News
Mourning Amy Kaplan and Tajmeh Assefi-Shirazi
The Middle East Center has been devastated to hear in recent days of the passing of two its beloved affiliated faculty members, Professor Amy Kaplan and Dr Tajmeh Assefi-Shirazi.
Philadelphia Arabic Newspaper Launched by Friends, Peace, and Sanctuary
The Middle East Center is very excited to spread this. The following announcement was shared with the MEC by the Friends, Peace, and Sanctuary Journal.
Congratulations to our 2020-2021 FLAS winners!
Congratulations to our 2020-2021 Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship Recipients!Congratulations to our 2020 MEC Contest Winners!
See for the winners of the 2020 MEC essay, translation, and photography contests.Rawad Wehbe and Ali Noori Receive Janet Lee Stevens Award for Arabic and Islamic Studies
Congratulations to Rawad Wehbe and Ali Noori, the recipients of this year's Janet Lee Stevens Award for Arabic and Islamic Studies!
Defying Transience: Urban Landscapes in Dubai and Abu Dhabi
We welcomed Yasser Elsheshtawy, who presented a talk that examined temporality and transience as an urban condition in the cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Congratulations, Dr. Matthew Sharp!
Congratulations to Dr. Matthew Sharp! He successfully defended his PhD dissertation: “On Behalf of the Sultan: The Late Ottoman State and the Cultivation of British and American Converts to Islam” on this day (committee: Dr.
Contemporary Iranian Fiction in Translation: A Panel Discussion
We had Iranian-American author Moniro Ravanipour, with translator Mohammad Ghanoonparvar, Professor Fatemeh Shams, and Dr. Mahyar Entezari offer their thoughts on contemporary Iranian fiction.
Lebanon in Crisis: A Panel Discussion
Since 2019, Lebanon has been rocked by a series of protests and political upheavals, culminating with the resignation of Prime Minister Saad Hariri in October.
Ian Lustick, Paradigm Lost: From Two-State Solution to One-State Reality
Professor Ian Lustick, Professor of Political Science at the University of Pennsylvania, presented his new work titled "Paradigm Lost.” It offers a provocative explanation of why continued attempts by Israelis and Palestinians to divide
Course offerings on the Middle East at Penn are rich and multidisciplinary. All are taught by world-renowned scholars in their field with exemplary records of teaching and publishing some of the most innovative research on the Middle East and Islam.