Cultural expert discusses Egyptian media

Abu-Lughod

scholar of Middle Eastern studies who records how Egyptian villagers experience and respond to television's portrayal of what it means to be modern will give this year's Lewis Henry Morgan Lecture at the University--the oldest lecture series in anthropology in the United States.

Lila Abu-Lughod, professor of anthropology and gender studies at Columbia University, will speak on "The Ambivalence of National Identity: Asserting the Local in the Face of the Global" at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, October 24, in Morey Hall 321. She will use her studies of people's reactions to Egyptian soap operas to discuss how citizens relate to a national identity.

Part of a panel discussion October 25, Abu-Lughod will provide commentary and show videotapes of Egyptian soap operas at 2 p.m. in the Welles-Brown Room of Rush Rhees Library. The Thursday discussion, titled "In the Name of Community: The Management of Religion and the Magic of Stars," will point out strategies used by Egyptian media to combat Islamic terrorism and extremism. Those efforts, says Abu-Lughod, "tend to fail to create national unity," yet TV does succeed in uniting the nation through a common love of the actors.

Faculty members Emil Homerin, professor of religion, and Thomas Gibson, associate professor of anthropology, will participate in the discussion. Both events are free and open to the public.

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