University News

Author to Speak About Syria at Western Oct. 5

September 25, 2017

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MACOMB, IL – Renowned author and Northwestern University Associate Professor Wendy Pearlman will deliver a lecture based on her book, "We Crossed a Bridge and It Trembled: Voices from Syria," from 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 5 in the University Union Heritage Room.

Pearlman's book is based on interviews she conducted with more than 300 Syrian refugees across the Middle East and Europe since 2012.

"Professor Pearlman's visit is a tremendous opportunity for the campus and the local and regional communities," said WIU History Chair Jennifer McNabb. "The Department of History is proud to host this event, with the support of the Department of Political Science, the Expanding Cultural Diversity Project, the Peace Corps Fellows Program, the University Theme Committee and the U.S. Department of Education Title VI Grant, 'Communities as Agents of Change,' co-directed by Gloria Delaney-Barman, Pedro Bidegaray, and Heather McIlvaine-Newsad."

Pearlman is the Martin and Patricia Koldyke Outstanding Teaching Associate Professor of Political Science at Northwestern University. She specializes in the comparative politics of the Middle East. In addition to the book Pearlman will be discussing, she has authored two more books, "Violence, Nonviolence and the Palestinian National Movement," and "Occupied Voices: Stories of Everyday Life from the Second Intifada." She has also conducted research in Spain, Germany, Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Israel and the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

"WIU is fortunate to have such an esteemed scholar visit campus to discuss her important and timely research," said WIU History Professor Peter Cole. "Some of the other universities she's speaking at this fall include Harvard, MIT, Columbia and Princeton. There is no other book, in English, in which the story of the Syrian people is told like this--that is, in their own voices--as Pearlman interviewed more than 350 people on three continents and eight countries. Simply put, to understand the war in Syria and why it matters, her book is the best place to start."

For additional information about Pearman's lecture, email Cole at P-Cole@wiu.edu.

Posted By: University Communications (U-Communications@wiu.edu)
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