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THE 2008 SABBAGH LECTURE
Professor Kanan Makiya, Ph.D.
Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
Brandeis University
"Is Iraq Viable?"
Thursday, February 28, 2008 7:00 p.m.
Arizona Historical Society
Second Street Museum
949 E. Second Street
Tucson, Arizona
Reception to Follow
Professor Kanan Makiya, Ph.D. will give this year's Sabbagh Lecture, "Is Iraq Viable?"
Born in Baghdad, Kanan Makiya, the Sylvia Hassenfeld Professor of Modern Middle East Studies at Brandeis University, is the founder and president of The Iraq Memory Foundation, a non-profit corporation intended to document and publicize the abuses of the Ba'ath regime. He is also the founding director of The Iraq Foundation, a non-profit organization that promotes public activities concerning democracy in Iraq.
In this lecture, Professor Makiya will talk about whether or not the Iraqi state in its current borders is still viable. Many commentators, and American legislators, have begun to question the shape of the state as put in place by the British following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Are they right? Is there no longer such a thing as allegiance to the idea of Iraq? The 2003 war, and the fragmentation of authority in Iraq, has made this an important issue to examine.
Professor Makiya left Iraq to study architecture at M.I.T., later joining Makiya Associates to design and build projects in the Middle East. In 1981, he gave up the practice of architecture to begin writing Republic of Fear (1989), which became a best-seller after Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. His third book, Cruelty and Silence: War, Tyranny, Uprising and the Arab World (1993), was awarded The Lionel Gelber Prize for the best book on international relations published in English in 1993. His most recent book, The Rock: A Seventh Century Tale Of Jerusalem (2001), is an historical novel about the interplay of Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. Professor Makiya has written for The Independent, The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement, and The Times of London.
The Sabbagh Lecture is presented by the anthropology department at the University of Arizona. These lectures focus on the Arab cultures of the Middle East from an anthropological perspective. Through the generosity of Tucsonans Entisar and Adib Sabbagh, an expert in Arab cultures is brought to campus each year for a public lecture and a master seminar for graduate students. The Sabbaghs have sponsored the series for 16 years.
Entisar (Vivi) Sabbagh is a doctoral graduate of the UA department of anthropology, and Dr. Adib Sabbagh is a Tucson cardiac surgeon. The Sabbaghs sponsor these lectures to enhance the public understanding and appreciation for the complexity and diversity of Arab cultures. The lectures also serve to enrich the curriculum of the department of anthropology by bringing to it the scholarship and learning of eminent scholars.
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