A Discussion of Forough Farrokhzad’s O Bejeweled Land

February 8th, from 12-1:30 PM via Zoom

The ACC Center for Peace & Conflict Studies and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at UT Austin invite you to a new series, Poetry of Conflict and Transformation, a companion series to ACC’s Cinema of Conflict and Transformation. Focusing on social, cultural, political, personal, or interpersonal conflict, the series brings ACC faculty in Peace & Conflict Studies into conversation with UT faculty in Middle Eastern literature to explore poems translated from Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, and Turkish. The series seeks to enhance readers’ understanding of complex issues explored by poets in the region, while also helping them envision positive futures.

Each event begins with a brief contextualization of the poem at hand, followed by a conversation with a specialist in the relevant literature and an expert in Peace & Conflict Studies, with the audience invited to join the discussion.

This session will explore Forough Farrokhzad’s “O Bejeweled Land.” The conversation will be led by Dr. Levi Thompson, Assistant Professor of Persian and Arabic Literature in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Thompson will be joined by ACC’s Dr. Shirin Khosropour, Professor of Psychology and founder and director of ACC’s Center for Peace & Conflict Studies.

A Discussion of Forough Farrokhzad’s O Bejeweled Land

February 8th, from 12-1:30 PM via Zoom

Conversation with Levi Thompson is Assistant Professor of Persian and Arabic Literature in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin and Shirin Khosropour founder and director of Austin Community College’s Center for Peace & Conflict Studies, and a professor of Psychology. 

Levi Thompson is Assistant Professor of Persian and Arabic Literature in the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. His research focuses on modernist literary developments outside of Europe. Levi’s first book, Reorienting Modernism in Arabic and Persian Poetry (2022), is published by Cambridge University Press.

Shirin Khosropour holds a B.A. and a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. She is founder and director of Austin Community College’s Center for Peace & Conflict Studies, and a professor of Psychology.  Shirin has earned certificates in Global Conflict Analysis, International Humanitarian Law, and International Conflict Management from the Johns Hopkins Bologna Institute for Peace & Security. In 2012, the American Red Cross appointed her an International Humanitarian Law Teaching Fellow. In 2019, in recognition of the accomplishments of ACC’s Peace & Conflict Studies program, Shirin was invited to speak at the United States Institute for Peace addressing “The Role of Higher Education in Resolving Conflict and Its Consequences.” She has been awarded several teaching and leadership awards.  An educational psychologist, Shirin’s work focuses on peace and conflict in cross-cultural contexts. A former community college student herself, Shirin strives to expand the reach of peace and conflict education in higher education. Her work has culminated in establishing relationships between the College’s academic disciplines and community organizations and the populations they serve.

Palestine in Poetry: A Discussion of Tamim Al-Barghouti’s In Jerusalem

Oct 4, 2022 12:00 PM in Central Time

The ACC Center for Peace & Conflict Studies and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at UT Austin invite you to a new series, Poetry of Conflict and Transformation, a companion series to ACC’s Cinema of Conflict and Transformation. Focusing on social, cultural, political, personal, or interpersonal conflict, the series brings ACC faculty in Peace & Conflict Studies into conversation with UT faculty in Middle Eastern literature to explore poems translated from Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, and Turkish. The series seeks to enhance readers’ understanding of complex issues explored by poets in the region, while also helping them envision positive futures.

Each event begins with a brief contextualization of the poem at hand, followed by a conversation with a specialist in the relevant literature and an expert in Peace & Conflict Studies, with the audience invited to join the discussion.

This session will explore Tamim Al-Barghouti’s “In Jerusalem.” The conversation will be led by Dr. Avigail Noy, Assistant Professor of Arabic studies at the Department of Middle Eastern Studies and a faculty affiliate of the Program in Comparative Literature at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Noy will be joined by ACC’s Dr. Marcus McQuirter, M.A., Ph.D. Department Chair and Professor of Drama.

Request access to the recording by emailing: [email protected]

Palestine in Poetry: A Discussion of Tamim Al-Barghouti’s In Jerusalem

Oct 4, 2022 12:00 PM in Central Time

Conversation with Avigail Noy is Assistant Professor of Arabic studies at the Department of Middle Eastern Studies and a faculty affiliate of the Program in Comparative Literature at the University of Texas at Austin and Marcus McQuirter is a faculty member in the Drama Department at ACC.

Marcus McQuirter is a faculty member in the Drama Department at ACC where he teaches Voice, Acting, and Introduction to Theater. He is also an ACC Peace & Conflict Studies faculty affiliate.  He holds a BFA in Directing from Howard University, a Masters of Arts in Theater from the University of North Texas, and earned his PhD in Performance as Public Practice from the University of Texas at Austin. Professionally active as a stage director in Central Texas, his recent credits include Annie Jump and the Library of Heaven (Vortex Theater Company), She Kills Monsters (Southwestern University), Not This White Woman (Hyde Park Theater, and Jarrett King’s A War of the Worlds (Penfold Theater Company). Across his academic and theatrical work, McQuirter enjoys the exploration of voice (figurative and literal), agency, and the carving out space for the “other folk in the room.”  He would like to thank The ACC Center for Peace & Conflict Studies and the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at UT Austin for the opportunity to participate in this conversation.

Link to Bio

Avigail Noy is Assistant Professor of Arabic studies at the Department of Middle Eastern Studies and a faculty affiliate of the Program in Comparative Literature at the University of Texas at Austin. She specializes in classical Arabic literature and Islamic civilization, with a focus on poetics, rhetoric, literary criticism, grammar, Islamic hermeneutics, and adab. She has published articles on early Islamic conceptions of metaphorical language and on the legacy of the influential linguist, ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Jurjānī. Her current book project explores the development of Arabic poetics in the thirteenth century. She teaches courses on Arabic literature, the Arabian Nights, and classical Arabic texts. Noy holds a PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University.