NWC News Desk

Scholar uses films to explore Middle East and Israel in Wednesday, Oct. 16, program

Posted October 3, 2013
By NWC News Desk

POWELL, Wyo. - Americans watch movies for entertainment, but they also gain a better understanding of the culture they live in. In a Wednesday, Oct. 16, program, a humanities scholar shows how this same practice can help us understand other cultures.

The University of Wyoming’s Seth Ward will present “The Middle East and Israel in Film” at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Room 65 of the Fagerberg Building at Northwest College.

Ward, who teaches Islamic history and religion at UW, said, “Films can provide a window into the deepest issues in the Middle East and Israel.” In his program, he’ll show film clips and discuss how they illuminate culturally driven issues that often perplex Americans.

To inform discussion, Ward draws on his doctorate studies in Near Eastern languages and literature from Yale University. He previously taught at Colorado College and the University of Denver, where he directed the Institute for Islamic-Judaic Studies.

“The Middle East and Israel in Film” is presented by the Wyoming Humanities Council and sponsored in Powell by the NWC Diversity Awareness Committee. The National Endowment for the Humanities helped underwrite this Humanities Forum presentation.

Admission is free. For more information, call Rachel Hanan, 307-754-6121, or Milo Asay, 307-754-6428.