http://events.georgetown.edu/events/index.cfm?Action=View&CalendarID=89&EventID=75124
Poetry Recital by Tamim Al-Barghouti
Mar 23 2010
7pm
Location:Rafik
B. Hariri Building
Lohrfink Auditorium
Acces
This event has been marked as
open to the public.
Notes
- This event requires a ticket or RSVP
Description
Tamim Al-Barghouti is known for the capacity of his poetry to
draw the attention of thousands from various age groups. The reception
of his poetry among such a diverse audience is a testimony to the
vitality of the centuries-old tradition of classical Arabic poetry.
Al-Barghouti
was born in 1977 to Palestinian poet Mourid Al-Barghouti and Egyptian
novelist Radwa Ashour. That year, the Egyptian government had embarked
on a peace process with Israel and expelled most Palestinians of
prominence, including Al-Barghouti’s father. Since childhood,
Al-Barghouti has been immersed in the political realities of the Arab
world, the way they affect the most personal aspects of an individual’s
life, as well as in the literary means to express them. He published his
first poem at 18. In 1999, at age 22, he was able to return to
Palestine for the first time. There, he wrote his first poetry
collection, “Mijana,” in the Palestinian spoken dialect of Arabic and
published it in Ramallah. His second collection, “Al-Manzar,” followed
shortly thereafter, written in Cairo using the Egyptian spoken dialect.
In 2003, on the eve of the American invasion of Iraq, Al-Barghouti left
Egypt in opposition to the war and the Egyptian government’s position.
The experience resulted in two works that gained Al-Barghouti a degree
of fame in Egypt and the Arab world; the first was “Aluli-Bethebbe-Masr”
(They Ask: Do You Love Egypt), written in the Egyptian spoken dialect,
and “Maqam Iraq,” in Standard Classical Arabic. Both works were well
received. “Maqam Iraq” in particular was described by one critic as
“something of a classical Arabic masterpiece…a lengthy epic-like diwan
on Iraq comprising a variety of stylistic forms: song, narrative, and
prose...that established Al-Barghouti as a master of Arabic language and
history.”
In 2007, Al-Barghouti’s work “In Jerusalem” became
something of a street poem. Palestinian newspapers dubbed Al-Barghouti
“The Poet of Jerusalem”. His posters hang on the streets of Jerusalem
and other Palestinian cities, where keychains are sold with his picture
on them. Sections of the poem have even become ring-tones blaring out
from mobile phones across the Arab world, and children compete in
memorizing and reciting it. The poem, which describes an aborted journey
to the city, became the basis for a number of performances in Nablus,
Ramallah, Hebron, Bethlehem, Jericho, Amman, Beirut, Muscat, Berlin, The
Hague, and Vienna, among others.
Al-Barghouti studied politics
at Cairo University, The American University in Cairo, and Boston
University, where he received his Ph.D. in Political Science. He has
written two volumes of history and political thought, and is currently a
visiting professor of politics at Georgetown University.
Web site
https://www12.georgetown.edu/sfs/rsvp/index.cfm?Action=View&EventID=2842
Contact
CCAS; phone 7-6215; e-mail: ccasevents@georgetown.edu
Sponsor
CCAS
Calendar
Center
for Contemporary Arab Studies
(about
this calendar)