Speaker: Wendy Swartz, Rutgers University

Intertextuality lies at the heart of reading and writing practices in early medieval China. Reading and writing well meant demonstrating a command of the textual tradition and cultural codes, and the ability to appropriate them in a range of situations. Intertextuality thus constituted a condition of writing as well as a mode of reading. In particular, from the third to the fifth century, the Chinese literati drew extensively from a set of philosophical classics, namely the Laozi, Zhuangzi, and Yijing (later...

David Brophy, IAAS 2011, University of Sydney

The Center for Middle Eastern Studies presents

The Lemon Tree (2008)
A film by Eran Riklis and Ira Riklis.
Set in the West Bank, where Palestinian widow Salma Zidane (Hiam Abbass) tends her lemon grove. However, when the Israeli Defense Minister moves in across the way, his security guards demand she removes the trees, which could shelter terrorists. Refusing to bow down, she engages lawyer Ziad Daud (Ali Suliman) to take her case to the Supreme Court, which brings international attention. (106 minutes)

Following the film, there will be a discussion led...

The Middle East Initiative presents

Hilary Kalisman
Visiting Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies; Visiting Scholar of Middle East Studies, Brown University

Moderated by Tarek Masoud, Sultan of Oman Associate Professor of International Relations, Harvard Kenned School Read...

For more than a decade, the European Union (EU) has been pursuing its European Neighborhood Policy (ENP) in response to the many political and socio-economic challenges, crises and conflicts that afflict the Maghreb and Mashreq and thus what the EU considers to be its 'southern neighborhood'. The recent review of the ENP, the second within four years, raises fundamental questions with regard to the applicability, appropriateness and sustainability of EU foreign policy initiatives, but also with respect to the EUs ability to adjust to ever evolving developments within as well as beyond its...