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Past Events
June 2018
“Untaken Paths”- Film Screening and Discussion
Film Screening of Untaken Paths (2017, 106 min, English subtitles) from director Tahmieh Milani will be followed by a panel discussion. About the Film: Legendary feminist filmmaker Tahmineh Milani is no stranger to stories of women’s marital struggles. Untaken Paths, her fourteenth feature, tells the story of a young woman in love who marries against the wishes of her family. She is challenged when her nascent marriage is thrown into trouble because of the couple’s roots in different social strata. The…
Read MoreMay 2018
A Romano-Egyptian Obelisk Beyond the Nile
Using a Romano-Egyptian obelisk from the collection of the Museo del Sannio in Benevento, Italy as a case study, this talk will overview the major themes of the current Getty exhibition “Beyond the Nile: Egypt and the Classical World.” This exhibition explores cross-cultural interactions between Egypt, Greece, and Rome from about 2000 BC until about AD 300. Part of a new Getty initiative called The Classical World in Context, the exhibition kicks off a series that will highlight the Classical…
Read MoreIs There a Persian Literary History? Twentieth-century Journals and the Formation of Literary Criticism
Aria Fani (UC Berkeley) This talk will consider the role of early twentieth-century Persian-language journals in institutionalizing what we know as Persian literary history today in Iran and Afghanistan. The focus of the talk will be Mohammad Taqi Bahar’s journal Daneshkadeh, and in particular ‘Abbas Eqbal-Ashtiyani’s series titled “Tarikh-e adabi” (Literary history, 1918-1919). Once we investigate the ways in which literary journals have helped to forge and institutionalize Persian literary history, they will emerge not just as a byproduct of…
Read MoreGrad (WINE) + Cheese
Come and enjoy an evening with fellow grad students of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures! Avoid work, and your professors! BYOB!!! This event is sponsored by the Near Eastern Languages and Cultures Humanities Council funds, so no funds can be spent on alcoholic beverages. HumCo money will provide non-alcoholic refreshments and food, but please bring your own beverages!
Read MoreSoundtrack of the Revolution: The Politics of Music in Iran
Nahid Siamdoust (Yale University) Soundtrack of the Revolution offers a striking account of Iranian culture, politics, and social change. Drawing on over five years of research in Iran, including during the 2009 protests, Nahid Siamdoust introduces a full cast of characters, from musicians and audience members to state officials, and takes readers into concert halls and underground performances, as well as the state licensing and censorship offices. Registration Please complete this form to register for the event. Seating is…
Read MoreApril 2018
Ancient Persia and the West: An International Symposium
The Pourdavoud Center for the Study of the Iranian World and the Getty Research Institute are co-organizing a one-day symposium to be held on April 25, 2018 at the Pourdavoud Center, UCLA. Presenters will include invited speakers and the current Getty Villa Scholars, whose projects focus on the encounters of ancient Iran with the classical world. The Getty Scholars Program at the Villa for the 2017–18 and the 2018–19 years address the political, intellectual, religious, and artistic relations between Persia,…
Read MoreIn the Workshop of an Ancient Egyptian Sculptor
In 1912, the excavation team of the Deutsch Orient-Gesellschaft under the direction of Ludwig Borchardt revealed the exceptional remains of the estate and workshop of an ancient Egyptian sculptor of the middle of the 15th century BCE, who worked for Pharaoh Akhenaten in the latter’s new royal residence of Akhet-Aten (modern Amarna), in Middle Egypt. Next to the world-famous bust of Nefertiti, the German excavators unearthed a collection of plaster portrait studies that allow reconstructing the creation procedure of ancient…
Read MoreThe Frankfurt School, Authoritarianism, Fundamentalism and Cosmetics: From 1920s Germany to Contemporary Middle East
Janet Afary (UC Santa Barbara) There is very little information on the romantic and sexual behaviors of young Muslim contemporaries in the Middle East, or among immigrant communities in the West. However, Facebook has provided us with a new tool, which permits a better understanding of young Muslim practices from Algeria and Egypt to Iran and Pakistan. In this lecture, two questions will be addressed: is there’s a link between authoritarianism and the desire to control women’s bodies? Furthermore, is there a connection between authoritarianism and Islamic religious…
Read MorePersian and Greek Participation in the Making of China’s First Empire
Terra-cotta warriors, bronze chariots and horses are among the iconic artifacts associated with China’s first imperial dynasty, the Qin (221 206 BCE). Chinese archaeologist Duan Qinbo shares new evidence that suggests the material culture and social governance of the Qin may not be solely indigenous Chinese, but may also have come to China along Central Asian trade routes.
Read MoreRoyal Succession in Ancient Egypt and Early Trade in the Eastern Mediterranean
Royal Succession in Ancient Egypt Nowhere are the legal terms of royal succession in ancient Egypt set out in explicit terms. The concept of hereditary monarchy manifests a wide range of modes of succession across time and place, and today we will review these, together with such evidence as survives from Egypt to discuss the way in which Egyptian pharaonic succession may have functioned, in both theory and practice. We also consider the evidence for and existence of, the institution…
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