| Director | Mejcher-Atassi, Sonja |
| Program Manager | Bassil, Rita |
| Steering Committee | Abu Saada, Nadi; Frangie, Samer; Mourad, Sara; Sadek, Walid; Scheid, Kirsten |
The Center for Arts and Humanities (CAH) at the American University of Beirut is a space for interdisciplinary research and teaching, which fosters new creative and scholarly initiatives. Drawing on its location in the Arab region, CAH is dedicated to nurturing and building academic and cultural exchange and collaboration between academics, writers, artists, and students. Through participating in the construction of a vibrant intellectual community that crosses disciplinary as well as geographical borders, CAH foregrounds the crucial importance of the arts and humanities for the imagination of more equitable, just and sustainable futures, at a time of increasingly narrowing horizons.
CAH is a member of the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes (CHCI) and the Global Humanities Network (GHN).
CAH has organized – and co-organized in collaboration with other academic units across AUB and beyond – numerous academic events, ranging from international conferences to workshops, lectures, book talks, literary salons, exhibitions, performances, and film screenings. CAH is also developing training programs and opportunities for academic development in the arts and humanities.
Mission
The Center for Arts and Humanities (CAH) at the American University of Beirut aims to foster interdisciplinary exchange and collaboration across the arts and humanities as well as with other fields of knowledge, be they housed in the social or natural sciences, engineering and architecture, medicine, or law. It advances a nuanced understanding of the fields of artistic and humanistic inquiry and the creative and critical roles they have played across time and space as well as in the specific communities and societies we live in across the Arab region today.
CAH’s mission has three core components:
- Research, promoting interdisciplinary projects across the arts and humanities.
- Teaching, supporting collaboration and innovation in arts and humanities curricula.
- Outreach, engaging colleagues and students in other academic fields, cultural practitioners, political activists, and broader publics both locally and globally.