[Academy Lectures 2016.10.28 ] 

Abstract

Imaginaries of History and the Ambiguity of Violence: Walter Benjamin and the Modern Intellectual Tradition in the Middle East |

The Centre for Islamic and Middle East Studies at the University of Oslo and the Academy of Fine Art at Oslo National Academy of the Arts are pleased to present a series of lectures and workshops on the modern intellectual history of the Middle East. Focusing on Walter Benjamin’s reception in the Middle East, this event brings together two keynote speakers, Jens Hanssen and Sami Khatib, who will discuss various imaginaries of history and the ambiguous notion of violence in the work of Benjamin as well as Mahmud Darwish and Hannah Arendt, and others.

These issues are pertinent to the work of the Centre for Islamic and Middle East Studies and the Academy of Fine Art, both of which have a longstanding engagement in the Middle East – the Centre through its ongoing scholarly activity in the field, the Academy through its long-term collaboration with the International Academy of Art Palestine. Gathering students and scholars from both institutions, this event offers a variety of perspectives on the importance of discussing European and Arab modern thought in their interrelation.