Life Lines: March 25, 2002

Washington DC

WLP in Collaboration with: The Center for Global Peace at American University

Participants: Elizabeth Alexander (U.S.), Merle Collins (Grenada),
Fatema Mernissi (Morocco), and Goli Taraghi (Iran)

LISTEN to the event. (Download free RealPlayer.)

PHOTOS of the event.

WHEN
March 25, 2002
Monday
3:00 to 5:00 PM

WHERE
Kay Spiritual Center of American University
4400 Massachusetts Avenue, NW
Washington, DC

Introductory Remarks by Mahnaz Afkhami (3:10 min).

Elizabeth Alexander, teaches English and African American Studies at Yale University and in the summers at Cave Canem Poetry Workshop, devoted to supporting and nurturing the work of African-American poets. She was the Grace Hazard Conkling Writer in Residence at Smith College from 1997–1999, and the first director of Smith's Poetry Center. Her works include The Venus Hottentot, Body of Life, and Antebellum Dream Book.
LISTEN to the audio archive. Length: 17:11 min

Merle Collins, Grenadian writer, is professor in the Comparative Literature Program and the English Department at the University of Maryland. She has worked with women's organizations in Grenada and previously taught in the Caribbean Studies Program at the University of North London, England. Her writing reflects an interest in society and politics. Her publications include Angel, Rotten Pomerack, and The Color of Forgetting.
LISTEN to the audio archive. Length: 21:03 min

Fatema Mernissi, Professor of Sociology at Mohammed V University in Rabat, Morocco, is a prolific writer who has reinterpreted Islamic texts from a feminist perspective and supervised publication of a series of books on the legal status of women in Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia. She is the author of Scheherazade Goes West: Different Cultures, Different Harems; Beyond the Veil: Male-Female Dynamics in Modern Muslim Society; Dreams of Trespass; and other works.
LISTEN to the audio archive.  Length: 15:34 min

Goli Taraghi, is an Iranian prize-winning short story writer and novelist. Before emigrating to France in 1980, she taught philosophy at Tehran University. Among her publications are I Too Am Che Guevara, Winter Sleep, and The Great Lady of My Soul. She has also written scripts for two major Iranian films, Pear Tree and Bita. Her forthcoming work is a novel entitled The Strange Behavior of Mr. A. in Exile.
LISTEN to the video archive.  Length: 22:19 min

Q&A with the audience. 
LISTEN to the audio archive: Length: 17:58 min

EVENT PHOTOS