Arabic
The Arabic Circle is one of the great traditions in the Center for Middle Eastern Studies. Every Friday, students and teachers get together for a half-hour presentation, followed by group discussion. The aim of the Circle is to give everyone a chance to practice listening to and speaking Modern Standard and to unwind with friends at the end of the week. Last year, we began recording the sessions and making them available online and through podcasts.
- 2007.5.25 - Michael Sells: "Reading and Translation of Ibn Zaydun's 'Nuniyya'"
- 2007.5.4 - Issa Boulos: "An Introduction to Arabic Music"
- 2007.4.27 - Amina Mohamed: "The experience of the poet Fadwa Toukan in the rise to freedom"
- 2007.4.20 - Amahl Bishara: "The Writing on the Wall: Locating Palestinian Voices of Resistance in Western Agency Photography of the Separation Barrier."
- 2007.4.13 - Amina Mohamed: "The Slums in Cairo"
- 2007.3.30 - Osama Abu-Eledam: "Pages from the Life of Gibran Khalil Gibran"
- 2007.2.7 - Farouk Mustafa: "Recent Arabic Novels in Egypt"
- 2007.1.26 - Esra Birinci: "Turkey and Egypt: Two countries in one vacation"
- 2007.1.18 - Muhammad Eissa: "Memories of a Modern Azhari"
- 2007.1.12 - Kay Heikkinen: "A Personal Reading of 'Season of Migration to the North' by al-Tayyib Saleh" (part 2)
- 2007.1.5 - Amy Ruszkiewicz: "My Big Adventure in Qatar"
- 2006.11.17 - Noha Forster: "The Sisters of the Mother of the World: A Video Trip Around the Arab World"
- 2006.11.10 - Ahmad Baasiri: "The Lebanon July War: Has it ended?"
- 2006.11.3 - Ahmed Hashem: "An Introduction to Arabic Dialects"
- 2006.10.20 - Kay Heikkinen: "How are the Egyptians these days? (Snapshots and Fleeting Glances)"
- 2006.10.6 - Farouk Mustafa: "My Trip to Cairo"
- 2006.3.31 - Toujan al-Faisal: Toujan al-Faisal was the first woman elected to the Jordanian Parliament, where she served from 1993 to 1997. The views of the lecturer are her own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of the University of Chicago or any of its affiliate organizations. (part 2)
- 2006.2.24 - Kay Heikkinen: "A Modern Egyptian Woman: Fathia al-Assal in her Autobiography" (part 2)
- 2006.2.17 - Amina Mohamed: "Al-Zir Salim in History and Folktales" (part 2)
- 2006.2.3 - Farouk Mustafa: "Translation and the Other" (part 2)
- 2006.1.20 - Munira Misbah: "The Latest Work of Munira Misbah"
- 2006.1.6 - Orit Bashkin: "Abu Nawas in America"
- 2005.11.18 - Mahmoud al-Ta'ie: "Egypt Through Iraqi Eyes"
- 2005.11.11 - Hala Elbadry: "My Experience with Writing." Born in Cairo in 1954, Ustadha Hala Elbadry graduated from Cairo University and is now deputy editor-in-chief of Egypt's radio and television magazine. "A Certain Woman", her fourth novel, was awarded the prize for the best novel of 2001 at the Cairo International Book Fair.
- 2005.11.04 - Hayat Kara: "The Intellectual Dialogue in al-Andalus in the 7th/13th Century: Its Reflection in Sufi Poetry." Professor Hayat is the director of ( U.F.R ) research and formation unit in Andalusian and Maghribi Studies at Mohammad V University in Rabat, Morocco.
Persian
- 2007.5.8 - Heshmat Moayyad: "Behrouz and His Work"
- 2007.4.23 - Kaveh Hemmat: "Kasravi: An Iranian Intellectual of the 20th Century"
- 2007.4.3 - Mina Ghahremani: "Persian Children's Stories and Songs"
- 2007.2.19 - Saeed Ghahremani: "Trends in Persian Music"
- 2007.2.13 - Kaveh Hemmat: "The Safavid Ambassador to Siam"
- 2007.1.16 - Heshmat Moayyad: "Kariklamatur of Shapuri"
- 2007.1.9 - Hayedeh Torabi: "Ta'zieh, Iran's ritual theatre"
- 2005.11.11 - Saeed Ghahremani: "Saeed Yousef: Selected Works"
Turkish
- 2007.2.15 - Ruhi Ayangil: "Kanun in Turkish Classical Music – Live Performance"