September 12, Saturday- “Middle Eastern Women Today: Odalisques, Terrorists or Just Like Us?” by Dr. Evelyn Early.
The importance of the Middle East to Americans and New Mexicans in strategic, security and economic senses is clear from our daily diet of news. What becomes ever clearer is our need for constructive engagement with the Muslim world, a project hampered by stereotypes, distortions and misinformation. This is even more evident when one thinks of women in the Islamic Middle East, whose lives today are a mystery to most of the media. Dr. Evelyn A. Early will contrast the stereotypes with the reality of lives of Middle Eastern Islamic women.
Dr. Evelyn Early, a diplomat with the Department of State, is currently Senior State Department Advisor at the Air University in Montgomery, Alabama. She has served as Counselor for Press and Cultural Affairs at embassies in Rabat, Prague, Damascus, and Khartoum. She has researched in Lebanon, Egypt and Syria and taught anthropology at UNM, Notre Dame University, and the University of Houston. B.A. from Macalester College, M.A. from the American University of Beirut, and Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.
3:00-4:30 PM at the Albuquerque Museum.
October 2, Friday- “Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Terrorism:
An Insider’s Look” by by Nikolas Schmidle.
Nicholas Schmidle lived in Pakistan and Afghanistan for two years and went places that no one else dared to go. Come listen to him describe his experiences inside of some of Pakistan’s most dangerous places – from the Red Mosque in Islamabad to the Swat Valley to the villages outside of South Waziristan. His discussion not only promises to be unique and informative, but surprising too, as Schmidle delves beyond the headlines to share his analysis of Pakistan, the return of the Taliban and al-Qaeda, and the United States’ prospects for success fighting insurgents based along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
Nicolas Schmidle is a fellow at the New America Foundation. He writes for the New York Times Magazine, Slate, The New Republic, Smithsonian, and the Virginia Quarterly Review, among other publications, and received the 2008 Kurt Schork Award for freelance journalism. As a Fellow of the Institute of Current World Affairs, he lived and reported in Pakistan for two years. His most recent book, based on that experience, is To Live or Perish Forever (Henry Holt, 2009).
3:30 – 5:00 PM at the Albuquerque Museum.
October 7, Tuesday- Book Club:” Engaging the Muslim World” by Juan Cole.
October 18, Sunday- “The Conundrum of Israel and Palestine” by Dr. Charles Smith.
With the Obama administration, U.S. policy appears to have taken a 180 degree turn from the policies of George W. Bush, and at least a 90 degree divergence from those of Bill Clinton. But the Israeli-Palestinian conundrum is not limited to solutions to existing and ongoing issues and tensions. It also involves consideration of the national narratives of Palestinians and Israelis and whether each side can incorporate the other's narrative without viewing it as a threat to its own stance. Charles Smith will address current issues in themselves and in light of historical developments and narratives, and raise the question whether Israeli and Palestinian interpretations of their experiences vis-a-vis the other will allow true compromise and a settlement acceptable to both sides.
Charles Smith is a specialist in modern Middle East history in the Department of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Arizona, where he has been a member of the faculty since 1994. A former Fulbright Scholar to Egypt, he was a research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1982. He is the former president of the American Research Center in Egypt, 1996-1999 and currently a member of the executive board of the Palestinian-American Research Center. Professor Smith is the author of Palestine and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Bedford/St. Martin’s, 1988), now in its sixth edition. The seventh edition will appear in 2009.
3:00 – 5:00 PM at the Albuquerque Museum.
October 30, Friday- “Political Islam: What Is It and Does It Matter?" by Dr. Emile Nakhleh.
In recent years Islamic political parties have emerged as significant forces throughout the Muslim world, but for most Americans the nature and aims of these movements are almost complete mysteries. What is the origin of Political Islam, and what role do Islamic parties like Hamas, Hizballah, and the Muslim Brotherhood play in the public life of their respective countries? Does the participation of Islamic parties in elections indicate a genuine commitment to democracy and the democratic process, or is it a sham? Why have Islamic political parties been attacked by authoritarian Muslim regimes on the one hand and by al-Qa'ida and various radical groups on the other? How have these parties and the wider Islamic world responded to such criticisms? What does the rise of Political Islam mean for US relations with the Muslim world, and how can the Obama administration calibrate its policies so as to include these movements in its broader program of engagement?
Dr. Emile Nakhleh is eminently suited to answer these and other questions. Born in the Middle East and educated in the United States, he holds a Ph.D. from American University. After teaching for twenty-six years, Dr. Nakhleh embarked upon a government career. He became a senior intelligence service officer and Director of the Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program in the Directorate of Intelligence at the CIA. Now retired, he is the author of A Necessary Engagement: Reinventing America’s Relations with the Muslim World (Princeton University Press, 2009).
3:30 – 5:00 PM at the Albuquerque Museum.
AIA Members: $15 each lecture or $50 for the series of 4 lectures.
Non-members or guests: $19 each lecture. Students are free (with proper ID). Send payment to PO Box 92995, 87119. Call at 856-7277, e-mail at info@abqinternational.org, or visit our website for more information at www.abqinternational.org.