(September 25, 2014)

Dr. Steven Salaita to present public lecture at Centenary

SHREVEPORT, LA — Dr. Steven Salaita will present a lecture "Palestine in the American Imagination" on Monday, September 29 at 7 p.m. in the Whited Room at Centenary College. The event is free and open to the public.

Dr. Steven Salaita
Dr. Steven Salaita

"Dr. Salaita's visit is particularly timely, given the acute situation in Israel and Palestine and the conflicting views and reports reflected in the media," said Jenifer K. Ward, Provost and Dean of the College. "We look forward to a lively exchange of ideas with Dr. Salaita, which will add much-needed nuance to our understanding of the context and stakes at play in the Middle East."

Salaita is coming to campus as part of the "Religion Matters" speaker series and through an interdisciplinary Middle Eastern Studies working group on campus. Formerly Associate Professor of English at Virginia Tech and more recently the focus of an academic freedom controversy at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Salaita focuses on ethnic conflicts, popular American representations of relations with Arabs and Muslims, and issues of minority rights. He is the author of numerous books, including the 2007 Myers Outstanding Book Award winner Anti-Arab Racism in the USA, Modern Arab-American Fiction: A Reader's Guide, and The Uncultured Wars: Arabs, Muslims, and the Poverty of Liberal Thought.

In addition to his public lecture, Salaita will be meeting with students and visiting classes, including "Democracy and Ethnic Conflict" and "Religion and Race."

Passport Points will be available for Centenary students who attend the lecture Monday. Centenary's Passport Points program allows students to earn points by attending campus cultural events and then redeem those points to help cover travel costs for educational opportunities such as the College's immersive terms or exchange programs with universities around the globe.