Historical Relations in the Middle East and Egyptian Film
On today’s program, we’ll hear from Professor Yaron Ayalon about historical relations in the Middle East, and particularly his work on the Ottoman Empire. We will also talk to Hesham Issawi, an Egyptian director and filmmaker, about his work – and about the challenges of working in the film industry.
Dr. Ayalon was a professor of International and Area Studies and Judaic Studies at the University of Oklahoma for several years, but now works as a professor of history and serves as the Associate Director of the Jewish Studies Program at Ball State University. He is one of the few scholars that focuses on the social setting of Jews living during the Ottoman Empire. His most recent book, Natural Disasters in the Ottoman Empire: Plague, Famine and Other Misfortunes, focuses on natural disasters during the early modern period and how they affected life under Ottoman rule.
Hesham Issawi is a director and filmmaker from Egypt. He has written and directed a number of documentary and short films, including a feature film, entitled American East, that won best picture at the Madrid Film Festival and a short film, Brother in Terror, produced for the History Channel.
Between Me and Myself by gmz (c) copyright 2008 Licensed under a Creative Commons Noncommercial Sampling Plus license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/gmz/13864 Ft: samples from Tim Rayborn, Bucky Johnson, sacamanoMe_and_Myself.mp3
