Tamils in Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka endured a protracted civil war that ended in 2009 in Mullivaikkal. During the war’s end, hundreds of thousands of Tamils were murdered and several thousand were displaced. In this last phase, kanji (rice gruel) became the sole source of sustenance. Kanji, a versatile traditional Tamil dish that is […]

The Center for Jewish Studies presents, The Helen Diller Distinguished Lecture in Jewish Studies. Until the middle of the twentieth century, Algeria hosted an array of Jewish communities—some deeply-rooted, others more recently settled—that played important roles in North African society. French colonial rule, however, brought changes that profoundly reshaped Jews’ relationship to their Muslim neighbors. […]

This talk begins with a question inspired by the work of the anthropologist David Scott, as to whether radical social transformation can remain a credible historical possibility if it is not undergirded by a belief in teleology. Does collectively willed transformation—the kind to which leftist and anticolonial movements have traditionally aspired—become unthinkable absent some degree […]

Join us for a book talk by Dr. Hicham Alaoui in which he will deliver insights about the battle for democracy in the Middle East, drawing upon his recent book, Pacted Democracy in the Middle East: Tunisia and Egypt in Comparative Perspective (Palgrave, 2022), also available in French (Le Cherche Midi, 2024) and Arabic (Dar […]

How do traditions and peoples grapple with loss, particularly when it is of such magnitude that it defies the possibility of recovery or restoration? Rajbir Singh Judge offers new ways to understand loss and the limits of history by considering Maharaja Duleep Singh and his struggle during the 1880s to reestablish Sikh rule, the lost […]