Dr. Jack G. Shaheen, internationally acclaimed author and media critic, will discuss images of Arabs and Muslims in popular culture during a free public lecture Sunday at The University of Toledo.

Shaheen will present “Images of Arabs and Muslims in Popular Culture: Problems and Prospects” at 3:30 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 7 in the Richard & Jane McQuade Law Center Auditorium on the UT Main Campus. It will be the University’s 12th annual Maryse and Ramzy Mikhail Memorial Lecture.

“The purpose of the Mikhail Fund is to support an annual lecture dealing with Arab culture, literature, history, politics, economics or other broadly defined aspects of life in the Middle East,” said Dr. Samir Abu-Absi, UT professor emeritus of English and member of the Mikhail Memorial Lecture Committee. “The committee is very excited about this year’s program as it addresses some very timely issues related to the proliferation of negative images of Arabs and Muslims in the media and popular culture.”

A committed internationalist and a devoted humanist, Shaheen is a Pittsburgh native and former CBS news consultant on Middle East Affairs. His lectures and writings illustrate that damaging racial and ethnic stereotypes of Asians, blacks, Native Americans and others injure innocent people. He defines crude caricatures, explains why they persist, and provides workable solutions to help shatter misperceptions.

Shaheen is the author of five books and more than 300 essays in publications such as Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. He has given more than 1,000 lectures and has consulted with numerous entities including the United Nations.

The Mikhail Lecture is made possible through the Maryse and Ramzy Mikhail Endowment Fund, established in 2000 by the Mikhail family.

Click here to download a photo of Shaheen.

For more information, contact Dr. Samir Abu-Absi at samir.abu-absi@utoledo.edu.

Media Coverage
The Blade (Oct. 5, 2012)

Tags: College of Languages Literature and Social Sciences