College of Arts & Sciences
Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies
Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies
Announcements

Arabic Poetry Colloquium – “Abodes and Homelands: The Poetics of Place in Arabic Tradition” – Full Program

Georgetown University

College of Arts & Sciences
Department of Arabic & Islamic Studies

Georgetown Colloquium in Arabic Literature

April 3-4, 2025

المنازل والديار: شعرية المكان والفقدان في التراث العربي

Abodes and Homelands: The Poetics of Place and Loss in the Arabic Tradition *

*The Colloquium is conducted in ARABIC, except for the Friday 12 noon English lecture

Thursday, April 3, 2025

10:30 AM McShain Small Lounge
Coffee Reception and Welcoming Remarks

11:00 AM – 1:00 PM McShain Small Lounge
Panel 1
Chair: Mustafa BinMayaba

  1. Suzanne Stetkevych (Georgetown University)
    Usāmah ibn Munqidh’s Dwellings and Abodes: From Rumination to Consolation in the Arabic Poetic Tradition
  2. Mohammad Alahmad (Georgetown University)

Loss in Syrian Poetry After the 2011 Uprising

  • Rawad Wehbe (University of Utah)A Lone Sword I Remain: The Place of Nostalgia in the Arabic Ḥamāsiyyah

[Lunch Break:1:00 PM – 2:00 PM Arabic & Islamic Studies Lounge, Poulton Hall North 200]

2:00 PM – 4:00 PM McShain Small Lounge
Panel 2
Chair: Hussain Abulfaraj

  1. Nizar Hermes (The University of Virginia)
    Before Ibn Shuhayd and Ibn Ḥamdīs: The Adaptation of the Deserted Abode Motif in Ibn ʿAbdūn al-Sūsī’s Nostalgia for Sousse
  2. Mustafa BinMayaba (King Abdulaziz University)
    The Stimulus and the Response: A Reading of Ibn Ḥazm’s Treatise on Mourning for Cordoba
  3. Lubna Alshanquitiy (King Abdulaziz University)
    The Dwellings and Abodes in Language of Prophetic Praise: Between Reality and Symbolism

4:30 PM – 6:00 PM Linguistics Conference Room, Poulton Hall North

Sakka Family Fund Lecture

Hatem Alzahrani (Umm al-Qura University)

The Perils of the Canon and the Challenges of Experimentation Exploring the Grey Zone in Modern Arabic Poetry

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM Arabic & Islamic Studies Lounge, Poulton Hall North
Sakka Lecture Dinner Reception followed by Poetry Reading

Nizar Hermes, Hussain Abulfaraj and Open Mic

Friday, April 4, 2025

All Events: CCAS Boardroom Room: International Cultural Center 141

9:30 AM
Coffee Reception

10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Panel 3
Chair: Suzanne Stetkevych

  1. Jennifer Tobkin (The George Washington University)

The Abandoned Sites of Brotherhood in the Poetry of Muḥammad b. Dāwūd al-Iṣfāhānī

  • Ali Alnahhabi (Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University)
    Echoes of the Beloved: The Politics of Recreating Sacred Presence in Mawlidiyya and Donor Portraits
  • Hussain Abulfaraj (King Abdulaziz University)
    Homes and Abodes Between Egypt and Serendib: A Study of Two Odes by Maḥmūd Sāmī al-Bārūdi

12:00 PM – 1:30 PM
IN ENGLISH!!

Global Medieval Studies and Arabic & Islamic Studies Department

present

Nizar Hermes (The University of Virginia)

Between Arabia and al-Andalus and Its Daughter Sicily, There Was Always the Maghrib!’: The Forgotten Arabic and Mediterranean Poetic Heritage of the Medieval Maghrib

2:00 PM – 3:30 PM
Panel 4
Chair: Mustafa BinMayaba

  1. Sayed Elsisi (George Mason University)
    Poetry in The City with No Heart: Loss and Alienation in Modern Egyptian Poetry
  2. Hatem Alzahrani (Umm al-Qura University)
    Traveling on the Horse of Song: Maḥmūd Darwīsh’s Journey in Resuscitating the Muʿallaqāt

3:30 PM – 5:00 PM
Tea/Coffee: Closing Discussion: Conclusion and Directions Forward

Organization and Funding

The Spring 2025 Georgetown Colloquium in Arabic Literature, Abodes and Homelands: The Poetics of Place and Loss in the Arabic Tradition is organized under the auspices of the Arabic & Islamic Studies Department of Georgetown University.

We thank the following Georgetown University departments, centers, and programs for their financial support for the Spring 2025 Colloquium:

Sakka Family Fund of the Arabic & Islamic Studies Department

Center for Contemporary Arabic Studies (CCAS-Title VI)

Global Medieval Studies Program

Lannan Center for Poetics and Social Practice

Global Comparative Literature Program

Faculty of Literatures, Cultures, and Language Studies

Al-Waleed bin Talal Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (ACMCU)

Spring 2025 Al-Manāzil wa al-Diyār Organizers

Suzanne Pinckney Stetkevych (Georgetown University, emerita)

Mustafa BinMayaba (King Abdul Aziz University/Visiting Scholar Georgetown    University)

Lubna Alshanquitiy (King Abdul Aziz University/Visiting Scholar Georgetown    University)