Upcoming Events

Endowment Campaign: Chair of Modern Arab History at the University of Houston

The AAEF is pleased to announce the launch of a campaign to endow a Chair of Arab Modern Arab History at the University of Houston, the third largest university in Texas and a recent addition to Tier One status.

Past Events

Listening to Whispers:
The Legacy of Anthony Shadid and his Reporting on the Arab World

New York Times reporter Anthony Shadid died in February while on assignment in Syria. The two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, who was widely regarded as the best U.S. reporter working in the Middle East, had been scheduled to give a talk at the University of Texas on April 9. This program will go forward to honor his work.

The event will begin with a screening of a portion of Shadid's 2005 lecture to a UT conference on "Journalism and the Arab World," introduced by Robert Jensen (School of Journalism).

David Hoffman, who was Shadid's editor when he worked at the Washington Post and knew him well, will offer reflections and insights into Shadid's career. Hoffman covered foreign affairs, national politics, economics, and served as an editor at the Post for 27 years. His book The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy won the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction. Hoffman is currently a contributing editor at the Washington Post and Foreign Policy.
Hoffman's presentation will be followed by a panel featuring UT faculty members Glenn Frankel (School of Journalism), Karin Wilkins (Media Studies and Center for Middle Eastern Studies) and Tarek El-Ariss (Arabic Studies).

There will be a reception after the program, which is sponsored by the Institute for Communication on Media and the Middle East, School of Journalism, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, College of Communication, and Department of Radio-Television Film at the University of Texas.

Location: CMA 5.160 (LBJ Room), Guadalupe and Dean Keeton, University of Texas at Austin

Mr. Shadid spoke in Houston at Rice University on October 28, 2011, about his eyewitness reporting on the Arab revolutions that have swept across the Middle East this year. A large crowd attended the talk. This was part of the AAEF sponsored Chair of Arab Studies at Rice University lecture series on "The Arab World: History, Politics and Culture Lecture Series."

From Mr. Shadid's website:

Anthony Shadid is a foreign correspondent for the New York Times. Until December 2009, he served as the Baghdad bureau chief of the Washington Post. Over a 15-year career, he has reported from most countries in the Middle East.

Shadid won the Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting in 2004 for his coverage of the U.S. invasion of Iraq and the occupation that followed. He won the Pulitzer Prize again in 2010 for his coverage of Iraq as the United States began its withdrawal. In 2007, he was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of Lebanon. He has also received the American Society of Newspaper Editors’ award for deadline writing (2004), the Overseas Press Club’s Hal Boyle Award for best newspaper or wire service reporting from abroad (2004) and the George Polk Award for foreign reporting (2003).

Shadid is the author of two books, Legacy of the Prophet: Despots, Democrats and the New Politics of Islam, published by Westview Press in December 2000. His second book, Night Draws Near: Iraq’s People in the Shadow of America’s War, was published in September 2005 by Henry Holt. He is currently working on a third book, still untitled, set in his family’s ancestral village in southern Lebanon.

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Listen to a Recording of Mr. Shadid's Talk

An audio file of Mr. Shadid's talk during his visit to Houston in November is available on the Arab Voices radio show website at http://www.arabvoices.net/ under the Archives tab found on the left navigation bar. Choose the 2011 Archives link, and then scroll down to the November 30 archive article.

The link to the specific audio file is http://www.arabvoices.net/archives/kpft_111130_190009av.mp3

View a Video of the Talk

A video is available below.

Anthony Shadid from Ali Aoudi on Vimeo.

The October events with the poet, Adonis, were well-attended. Participants reported that they greatly enjoyed the poetry reading, interpretation, and talks. Read more information about the event on the Calendar page under 2010 News and Events.




View the video of the special poetry reading at Rothko Chapel that was held on October 20, 2010. This video is the introduction. To view more, check back for links as additional sections of the evening's video tape are available.

 

Part I of the Video:




Part II

Part III