The UA Little Rock Middle Eastern Studies Program will present a lecture on Thursday, March 28, that will challenge the prevailing wisdom that European meddling in the Middle East a century ago is the root cause of the region’s current instability.

Dr. Jonathan Wyrtzen, Associate Professor of Sociology, History, and International Affairs at Yale University, will give his talk, “Reimagining the Middle East: Jihads, Empires, and the Long Great War,” beginning at 7 p.m. in the Donaghey Student Center Room 214A. The event is free and open to the public.

Many scholars believe that the new boundaries imposed in the Middle East region after the 1919 Paris Peace Conference are responsible for a century of conflict in the region.

Wyrtzen will present a more complicated and violent story by shifting the focus from the Great War and expanding the geographic scope to stretch from Morocco to Iran after the Paris Peace Conference. During the 1920s and 1930s, the modern Middle East was reshaped as a result of clashing local and colonial projects. Many of these clashes continue to affect the future of political order in the Middle East.

For more information, contact Dr. Eric Wiebelhaus-Brahm, Associate Professor in the School of Public Affairs, at ejwiebelhaus@ualr.edu.