A PALESTINIAN ARCHIVE OF HEALING AND PROTECTION:THE LEGACIES OF TAWFIQ CANAAN

James Grehan, Portland State University
Salim Tamari, Birzeit University
 Rana Barakat, Birzeit University
Khaled Malas, New York University
Beshara Doumani, Brown University

Friday, December 8th, 12:00pm EST

Silsila Fall 2023 Program

Dr. Tawfiq Canaan (1882-1964) was a Palestinian physician, scholar, and collector best known during his lifetime for his public health advocacy and pioneering research in bacteriology. Today, Canaan is mostly remembered for his elegant writing on Palestinian folklore and ‘superstition’. Canaan collected objects and recorded narratives that document Palestinian entanglements with and expectations from preternatural beings, objects, animals, and plants in a landscape offering gifts and presenting demands upon different bodies and communities. This Palestine was being eclipsed by modern encroachments to which Canaan was simultaneously a keen participant, advocate, and challenger.

Dr. Canaan’s unique collection of several hundred talismanic objects survived the burning and looting of his Jerusalem house, library, and clinic that accompanied the Nakba in 1948. Along with Canaan’s writings this collection, housed today at the Birzeit University Museum, provides a unique lens for tracing Palestinian landscapes and material histories prior to the violence of displacement and dispossession. By critically attending to Canaan’s work and collection, this workshop will investigate novel understandings of the healing and apotropaic technologies present in his archive while exploring the significance of such objects towards imagining Palestinian pasts, presents, and futures.

12:00-12:10 Introduction, Finbarr Barry Flood, Silsila, New York University

12:10-12:30 James Grehan, Portland State University, “What Did Peasants Want? Hints from the Ethnography of Tawfiq Canaan”

12:30-12:50 Salim Tamari, Birzeit University, “Canaan’s Saints and Sanctuaries and the Limits of Communal Boundaries in the Shrine of Simon the Just”

12:50-1:10 Rana Barakat, Birzeit University, “Tawfiq Canaan and Ethnographic Collections: How to Unsettle The Museum”

1:10-1:30 Khaled Malas, New York University, “Osseous Efficacies: Reading ovine scapulae in the Tawfik Canaan Collection”

1:30-1:40 Concluding Remarks, Beshara Doumani, Brown University

1:40-3:00 Discussion and Questions 

Paper and abstract details: https://as.nyu.edu/research-centers/silsila/events/2022-2023/a-palestinian-archive-of-healing-and-protection–the-legacies-of.html

James Grehan is professor of history at Portland State University. He writes and teaches about the early modern and modern Middle East, with a specialty in social and cultural history. His latest book, soon to be published, is a study of manners and sociability in the eighteenth-century Ottoman Empire.

Salim Tamari is a social historian and urbanist. Prof. Tamari is Professor of Sociology (Emeritus) at Birzeit University, Research Associate at the Institute for Palestine Studies, and editor of The Jerusalem Quarterly. He has been a visiting professor at Ca Foscari University (Venice), UC Berkeley, Georgetown University (Washington), New York University, Cornell University (Ithaca), University of Chicago, Harvard University (Cambridge) and Columbia University (New York). Among his many publications are Mountain Against the Sea: A Conflicted Modernity (2008); The Storyteller of Jerusalem: The Life and Times of Wasif Jawhariyyeh 1904-1948 (with Issam Nassar, 2018); Year of the Locust: Erasure of the Ottoman Era in Palestine (2011); Revolution and Counter Revolution in Nablus, 1908 (in Arabic); The Great War and the Remaking of Palestine (2018: UC Press), winner of the Middle East Monitor Prize; Landed Property and Public Endowments in Jerusalem (with Munir Fakhr Ed Din, 2018); Camera Palestina: Photography and the Sensual Impulse (UC Press, forthcoming).

Rana Barakat is an Associate Professor of History at Birzeit University in Palestine and director of the BZU Museum. Her current book monograph titled “Ongoing Return: Storytelling, Resistance, and Museumfication in Palestine” is forthcoming with the University of North Carolina Press for the “Critical Indigeneities” series. This book advances an indigenous understanding of time, space, and memory in Palestine by focusing on the details of the people and place of Lifta village over time.

Khaled Malas is an architect and art historian. At NYU’s Institute of Fine Arts, he is writing a dissertation on a corpus of medieval magico-medicinal bowls that bear a depiction of the Kaaba.

Beshara Doumani is the Mahmoud Darwish Chair for Palestinian Studies at Brown University and the former President of Birzeit University in Palestine. His research focuses on the social histories of peoples, places, and time periods marginalized by mainstream scholarship on the early modern and modern Middle East. He also writes on academic freedom and the Palestinian condition. He is currently working on a history of the Palestinians through the social life of stone.
 Date: Friday, December 8th
Time: 12:00-3:00pm
Location: In Person and Online
 
This event will be held in person at NYU in room 222, 20 Cooper Square, NY 10003. In accordance with university regulations, visitors must show a valid government-issued photo ID (children under 18 can provide non-government identification).

Please use the following link to rsvp as an in-person attendee:
https://forms.gle/xsb2qFnyvALrBnuQ9

This event will also take place as a live webinar at 12:00pm EST (New York time). To register as an online attendee, please use the following link:
https://nyu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-zZcW-RKQDanwplRWv_0xA

Only registered attendees will be able to access this event via zoom.

Silsila: Center for Material Histories is an NYU center dedicated to material histories of the Islamicate world. Each semester we hold a thematic series of lectures and workshops, which are open to the public. Details of the Center can be found at: 
https://as.nyu.edu/research-centers/silsila.html

THE HISTORY OF ISLAMIC COLLECTIONS IN THEGEORGIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM, TBILISI

Irina Koshoridze, Tbilisi State University

Wednesday, November 29th, 6:30pm EST
Silsila Fall2023 Program

17th century miniature of artist Vale

The lecture will focus on the history of collecting Islamic art in Georgia, which started in 1852 when the first museum institution, the Caucasian Museum, was established in Tbilisi. Important collections from almost all periods of Islamic art between the seventh to the twentieth centuries, and from various artistic schools, are preserved in Georgian museums. Their abundance is largely due to Georgia’s centuries-old political and cultural relations with the Islamic world. Among the highlights of the Georgian collections are one of the most extensive collections of Persian oil paintings of the Qajar period, along with unique examples of medieval Islamic ceramics, metalwork, and textiles. The lecture will introduce some of these materials, the circumstances in which they were collected, and discuss a forthcoming new catalogue, which will show highlights of Islamic materials in the collections of the Georgian National Museum. Irina Koshoridze is Associate Professor at the Institute of Fine Arts, Department of Humanities, Tbilisi State University, where she teaches Islamic art history and museology, and chief Curator of Oriental collections in Georgian National Museum. Prof. Koshoridze is also the former director of the Georgian State Museum of Folk and Applied Arts. Prof. Koshoridze has held a wide range of international fellowships related to the fields of museum management and museum studies, including a Fulbright Scholarship (2000-2001, NYU) and an Open Society Institute’s Faculty Development Fellowship (2006-2009), held in the Department of Art History at NYU. While an OSI fellow, Prof. Koshoridze developed a curriculum in Islamic art for BA degree students and special seminars for M.A. students. As Curator of Oriental art collections in the Georgian National Museum, her research and publications focus on the cultural connections between Georgia and neighboring countries (mostly Iran and Turkey) between the 17th and 19th centuries. Date: Wednesday, November 29th  Time: 6:30-8:30pm Location: Online and In Person Room 222, 20 Cooper Square, NY, 10003 This event will be held in person at NYU in room 222, 20 Cooper Square, NY 10003.  In accordance with university regulations, visitors must show a valid government-issued photo ID (children under 18 can provide non-government identification). Please use the following link to rsvp as an in-person attendee: https://forms.gle/7xLUqup6Z2EEhk5e7 This event will also take place as a live Webinar at 6:30pm EDT (New York time). To register as an attendee, please use the following link: https://nyu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_tFDVZM9sSd67jQdoFVEaew Only registered attendees will be able to join this event. Silsila: Center for Material Histories is an NYU center dedicated to material histories of the Islamicate world. Each semester we hold a thematic series of lectures and workshops, which are open to the public. Details of the Center can be found at:  https://as.nyu.edu/research-centers/silsila.html

TRACING THE PATHS OF MAGIC: TALISMANIC CHARTS AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM IN SARAJEVO AS CULTURAL ARTIFACTS

Amila Buturović, York University 

Wednesday, October 18th, 6:30pm EDT
Silsila Fall 2023 Program

The National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Sarajevo

This paper unpacks the rich meanings of large talismanic charts housed at the National Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina by highlighting their role as compelling cultural artifacts. Focusing on their intricate icono-textual composition, we explore the intersections of magic, symbolism, and written and material culture in Ottoman Bosnia. More broadly, we analyze the talismanic charts’ significance as instruments of protection and well-being in relation to Islam’s rich esoteric traditions, the choices made by the talisman maker, and the pervasive role of the occult in religiously plural Ottoman Bosnia.

Amila Buturović is Professor of Humanities and Religious Studies at York University in Toronto. A native of Sarajevo where she obtained a B.A. in Arabic Studies, Amila holds an M.A. and Ph.D. from the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University in Montreal. Her research interests span the intersections of religion and culture in the context of premodern Islamic societies, with the focus on Ottoman Bosnia and the Balkans, on which she has authored several books and many articles. She is currently working on a study about interconfessional health culture in Ottoman Bosnia where she explores the porous boundaries between medical practices, the medical market, and occult tools for health and protection. As part of that research, she is working with the National Museum in Sarajevo as the external researcher to help conserve and display, physically and virtually, the artifacts related to the occult traditions of Bosnia’s diverse religious communities.

Date: Wednesday, October 18th
Time: 6:30-8:30pm
Location: Online and In Person Room 222, 20 Cooper Square, NY, 10003

This event will be held in person at NYU in room 222, 20 Cooper Square, NY 10003. In accordance with university regulations, visitors must show a valid government-issued photo ID (children under 18 can provide non-government identification).

Please use the following link to rsvp as an in-person attendee:
https://forms.gle/Ho2dn8YtoZDP9VWT9

This event will also take place as a live Webinar at 6:30pm EDT (New York time). To register as an attendee, please use the following link:
https://nyu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_XMaQOUDASR-z9fBO8E_COw

Only registered attendees will be able to join this event.

Silsila: Center for Material Histories is an NYU center dedicated to material histories of the Islamicate world. Each semester we hold a thematic series of lectures and workshops, which are open to the public. Details of the Center can be found at: 
http://as.nyu.edu/content/nyu-as/as/research-centers/silsila.html

A STONE THAT BREATHES: MOSQUES, MATERIAL CULTURE,AND SENSORY LIFE IN SOUTH INDIA

Harini Kumar, Princeton University 
Wednesday, October 4th, 6:30pm EDT
Silsila Fall 2023 Program

Mosques in the southeastern coast of India are built in a distinctive style, rooted in local architectural idioms with respect to the design and materials used. Such mosques are an integral part of the Tamil sacred landscape, indexing the region’s longstanding Muslim presence as well as histories of maritime trade and mobility.  This talk traces how the architecture and materiality of mosques mediate Tamil Muslims’ connection to the past, and how such sites are reimagined as spaces of heritage, historical consciousness, and cultural value for coastal communities. This is especially pertinent in the current political moment where the Islamic built environment in India is under tremendous strain.  Harini Kumar (Ph.D. University of Chicago) is a postdoctoral research associate at the M.S. Chadha Center for Global India and the Department of History at Princeton University. She is a sociocultural anthropologist whose research focuses on Islam and Muslim societies in contemporary South India, with further regional interests in Southeast Asia and the Americas. Her scholarship lies at the intersection of lived religion, the built environment, kinship, gender, and mobility. Her current book manuscript is titled Formations of Tamil Islam: Belonging, Place, and Historical Consciousness in South India. Dr. Kumar’s research has been supported by the Wenner-Gren Foundation and the American Institute of Indian Studies. Date: Wednesday, October 4th Time: 6:30-8:30pm Location: Online and In Person, Room 222, 20 Cooper Square, NY, 10003 This event will be held in person at NYU in room 222, 20 Cooper Square, NY 10003. In accordance with university regulations, visitors must show a valid government-issued photo ID (children under 18 can provide non-government identification). Please use the following link to rsvp as an in-person attendee: https://forms.gle/3fA3fEFHcy5XCoMx8This event will also take place as a live Webinar at 6:30pm EDT (New York time). To register as an attendee, please use the following link: https://nyu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_2y-VG2TZQjyPGmm2q_JewA  Only registered attendees will be able to join this event.   Silsila: Center for Material Histories is an NYU center dedicated to material histories of the Islamicate world. Each semester we hold a thematic series of lectures and workshops, which are open to the public. Details of the Center can be found at:  http://as.nyu.edu/content/nyu-as/as/research-centers/silsila.htmlCopyright © 2023 NYU Silsila, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

THE POLITICS OF ART : DISSENT AND CULTURAL DIPLOMACY IN LEBANON, PALESTINE, AND JORDAN

Hanan Toukan, Bard College Berlin
Wednesday, September 13th, 12:30pm EDT
Silsila Fall 2023 Program

Over the last three decades, a new generation of conceptual artists has come to the fore in the Arab Middle East. As wars, peace treaties, sanctions, and large-scale economic developments have reshaped the region, this cohort of cultural producers has also found themselves at the center of intergenerational debates on the role of art in society. Central to these cultural debates is a steady stream of support from North American and European funding organizations—resources that only increased with the start of the Arab uprisings in the early 2010s. The Politics of Art offers an unprecedented look into the entanglement of art and international politics in Beirut, Ramallah, and Amman to understand the aesthetics of material production within liberal economies. In her book talk, Toukan will outline the political and social functions of transnationally connected and internationally funded arts organizations and initiatives. The book reveals how the production of art within global frameworks can contribute to hegemonic structures even as it is critiquing them—or how it can be counter hegemonic even when it first appears not to be. In this talk, Toukan will propose not only a new way of reading contemporary art practices as they situate themselves globally, but also a new way of reading the domestic politics of the region from the vantage point of art. Hanan Toukan is Associate Professor of Politics and Middle East Studies at Bard College Berlin. Her work broadly is concerned with the political and social roles art and cultural institutions play in our social and political worlds. In particular her research and writing focus on the function(s) of art in global politics; museums and exhibitionary practices; migration of artists and the movement of art objects; the politics of knowledge production in and about memory, displacement, history(ies), and race and racialization. She was previously visiting Assistant Professor of Middle East Studies and History of Art at Brown University and Visiting Professor of Cultural Studies at Bamberg University. Her book The Politics of Art: Dissent and Cultural Diplomacy in Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan was published with Stanford University Press in 2021. Besides her academic work Toukan is also a writer and critic whose work has appeared in various catalogues, art publications and journals.   This event will take place as a live webinar at 12:30pm EDT (New York time). To register as an online attendee, please use the following link: https://nyu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yTidkR3TQpGzMjeZmEABWg Only registered attendees will be able to access this event via zoom.

Copyright © 2023 NYU Silsila, All rights reserved. Want to change how you receive these emails? You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Silsila Fall 2023 Program

Sept 13th (Wed), 12:30-2:30pm (Online only)

“THE POLITICS OF ART: DISSENT AND CULTURAL DIPLOMACY IN LEBANON, PALESTINE, AND JORDAN” 
Hanan Toukan, Bard College Berlin

Sept 20th (Wed), 6:30-8:30pm
“REPRESENTATIONS OF PILGRIMS AT THE HOLY SITES OF MECCA AND MEDINA IN FUTUH AL-HARAMAYN MANUSCRIPTS” 
Marika Sardar, Independent Scholar

Sept 29th (Friday), 12:30-3:00pm (Workshop)
“ISLAMIC LAW AND MATERIAL CULTURE – CONVERGING TRAJECTORIES” 
Finbarr Barry Flood – NYU, Corinne Mühlemann – University of Bern, Ruba Kana’an – University of Toronto, and Leor Halevi – Vanderbilt University

Oct 4th (Wed), 6:30-8:30pm
“A STONE THAT BREATHES: MOSQUES, MATERIAL CULTURE, AND SENSORY LIFE IN SOUTH INDIA” 
Harini Kumar, Princeton University

Oct 11th (Wed) 6:30-8:30pm
“COCO-DE-MER KASHKULS, MATERIALITY, AND OCEANIC JOURNEYS” 
Peyvand Firouzeh, Independent Scholar

Oct 18th (Wed) 6:30-8:30pm
“TRACING THE PATHS OF MAGIC: TALISMANIC CHARTS AT THE NATIONAL MUSEUM IN SARAJEVO AS CULTURAL ARTIFACTS” 
Amila Buturović, York University

Oct 25th (Wed) 6:30-8:30pm 
“ISLAMIC CERAMICS AND INVISIBLE HANDS: CRAFT SKILLS IN A COLONIAL MARKETPLACE” 
Margaret S. Graves, Brown University

Nov 1st (Wed) 6:30-8:30pm
“VANMOUR IN AMERICA: THE “DRESSED PICTURES” FROM THE JEROME IRVING SMITH COLLECTION” 
Nebahat Avcıoğlu, Hunter College

Nov 29th (Wed) 6:30-8:30pm
“THE HISTORY OF ISLAMIC COLLECTIONS IN THE GEORGIAN NATIONAL MUSEUM, TBILISI” 
Irina Koshoridze, Tbilisi State University

Dec 8th (Friday) 12:00-3:00pm (Workshop)
“A PALESTINIAN ARCHIVE OF HEALING AND PROTECTION: THE LEGACIES OF TAWFIQ CANAAN” 
Rana Barakat – Birzeit University, Beshara Doumani – Brown University, James Grehan – Portland State University, Khaled Malas – NYU, Salim Tamari – Birzeit University

THE COMPLEX OF QALAWUN AND THE SHAPING OF MAMLUKARCHITECTURE IN CAIRO

Iman Abdulfattah, Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
        Wednesday, May 3rd, 6:30pm EDT
         Silsila Spring 2023 Program

The Complex of Qalāwūn (© Center for the Documentation of Islamic and Coptic Antiquities, Ministry of Antiquities, Egypt)

A great advantage to working on the Mamluk period is the plethora of surviving sources on the material and social history of Egypt and Syria. Representative of this bounty is the trove of literature available on the reign of Sultan al-Malik al-Manṣūr Sayf al-Dīn Qalāwūn (r. 678 689/1279-1290), the seventh Mamluk ruler, under whom the sultanate was stabilized. He was a prolific builder who ordered the construction or restoration of several buildings throughout the Mamluk realm. However, most are no longer extant, making the massive urban complex that he commissioned in Cairo (684/1285) important to understanding the material culture and built environment of medieval Cairo. There are other factors that make this building worthy of discussion: construction was supervised by Amir ʿAlam al-Dīn Sanjar al-Shujāʿī (d. 693/1294), an ambitious and influential Mansūrī amir, giving us insight into the relationship between a patron and project supervisor; it was built in 14 months on the site of a 10th century Fatimid palace, factors that contributed to the wealth of material reuse incorporated in the building process; and it set a new precedent for later complexes in Cairo.Iman R. Abdulfattah is a PhD Candidate in Islamic Art and Archaeology at the University of Bonn, writing her dissertation on the urban complex commissioned by the Mamluk Sultan al-Manṣūr Qalāwūn (r. 678-689/1279-1290) in Cairo. Her primary areas of research are the material culture and built environment of medieval Egypt and the Mediterranean. She has published and lectured on the art and architecture of the Mamluk and Crusader periods in Egypt and Greater Syria; Norman art and architecture in Sicily; the veneration of relics in Islam; and the network of antiquarians who were active during the first half of the 20th century, looking at their contributions to building important Islamic Art collections in the Middle East, Europe, and the US. She also teaches courses on Islamic art and architecture at NYU’s School of Professional Studies, and works as an expert lecturer on cultural tours to the Middle East.Date: Wednesday, May 3rd Time: 6:30pm-8:30pm Location: Online and In Person Room 222, 20 Cooper Square,NY,10003 This event will be held in person at NYU in room 222, 20 Cooper Square, NY 10003. In accordance with university regulations, visitors must show a valid government-issued photo ID (children under 18 can provide non-government identification).Please use the following link to rsvp as an in-person attendee: https://forms.gle/Q72KgAxs7W5B328Y8This event will also take place as a live Webinar at 6:30pm EDT (New York time). To register as an attendee, please use the following link: https://nyu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_cMN5VyaxTZCECDWSEcelsQOnly registered attendees will be able to join this event.Silsila: Center for Material Histories is an NYU center dedicated to material histories of the Islamicate world. Each semester we hold a thematic series of lectures and workshops, which are open to the public. Details of the Center can be found at:  http://as.nyu.edu/content/nyu-as/as/research-centers/silsila.html

—
Precious Bradby Program Administrator

IN THE TREASURE ROOM OF THE SAKRA KING: VOTIVE COINAGE FROM GANDHARAN SHRINES

Waleed Ziad, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Wednesday, April 26th, 6:30pm EDT Silsila Spring 2023 Program

Book cover; 5th Century Kidarite medallion, featuring a female deity
holding a lotus flower and ear of grain.



In a lush valley within the Sakra peak in Gandhara (northwestern Pakistan, towards the Afghanistan border) is a vast limestone cave temple, part of an ancient Hindu sacred complex. From the 4th to 12th centuries, this cluster of shrines produced hundreds of varieties of their own votive coinage – a unique case in Central and South Asia.  These were miniscule copper coins, issued for pilgrims, featuring eclectic and original combinations of Greco-Roman, Iranian, Indic, and Islamic iconography.  The book relates the remarkable story of transculturation and artistic innovation during the most neglected yet formative years of the region’s history. 

Waleed Ziad is Assistant Professor and Ali Jarrahi Fellow in Persian Studies in the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Prior to this, he was an Islamic Law and Civilization Research Fellow at Yale Law School. He completed his PhD in the Department of History at Yale University, where his dissertation won the university-wide Theron Rockwell Field Prize. In the last decade, Ziad has conducted fieldwork on historical and contemporary religious revivalism and Sufism in over 120 towns across Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, and Pakistan. Dr. Ziad has studied Arabic, Persian / Dari / Sabk-e Hindi, Urdu, Sindhi, French, Uzbek / Chaghatai and Romanian. 
His recent book Hidden Caliphate: Sufi Saints beyond the Oxus and Indus (Harvard, 2021) won the Albert Hourani Book Award, the most prestigious award in Middle Eastern studies. His books also include In the Treasure Room of the Sakra King: Votive Coinage from Gandharan Shrines (American Numismatic Society, 2022), Sufi Masters of the Afghan Empire: Bibi Sahiba and Her Spiritual Network (Harvard, exp. 2023), and Beyond the Khutba and Sikka: Sovereignty and Coinage in Sindh (in progress). His articles on historical and ideological trends in the Muslim world have appeared in the New York Times, International Herald Tribune, the Wall Street Journal, Foreign Policy, Christian Science Monitor, The Hill and major dailies internationally. 
 
Date: Wednesday, April 26th
Time: 6:30-8:30pm 
Location: Online and In Person in Room 22, 20 Cooper Square, NY 10003
 
This event will be held in person at NYU in room 222, 20 Cooper Square, NY 10003. In accordance with university regulations, visitors must show a valid government-issued photo ID (children under 18 can provide non-government identification). 
Please use the following link to rsvp as an in-person attendee:
https://forms.gle/SF1KWFag2Jufiuj58

This event will also take place as a live Webinar at 6:30pm EDT (New York time). To register as an attendee, please use the following link:
https://nyu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_JX4Gt8bVQ4mNV1KFXl7MNA
Only registered attendees will be able to join this event.


Silsila: Center for Material Histories is an NYU center dedicated to material histories of the Islamicate world. Each semester we hold a thematic series of lectures and workshops, which are open to the public. Details of the Center can be found at: 
http://as.nyu.edu/content/nyu-as/as/research-centers/silsila.html

CREATING BETWEEN IRAN AND THE UNITED STATES:NEGOTIATING A POLITICAL JOURNEY

“CREATING BETWEEN IRAN AND THE UNITED STATES: NEGOTIATING A POLITICAL JOURNEY”Saba Riazi, New York UniversityWednesday, April 12th, 6:30pm EDT Silsila Spring 2023 Program

Ice Cream press material

Over the past few years, the relationship between the United States and Iran has created difficulties of many sorts for artists and writers working between both places. Among them is Saba Riazi, an Iranian-born American filmmaker and translator. In this presentation, Riazi will share her experience as a creative, moving between Iran and the United States, negotiating the realities of censorship, distribution and sanctions. In doing so, she faces the inevitability of taking on the role of visual and verbal translator between cultures as a fundamental component of her creative work. Riazi’s visual and literary work traverses two worlds which, named together, conjure up opposing forces and political tensions, both of which have a direct impact on the cultural sphere. In the presentation, Saba Riazi will screen sections of her film The Wind is Blowing on My Street and her feature film Ice cream. She will also discuss her translation of Love-Making in Footnotes by the Iranian writer Mahsa Mohebali, which won the 2020 Hanging Loose Translation Award. Saba Riazi is a filmmaker, translator and educator from Tehran. Riazi’s films have played in festivals such as Sundance and Telluride. She is currently working as an adjunct professor at NYU and The New School.  Date: Wednesday, April 12th Time: 6:30-8:30pm Location: In Person in Room 222, 20 Cooper Square, NY, 10003 In accordance with university regulations, visitors must show a valid government-issued photo ID (children under 18 can provide non-government identification). This event will be held in person at NYU in room 222, 20 Cooper Square, NY 10003.This event will take place at 6:30pm EDT (New York time). To register as an attendee, please use the following link: https://forms.gle/75MqQYdaD891rLmb7Silsila: Center for Material Histories is an NYU center dedicated to material histories of the Islamicate world. Each semester we hold a thematic series of lectures and workshops, which are open to the public. Details of the Center can be found at:  http://as.nyu.edu/content/nyu-as/as/research-centers/silsila.html

MARHABA TO THE FUTURE

“MARHABA TO THE FUTURE”

Mounir Ayache, Independent Artist

Wednesday, March 29th, 6:30pm EDT

Silsila Spring 2023 Program

By envisioning alternate futures, Ayache proposes an image of the Arab world radically different from those circulated in the West. His sci-fi approach weaves together family histories, fictionalised re-appropriations of experiences and Arab identities. These traits situate Ayache within the unofficial movement of Arabfuturism, which derives its name from the Afrofuturism movement in the 90s. Both Afro and Arabfuturism are characterised by a turn to fiction that allows us to imagine vastly different realities.  
 
Ayache will discuss the progress of his research at the Villa Medici in Rome where he is currently in residence: he is developing a fictional project in which Hassan al Wazzan (known as Leo the African) travels into the future in 2500.

Mounir Ayache (b. 1991, FR/MA) studied at the National Superior School of Fine Arts in Paris. His technological creations cast an unfamiliar light on the political and social realities of the Arab world. Ayache knowingly deploys the tropes of “oriental sci-fi” in order to parody the way Western fictions represent “Others” and “Foreigners”. In addition to drawing on the codes of the sci-fi genre, his use of technology blurs the boundaries between contemporary art and entertainment.
 

Date: Wednesday, March 29th
Time: 6:30-8:30pm
Location: Online and In Person Room 222, 20 Cooper Square,NY,10003

This event will be held in person at NYU in room 222, 20 Cooper Square, NY 10003. In accordance with university regulations, visitors must show a valid government-issued photo ID (children under 18 can provide non-government identification).

Please use the following link to rsvp as an in-person attendee:
https://forms.gle/9iEUgoNqY66Ht7VJ8

This event will also take place as a live Webinar at 6:30pm EDT (New York time). To register as an attendee, please use the following link:
https://nyu.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6-XRukm9QW6MbtdII4qYlQ

Only registered attendees will be able to join this event.

Silsila: Center for Material Histories is an NYU center dedicated to material histories of the Islamicate world. Each semester we hold a thematic series of lectures and workshops, which are open to the public. Details of the Center can be found at: 

http://as.nyu.edu/content/nyu-as/as/research-centers/silsila.html