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Coming up on April 10, Saint Xavier University will host The Symposium on Middle East Women’s Voices.
This symposium is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, in collaboration with the Department of English and Foreign Languages, the Women and Gender Studies Program, and the Middle Eastern Studies Program.
The idea for this symposium was initially suggested by Dr. Nicole Khoury, a professor in the Department of English and Foreign Languages.
Khoury currently teaches an English class titled “Arab Women Writers” at Saint Xavier, similar to a course she taught at Arizona State University in 2009.
Students expressed an interest in sharing their work with a wider audience, inspiring Khoury to try out a symposium at SXU.
“…[My students] felt the topics were relevant and important to start a dialogue about Muslim and Middle Eastern women. This time around, I thought having a symposium would be ideal for the students at Saint Xavier University, especially with a large population of young Muslim American and Middle Eastern students,” Khoury said.
The idea for the symposium has been supported by Dean Kathleen Alaimo of the College of Arts and Sciences, Dr. Iman Saca of the Middle Eastern Studies Program, and Dr. Tatiana Tatum of the Women and Gender Studies Program.
“We began collaborating on this event almost immediately! The support for such an event at SXU has been wonderful,” Khoury said.
Although the symposium’s panels will mostly consist of students from Khoury’s and Tatum’s classes, Dr. Louise Cainkar will speak at the event as well. Cainkar is an associate professor of Social Welfare and Justice at Marquette University in Milwaukee.
“We expect to have at least three student panels… We are hoping that the symposium attracts a range of students, faculty, and staff at Saint Xavier University and people from the local community,” said Khoury.
Since students were encouraged to choose their own discussion topics, the discussions will widely vary.
“I’m excited that there will be a wonderful range of topics, including topics on Middle Eastern women, discussions on Muslim and Arab Americans, and Middle East women in science. I think it is important not only to consider the voices of Middle Eastern women in history, but also to address some of the issues that Muslim Americans and Arab Americans face in the US in our contemporary context,” Khoury said.
The chance to choose a discussion topic is a unique one, an opportunity that students are taking advantage of. Angela Pusateri and Danielle Van Witzenberg, both students in Khoury’s class, will participate in the discussion, with topics that interest them.
“The subject I hope to present on at the symposium is Western Interpretations of Middle Eastern Women,” Pusateri said. “I think this symposium is important for the SXU community because it is an opportunity to educate the public on a topic that is mostly likely unfamiliar to them. In addition, it is a great way to share all of the hard work conducted by [Dr. Khoury’s] class this semester!”
Van Witzenberg plans to present on Marjane Satrapi’s graphic novel and film adaptation of Persepolis, a book familiar to many SXU students. Van Witzenberg says that she chose this topic because it can be engaging to a wide audience while showing the struggle between Eastern and Western ideals.
“I think the symposium is important to the SXU community, it is shedding light on a niche group of writing that should be more widely read and discussed amongst a wider variety of people than just our English class,” Van Witzenberg said.
In the past, Khoury organized other symposiums that have allowed students to showcase their work at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. This event allowed students to showcase the work written in their writing classes.
“This event is similar because the focus is on the wonderful work students and faculty explore in their classes. Sharing our work and providing spaces for discussion is an important part of making connections between what we do in the classroom and how we carry that into our local communities, as well as how we bring discussions that are relevant to our local communities into our classrooms,” Khoury said.
The schedule of panels has not yet been finalized, but will be available soon. Khoury expects at least three student panels, as well as the keynote address by Dr. Cainkar.
Katharine Arvia
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