Dr. Ussama Makdisi will speak on "Genocide Livestreamed: Gaza 2023 and How We Got to This Point"

Dr. Ussama Makdisi, Professor of History and Chancellor’s Chair at UC Berkeley will speak on:

Genocide Livestreamed: Gaza 2023 and How We Got to This Point

Professor Makdisi grew up in Lebanon during the period of civil war in the 1970s and 1980s. 

He said, "... living through war, you really do appreciate the sense of living history in a way that it’s not just a detached, remote idea about people in the past, it’s about linking past and present together and seeing how people in the present have an opportunity to open their eyes, to see the humanity of people around them.”

His most recent book is Age of Coexistence: The Ecumenical Frame and the Making of the Modern Arab World:

“Today's headlines paint the Middle East as a collection of war-torn countries and extremist groups consumed by sectarian rage. Ussama Makdisi's Age of Coexistence reveals a hidden and hopeful story that counters this clichéd portrayal. It shows how a region rich with ethnic and religious diversity created a modern culture of coexistence amid Ottoman reformation, European colonialism, and the emergence of nationalism.”

Copies of the book will be available at the event.