This fall, the Department of English Literature presents War | Power | Culture, a lecture series supported by the William J. Cooper Foundation.

Since the end of World War II, numerous large-scale wars, particularly in the Greater Middle East, have not only redefined states but have also transformed societies and cultures in their wake.

War | Power | Culture brings together acclaimed novelists, scholars, and journalists from around the world to discuss how war is represented historically and culturally, how the humanities address concepts of human rights in curbing the spread of war, and how lives bear the traces of history’s conflicts. The organizers of this series hope that these events will allow us to reflect on the impact of violence on global histories, national struggles, and local imaginings.

Each event in the series below will take place on the campus of Swarthmore College, and will be free and open to the public.

Sarah Aziza in Conversation with Assistant Professor of History Elise Mitchell

Mon., Sept. 29, 6-8 p.m.
Intercultural Center, Dome Room

Sarah Aziza, Palestinian American writer, translator, and artist with roots in Ibdis and Deir al-Balah, Gaza, will read and discuss her memoir, The Hollow Half. The memoir, a finalist for the Palestine Book Awards, is a genre-bending work of memoir and oral history exploring the intertwined legacies of diaspora, colonialism, the body, and the American dream.

Abdulrazak Gurnah in Conversation with Bashir Abu-Manneh, Julian and Virginia Cornell Distinguished Visiting Professor of English Literature

Fri., Oct. 3, 6-8 p.m.
Lang Performing Arts Center, Cinema Room

This rare event with Nobel Laureate Abdulrazak Gurnah will consider his extraordinary contribution to global literature in the context of war, revolution, and colonial conquest. How does the individual survive the great force of this history?

Mirza Waheed in Conversation with Razia Iqbal

Fri., Nov. 7, 6-8 p.m.
Lang Performing Arts Center, Cinema Room

British Kashmiri novelist Mirza Waheed discusses key questions that exercise his work and imagination: war, occupation, and the power of history from Kashmir to contemporary Palestine.