MESA Co-Organizes Major Conference at Macalester
May 9, 2006 - MESA co-organized a major conference on campus last month. The conference, entitled "Islam and the Modern Orientalist World System", is the 30th annual conference for the Section on the Political Economy of the World-System (PEWS) at the American Sociological Association.
Plenary speakers included Yale University scholar Immanuel Wallerstein, Joseph Massad from Columbia University, and Marnia Lazreg from Hunter College in New York.
Professors Khaldoun Samman (Macalester) and Mazhar Al-Zo'by (Zayed University - UAE) headed the yearlong effort in putting together this major conference, which brought more than twenty speakers from the around the world.
"Beyond Bombers, Billionaires, and Belly Dancers"
December 11, 2005 - The Middle Eastern Student
Association at Macalester College (MESA) has taken on a new initiative
to increase awareness concerning Middle Eastern political, cultural and
social issues and to dispel prevalent stereotypes at the college.
Through this initiative, dubbed "Beyond Bombers, Billionaires, and Belly
Dancers", MESA plans to publish a regular column in the Mac Weekly
starting next semester.
For a college that preaches internationalism and diversity, it is
surprising to find a lack of basic knowledge and resources regarding one
of the most culturally rich and politically important regions of the
world. Through this initiative, we hope to encourage and inspire
students, faculty and the administration to take more interest and give
more support to establishing an Arabic language program and even a
Middle Eastern Studies concentration at Macalester in the near future.
MESA is a relatively new student organization on campus. Chartered in
April 2005, the organization seeks to promote Middle Eastern culture and
raise awareness relating to the Middle East on campus. The cultural
group represented by MESA includes the peoples of all member states in
the League of Arab States, as well as Cyprus, Israel, Iran and Turkey.
In the Kitchen with MESA - March 7, 2006 (More pictures)