Events

The Middle East Center hosts a wide range of public events, including lectures, cultural events, film festivals, panel discussions, and interactive workshops. All of our events are free and open to the public, unless otherwise specified. 



Beyond the Headlines: Assessing Lebanon's Present and Future

An Emerging Scholars Event
Mar 20, 2025 at -

Join the University of Pennsylvania's Middle East Center for a critical discussion on Lebanon’s evolving political, economic, and social landscape. Featuring Yara Damaj and Jowel Choufani, this event will move beyond…



The Arabic Program Presents: Yahya Ashour

An Event with Arabic Professor Huda Fakhreddine
Mar 20, 2025 at -

Join us for an exciting conversation with renowned poet Yahya Ashour and Associate Professor of Arabic Literature Huda Fakhreddine. This event will take place on March 20th, 2025, from 6:00 to 7:30 PM at the Annenberg…



The Scales of Suffering: Neo-Lachrymosity and the Writing of Jewish History

MEC Co-Sponsored Event
Mar 31, 2025 at -

Is the writing of Jewish history possible without tears and tales of woe? This was the challenge leveled nearly a hundred years ago by perhaps the most influential Jewish historian in the United States, Salo Baron.…



2025 CARGC Fellows Biennial Conference: Unsettling Global Media and Communication Studies

Please join us on April 10 & 11, 2025 for a biennial CARGC fellows’ symposium that will explore the theme, "Unsettling Global Media and Communication Studies."
Apr 10, 2025 - Apr 11, 2025 (All Day)

The 2025 biennial fellows’ conference explores how the surge in political violence, the ongoing genocide and its subsequent censorship, conditions knowledge production in the field of global media and communication…



Book Talk: Our American Israel: The Story of an Entangled Alliance

Written by Amy Kaplan, the late Edward W. Kane Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania. Her former colleagues and students will discuss the posthumously published work.
Apr 14, 2025 at -

"Our American Israel is masterful and deserves a larger audience." --Ta-Nehisi Coates Join us in discussing Our American Israel: The Story of an Entangled Alliance. Written by Amy Kaplan, the late Edward W. Kane…



The Color Black: Enslavement and Erasure in Iran

Booktalk with Beeta Baghoolizadeh
Apr 24, 2025 at -

The Middle East Center is hosting Beeta Baghoolizadeh for a book talk on The Color Black: Enslavement and Erasure in Iran.