March 9, 2005

Middle East Conference to Weigh Iraq War and its Repercussions

Bill Schlotter

The topic will be the war in Iraq and its influence on other Middle Eastern countries when UC Santa Barbara's Center for Middle East Studies holds its Seventh Annual Conference Saturday, March 19, on the UCSB campus.

Included in the conference will be a "Teaching Iraq" workshop for K-12 teachers, panel discussions, and performances of Middle Eastern music.

The event will conclude with a keynote talk by Trudy Rubin, foreign affairs columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, who will discuss post-elections Iraq and her book, "Willful Blindness: The Bush Administration and Iraq." Rubin, who has reported on the Middle East for more than 30 years from bureaus in Jerusalem, Beirut, and Baghdad, will speak at 5 p.m. in the Hatlen Theatre.

All conference events---workshop, performances, panels, keynote talk---are free and open to the public.

Pre-registration is required and can be made on line at www.cmes.ucsb.edu.

The conference will be preceded by a concert of Middle Eastern music at 8 p.m. Friday night, March 18 in the UCSB MultiCultural Center Theater.

UCSB's Middle East Ensemble, directed by Scott Marcus, will perform and accompany special guest oud player Rahim AlHaj.

Saturday's sessions begin with the teacher workshop at 8:30 a.m. in the MultiCultural Center Theater.

Two panel sessions follow at 10:30 a.m.: a music workshop with AlHaj in the MultiCultural Center Theater, and "The War in Iraq and Regional Repercussions" in the McCune Conference Room (Room 6020) of the Humanities and Social Sciences Building.

At 1:30 p.m., panel discussions resume with "Iraq and Syria" in the McCune Conference Room and "Iraq, Law and Society" in the MultiCultural Center.

The final panel session of the day begins at 3:30 p.m. with "The Politics of the War in Iraq" in the McCune Conference Room and "Iraqi Identities" in the MultiCultural Center. A complete schedule is available on line at www.cmes.ucsb.edu.

The Center for Middle East Studies is one of only 12 National Resource Centers in Middle East studies funded by the Department of Education.

About UC Santa Barbara

The University of California, Santa Barbara is a leading research institution that also provides a comprehensive liberal arts learning experience. Our academic community of faculty, students, and staff is characterized by a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration that is responsive to the needs of our multicultural and global society. All of this takes place within a living and learning environment like no other, as we draw inspiration from the beauty and resources of our extraordinary location at the edge of the Pacific Ocean.