Spring 2025
Screenings of the documentary "The Encampments"
Also under the rubric of "Un-American Icons," towards the goal of figuring out what it means to teach an “American liberal arts education" in a country that both gets bombed with American weaponry and greenlighting and supports the genocide of Gaza in other, prominent ways, two screenings of “The Encampments" were held, one at AUB and the the other, open to the public, at Barzakh in Hamra for May 26. "The Encampments" was produced by Watermelon Pictures to address the college encampments in solidarity with Gaza from last year.
WATERMELON PICTURES
CASAR & ACN Sponsored Production at the University of Oxford
Fall 2024-2025
Confronting America Talk Series
CASAR held “Confronting America" series in November 2024: The goal of the series was to revisit the center's founding history and the potential purpose of CASAR today: The Center for American Studies and Research (CASAR) was founded after then-mayor Rudy Giuliani refused a monetary gift from Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal to the City of New York in 2001. Over its two decades of activity at AUB, CASAR has enjoyed diverse orientations—encompassing American exceptionalism, transnational American studies, expanded continental Americas, East-West encounters, and trenchant critical American studies. In the meantime, the USA has chaperoned a series of imperial adventures which have directly ushered in a year-long live-streamed genocide perpetrated on Palestinians and now including Lebanese. This confluence calls for reopening discussion at AUB about the meaning and prospects of CASAR and its relationship to our most paradoxical educational institution.
The Theatre of Sa'dallah Wannous at Yale
This conference is sponsored by the Alwaleed Center for American Studies (CASAR) at the American University of Beirut (AUB) and the Edward J. and Dorothy Clarke Kempf Memorial Fund.
2023-2024
Spring 2024
Screening of "Blood Zero" by Doyle Avant
CASAR presented “Blood Zero," a daring film by Doyle Avant, playwright, fiction writer, solo performer, videographer, and photographer at the American University of Beirut. The screening took place on the 25th of April 2024 at 7:30 PM in Barzakh in Hamra. In line with his fascination with all manner of imagined memory as well as the dynamic genre of fiction, Avant displays an apocalyptic America where the Death Immuno-Sufficiency Virus has wreaked havoc, pushing many to seek refuge and pleasure within the walls of the historic Ambassador Hotel. There, Saddam Hussein, Bobby Kennedy, Sirhan Sirhan, and others mingle, romance, and reminisce until the end of time.
A Symposium on Cringe
CASAR and the Department of English at AUB hosted a Symposium on Cringe, organized by Rana Baghdadi and Riwa Roukoz. The symposium tackled the elusive concept of “cringe" under four panels— “Aesthetic Feminism and Cringe," by Nour Tormos and Umer Al Dulaimi; “Humor and Meme Culture," by Islam al Khatib and Nour Hajjar; “Queering Pop Culture," by Zyad Seblani, Stefanie Samaha and Chris Choueiri; and “Cringe Politics of Representation," by Amina Kaddoura and Zainab Saad, each approaching a different dimension of the topic with numerous guest speakers from various backgrounds, including young scholars, students, content creators, performers and comedians. The symposium took place in West Hall at AUB on the 23rd of April 2024 at 7:00 PM, and concluded with brief discussions and refreshments.
Graduate Miniconference
CASAR, in collaboration with the Departments of English and Arabic and Near Eastern Languages, organized a graduate miniconference on the 19th of April 2024 at 4:00 PM in the Asfari conference room. The conference featured students from three different courses presenting their research in the following areas, the Posthuman in Arabic Imagination, Latin America, al-Andalus and the Arab World, and the Essay: Histories, Theories, Practices. The event facilitated lively discussion about Arabic, English, and world literature.
Book Launch Latin America, al-Andalus, and the Arab World: Essays on Cultural Transmission and Artistic Reimaginings
CASAR, in collaboration with the Department of English, launched a new volume of essays titled Latin America, al-Andalus, and the Arab World: Essays on Cultural Transmission and Artistic Reimaginings edited by Professor Robert Myers, published by AUB Press. It features essays by Enass Khansa, Chair of the Department of Arabic; Sonja Mejcher-Atassi, Professor of English; George Abdelnour, Assistant Professor of English at NDU; and an array of international scholars. The launch took place in the Asfari conference room on the 24th of April 2024 at 6 PM.
Restaging "An Enemy of the People"
A Lebanese adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's "An Enemy of the People" directed by Lucien Bourjeily and produced by Robert Myers of Alwaleed Center for American Studies and Research (CASAR), will be restaged in the spring of 2024, partially funded by CASAR. The play, which has been adapted and translated to Lebanese Arabic, was sold out for all its shows during the Fall of 2024. It follows mayor of a 1920s Lebanese town, Peter (Abdelrahim al Awji) and his brother, Thomas (Ziad Najjar). Tension rises between the brothers as Thomas, a doctor, attempts to inform the town about a water contamination, but finds his efforts opposed by Peter, who runs the town’s spa. Using this premise, the play tackles complex issues of societal change and opposition, with its themes reflecting the modern Lebanese reality and offering valuable insight into its unique traits and challenges.
Are the Streets Still for Dreaming? Exhibition
“Are The Streets Still For Dreaming?” is a new art exhibition curated by Octavian Esanu and funded by the Center for American Studies and Research (CASAR). The exhibition was launched on the 28th of February 2024 and is currently open at the AUB Byblos Bank Art Gallery (Ada Dodge Hall). It showcases Esanu’s experience with contemporary Lebanese art practices, imbuing them with aspects of the intimate and personal. The Beirut underground scene of 2005-2019 is displayed through this exploration, with its skating groups, metal and punk music bands, and the various practices that emerged from them.
The Speed of Moth
“The Speed of Moth" is a drawing workshop and exhibition offered by painter Shawki Youssef and funded by the Center for American Studies and Research (CASAR). Participants were guided by Youssef through intensive workshops that took place on the 15th and 19th of February 2024. They were coached to find the pieces of art hidden within decaying blank canvases, complemented and embraced by Youssef's distorted art style. The exhibition opened on the 2nd of February 2024 at AUB Rose and Shaheen Saleeby Museum of Art.
Talk Series on Palestine
In collaboration with The Critical Humanities for the Liberal Arts Program (CHLA), Palestine Land Studies, Center for Arts and Humanities (CAH), Department of Sociology, Anthropology and media Studies (SOAM), CASAR is co-sponsoring a series of online events entitled “For Palestine: Analyzing Settler Colonialism and the Return of Fascism." This series was started last semester, and it aims to offer students and the AUB community a platform to learn more about Palestine and settler colonialism from prominent thinkers and reliable voices.
The first event titled “The Political Economy of Palestine" was hosted on February 28 at 5pm Beirut time. One of the discussants was Andy Clarno, author of Neoliberal Apartheid, whose work is pertinent to the current discourse on the ongoing genocide in Gaza.