Events

This symposium examines the stakes for Iraqis fifteen years since the 2003 invasion and occupation of Iraq. It foregrounds Iraqi perspectives at a critical moment by bringing together humanities-based scholars and practitioners in history, fiction, medicine, film and journalism with rich expertise in Iraq, its diaspora and its archives. This symposium is made possible through the support of the Interdisciplinary Humanities Center, the Carsey-Wolf Center and the Center for Middle East Studies at UC Santa Barbara.

Thursday May 10

PANEL 1
1:30 – 4:00pm
McCune Conference Room (HSSB 6020)

Opening Remarks by Mona Damluji (Film & Media Studies)
“The Times of Revolution in Jawad Salim’s Monument to Freedom”
Sara Pursley, New York University
“Pre-occupation, Epistemic Violence & Collateral Damage in Iraq”
Sinan Antoon, New York University
Moderated by Sherene Seikaly (History)
Sponsored by IHC’s Crossings + Boundaries Series

RECEPTION
4:00 – 5:00pm
Crowell Room (HSSB 6028)
Performance by UCSB Middle East Music Ensemble
Sponsored by IHC’s Crossings + Boundaries Series

FILM EVENT
7:00 – 9:00pm
Pollock Theater, UC Santa Barbara

Screening: Life After the Fall. 2008. Directed by Kasim Abid
Post-screening panel: “Storytelling from Iraq” with Sinan Antoon & Leila Fadel
Moderated by Mona Damluji (Film & Media Studies)
Sponsored by CWC & Arab Film & Media Institute

Friday May 11

PANEL 2
10:30am – 12:30pm
McCune Conference Room (HSSB 6020)

“Reporting from Iraq: The Importance of the Human Story to Informing Policy”
Leila Fadel, NPR Correspondent
“Iraqibacter: Ecologies of War and an Anthropology of Wounding”
Omar Dewachi, American University of Beirut
Moderated by Paul Amar (Global Studies)
Sponsored by the Center for Middle East Studies