Thursday, February 26, 2015
1:30 p.m.-6 p.m.
Joukowsky Forum
On February 26th, Middle East Studies will host a half-day symposium on Arab Comics that brings together comics scholars and artists from the United States and Lebanon to discuss the histories of representation and practices of comics illustration in the region. Participants will include the FDZ, Fouad Mezher, Lina Ghaibeh, Michael Allan, and Nadim Damluji. The symposium is co-organized by Mona Damluji and Nadim Damluji.
Program
1:30 p.m. Welcome and Introductory Remarks
Beshara Doumani, Director of Middle East Studies and Joukowsky Family Distinguished Professor of Modern Middle East History, Brown University
Mona Damluji, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow in Visual Culture, Wheaton College
2:00 p.m. Comics Histories
Michael Allan, Assistant Professor in Comparative Literature, University of Oregon, "Drawing Lines in the Sand: Comics and Caricature Beyond East/West"
Nadim Damluji, Independent Scholar, “The Violence of Localizing Western Comics for Arab Children”
Lina Ghaibeh, Animation Artist and Associate Professor of Animation, American University of Beirut, “Propaganda in Comics in the Arab World: From Nationalism To Religious Radicalism”
Discussant: Elias Muhanna, Manning Assistant Professor of Comparative Literature and Director of the Digital Islamic Humanities Project, Brown University
3:40 p.m. Coffee Break
4:00 p.m. Comics Practices
Fouad Mezher, Comics Artist and Writer, “Educated Between Panels,”
Fadi Baki, Comics Writer and Editor, co-founder of Samandal, “Violence as Language: the inarticulate medium of comics”
Discussant: Anna Mudd, Comics Artist, Harvard University
Center for Middle East Studies
Co-sponsored by the Cogut Center for the Humanities and the Department of Modern Culture and Media at Brown University, and the Mu’taz and Rada Sawwaf Arabic Comics Initiative and Libraries at the American University of Beirut.