“Searching for Nubia”
Film Screening & Director Q&A
Free screening of the the film “Searching for Nubia,” directed by Yasmin Moll, U-M associate professor of anthropology: “What does it...
Manoogian Postdoctoral Lecture | Purist Pursuits: Language, Global Ideas, and the Creation of Western Armenian in the Ottoman Empire
Jennifer Manoukian (University of Michigan)
This lecture follows Armenians in the Ottoman Empire through a dramatic linguistic transformation, the aftershocks of which are still being...
CMENAS 65th Anniversary: Celebrate the Legacy, Scholarship, & Future of Mena Studies
Keynote by Aaron David Miller, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
10:30–11: Arrival & Registration...
CMENAS 2026 Fall Colloquium Series | Chokepoints: Temporalities of Navigation in the Red Sea
Jatin Dua, University of Michigan
The story of shipping and of global trade is often narrated as one of ever-increasing efficiency and speed, of transitions from sail to...
CMENAS 2026 Fall Colloquium Series | Western Sahara: Multi-scalar Struggles, Recognition and Change in a Thawing Conflict
Irene Fernández-Molina, University of Exeter, United Kingdom
Irene Fernández-Molina is a senior lecturer in International Relations at the University of Exeter. She is a scholar of international...
Guest Lecture | Heritage Forensics: Culture on the Front Lines of the Armenia-Azerbaijan Conflict
Lori Khatchadourian (Cornell University)
This talk introduces the concept of heritage forensics, a framework for studying abuses of cultural heritage in contexts of conflict,...
CMENAS 2026 Fall Colloquium Series | ‘Vernacular Sovereignty’ Without a State: Kurdish Studies, Decolonial Thought, and the Making of Online Kurdistan
M. Mashuq Kurt, Royal Holloway University of London, United Kingdom
What does it mean to imagine a nation without a state? This talk draws on my broader research in Kurdish studies to examine how Kurdish...
CMENAS 2026 Fall Colloquium Series | Middle Eastern Christians: The Struggle for Recognition and Rights
Fiona McCallum Guiney, University of St Andrews, Scotland
A continued presence of Christians in the Middle East is perceived as at risk due to demographic change, adverse socio-economic conditions,...
