Event

This event has passed. A recording of the event and subsequent Q&A can be found here: A Discussion with Mercedes Volait.

On January 10, Dr. Mercedes Volait discussed her latest book, Antique Dealing and Creative Reuse in Cairo and Damascus, 1850-1890: Intercultural Engagements with Architecture and Craft in the Age of Travel and Reform (Brill 2021). In it, Dr. Volait traces the “social lives” and “collective biographies” of Islamic-style objects that included mashrabiyya windows, Ottoman helmets and swords, Mamluk mosque pulpits, and more.

Volait is Research Professor at the Centre national de le recherche scientifique (CNRS) in France. She is based at the Institut national d’histoire de l’art, Paris (INHA), where in 2008 she founded InVisu, a research lab that studies the history of modern and contemporary art and architecture via visual and material culture, while drawing on methods from digital humanities. 

The Modern Egyptian Studies Forum is an online event series and scholarly community dedicated to the study of modern Egypt. Events organized by the Forum have included book talks, thematic conversations, and discussions on archival access, pedagogy, and publishing. It welcomes scholars at various career stages, from graduate students to emeritus professors. For recordings of recent events see Events. Its sponsor is the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations (NELC) at the University of Pennsylvania.

As always, if there is someone that you think should join us in this event, please write to Weston Bland (wbland@sas.upenn.edu). We will be happy to invite them, if we have not done so already.