The Committee on Degrees in Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality
Harvard University
December 7th and 8th, 2007
Sponsored by Center for Middle Eastern Studies (Dr. Steve Caton) & Committee on Degrees in Women, Gender, and Sexuality (Dr. Brad Epps).
5:30-7:00 pm CGIS 102
Brian Whitaker
Author of “Unspeakable Love” and of the Guardian Newspaper, Middle East Editor.
Affiliated lecture with Gay and Lesbian Caucus (HGLC)
Entitled: “The Male Veil: Gay Life in the Middle East“
7:30 – 9:00 pm Kresge Room, Barker Center, 12 Quincy St.
Khaled El-Rouayheb
Assistant Professor of Islamic Intellectual History at the Department of Near Eastern
Languages & Civilizations
Sponsored by Harvard GSAS & HGLC
Entitled: “Before Homosexuality in the Arab-Islamic World
Friday December 7th
9:30 - 11:00 am CMES Seminar Room
Coffee and Light Breakfast
Selim Kuru
University of Washington (Assistant Professor, Turkish Studies)
Title: “Textual Games for Sexual Pleasure: 16th Century Ottoman
Elite Formulations of Sexual Desire.”
Disscusant: Khaled El-Rouayheb
Harvard University
Assistant Professor of Islamic Intellectual History at the Department of Near Eastern Languages & Civilizations
11:00 – 12:00 CMES Seminar Room
Robert Lang
University of Hartford, CT (Associate Professor of Cinema)
Title: “Laughter in the Dark”: Sexuality and the Police State in Férid
Boughedir’s Halfaouine (Tunisia, 1990)
Disscusant: Samir Khalaf
American University of Beirut
Professor of Sociology and Director of the Center for Behavioral Research
12:00 – 2:00 Lunch
2:00 - 3:00 CMES Conference Room
Afsaneh Najmabadi
Harvard University professor of History and of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality
Title: Transing and Transpassing Across Gender-Sex Wall in Iran
Disscusant: Brad Epps
Harvard University
Professor of Romance Languages and Literatures and of Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality
3:00 – 4:00 CMES Conference Room
Jared McCormick
Harvard University (PhD Candidate Social Anthropology)
Title: Cinema as an Outlet: Theaters of Damascus
Disscusant: Judith Surkis
Harvard University
Associate Professor of History and of History and Literature
4:00 -5:00 Wrap Up of Days Events
Followed by Drinks & Dinner
Saturday December 8th
9:30 – 11:00 am Faculty Club – Room 4 (2nd Floor)
Coffee and Light Breakfast
Colette Harris
University of Sussex, UK (Fellow in the the Participation, Power and Social Change Group, Institute of Development Studies,)
Title: Sex and marriage in post-Soviet Tajikistan
Disscusant: Sonja Plesset
Harvard University -- Harvard University Art Museums
11:00 – 12:00 Faculty Club – Room 4 (2nd Floor)
Natasha Yazbeck
American University of Beirut (MA Candidate Sociology)
Title: “Don’t Forget the Boys: Dissonant Sexual Identities Among
Privileged Beiruti Bachelors”
Disscusant: Jyoti Puri
Simmons University
Associate Professor of Sociology and Women’s Studies
12:00 – 1:00 pm
Working Lunch &
Conclusions, Moving Forward, and Discussion of Publication
Copyright © 2007 The President and Fellows of Harvard College