MCC will host an educational, cultural and entertainment event, “Along the Silk Road,” in the MCC Theatre at 6 p.m. April 15. The evening will include a lecture, music, dance performances and an exhibit of arts and objects related to the theme.
Dr. Fatemeh Keshavarz will give a 25-minute presentation, "Much Have I Roamed the World,” to introduce the two-hour program. It will focus on Silk Road as a vehicle that facilitated the diffusion of cultures, exchange of ideas, philosophies, religions, arts, and literature along the ancient network of trade routes connecting the East and the West, from China to the Mediterranean Sea. The title of her presentation comes from Saadi Shirazi, a 13th-century Persian poet, who reflected in his beautiful and wise poem values of "knowledge of others," travel and gaining perspective.
Keshavarz teaches Comparative Literature and is the chair of the Department of Asian and Near Eastern Literature at Washington University in St. Louis, Mo. She was educated in Iran, London and the U.S. She is the author of many articles and books. Her recent book, Jasmine and Stars, Reading more than Lolita in Tehran, has attracted much attention from scholars in the fields of feminist studies, international studies, literature, and political science, as well as from the media in the U.S. and in Europe. She has presented on many university campuses, including Princeton, Columbia and NYU.
Keshvarz is also invited by the Friends Of Rochester Public Library on April 15, to give a talk at noon at the downtown library on Jasmine and Stars followed by book signing and Persian tea.
She is a captivating presenter, and both talks promise to offer the audience deep insights and interesting food for thought. We hope you can make it to this event.
The event is sponsored by MCC’s Diversity Council in collaboration with MCC’s Global Education Project, Center for Service-Learning, Chinese Cultural Club, Music Department and Student Music Association; Rochester Institute of Technology’s Kazakh Students Association; Turkish Society of Rochester; School Without Walls in Rochester; and members of Rochester’s Iranian-American, Afghan-American and Pakistani-American communities.
The event is free and open to the public. Watch the Tribune for more information in the next few weeks. Or e-mail Assistant Professor Shahin Monshipour at <mailto:smonshipour@monroecc.edu>.
Shahin Monshipour
Anthropology/History/Political Science/Sociology
03/24/2010 |