December 3, 2014 – 12:00 NOON to 3:00 PM
CSULB University, Student Union, Beach Auditorium
OVERVIEW
The Syrian-Iraqi crises are deepening everyday as the Islamic State continues to expand its reign of terror in the changing political landscape of the Middle East, threatening ancient Mesopotamian religious and ethnic minorities with extinction. Humanitarian tragedies like that of the Kurdish Yazidis have led to the influx of millions of refugees with grave implications for regional and global peace and security. The forum will bring together leading experts including journalists, academicians, and scholars for lively discussions about the pressing historical, political, ethno-religious, cultural, issues, movements, and changes in Syria and Iraq.
PROGRAM
OPENING REMARKS
Amir Sharifi, CSULB Department of Linguistics
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
Reese Erlich: “A Reporter’s First Hand Report: Assad, ISIS, Obama and US Middle East Policy”
PANEL DISCUSSIONS
Gerard Russell: Researcher, author of Heirs to Forgotten Kingdoms: Yazidis and survival (via Skype)
James Gelvin: UCLA History: Social and cultural history of the modern Middle East, particularly Greater Syria
Sophia Pandya: CSULB Religious Studies: Religious change among educated women, and the implications of modernity, globalization, and education on their practice
Yousef Baker: CSULB International Studies: Globalization and development, social movements, nationalism, and migration in the modern Middle East and North Africa
Charlie Mahoney: CSULB Political Science: US foreign policy, terrorism, and counter-insurgency
Danny Paskin: CSULB Journalism and Mass Communication: International news coverage
Larry N. George: CSULB Political Science: international relations
Haider Helias: Yazidi Association president and representative
Nazand Begikhani: University of Bristol – Senior Research Fellow. Senior International Adviser on Higher Education & Gender/KRG, Editor-in-chief of Le Monde Diplomatique/Kurdish edition: The cases of Kurdish Yazidi women
Amir Sharifi: CSULB Linguistics: Kurdi`sh diaspora and socio-linguistic identity. The struggle for Political, cultural and linguistic autonomy
Kurdish Studies Network 