• Ottoman Armenian Theater and the Role of Actresses in Forging New Cultural Norms

    Kaplan Hall 365

    The presentation discusses the emergence of theater among Ottoman Armenians in the 19th century in the context of modernization and national awakening and the role Armenian actresses had in the development and popularization of the art. Theater played the dual role of reflecting and serving as an agent of sociocultural and political shifts. Largely concentrating...

  • Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series: Mehrnoush Soroush

    Royce Hall Room 306 10745 Dickson Plaza, Los Angeles, CA (CALIFORNIA)

    Please join the Pourdavoud Center for the Study of the Iranian World for a lecture by Dr. Mehrnoush Soroush of Harvard University as part of the 2018-2019 Lecture Series. The Lords of Canals and Bridges: Re-Examining the Sasanian Hydraulic Landscapes and Their Heritage in the Islamic Period Sasanian kings are known as builders of impressive...

  • Undergraduate Student Colloquium in Armenian Studies

    Royce 306

    6:30 p.m.-7:00 Refreshments   7:00-7:10 Opening Remarks Ara Mandjikian - Director of the 2019 Undergraduate Student Colloquium in Armenian Studies                  Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA Dr. S. Peter Cowe - Narekatsi Professor of Armenian Studies Near Eastern Languages and                Cultures, UCLA   Panel 1: Contemporary Issues of Armenian Language Acquisition Chair: Ani...

  • EVENT CANCELED: The Cenotaph of Harwa: Mystery Religions, Resurrection and Renaissance in an Amazing Monument in the Egypt of the Late 8th Century BC

    Kaplan 365

    THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELED.   The Italian Archaeological Mission to Luxor works in the Funerary Complex of Harwa (TT 37) and Akhamunru (TT 404) since 1996. With its 4000 square meters of extension the Cenotaph of the Great Majordomo of the God-Wife Harwa (7th Century BC) is one of the largest monuments ever built...

  • UCLA Bilingual Lecture Series with Dr. Afshin Matin-Asgari

    Kaplan Hall 365

    Please join UCLA Iranian Studies for Dr. Afshin Matin-Asgari's second lecture of the 2018-2019 academic year. He will present research from his latest book on April 9, 2019 in Kaplan Hall 365 (former Humanities Building) at 2:00pm. Both East and West: A Commentary on the History of Modernity in Iran Since the Iranian Revolution of...

  • The Seventeenth Century Judeo-Persian Adaptation of the Buddha Biographies

    Royce 306

    Elisha ben Shemuel’s Shahzadeh va-Sufi or The Prince and The Sufi is a seventeenth century Judeo-Persian adaptation of the life of Buddha, known in the west as the story of Barlaam and Josaphat. The plot, that of the prince who abandons a life of privilege and opulence for spiritual enlightenment, has traveled through centuries in...

  • Feeding the Gods in Ancient Israel

    UCLA Faculty Center

    Bread and other grain-based foods were not only staples in the ancient Israelite diet; they were also staples in the ritual acts that accompanied the worship of several deities in ancient Israel. In addition to the state god YHWH, who required regular offerings of lechem hapanim (“bread of the presence”) in the Tabernacle and the...

  • UCLA Bilingual Lecture Series with Dr. Ida Meftahi

    121 Dodd Hall 390 Portola Plaza, Los Angeles, CA, United States

    Film and Discussion on Lalehzar Street A Socio-Historical View Often compared to New York’s Broadway and Paris’s Champs-Élysées, Lalehzar District and its vicinity was a hub for experimentations in music and performing arts as well as new modes of business practices, socialization, and political expression partly due to its proximity to multitude of foreign embassies,...

  • UCLA Bilingual Lecture Series with Dr. Ida Meftahi

    Kaplan 365

    Performing a Nation’s Angels and Princesses: The Female Dancing Subjects of a Century-Old Iranian Nationalist Stage In early twentieth-century Iran, a nationalist-modernist theatrical milieu emerged that meant to educate society through performing arts. While touring companies from neighboring regions showcased new genres of arts on the Iranian stage, the dispersion of ethno-religious minorities in regions...

  • Pourdavoud Center Lecture Series: Jason Schlude

    Royce Hall Room 306 10745 Dickson Plaza, Los Angeles, CA (CALIFORNIA)

    Motivations in the Ancient Middle East: Rome, Parthia, and Realpolitik The Roman and Parthian Empires enjoyed no shortage of wars. From the 50s BCE through the 200s CE, they frequently clashed. Why? The dominant explanation is realpolitik. In the zero-sum game of international relations, each state, out for its own interests, sought the aggressive expansion...