History and Society on TV in the Middle East Conference

Investigating Middle Eastern televised fiction in shaping popular culture

Prelude to conference includes showings of Middle Eastern productions

Middle Eastern-produced television serials are a billion-dollar industry, and one that has stirred controversy among audiences in the Middle East, North Africa, and beyond. The conference will bring together scholars of history, languages and culture, communications, film studies, political science, and anthropology to explore the transnational projection of Middle Eastern television productions and the heated debates over history and contemporary social relations that they have generated.

Speakers

Valerie Anishchenkova, University of Maryland

Walter Armbrust, Oxford University

Orit Bashkin, University of Chicago

Aomar Boum, University of California at Los Angeles

Joshua Carney, University of South Florida

Jane Gaffney, Independent Scholar

Joel Gordon, University of Arkansas

Ida Meftahi, University of Maryland

Pedram Partovi, American University

Leslie Peirce, New York University

Christa Salamandra, City University of New York

Mehdi Semati, Northern Illinois University

Edith Szanto, American University of Iraq, Sulaimani

Shibley Telhami, University of Maryland

Eric Zakim, University of Maryland

Organizer: Professor Madeline Zilfi, mzilfi@umd.edu