{ "150313-21909004": { "datetime_modified":"20260816T221357", "datetime_start":"20260916T140000", "datetime_end":"20260916T160000", "has_end_time":1, "date_start":"2026-09-16", "date_end":"2026-09-16", "time_start":"14:00:00", "time_end":"16:00:00", "time_zone":"America\/Detroit", "event_title":"CMENAS 2026 Fall Colloquium Series | Projecting Power: Film Diplomacy and the Making of the Turkey-US Alliance", "occurrence_title":"", "combined_title":"CMENAS 2026 Fall Colloquium Series | Projecting Power: Film Diplomacy and the Making of the Turkey-US Alliance: Ay\u015fehan J\u00fclide Etem, University of Virginia", "event_subtitle":"Ay\u015fehan J\u00fclide Etem, University of Virginia", "event_type":"Lecture \/ Discussion", "event_type_id":"13", "description":"How do states project power beyond military cooperation? This talk examines the role of educational films, institutional networks, and audiovisual media in shaping the US\u2013Turkey alliance before and during the Cold War. Drawing on *Film Diplomacy: A Media History of Turkey\u2013US Relations *(Columbia University Press, 2026), Etem argues that film was central to the projection of power through international alliances and institution building. Bringing together archival research from Turkey and the United States, the talk traces how governments, universities, philanthropic foundations, and international organizations collaborated to produce, circulate, and exhibit films that supported political, educational, and developmental agendas. By examining film as a technology of governance, the talk offers a new perspective on how media shaped international relations and the making of Cold War alliances in the Middle East.\n\nAy\u015fehan J\u00fclide Etem is Assistant Professor of Media Studies and Director of the Film Studies concentration at the University of Virginia. She is a media historian and documentary film scholar whose research examines how media infrastructures and cultural institutions shape international relations, public life, and systems of power. Her work focuses on global film cultures, public diplomacy, documentary, and the politics of media. She is the author of *Film Diplomacy: A Media History of Turkey\u2013US Relations* (Columbia University Press, 2026), which identifies and examines how institutional networks, educational films and audiovisual media helped construct the US\u2013Turkey alliance before and during the Cold War. Her current research investigates documentary film and gun violence, as well as the history of population control films and reproductive governance. Her work has appeared in journals including *Communication, Culture & Critique*, *Global Perspectives*, the *Historical Journal of Film, Radio and Television*, the* Journal of e-Media Studies*, and *NECSUS: European Journal of Media Studies*, and is forthcoming in Film History.\n\nJoin on Zoom: https:\/\/myumi.ch\/8Jqy2\n\nIf there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange. Contact: warsansa@umich.edu", "occurrence_notes":null, "guid":"150313-21909004@events.umich.edu", "permalink":"http:\/\/events.umich.edu\/event\/150313", "building_id":"1000165", "building_name":"Weiser Hall", "campus_maps_id":"47", "room":"Room 555", "location_name":"Weiser Hall", "has_livestream":0, "cost":"", "tags":["turkey","Lecture","Discussion","Area Studies","center for middle eastern and north african studies","cmenas","Cmenas Colloquium Series"], "website":"https:\/\/myumi.ch\/8Jqy2", "sponsors":[ { "group_name":"Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies", "group_id":"2563", "website":"http:\/\/www.ii.umich.edu\/cmenas" } ], "image_url":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150313_original-1.jpg", "styled_images":{ "event_thumb":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_thumb\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150313_original-1.jpg", "event_large":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_large\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150313_original-1.jpg", "event_large_2x":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_large_2x\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150313_original-1.jpg", "event_large_lightbox":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_large_lightbox\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150313_original-1.jpg", "group_thumb":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/group_thumb\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150313_original-1.jpg", "group_thumb_square":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/group_thumb_square\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150313_original-1.jpg", "group_large":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/group_large\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150313_original-1.jpg", "group_large_lightbox":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/group_large_lightbox\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150313_original-1.jpg", "event_large_crop":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_large_crop\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150313_original-1.jpg", "event_list":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_list\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150313_original-1.jpg", "event_list_2x":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_list_2x\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150313_original-1.jpg", "event_grid":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_grid\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150313_original-1.jpg", "event_grid_2x":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_grid_2x\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150313_original-1.jpg", "event_feature_large":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_feature_large\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150313_original-1.jpg", "event_feature_thumb":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_feature_thumb\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150313_original-1.jpg" }, "occurrence_count":1, "first_occurrence":21909004 } , "150146-21908257": { "datetime_modified":"20260818T130814", "datetime_start":"20260916T180000", "datetime_end":"20260916T200000", "has_end_time":1, "date_start":"2026-09-16", "date_end":"2026-09-16", "time_start":"18:00:00", "time_end":"20:00:00", "time_zone":"America\/Detroit", "event_title":"2026 Dr. Berj H. Haidostian Annual Distinguished Lecture | Poetry, Traumatic History, Memory: Thinking about the Armenian Genocide", "occurrence_title":"", "combined_title":"2026 Dr. Berj H. Haidostian Annual Distinguished Lecture | Poetry, Traumatic History, Memory: Thinking about the Armenian Genocide: Peter Balakian (Colgate University)", "event_subtitle":"Peter Balakian (Colgate University)", "event_type":"Lecture \/ Discussion", "event_type_id":"13", "description":"How can a past historical event be transformed by literature that comes after? Pulitzer Prize winning poet Peter Balakian will discuss the impact of the Armenian Genocide on his work. He will explore the transmission of trauma across generations and how poetry\u2019s resources can ingest the past. Balakian examines how his ancestors have provided a grounding for his work, ancestors like his great-great uncle, Krikoris Balakian (Bishop in the Armenian Church), one of the 250 cultural leaders arrested on April 24, 1915, and his grandmother, Nafina Shekerlemdjian who along with her two young daughters survived the Genocide enduring a harrowing death march into the Syrian desert.\n\nPeter Balakian is an award winning poet, author and translator. His *Ozone Journal* was awarded the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for poetry. Most recently he has published a book of poems, *New York Trilogy* (2025), that moves between decades of tumultuous life in New York City and the politics of the Middle East. Balakian\u2019s poems have appeared widely in leading magazines and journals including, *The New Yorker: 100 Years of Poetry*. His prose books range from *Vice and Shadow: Essays on the Lyric Imagination*, poetry, art and culture, to *Black Dog of Fate: A Memoir*, \u2014 winner of the 1998 PEN\/Martha Albrand Prize for the Art of the Memoir (a best book of the year for the New York Times, the LA Times, and Publisher\u2019s Weekly). Balakian is the recipient of many awards and prizes amongst them: the Pulitzer Prize, The Presidential Medal and the Movses Khorenatsi Medal from the Republic of Armenia, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship. He is the Rebar Professor of the Humanities, Professor of English at Colgate University.\n\nhttps:\/\/umich.zoom.us\/j\/99080532632\n\nCosponsors: Center for Middle Eastern & North African Studies, Department of Middle East Studies, Department of English Language and Literature, Residential College, and National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)\n\n\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\u2013\n\nIf there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange. Contact: armenianstudies@umich.edu", "occurrence_notes":null, "guid":"150146-21908257@events.umich.edu", "permalink":"http:\/\/events.umich.edu\/event\/150146", "building_id":"1000151", "building_name":"Museum of Art", "campus_maps_id":"11", "room":"Helmut Stern Auditorium", "location_name":"Museum of Art", "has_livestream":0, "cost":"", "tags":["Armenian Studies","armenia","Poetry","Lecture","Discussion"], "website":"https:\/\/umich.zoom.us\/j\/99080532632", "sponsors":[ { "group_name":"Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies", "group_id":"2563", "website":"http:\/\/www.ii.umich.edu\/cmenas" } ], "image_url":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150146_original-1.jpg", "styled_images":{ "event_thumb":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_thumb\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150146_original-1.jpg", "event_large":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_large\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150146_original-1.jpg", "event_large_2x":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_large_2x\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150146_original-1.jpg", "event_large_lightbox":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_large_lightbox\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150146_original-1.jpg", "group_thumb":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/group_thumb\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150146_original-1.jpg", "group_thumb_square":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/group_thumb_square\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150146_original-1.jpg", "group_large":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/group_large\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150146_original-1.jpg", "group_large_lightbox":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/group_large_lightbox\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150146_original-1.jpg", "event_large_crop":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_large_crop\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150146_original-1.jpg", "event_list":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_list\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150146_original-1.jpg", "event_list_2x":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_list_2x\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150146_original-1.jpg", "event_grid":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_grid\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150146_original-1.jpg", "event_grid_2x":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_grid_2x\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150146_original-1.jpg", "event_feature_large":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_feature_large\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150146_original-1.jpg", "event_feature_thumb":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_feature_thumb\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150146_original-1.jpg" }, "occurrence_count":1, "first_occurrence":21908257 } , "150315-21909006": { "datetime_modified":"20260816T221446", "datetime_start":"20261111T140000", "datetime_end":"20261111T160000", "has_end_time":1, "date_start":"2026-11-11", "date_end":"2026-11-11", "time_start":"14:00:00", "time_end":"16:00:00", "time_zone":"America\/Detroit", "event_title":"CMENAS 2026 Fall Colloquium Series | Western Sahara: Multi-scalar Struggles, Recognition and Change in a Thawing Conflict", "occurrence_title":"", "combined_title":"CMENAS 2026 Fall Colloquium Series | Western Sahara: Multi-scalar Struggles, Recognition and Change in a Thawing Conflict: Irene Fern\u00e1ndez-Molina, University of Exeter, United Kingdom", "event_subtitle":"Irene Fern\u00e1ndez-Molina, University of Exeter, United Kingdom", "event_type":"Lecture \/ Discussion", "event_type_id":"13", "description":"Irene Fern\u00e1ndez-Molina is a senior lecturer in International Relations at the University of Exeter. She is a scholar of international relations of the Global South and across the Euro-Mediterranean space, contested statehood and international recognition politics, and foreign policy and conflicts in the Maghreb. She previously worked as a research fellow at the European Neighbourhood Policy Chair of the College of Europe (Warsaw), Schuman fellow at the Directorate-General for External Policies of the European Parliament (Brussels), and PhD research fellow at Complutense University of Madrid. Her research has been published in journals such as *International Affairs*, *International Studies Review*, *Review of International Studies*, *International Political Sociology*, and the *Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding*. She is the author of *Moroccan Foreign Policy under Mohammed VI, 1999\u20132014 *(2016), and co-editor of *Global, Regional and Local Dimensions of Western Sahara\u2019s Protracted Decolonization* (2017), and* Foreign Policy in North Africa: Navigating Global, Regional and Domestic Transformations* (2021).\n\nJoin on Zoom: https:\/\/myumi.ch\/7J946\n\nIf there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange. Contact: warsansa@umich.edu", "occurrence_notes":null, "guid":"150315-21909006@events.umich.edu", "permalink":"http:\/\/events.umich.edu\/event\/150315", "building_id":"1000165", "building_name":"Weiser Hall", "campus_maps_id":"47", "room":"Room 555", "location_name":"Weiser Hall", "has_livestream":0, "cost":"", "tags":["Lecture","Discussion","Cmenas Colloquium Series","center for middle eastern and north african studies"], "website":"https:\/\/myumi.ch\/7J946", "sponsors":[ { "group_name":"Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies", "group_id":"2563", "website":"http:\/\/www.ii.umich.edu\/cmenas" } ], "image_url":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150315_original-1.jpg", "styled_images":{ "event_thumb":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_thumb\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150315_original-1.jpg", "event_large":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_large\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150315_original-1.jpg", "event_large_2x":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_large_2x\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150315_original-1.jpg", "event_large_lightbox":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_large_lightbox\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150315_original-1.jpg", "group_thumb":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/group_thumb\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150315_original-1.jpg", "group_thumb_square":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/group_thumb_square\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150315_original-1.jpg", "group_large":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/group_large\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150315_original-1.jpg", "group_large_lightbox":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/group_large_lightbox\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150315_original-1.jpg", "event_large_crop":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_large_crop\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150315_original-1.jpg", "event_list":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_list\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150315_original-1.jpg", "event_list_2x":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_list_2x\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150315_original-1.jpg", "event_grid":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_grid\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150315_original-1.jpg", "event_grid_2x":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_grid_2x\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150315_original-1.jpg", "event_feature_large":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_feature_large\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150315_original-1.jpg", "event_feature_thumb":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_feature_thumb\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150315_original-1.jpg" }, "occurrence_count":1, "first_occurrence":21909006 } , "150314-21909005": { "datetime_modified":"20260816T221514", "datetime_start":"20261202T140000", "datetime_end":"20261202T160000", "has_end_time":1, "date_start":"2026-12-02", "date_end":"2026-12-02", "time_start":"14:00:00", "time_end":"16:00:00", "time_zone":"America\/Detroit", "event_title":"CMENAS 2026 Fall Colloquium Series | \u2018Vernacular Sovereignty\u2019 Without a State: Kurdish Studies, Decolonial Thought, and the Making of Online Kurdistan", "occurrence_title":"", "combined_title":"CMENAS 2026 Fall Colloquium Series | \u2018Vernacular Sovereignty\u2019 Without a State: Kurdish Studies, Decolonial Thought, and the Making of Online Kurdistan: M. Mashuq Kurt, Royal Holloway University of London, United Kingdom", "event_subtitle":"M. Mashuq Kurt, Royal Holloway University of London, United Kingdom", "event_type":"Lecture \/ Discussion", "event_type_id":"13", "description":"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 political life has repeatedly been organized around forms of authority and belonging that do not depend on, or wait for, a state. Taking my recent article \"The Making of Online Kurdistan,\" co-authored with Bar\u0131\u015f \u00d6ktem, as its empirical center, the talk asks how Kurdish Generation Z constructs national belonging through digital platforms \u2014 building a transnational field of community through hashtags, online seminars, and digitally organized movements, even as this same infrastructure exposes Kurdish youth to surveillance and repression across borders. I situate this case within a longer arc of my work on Kurdish politics and within a decolonial reading of Kurdish studies more broadly. Rather than offering a general theory of sovereignty, the talk uses the Kurdish case to think through a live and unresolved question in the study of stateless nations: what forms can political authority, legitimacy, and collective imagination take when territorial statehood is foreclosed, and what is gained and lost when that struggle moves online.\n\nMashuq Kurt is Associate Professor of Sociology in the Department of Law and Criminology at Royal Holloway, University of London. His work sits at the intersection of Middle Eastern studies and the sociology of migration and diaspora, examining how Kurds and other marginalised communities construct political authority and belonging outside the institutions of the nation-state. He is the author of *Kurdish Hizbullah in Turkey: Islamism, Violence and the State* (Pluto Press, 2017), co-editor of the *South Atlantic Quarterly Special Issue: Decolonizing Kurdish Studies *(2024) and the *Contemporary Islam Special Issue: Islam, Critique and the Canon* (2024), and has published in journals including *Current Anthropology*, *Journal of Middle East Women's Studies*, and *Social Research: An International Quarterly*. His recent article \"The Making of Online Kurdistan\" (*Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies*, 2026), co-authored with Bar\u0131\u015f \u00d6ktem, examines how Kurdish Generation Z constructs national belonging through digital platforms. He was a Marie Curie Global Fellow at the London School of Economics and Yale University, has held visiting positions at Stanford and Sciences Po CERI. A regular contributor to public and policy debates, he has organised panels and given talks at the UK Parliament, Chatham House, and RUSI, and his commentary has appeared in Foreign Policy, Le Monde, and The New Arab, among others. He is also an award-winning filmmaker: his documentary *The Seven Doors *received the Jean Rouch Award from the American Anthropological Association's Society for Visual Anthropology in 2020.\n\nJoin on Zoom: https:\/\/myumi.ch\/pgV2y\n\nIf there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange. Contact: warsansa@umich.edu", "occurrence_notes":null, "guid":"150314-21909005@events.umich.edu", "permalink":"http:\/\/events.umich.edu\/event\/150314", "building_id":"1000165", "building_name":"Weiser Hall", "campus_maps_id":"47", "room":"Room 555", "location_name":"Weiser Hall", "has_livestream":0, "cost":"", "tags":["cmenas","Lecture","Discussion","Cmenas Colloquium Series","center for middle eastern and north african studies"], "website":"https:\/\/myumi.ch\/pgV2y", "sponsors":[ { "group_name":"Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies", "group_id":"2563", "website":"http:\/\/www.ii.umich.edu\/cmenas" } ], "image_url":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150314_original-1.jpg", "styled_images":{ "event_thumb":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_thumb\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150314_original-1.jpg", "event_large":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_large\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150314_original-1.jpg", "event_large_2x":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_large_2x\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150314_original-1.jpg", "event_large_lightbox":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_large_lightbox\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150314_original-1.jpg", "group_thumb":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/group_thumb\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150314_original-1.jpg", "group_thumb_square":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/group_thumb_square\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150314_original-1.jpg", "group_large":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/group_large\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150314_original-1.jpg", "group_large_lightbox":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/group_large_lightbox\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150314_original-1.jpg", "event_large_crop":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_large_crop\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150314_original-1.jpg", "event_list":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_list\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150314_original-1.jpg", "event_list_2x":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/event_list_2x\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150314_original-1.jpg", "event_grid":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_grid\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150314_original-1.jpg", "event_grid_2x":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_grid_2x\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150314_original-1.jpg", "event_feature_large":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_feature_large\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150314_original-1.jpg", "event_feature_thumb":"https:\/\/events.umich.edu\/media\/cache\/resolve\/event_feature_thumb\/media\/attachments\/2026\/08\/event_150314_original-1.jpg" }, "occurrence_count":1, "first_occurrence":21909005 } , "150316-21909007": { "datetime_modified":"20260816T221327", "datetime_start":"20261209T140000", "datetime_end":"20261209T160000", "has_end_time":1, "date_start":"2026-12-09", "date_end":"2026-12-09", "time_start":"14:00:00", "time_end":"16:00:00", "time_zone":"America\/Detroit", "event_title":"CMENAS 2026 Fall Colloquium Series | Middle Eastern Christians: The Struggle for Recognition and Rights", "occurrence_title":"", "combined_title":"CMENAS 2026 Fall Colloquium Series | Middle Eastern Christians: The Struggle for Recognition and Rights: Fiona McCallum Guiney, University of St Andrews, Scotland", "event_subtitle":"Fiona McCallum Guiney, University of St Andrews, Scotland", "event_type":"Lecture \/ Discussion", "event_type_id":"13", "description":"A continued presence of Christians in the Middle East is perceived as at risk due to demographic change, adverse socio-economic conditions, political instability, conflict, and migration. Indeed, from making up 12.7% of the population in the Middle East in 1900, the Christian presence has dwindled to 4% by 2020, with a notable decline in countries with a considerable Christian population but affected by conflict, such as Iraq and Syria. Indigenous to the region, Christians are proud of their contributions to the education, society, and politics of the Middle East. Yet, they struggle to translate these forms of soft power into political actions that address legislation, practices, and violence that infringe their rights as citizens. Relationships with powerful Western actors campaigning against the persecution of Christians have led to international visibility but also accusations of undermining national unity from political and societal actors in the region. This paper explores the different strategies pursued by Middle East Christians in the region and diaspora to be recognized as Christians and claim their rights as citizens.\n\nFiona McCallum Guiney is Professor and Head of the School of International Relations at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Her research on Middle Eastern Christians focuses on group identity, the connection between legitimacy and religious leadership, and group interactions at the state-community and society-community levels, both in the Middle East and diaspora. Professor Guiney was the Project Leader of the EU funded study \u2018Defining and Identifying Middle Eastern Christian Communities in Europe\u2019. She is a former Director of the Institute of Middle East, Central Asia and Caucasus Studies at the University of St Andrews.\n\nIf there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange. 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