Thanks to a series of coincidences, I’m happy to announce
that I’ve been able to arrange for Dr. Yasser Elsheshtawy to visit the
University of Puget Sound and deliver a lecture. Yasser is one of the leading
scholars concerned with urbanism, migration, and public space in the
astonishingly diverse cities of the Arabian Peninsula. You can get a bit more
information about Yasser’s work here I hope that you’ll be able to attend his lecture
(details below) on Thursday, March 1. Many of our students will be equally interested,
and I urge you to figure out ways to encourage them to attend. In my
experience, his lectures are aesthetically gorgeous, thematically impressive,
and methodologically innovative.
Transient Spaces: Home and
Belonging in Dubai
Dr. Yasser Elsheshtawy
Thursday, March 1
Rasmussen Rotunda,
Wheelock Center
4:30 - 6:00 PM
Some areas of his expertise that might be of interest:
Migrants and Migration: as you likely know, the Arab
Gulf States host an unprecedented demographic concoction of citizens and
migrants. His work deeply engages these communities in Dubai and other cities
of the Arabian littoral, and is particularly attentive to these communities’
struggles to establish diasporic spaces in the built environment of the modern Gulf
cities.
Urbanism, Architecture, and Urban Space: Gulf cities
are truly at the frontiers of global modernity and architectural
superlativeness. Yasser is the preeminent scholar in this realm. His grasp of
these cities and their diverse inhabitants is pace-setting for the cosmopolitan
cadre of scholars preoccupied with urbanism in Arabia.
Art and Aesthetics — Yasser’s work is oftentimes
visually stunning, and there’s an artistic thread in much of what he does.
Moreover, he recently curated the Venice Biennale exhibit for the Emirates, and
I can envision some campus interest in this aspect of his work.
Methods — while Puget Sound doesn’t have a node of
faculty devoted to urban studies, I think others on campus from a variety of
different disciplines will be interested in some of the visual and spatial
methods he oftentimes employs. His use of GIS, as well as some time-lapse
studies of urban space, are impressive in my estimation, and I’m eager for some
of my students to see this methodological creativity.
Arabia, the Middle East, and Asian Studies — we also
have a paucity of colleagues and scholars intently focused on the Middle East
on this campus. In that sense, Yasser’s lecture will help buoy students’ and
colleagues’ interest and awareness of contemporary issues the region. I would
also add that Arabia, via its longstanding role in the greater Indian Ocean
World, really speaks to the western portion of the geography of Asian
Studies.
ANDREW GARDNER | UNIVERSITY OF PUGET SOUND
PROFESSOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY & ANTHROPOLOGY
T 253.879.3490 | F 253.879.3556
PROFESSOR OF ANTHROPOLOGY
DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY & ANTHROPOLOGY
T 253.879.3490 | F 253.879.3556
