Call for Papers! The Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University is pleased to invite academic essays from graduate students and early career scholars for the 2026 Graduate Conference to be held on April 22-23, 2026. For more info: shorturl.at/pwCWF

MESA 2026: Call for Papers! MESA members are invited to propose papers and sessions for the 60th Annual Meeting of the Middle East Studies Association on November 21-24, 2026. Deadline: February 17, 2026 For more info: mesana.org/annual-meeti...

Call for papers for the 40th Annual Middle East History and Theory Conference (MEHAT) at The University of Chicago on May 1-2, 2026! Deadline: January 31, 2026. For more info: shorturl.at/6D2FE

Coming up today at 4 pm! It's not too late to register for this exciting and unusual event where we will be talking with artist and reporter George Butler. Click here for more info and to register: shorturl.at/tPONr

This coming Wednesday at noon! You don't want to miss this fascinating online lecture with George Butler, artist and reporter, about present day Syria. For more info and to register: shorturl.at/2BEfz

Coming up tomorrow at 6:30 pm...join us for an evening of award-winning Palestinian short films, free and open to the public! For more info: shorturl.at/QcTJd

Coming up next week, December 4! You don't want to miss this event, featuring a collection of short, contemporary, evocative Palestinian films. Discussion to follow, free and open to the public. For more info: shorturl.at/LUpCc

This coming Monday! You don't want to miss this fascinating online lecture about the transnational history of Palestinian student activism over the last century. For more info and to register: shorturl.at/SERvU

A new Study Abroad Program! "UW in Türkiye: Crossroads of Civilizations" Istanbul from May 17 to June 4, 2026 Click here for more information: studyabroad.wisc.edu/program/?pro...

Teaching MIgration Through Comics: Exploring Hakim's Odyssey Online via Zoom November 12, 2025 @ 4-5 pm Join us for an International Book Club featuring a powerful graphic novel tracing one man’s flight from war-torn Syria to safety in Europe. For more info and to register: shorturl.at/Q8o18

Applications are OPEN! 📢 Study a Middle Eastern or Mediterranean language in an accelerated, proficiency-based summer program!📝🌞 Learn more and apply: wisli.wisc.edu/medli #LanguageGoals #LanguageLearning #LanguageSkills

Kimberly Wortman from Wake Forest University gave a fascinating lecture yesterday, as part of the MESP Lecture Series! Click here for details: shorturl.at/Oi6t4. Please come to our next lecture: "Steadfast on Campus: A Century of Global Palestinian Student Activism", details here: shorturl.at/JkG1T

We are excited to be cosponsoring this upcoming lecture with the Department of History: “The Making of the Carceral State in Modern Iran” Thursday, November 13th, 12 noon-2 pm Pyle Center 313 Speaker: Golnar Nikpour (Dartmouth College) For more info: shorturl.at/Ad2Vy

Boren Awards Info Session Monday, November 10, 2025 12–1 p.m. Study Abroad Resource Center, 3rd Floor Red Gym Do you study or want to learn a less commonly taught language? Boren Awards can give you up to $25,000 to study a critical language abroad! For more info, visit go.wisc.edu/language-events

This Monday! Come hear Kimberly Wortmann (Wake Forest University) discuss "Religion, Heritage, and Identity in TAnzania's Omani-Ibadi Community". Free and open to the public. A vegetarian Middle Eastern lunch will be provided. For more info and to register: shorturl.at/dxvUd

We had great fun yesterday at the Children's International Story Hour (CISH) at Pinney Library! Our reader Lina, from Jenin in Palestine, read from: “Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine”. For more about CISH and upcoming events, go to: shorturl.at/qOBAk

TODAY! Open to children and their caregivers: Children’s International Story Hour: “Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine” Pinney Library, 516 Cottage Grove Rd. Madison, WI 53716 October 27, 2025 @ 4 - 5 pm For more information: shorturl.at/3cyIr

Next Monday! Open to children and their caregivers: Children’s International Story Hour: “Homeland: My Father Dreams of Palestine” Pinney Library, 516 Cottage Grove Rd. Madison, WI 53716 October 27, 2025 @ 4 - 5 pm For more information: shorturl.at/5ZcUu

We had a packed house at our MESP lecture yesterday, cosponsored with the African Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison! Jonas Elbousty from Yale University, gave a fascinating presentation on Mohamed Choukri’s short stories. For more info: shorturl.at/jbtzv

Online Adult Turkish Classes! In collaboration with a language education initiative, the non-profit Turkish American Cultural Alliance is planning to offer 2 hour online Turkish classes for adults. If interested, please complete this form by Friday, October 24: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

Tomorrow at noon, you don't want to miss this fascinating lecture! For more info and to register: shorturl.at/0veGy

This coming Wednesday! Professor Jonas Elbousty (Yale University) will discuss Mohamed Choukri’s short stories. A vegetarian Middle Eastern lunch will be provided. For more information and to register: shorturl.at/D3kcZ This event is cosponsored by African Studies.

Professor Shereen Abouelnaga (Cairo University) presented her fascinating talk this past Monday via Zoom, entitled "Cross-Stitching the Scattered: Women’s Literary Subjectivities". To those who could not make it, here's the video recording: www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4d0...

Tomorrow at 4 pm! Join us online for a conversation with Mohammad Sabaaneh, the author and illustrator of the award winning graphic novel "Power Born of Dreams: My Story is Palestine". Discussion facilitated by Professor Ramzi Fawaz. For more info and to register: shorturl.at/Bagje

Today at noon! A hybrid lecture with Professor Shereen Abouelnaga (Cairo University). A delicious Middle Eastern lunch will be served for those able to join us in-person at Ingraham 206. For more information and to register: mideast.wisc.edu/.../cross-st...

Coming up this Monday! A hybrid lecture with Professor Shereen Abouelnaga (Cairo University). For more information and to register: shorturl.at/NZxle #uwmesp #uwmadison #cairouniversity

Join us online for a conversation with Mohammad Sabaaneh, the creator of the award winning graphic novel "Power Born of Dreams: My Story is Palestine". Discussion facilitated by Professor Ramzi Fawaz. Cosponsored with IRIS NRC. For more information and to register, go to: shorturl.at/pGW8D

Online lecture this Thursday! "How Far is the Far East to the Near East? Dynamics of Japanese-Turkish Relations Before Their Official Beginning" September 19, 2025 @ 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm Click here for more info and zoom link: shorturl.at/CNIF2

Study Abroad Fair Tuesday, September 30, 2025 3-6 PM Gordon Dining & Event Center The fair is a great way to learn about study abroad, explore programs, international internships, research opportunities and more! For more info: studyabroad.wisc.edu/fair/

International Majors & Opportunities Fair Monday, September 22, 2:30-5 pm Great Hall at Memorial Union Come learn about majors, certificates, funding, student orgs, and events on campus that are international in scope! Questions? Contact Molly Donnellan at [email protected].

MENA Fall Welcome Event! Thursday, September 18, 2025 5:30-7 pm Red Gym Come learn more about MENA programming and what we offer. Connect with new folks, meet staff and faculty, and share a meal. Contact [email protected] with questions or accommodations.

This coming friday! You don't want to miss these two opportunities to hear from trauma surgeon Dr. Feroze Sidhwa about his recent experiences working at a Gaza hospital. Free and open to the public. For more info: shorturl.at/ubfTA

We are excited to be cosponsoring these important talks by Dr. Feroze Sidhwa, a trauma surgeon, who recently worked at a Gaza hospital. For more info: shorturl.at/1L6zj and shorturl.at/f5t3B

We had a wonderful graduation party on Wednesday, May 7! MESP students, faculty, staff and family members gathered to congratulate students who earned a MESP certificate this spring and summer. We wish them great success in their future endeavors!

Exciting news from one our MESP certificate students! The 2025 Wolff Fellowship recipient, Cat Carroll, plans to spend the next year studying the migration phenomenon in seven different countries. ls.wisc.edu/news/tracing...

An important and timely film coming up this Wednesday, on campus: “The Palestine Exception” A new documentary about the 2024 campus divestment movement with a post film discussion Wednesday, April 23, 6-8 pm UW Memorial Union, Chart Room Free and open to the public

Coming up next Monday at 5 pm! You don't want to miss this important and timely lecture on "Campus Speech, Antisemitism and Islamophobia" with two renowned scholars. Please register soon at shorturl.at/hZYQn

We had a huge turnout at our annual conference on the global Middle East last Thursday! Thanks to all who came. Over 100 attendees learned about a variety of topics related to the region. For more information about this conference and the wide array of presentations, go to shorturl.at/Z6s2g

We had a packed house yesterday at the fascinating lecture with Lior Sternfeld, discussing the Iranian Jewish diaspora! Please join us for our next big event, coming up this thursday, our annual conference on the "Global Middle East", click here for details: shorturl.at/OQr9T

Today at noon, Ingraham Hall, room 206! Professor Lior Sternfeld will discuss the Iranian Jewish diaspora in both Israel and the US. A Middle Eastern vegetarian lunch will be provided. For more info and to register: tinyurl.com/33239u4n

The Department of Medical History and Bioethics presents “Constructing Chemical Infrastructure to Treat Parasitic Disease in Egypt” A talk with Jennifer Derr, University of California Santa Cruz Tuesday, April 8, from 11:30 am-1 pm Curti Lounge (Mosse Humanities 5233)

MESP CONFERENCE SPEAKER SPOTLIGHT: "Passage to Blackness: Mobility and Difference across Desert and Sea" with Leslie Gross-Wyrtzen (Yale University) For more info about our annual conference on April 10, and to register, go to shorturl.at/OQr9T

This coming Monday! It's not too late to register for this fascinating lecture by Professor Lior Sternfeld (Penn State University) about the Iranian Jewish diasporic community. Click here for more information and to register: tinyurl.com/33239u4n

MESP CONFERENCE SPEAKER SPOTLIGHT: "Picketing the Syrian shop: Confronting Mahjari Capitalism and Its Archival Afterlives" with Stacy D. Fahrenthold (Associate Professor at University of California-Davis) For more info on our conference on April 10 go to shorturl.at/OQr9T

APRIL 10 MESP CONFERENCE SPEAKER SPOTLIGHT: "Unrequited and Undecided: Muslim and Middle Eastern Americans in 2024 and Beyond" with Youssef Chouhoud (Christopher Newport University) For more information, including the full speaker lineup and to register, go to shorturl.at/OQr9T #uwmadison

We are thrilled to be partnering with the Wisconsin Film Festival to bring you the film “Happy Holidays", a piercing, realistic family drama set in Israel/Palestine. Two showings: April 5 and 10. For more information and to purchase tickets go to: shorturl.at/6u09b. #wifilmfest

“The Logic of Protection” Room 202/204 Bradley Memorial Building March 21, 2025 @ 12:15 pm - 1:15 pm Professor Adam Stern on the life and work of Ilan Halevi (1943-2013), best known as the first Jewish member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). For more info: shorturl.at/TXWyK

MESP Conference Speaker Spotlight: "The Uyghur-Chinese Muslim Struggle for Arab Public Opinion in Cairo, 1931-1945" A lecture by John Chen (California State University Bakersfield) For more information about our annual conference on April 10, go to shorturl.at/OQr9T #uwmadison

We had a great turnout for last Monday's MESP lecture with Ghenwa Hayek from the University of Chicago, speaking on the Lebanese diaspora! Join us for our next MESP lecture with Lior Sternfeld, on the Iranian Jewish diaspora. For more info and to register, go to: tinyurl.com/33239u4n

“Translating Socialist Realism: Revolutionary Encounters Across Turkey and the Soviet Union” A German, Nordic, and Slavic+ lecture with Nergis Ertürk (Penn State University) Friday, April 11, 4-6 pm Room 332, The Pyle Center For more info: shorturl.at/IYQgo #uwmadison