Feb 20
Middle East Talk,Prof Xavier Luffin,"Muslim Africans of Brazil..."
Professor Xavier Luffin, University of Brussels, Belgium, will present:
The Muslim Africans of Brazil: The Testimony of a 19th Century Ottoman Imam
Tuesday, Feb 20th, 12:00-1:00 pm (Common Time)
Leighton 305.
Lunch provided for the first 25 guests.
Professor Luffin will discuss a 19th-century document about an Ottoman Muslim traveler in Brazil. He is a Professor of Arabic Language and Literature at the Université libre de Bruxelles. He specializes in Middle Eastern Languages and Studies, issues of slavery and Islam in West and other Sub-Saharan African societies in Atlantic world history. He has taught Arabic at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven. He is the author of twenty translations (novels, short stories, poems, dramas) of Arabic (Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Palestine), and also of Turkish and English. His translations have been published by various Belgian and French publishers: Actes Sud, Métailié, Lansman, Magellan, etc. His published translations include novels by Ahmad al-Malik and Amir Tagelsir (Sudan), Rachid Daif (Lebanon) and Samir Naqqash (Israel-Iraq), as well as Nawal el-Saadawi's drama, Isis. He translated Vamba Sherif's novel Bound to Secrecy. Among his recent publications: The sons of Antara. Representations of Africa and Africans in Contemporary Arabic Literature, Brussels, Safran, 2012, Religion and Contemporary Arabic Literature. Some Critical Looks, Brussels, Royal Academy of Belgium, 2012, Arab Spring and Literature. From Reality to Fiction, From Fiction to Reality, Brussels, Royal Academy of Belgium, 2013. His academic research focuses on the representations of Africans in Arabic Literature as well as on the Arabic literature of Africa. He is now preparing a book in English about the representations of African-Americans in the Arabic Fiction.
This talk is sponsored by Carleton's Dean of the College Office, Middle East, Latin American, and Africana Studies, the Critical Conversations Initiative, the History Department's Herbert P. Lefler fund, as well as the St. Olaf Dean of the College and Middle East Studies Department. Hosted by Professor Thabiti Willis, History Department.