Interview with History Professor Sherene Seikaly

Transcript of the interview:

Sherene Seikaly is an Assistant Professor of History and Middle East Studies at the American University in Cairo. She earned a PhD in the departments of History and Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at New York University in 2007, an MA at Georgetown University’s Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, and a B.A. at the University of California, San Diego. Before joining AUC, Professor Seikaly was the Qatar Postdoctoral Fellow at Georgetown University (2007-2008) and Postdoctoral Fellow at the Middle East in Europe Program at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (2008-2009).

Tell us about yourself, how did you decide to become a historian?

I’ll tell u a little bit about my self. I was born in Beirut, Lebanon during the civil war to Palestinian parents who were expelled as children from Palestine in 1948 and I grew up in the states. My first memories were really ones of civil war in Lebanon. And after I did undergraduate studies at UC San Diego I went back to Lebanon and I did work in the Palestinian refugee camps and non-profit work for about four years in Lebanon and I think after that when I went back to do graduate work and I decided that the on-profit world wasn’t really helping me to do new things, there was like a ceiling for me in that field. I moved towards graduate work and academic work and then my journey towards history was kind of accidental in many ways but then as I got more familiar with what I could do as a historian especially as a historian of Palestine I became very committed and convinced of it.

And that brings us to our next questions, how has the fact that you are of Palestinian descent affect the way you viewed things and your approach to work?

I think that from the very beginning very sort of because my family, in part because of the civil war but also in part because of how my family experienced being Palestinian in Lebanon, even though we had citizenship, because the Palestinian Christians got citizenship in Lebanon. My family sort of raised me from the very beginning with the kind of political background and being unable to go to Palestine and be in Palestine and be in one place with the rest of the family, so that was sort of one of the first things that formed me as a person, my very first memories are of that. And then what I think happened when I went to the states was because I understood that the way that the Palestinian story being told in the media wasn’t accurate, and so I began questioning the way politics were represented more broadly. So it helped make connections with sort of the plight of the Native Americans in the United States and African Americans and I began making connections sort of from an early age. Today I think the approach is one of commitment to justice and I like to think that’s not just about Palestine but more general, but it is definitely informed by that commitment to justice in Palestine.

Did you ever face difficulties in your field or while you were studying just because of whom you are?

No not while I was studying, while I was studying I had a very supportive group of advisors and folks around me that were supporting me and helping me, but when I started sort of the job application process, because I had been doing political work for about ten years, I mean even longer, especially my time in New York began with a kind of, the second intifada, and that was the time of real political activism, and I think when started going out onto the job market, the combination of having done political work and doing something on Palestine and being Palestinian, was a challenge definitely, I think people were afraid of the possible controversies that having me on-campus would inspire.

I heard that you are working on a manuscript, its a work in progress, so can you tell us a little bit about this.

Sure, it’s called Meatless Days: Consumption and Capitalism in Palestine, its based on the dissertation, which tries to look at basically the ideas that the way we’ve looked at history, Palestinian history, before 1948 has simplified the social history of that period. So people have looked at that history as one of either there are these kind of decadent notable elites or honourable and ignorant peasants, and one of the things that my work tries to do is say that there was something else going on in the middle, that there was a middle class, that they had ideas about capitalism, that they had ideas about what it meant to have a healthy body and economy and a nation. And one of the reason I think it’s important, is because it allows us to look at liberalism and capitalism critically as a historical phenomenon.

It's not sensationalism!

When a story titled "Students report worker masturbating in library" was published on the front page of the student produced newspaper at The American University in Cairo on February 21, 2010, many people were not pleased. The Caravan was criticized for publishing this story as many thought that the language used was offensive. The reporter who wrote this story and the editor-in-chied share their views about why they published this story and why they felt it is important.

International students at AUC talk about their experiences

Three students, an American, a Jordanian and a Norwegian talk about their experiences of living in Cairo, Egypt and studying at The American University in Cairo. Here they share with us the good, the bad and the ugly about Cairo.

Listening Journal - Long Form Audio Documentary

'The Girl at the Window'

This audio documentary is produced by Radio Netherlands (RN). It is produced and presented by Anna Yeadell and it runs for 00:29:30 minutes. This documentary is a producer’s quest for the artist who painted a picture left to her by her grandmother. Yeadell talks about how she discovered the 90 year old artist still painting with an incredible story to tell about how she survived the Second World War, her husband’s death and pursuing her dream.

I found this documentary to be very interesting because I got to listen to the artist talk about her life and her art, which I didn’t expect since she is very old. The documentary was very simple and only included interviews with a few people which make it very personal. But nevertheless, listening to this old lady telling her story, which is filled with lessons about life, was very insightful and touching. Her words were of wisdom, and I felt like the whole point behind this documentary is not the painting itself but the message behind it.

The sound quality was very good, all the voices were clear, except that I heard a shuffling sound when Ursula was talking, and towards the end of the documentary, in one of Ursula’s sound bites, I heard the sound of an airplane in the background. This shows that not much effort was put into the editing process. Natural sound was not used at all, except for some piano music which played in the background at the start of the documentary and ran for almost 3:20 minutes. It started playing again when Ursula brought up the subject of her husband’s death and the war and this set up a tragic atmosphere.

The narrator’s voice was really clear and was suitable for transition from one topic to another because it was youthful and clear, which is contrary to the interviewee’s voice, I felt like she was putting a lot of effort to talk. But, Ursula’s voice is so expressive and underlines this whole nostalgic mood.

I felt like the documentary was too long for such a topic, especially that only two people were interviewed. It included a lot of sound bites of Ursula, which is understandable since the documentary is about her, but they could have been shorter. Towards the end, it was hard to concentrate on what she was saying because she was struggling to pronounce her words.

The documentary begins strongly, they start with a sound bite of Ursula, which compelled me to keep listening because her voice is expressive and has this very sad and frustrated but asserting and determined feel to it. Although this documentary features a 90 year old woman who’s life is close to an end, the ending of the documentary leaves the listener full of hope and provides the listener with some very compelling words of advice: “you must not stand still because that means going back, you must always go forward, and that’s what I try to do,” said Ursula.

http://www.prx.org/pieces/1626-rn-documentary-the-girl-at-the-window

PSA - Al Quds Club Awareness Campaign

Local Officer: Zeina Bisharat, 0166036645 zee_727@hotmail.com, Head of Public Relations
Organization: Al Quds Club at the American University in Cairo
Contact Info: alquds.auc@gmail.com
Heading: Al Quds Club Campaign to Promote Awareness
Airdate: March 10, 2010 – May 12, 2010

30 seconds

MUSIC: MA BAIN HAIFA W JENIN: 2 SECOND

MUSIC CONTINUES TO PLAY IN BACKGROUND, BUT FADED

ANNC1: Al-Quds club, the Palestinian club at AUC, would like to open the door of opportunity to those who are interested in learning more about Palestine’s culture, tradition and history.

ANNC2: you can increase your awareness and engage yourself in weekly debates, documentary screenings and first-hand stories from the many Palestinians at AUC.

ANNC1: Al-Quds Club also offers weekly dance practices to those who want to learn the traditional Palestinian dance.

ANNC2: for more info. visit our booth or join our facebook group.

AMPLIFY MUSIC

END.

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=24201360431&ref=ts

Listening Journal

BBC Hourly Newscast
The newscast runs up to 5:00, which was a good length.
The newscast covered a variety of international news such as the recently uncovered evidence that millions of dollars donated to the relief effort for the Ethiopian famine in the mid 1980’s went to buy weapons; the earthquake in Chile and how aid how damaged infrastructure hampers the relief efforts; and nuclear waste in Australia and where to put it, local aborigines worry about health implications.
Natural sound was not included in this newscast and only one or two sound bites were used. But it was easy for me to keep listening in because the newscast covered a variety of topics. In addition the voice of the newscaster was very engaging and conversational. It was not monotonous but rather varied, he changed his pace at different intervals.

Listening Journal - NPR Hourly News Summary

The NPR Hourly News Summary of 3 March, 2010 runs up to 4:46 minutes. The producers were not enlisted, and the newscast was aired from Washington.
The sound quality of this newscast is excellent; the newscaster has a very clear and warm voice. The newscaster and the reporters featuring in this newscast are all articulate and speak clearly, and also take their time in narrating. They are kind of slow, which I found is not something newscasters give attention to due to the time constraints. This is why I felt this newscast is too long, it might because the newscaster/reporters were taking their time in narrating their stories.
Only sound bites were used in the first report and no natural sound was used at all. In the second and third reports, the journalist didn’t use any nat. sound or sound bites.
The newscast discussed bills that add to the U.S. deficit such as the senate bill extending unemployment benefits and highway funding. In addition, the newscast discussed a lot of U.S. politics, such as layoffs in the education industry, and used a lot of financial terms.

Queen Rania speaks at AUC

Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan spoke at The American University in Cairo on Sunday, about the role of civic engagement in the Arab world and the role it plays in the betterment of the our societies.
She spoke for 15 minutes and then entertained four questions that were asked by the President of AUC's Student Union. The questions were disclosed to her majesty in advance and were selectively chosen out of a pool of questions that were sent out by the AUC community. To be honest, I really expected more out of this short speech especially coming from a Queen. Being a responsible citizen and engaging in the society we live in isn't something that I didn't know and the least that could've been done when addressing such a topic is to articulate it in an interesting and genuine manner, which I felt, was not the case.
There is something that the Queen said about aid to developing countries like ours that struck me as funny. The Queen said something along the lines that she doesn't believe in aid and that aid is not necessarily something to be encouraged as it creates dependency, and that she rather believes in development and empowering people. What's so ironic about that is that Jordan is one the largest recipients of U.S. aid in the region!