Conferences, Symposia, and Sessions Organized
February 23, 2006
Organized and chaired, "Islamic Art and the Multicultural Method," Session, CAA 94 th Annual Conference, Boston, MA
November 20, 2005
Discussant, "Art and War," Panel, MESA 39 th Annual Meeting, Washington, DC.
October 28-29, 2005
Organized the international workshop "The Mamluk Domes of Cairo," sponsored by the Aga Khan Program For Islamic Architecture, MIT
May 6-7, 2005
Organized the international conference "Islamic Cities in the Classical Age," sponsored by the Aga Khan Program For Islamic Architecture, MIT
May 7-8, 2004
Organized the international conference "The Harem in History and Imagination," sponsored by the Aga Khan Program For Islamic Architecture, MIT
May 18-19, 2001
Organizer and participant, Exploring the Frontiers of Islamic Art and Architecture, symposium sponsored by the Aga Khan Program For Islamic Architecture, MIT
April 9-11, 2001
Co-Organizer and Discussant , Architectural Education Today The 8 th Architecture and Behavior Colloquium, Monte Verita, Ascona, Switzerland
February 27, 1998
Chair, "The Making of the Discourse on Islamic Architecture," Session, CAA 86 th Annual Conference, Toronto, Canada
January 30-31, 1998
Co-Organizer and Presenter, "Egypt and the Production of the Pre-Modern" Workshop, Department of Art History, UCLA, LA
February 24, 1996
Chair, the NAHIA 1996 Majlis, MIT
November 18, 1995
Co-Organizer, "From Classic to Arab Cities: Urbanism in the Levant During the Medieval Period," Roundtable Discussion, Aga Khan Program, MIT
November 20, 1994
Co-Organizer and Chair, "From Towns to Cities in Syria: Issues of Preservation and development," Panel Supported by the Ford Foundation, MESA 28 th Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ.
November 19, 1994
Co-Chair, the NAHIA 1996 Majlis, MESA 28 th Annual Meeting, Phoenix, AZ.
November 24, 1991
Organizer and Chair, "Palace Architecture in Medieval Islam: A Comparative Approach," Panel, MESA 25 th Annual Meeting, Washington, DC
April 27, 1991
Organizer and Chair, "Architecture and Power in Islamic Egypt," Panel, ARCE 1991 Meeting, Boston, MA
Recent Lectures and Conference Presentations
January 7, 2006
"Leaving the Quixotic Dilemma: The Problem of Identity in Contemporary Arabic Architecture," (in Arabic), The Order of Syrian Engineers and Architects, Damascus, Syria. Also presented on January 4, 2006 at the Diwan al-Mi'mar, Darat al-Funun, Amman, Jordan, and on December 27, 2005 at the King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM), Dhahran, Saudi Arabia.
September 2, 2005
"Toward an Intercultural Historiography of Islamic Architecture" SAH 2d International Conference "Changing Boundaries: Architectural History in Transition," at the Institut National d'Histoire de l'Art (INHA), Paris
May 25, 2005
"The Dead Cities in Syria and the Question of Heritage" (In Arabic), Engineers and Architects Order of Aleppo, Aleppo, Syria
April 22, 2005
Keynote Lecture, "The Urban Character of Mamluk Architecture in Cairo: The Example of al-Darb al-Ahmar," ARCE (American Research Center in Egypt) 2005 Annual Meeting, Cambridge, MA
April 15, 2005
"Writing History in Mamluk Cairo," Middle Eastern Center Lecture Series, the University of Chicago, Chicago, Il
April 13, 2005
Moderator of the "New Histories" Session in the Symposium Aleppo: New Perspectives on the Old City, Sponsored by the Aga Khan Program at the GSD
April 9, 2005
Moderator of the Arts Session in the "Jerusalem 2050 Visionaries Conference," hosted by The Center for International Studies and the Department of Urban Studies and Planning, MIT
March 26-27, 2005
Participant, IFAO-ARCE second round table, " Excercizing Power in the Age of the Sultanates, " Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Cairo
March 21-22, 2005
External Examiner of six Architectural Doctorate Dissertations at the Politecnico de Bari, Dipartimento di Scienze dell'Ingegneria Civile e dell'Architettura, Bari, Italy
February 17, 2005,
"Architecture in Syria From Classical Antiquity to Islamic Classicism," Concord-Carlisle Adult & Community Education, Concord-Carlisle High School, Concord MA
February 4, 2005
"Toward a Critical Historiography of Islamic Architecture," Institute for the Study of Muslim Civilisations, AKU-ISMC, London
November 5, 2004
"Echoes of Women in the Lives of Religious Scholars of the Middle Ages," a lecture in Arabic, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University
September 17, 2004
Architecture in Syria: A Beautiful Index of Intercultural Dialogue," sponsored by the British-Syrian Society, The Brunei Gallery, SOAS, London
April 21, 2004
"Diasporic Arabism," a lecture in Arabic, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University
March 29, 2004
"The Genesis of Islamic Art and Architecture, " (in Arabic), Department of Architecture, Misr University of Science and Technology, Madinat 6 th of October, Egypt
March 28, 2004
"Signs of Power in Medieval Islamic Art and Architecture, American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE), Cairo
March 27-28, 2004
Participant, IFAO-ARCE round table, " Excercizing Power in the Age of the Sultanates, " Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale, Cairo
February 13, 2004
Discussant, 'Cairo in the 19th Century: Imagining a "Medieval" City,' symposium sponsored by the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley
February 12, 2004
"Islamic Architecture as a Field of Critical Inquiry," the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley
September 17, 2003
"The Militarisation of Taste in Medieval Bilad al-Sham," The International conference on Muslim Fortifications in Bilad al-Sham, Citadel of Aleppo, Aleppo, Syria
May 16 2003
"Words into Images: the Transformation of Umayyad Iconography," School of Architecture, American University of Beirut (AUB)
Feb 4, 2003
"Le prisme contraignant de l' adab : les façons de voir l'art dans la littérature arabe médiévale," La Chaire de L'Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA), Paris.
Jan 28 2003
"L' iwân , un agent de la monumentalité dans l'architecture islamique médiévale," La Chaire de L'Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA), Paris.
Jan 21, 2003
"La salle du trône chez les Mamelouks : évocation éloquente de modèles classiques," La Chaire de L'Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA), Paris
Jan 14, 2003
"La militarisation du goût dans le Moyen-Orient médiéval," La Chaire de L'Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA), Paris
Jan 7, 2003
"Les images deviennent mots : les prémisses de l'art islamique," La Chaire de L'Institut du Monde Arabe (IMA), Paris
Nov 4, 2002
"Climatic Responsiveness in the Traditional Islamic Houses," Building Technology lecture Series, Department of Architecture, MIT
Oct 25, 2002
"Pictures into Words: on the beginnings of Islamic Art,"The Arab American Educational Foundation Lecture Series, Department of History, Rice University, Houston, TX
July 6, 2002
Keynote lecture, "Doing Cultural History in the Fifteenth Century," 3rd International Symposium , De-placing Difference: Architecture, Culture and Imaginative Geography, Centre for Asian and Middle Eastern Architecture, Adelaide University, South Australia
May 18, 2002
"Islamic Architecture Surveys, World History, and the Impact of the Web," in Surveys on Islamic Art and Architecture, symposium organized by Prof. Gulru Necipoglu , Harvard University, held at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, MA
May 9, 2002
"Was Maqrizi's Khitat the first Khaldunian History?" Ibn Khaldun Conference, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Harvard University
April 25, 2002
"For the Love of Cairo: Maqrizi and his Khitat Book," The Stanley Ferber Lecture, Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Binghamton University, Binghamton, NY
March 14, 2002
"On Words and Images: Rethinking the Formation of Islamic Art," Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
February 23, 2002
Discussant, "Authorship in Architecture: Uncovering the Art and Craft of Building in Islamic Societies," Session, CAA 90 th Annual Conference, Philadelphia, PA
January 21, 2002
"Lessons from the Past and for the Future of the Dead Cities in Syria," (In Arabic), The Friends of Damascus Association, Al-Asad Library, Damascus, Syria.
January 16, 2002
"I am the Son of Caesar and Marwan is My Father: TheImperial Aspirations of Umayyad Art and Architecture," Islamic Art Circle, School of Oriental
"The Omphalous of the Earth: Imperial Aspirations in Umayyad Art," Religion Dept., Amherst College
September 28, 2001
"Maqrizi: A Critical Biography ," in A Symposium on Medieval Arabic Historiography: The Legacy of al-Maqrizi (1364-1442), University of Notre Dame, South Bent, Indiana,
Aug 30, 2001
"In the Prison-House Of Adab: Architecture in Mamluk Sources," the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley
May 30, 2001
"History, the City, and Criticism: Maqrizi and his Book on the Khitat," the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (OCIS), Oxford, England
May 25, 2001
"On al-Maqrizi's Notion of Decline," in "Efflorescence in the Period of Decline: A Workshop on Arabic Cultural Production 1400-1800," Organized by RRAALL and sponsored by the Middle East Center at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
January 10-11, 2001
Lecture and discussion with graduate students on the Islamic City, School of History, University of Fez SAIS, Morocco.
April 3, 2000
"'Ajib and Gharib: Perception of Art in Mamluk Sources," Department of Arabic Studies, American University in Cairo
February 7, 2000
"For the Love of Cairo: Maqrizi and the Writing of his Khitat ," Dar al-Athar al-Islamiyyah, Kuwait.
November 20, 1999
Discussant, "Gender, Slavery, and Sexuality in Medieval Islamic Society," Panel, MESA 33 rd Annual Meeting, Washington, DC.
October 16, 1999
"The Visual Milieu of The Counter-Crusade," in the 32 d Annual Conference, The Crusades: Other Experiences, Alternate Perspectives, Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Binghamton University--SUNY
