Directed by Ryane Diskin-Cahill ‘13

Lighting Design by Nell Bang-Jensen ‘11

Top Girls, by Caryl Churchill

Directed by Lori Barkin ‘12

Lighting Design by Emily Letts HC ‘11

A Lie of the Mind, by Sam Shepard

Directed by Jeannette Leopold HC ‘13

Lighting Design by Jeff Schneider HC ‘13

FREAR ENSEMBLE THEATRE (ROOM 1 LPAC, LOWER LOBBY LEVEL)

WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY, DEC. 8 & 9, @ 7 pm

Free and open to the public without advance reservation

George Lakey Named “Peace Educator of the Year”

Visiting Professor and Research Fellow George Lakey was honored on October 2 by the Peace and Justice Studies Association (PJSA) in its conference in Winnipeg, Canada.

The PJSA is the professional association of scholars and teachers in the U.S. and Canada, and is part of the International Peace Research Association. Its annual conference is held on university campuses in North America and this time was at the University of Winnipeg and Canadian Mennonite University.

George Lakey is in his fifth year at Swarthmore, the first three of which he served as Eugene M. Lang Visiting Professor for Issues in Social Change. His Peace and Conflict Studies courses at Swarthmore have included “Nonviolent Responses to Terrorism” and “Research Seminar in Nonviolent Struggle and Strategy.” In the latter course students create case studies which will be mounted on an internet website in the Global Nonviolent Action Database Project. The project, initiated by Lakey, aims to include all countries in the thousands of cases of “people power” aiming for human rights, peace, environmental sustainability, democracy, and economic justice. The web-based database will, in addition to a standardized database format, include 2-3 page narratives for each case.

The PJSA gave its “Peace Educator of the Year” award “for excellence in scholarship and dedication to peace education.” In addition to a teaching career that has included Haverford College and the University of Pennsylvania, Lakey has led over 1500 social change workshops on five continents. He is author of eight books and many articles both scholarly and popular. In his activist role he has led campaigns for social change on neighborhood, city-wide, state, national, and international levels, and was a founder of the Movement for a New Society and the Jobs with Peace Campaign. Lakey’s first arrest was for a civil rights sit-in in Chester, PA, and his first book was for the civil rights movement, A Manual for Direct Action, co-authored with fellow sociologist Martin Oppenheimer. At Swarthmore Lakey is based at the Lang Center for Civic and Social Responsibility and the Peace and Conflict Studies program of the College.

JOIN the Dance Program in Spring 2011!

We have several exciting dance classes coming up in the Spring. Please check out our course schedule available on our website. Many of our repertory classes offer opportunities for performance in the Student Dance Concert in April. More information is available on the LPAC Lobby Monitor or in the Dance Office located in the basement of the LPAC (004) or you can contact Susan Grossi, the Administrative Assistant for the Dance Program for more information at sgrossi1@swarthmore.edu or X2019. Come dance with us!

JOIN the Dance Program in Spring 2011!

Lecture/Demo 11/17/10 with idiosynCrazy

Discovering the Dimensions of Flatness

The world is huge and, in a given moment, only a fraction of it is available to each of us. We organize our fractions into systems and patterns that we can process, that make sense to us. We make decisions about what is essential, and we allow ourselves to focus on those things. And sometimes, we have to limit our focus even more, to just the essential of the essential: a fraction of a fraction – reality flattened into a more manageable size. What does this “essential” look like when it is all we know?

FLATLAND 2010 is dance/theater company idiosynCrazy productions’ latest production. FLATLAND explores the difficulty of human communication in a world where the sound byte supersedes substance, the instant message overpowers the intimate one. This lecture/demonstration will allow the audience into the creation process of FLATLAND, exposing the process of movement invention and how that is linked to theatrical expression. FLATLAND is directed by Jumatatu Poe (Swarthmore professor and alum), with lighting design by Catherine Lee, and performances by Kristel Baldoz, Justin Bryant, Danielle Currica, Christine Gerena, Gregory Holt (Swarthmore alum), Maya Johnson, Shannon Murphy, Shavon Norris, Gabrielle Revlock, William Robinson, and Michele Tantoco. Movement designed by Poe and the performers.
Come get a sneak peek of this work and this creative process before the work has its official premiere at the Annenberg Center in Philadelphia on January 15, 2011.
Lecture/Demo Wednesday November 17 at 4:30PM in the LPAC Troy Dance Studio. Please join us!

Lecture/Demo 11/17/10 with idiosynCrazy

Discovering the Dimensions of Flatness

Senior Company presents METAMORPHOSES by Mary Zimmerman

The Department of Theater at Swarthmore College will present Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses in the Lang Performing Arts Center’s Frear Ensemble Theatre on Friday, December 3rd at 4:30pm and 9:00pm and Saturday, December 4th at 3:00pm and 8:00pm. The Senior Company includes Eva Amessé ‘11, Nell Bang-Jensen ‘11, Emily Letts ‘11, Joshua Lipman ‘11, Isa St. Clair ‘11, and Brian Willis ‘11, with guest performers Ben Hattem ‘12, Thomas Powers ‘13 and Brian Ratcliffe ’11. The production also includes set design by Professor Laila Swanson, lighting design by Jessie Bear ’09, sound design by Louis Jargow ’10, costume consultation by Tara Webb ’94 and props design by Vianca Masucci ’13 and Logan Tiberi-Warner ‘11. The event will be free and open to the public without reservations.

Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses is a non-naturalistic play that uses mythic elements to tell stories about human transformation. The play is based on the myths of Ovid as translated by David Slavitt, along with several other fables as interpreted by the playwright, and includes words from a poem by Rainer Marie Rilke. After initially premiering in 1996 at Northwestern University, it was picked up in 1998 by the Lookingglass Theatre Company in Chicago and then premiered off-Broadway in October 2001 at the Second Stage Theater in New York. Metamorphoses opened on Broadway at the Circle in the Square Theater in 2002, was nominated for Best Play and won a Tony Award for Best Direction.

The play builds a foundation of striking images that examines human behavior and emotions from different viewpoints. Senior Company has staged the production as a series of fantastical, Greek vignettes in an abstract and thought-provoking environment. Senior Company’s collective design and collaborative process focuses this production on the storytelling, explores the relationships of the multitude of characters present in its world, and showcases the central idea of the play. The characters are not the actors themselves, but various storytelling personas that the actors manifest using props, physicality, and costumes. The goal is to offer tales to ponder and wonder about, not to make the audience choose sides between story and storyteller. As Mary Zimmerman states, “the Greek gods, I believe, are twelve different names for feelings inside ourselves….”

For further information about these events, contact Tara Webb at 610-328-8260 or twebb1@swarthmore.edu

Coming soon the FALL 2010 Student Dance Concert!

The Department of Music and Dance at Swarthmore College will present the Fall 2010 Student Dance Concert on Friday, December 3^rd, 2010 at 8PM and Saturday, December 4^th, 2010 at 8PM in the Lang Performing Arts Center’s Pearson-Hall Theater. The event will be free and open to the public without reservations.

The Dance Program of the Dept. of Music and Dance sends a warm invitation for the Fall Student Dance Concert. This term’s concert will feature dances and music in a variety of styles and from various cultural traditions. West African, Brazilian, Ballet, Tap, and Taiko pieces will all be included. Guest choreographer Meredith Rainey (former principal dance with Pennsylvania Ballet and current artistic director for his own company, Carbon Dance Theatre) has choreographed a new work for participants in the ballet repertory class. Senior Amelia Kidd will present two sections of a contemporary ballet that is part of her honors dance minor course work among many other exciting performances in the show. Families with children are especially welcome to attend.

For further information about these events, you may also contact Tara Webb at 610-328-8260 or twebb1@swarthmore.edu.

Coming soon the FALL 2010 Student Dance Concert!

For further information about these events, you may also contact Tara Webb at 610-328-8260 or twebb1@swarthmore.edu.