Arab-American Perspective the Focus of Performance
KEENE, N.H. 2/7/03 The U.S. governments anti-terrorism initiatives, as seen through the eyes of Arab-Americans, will be the focus of a performance by Lebanese-American scholar Laila Farah, to be held at Keene State College on Tuesday, Feb. 25. She will perform Living in the Hyphen-Nation at 7 p.m. in the Mabel Brown Room of the Student Center. The performance is free and open to the public.
Living in the Hyphen-Nation critically examines what Dr. Farah, assistant professor of womens studies at DePaul University, describes as the U.S. governments practice of using secret evidence, racial profiling, and newly passed legislation to demonize Arab Americans. Dr. Farah created Living in the Hyphen-Nation, a dramatic monologue, in response to the events that affected Muslem-Americans and Arab-Americans following the terrorist attacks of September 11.
The performance, which chronicles Farahs journeys to the Middle East, features work by Arab-American poets Haas and Suheir Hammad, and Laila Hallaby.
Dr. Farah has a masters degree in performance studies and communication from Eastern Michigan University and earned her doctorate in performance studies at Southern Illinois University. Her research interests include Third World women and women of color, postcolonial identities and the concept of alien-nations, and ethnographic and auto-ethnographic performance.
For more information, contact Helen Frink, professor of modern languages at KSC, at 603-358-2956.
