*Julie Poucher Harbin's article is cited in this 2020 book (Syracuse University Press). Citation accessed via Google Scholar.

On May 18, Calvin Edwards — "The Big Bopper" — and his musical trio are playing a concert to benefit Duke Cancer Institute. “Giving of ourselves is not the question, it is the answer to all things that be,” he often says.

Muslim characters are either terrorists or “good” Muslims trying to overcome “bad” Muslim plots.

“We have to recognize that there are several shattered political visions that are still with us and there are several unhealed traumas or wounds – the Armenians, Kurds, Palestinians..we are still dealing with the long-term legacy..."

The status of LGBTQ rights in the Muslim world today is perplexing given that Islamic history is characterized by its relative tolerance of sexual diversity and same-sex desire.

Last month, the Duke Middle East Studies Center hosted Nobel Laureate Orhan Pamuk. His visit included a public conversation with Erdağ Göknar (his book translator) who said Pamuk’s work “embraces the idea of the novelist as archivist and curator."

The Nobel Prize-winning author, Orhan Pamuk, published a novel titled Museum of Innocence

Professor Michael Sells visited Duke for two talks; “Translator of Desires” — a poetry reading of the Islamic mystic Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi; and a workshop on the Qur’an and its listeners. Student Abdul Latif interviewed him.

Duke University will host a series of public events Nov. 10-13 featuring Nobel Laureate in Literature Orhan Pamuk. The author of eight novels, Pamuk is the winner of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature for works including “My Name is Red” and “Snow.”

Events held Nov. 10-13 include a documentary film screening, public conversation with Pamuk, faculty forum.

Didem Havlioglu is a new Turkish Lecturing Fellow in the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies at Duke. She did her MA and PhD at the University of Washington in Near and Middle East Studies. She works on gender and women in literature.

This fall, Jordan native Abdel Razzaq Ben Tarif is teaching Arabic at Duke. “Ben Tarif was highly recommended by Duke students who studied with him in Jordan," said Mbaye Lo, assistant professor of the practice and Arabic Language Program Coordinator

Omid Safi sat down with visiting musicology expert Sylvia A. Alajaji to discuss her new book, “Music and the Armenian Diaspora: Searching for Home in Exile,” which has come out in the same year as the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide.

Earlier this month, Iranian cartoonist Atena Farghandani, 28, was awarded the Courage in Editorial Cartooning award by the Cartoonists Rights Network International. She couldn't be there to accept the award because she is now in prison.

Remembering Baghdad in the salad days or during the monarchy era, seems now as if retrieving a reverie from the time of yore. What happened to Baghdad, Scheherazade’s abode, in the last sixty years or so, invites a flow of memories and emotions.

Earlier this month, the Duke Middle East Studies Center screened Sajil Ana Arabi (“Write Down, I am an Arab”) — the 2014 documentary film about “one of the most influential writers of the Arab world” Mahmoud Darwish.

It features 15 Muslim comedians — from Dubai native Ali Al Sayed to “America’s Funniest Muslim” Azhar Usman — and there are more than a few familiar names on the marquee.

“Muslim Funny Fest,” billed as the first-ever American Muslim comedy festival, kicks off Tuesday (July 21) in New York City and runs for three nights. The fest aims to challenge misperceptions about Muslims and combat hate. It features 15 Muslim…