lectures2007

Saturday, April 5, 2008

The University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Alliance Française of Birmingham invite the public to a free lecture in English by

Antoine Sfeir
(Journalist, Publisher of Les Cahiers de l'Orient, Director of the Centre d'Etudes et de Réflexions sur le Proche-Orient (thinktank on the Middle East) since 1990)

"Turmoil in the Middle East"

French-Lebanese journalist, Antoine Sfeir contributed to French paper La Croix and magazine L'Express as well as to several periodicals such as Esprit and Etudes. He currently teaches at the journalism school CELSA (Paris IV Sorbonne). Sfeir is the author of a series of studies about the Arab world for the French Government (Ministries of Defense and Foreign Affairs). He authored works on religion, Dieu, Yahweh, Allâh : Les Grandes Questions sur les trois religions, 100 réponses à des vraies questions d'enfants (Bayard Jeunesse, 2004), on Islam and Islamism, Les Réseaux d'Allah (Plon, 2001), and on communitarism and secularism with René Andrau, Liberté, Égalité, Islam (Tallandier, 2005.) In 2006, in collaboration with Nicole Bacharan, he published a book on the Middle East, Américains, Arabes: la confrontation (Seuil, 2006) and Vers l'Orient compliqué (Grasset, 2006).

Why did the United States invade Iraq? It has now been five years that this question has been asked. Antoine Sfeir tries to answer the question by recalling the history of these countries from the Sykes-Picot accords to today; retelling the stories of their coming to independence; the regional power struggles, and the Gulf war of 1991. However, by stressing the more recent date of September 11, 2001, his demonstration takes on greater meaning. Finally, Antoine Sfeir sets forth a hypothesis, which, beginning from an analysis of American foreign policy, appears to find greater confirmation each day, and puts in perspective the opinion of an American failure in Iraq.

Time: 6:30 PM
Place: UAB Humanities Building, Room 105, 900 13th St. S.
Admission: FREE
Reception: Chez Mme Cynthia Butler
3525 Cliff Road
Birmingham Al 35205
326 0866

Call UAB Associate Professor Serge Bokobza, Ph.D., for more details at 204-934-8902.

Saturday, February 16, 2008

The University of Alabama at Birmingham and the Alliance Française of Birmingham invite the public to a free lecture in English by

Gaston Kelman
(French author and consultant)

"An End to The Racial Alibi"

Kelman, a native of Cameroon, is author of the book "I Am a Black Man and I Don't Like Manioc" published in 2003. In this bestseller, Kelman, with provocation and a dose of humor, castigates the clichés associated with the condition of being black in society.

Among his controversial views, Kelman denies there is black culture. He thus favors what he calls an assimilating humanism and is unsympathetic toward certain associations or organizations that call for the integration of black populations while at the same time maintaining the right to assert a difference.

In 1992, Kelman started an association for the discussion of matters relating to the integration of the races, known by its French acronym as the CRI. He also owns a consulting firm that deals with socio-cultural issues related to immigration from black Africa.
Time: 7:30 PM
Place: UAB Humanities Building, Room 105, 900 13th St. S.
Admission: FREE
Reception TBA

Call UAB Associate Professor Serge Bokobza, Ph.D., for more details at 204-934-8902.

DR.ROBERT SATLOFF

WEDNESDAY - JANUARY 30, 2008

Hulsey Recital Hall

“Countering the Holocaust Denial in the Arab World:

A Personal Approach”

1:00PM – 2:00PM

“In Search of an Arab Schindler: Did Any ARABS SAVE ANY JEWS DURING THE HOLOCAUST?”

6:30PM – 7:30PM

Book signing session

3:00PM-4:20PM

Lamia Ben Youssef Zayzafoon, Ph.D. /Department of Foreign Languages and Literatures / University of Alabama at Birmingham / HB 408 / 1530 3rd Avenue South / Birmingham, Alabama 35294-1260 / 205.934.2214(tel.) / 205.934.1944 (fax) / lzayzafo@@uab.edu

Reception to follow

Friday, January 11, 2008

Alliance Française of Birmingham and UAB Department of Foreign Languages invite the public to a free lecture in English by

Christopher Thompson
(History Professor, Ball State University and
author of The Tour de France: A Cultural History)

"Giants of the Road or Junkies"

Time: 7:30 PM
Place: UAB Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th Street South
Admission: FREE
Reception TBA
For more information, call 934-8902

Friday, November 30, 2007

Alliance Française of Birmingham and UAB Department of Foreign Languages invite the public to a free lecture in English by

Antoine Malamoud
(grandson of Léon Blum)

"Léon Blum en captivité:
des prisons de Vichy à Buchenwald (1940-1945)"

Time: 7:30 PM
Place: UAB Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th Street South
Admission: FREE
Reception TBA
For more information, call 934-8902

Saturday, October 27, 2007

Alliance Française of Birmingham and UAB Department of Foreign Languages invite the public to a free lecture in French by

Time: 7:00 PM
Place: UAB Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th Street South
Admission: FREE
Reception chez M. George et Mme Cynthia Butler
For more information, call 934-8902

Cette conférence est organisée avec le soutien de la Délégation générale de l'Alliance Française de Paris aux Etats-Unis.
This lecture is organized with the support of la Délégation générale de l'Alliance Française of Paris in the United States.

Alliance Française of Birmingham and UAB Department of Foreign Languages invite the public to a free lecture in English by

Jean Harzic
" French Language and Cultural Diversity"

Click here for more information on M. Harzic

Time: 6:30 PM
Place: UAB Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th Street South
Admission: FREE
Reception chez Mme Annie McCarter
For more information, call 934-8902

Alliance Française of Birmingham and UAB Department of Foreign Languages invite the public to a free lecture in French by

Yasmina Khadra is the pen name of Mohammed Moulesselhoul, born in Algeria in 1955. An officer in the Algerian army, he became a commander by the time he left in 2000 after thirty-six years of military life, to dedicate himself to his real vocation: writing. In 2001, after a short stay in Mexico , he settled in France where he has lived ever since with his family. His wife suggested he take on a pseudonym and lent him two first names.
Yasmina Khadra hit the scene in 1997 with Morituri, soon followed by L’Ecrivain, an autobiographical novel.

Les Hirondelles de Kaboul, translated in the USA by John Cullen, was best book of the year in 2005 according to the San Francisco Chronicle and Christian Science Monitor. L’Attentat, pubished in 2005, confirmed his talent and international acclaim.

Nobel prize winner J. M. Coetze sees in this prolific writer, now translated into 17 languages, a novelist of the highest order. In 2004, Newsweek acclaimed him as one of the rare writers capable of giving a meaning to the violence in Algeria today. His novel set in Afghanistan under the Taliban The Swallows of Kabul was short listed for the 2006 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.

Time: 7:30 PM
Place: UAB Hulsey Recital Hall, 950 13th Street South
Admission: FREE
Reception to be announced
For more information, call 934-8902

Alliance Française of Birmingham and UAB Department of Foreign Languages invite the public to a free lecture in English by

Born in Paris in 1950, Philippe Gumplowicz is distinguished lecturer in musicology at the University of Bourgogne and teaches seminars at the Sorbonne as well as at the School for Advanced Studies in Social Studies.
He is also a writer, and his published works including Les Travaux d'Orphée (The Labors of Orpheus), nominated for the Musical Literature Prize, and Le Roman du Jazz (The Novel of Jazz), covering three periods, the third one being published in 2006.
He is a playwright, having penned three stage plays.
In the area of audio-visual, Philippe Gumplowicz is a producer with France Culture and France Musique, radio stations for which he works on musical news programs, he puts together shows that are broadcast on the television stations ARTE, LA SEPT and France 3.

Alliance Française of Birmingham and UAB Department of Foreign Languages invite the public to a free lecture in French by