Over the next Sunday and Monday, at the Cultural Complex in Abu Dhabi, the Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi is organizing a symposium «Pioneers of the Levant - Western Travelers and the Arabian Peninsula», to shed light on the Arab culture, and build bridges of cultural dialogue and civilizational exchange between nations.
The symposium brings together Western specialists, orientalists, writers and academics from the UAE, the Gulf and the Arab world to discuss the writings and experiences of Western travelers, the problems and challenges they faced while interacting with the people of Arabia, in the context of the historical situation of the region.
The symposium includes several discussion sessions, starting with a session of the adviser at the Royal Court, Secretary-General of the Department of King Abdulaziz, General Supervisor of the National Center for Documentation and Archives, Dr. Fahd Abdullah Al-Samari, during which he will discuss the topic «Representations of Arabia in the writings of Western travelers».
The second session sheds light on “The Journey and Cultural Exchange between East and West”, with the participation of Professor at King Saud University Dr. Mijab Al Zahrani, Professor at the University of Bahrain, Dr. Zia Al Kaabi, and German writer and author David Wagner.
On the first day of the discussion, the methodology of studies and experiments related to the literature of trips to the Levant and the Arabian Peninsula will be attended by the British writer and professor Dr. Dionysius Agios, the professor at the University of Bahrain, Dr. Abdullah Yateem, and the Polish writer Stanislaw Strasbourger. The first day of the symposium concludes with a session entitled "Promoting peaceful dialogue and civilizational exchange between East and West and their role in consolidating the culture of tolerance and acceptance of the other", with the participation of Syrian researcher Essam Hajjar, Dr. Shirin Nuri, and Dr. Karen Butt.
The second day begins with a panel discussion entitled “Comparing the Heritage of Western Travelers with Arab Travelers”, in which Saudi critic and researcher Dr. Saad Al-Bazai, British lecturer and author Deborah Morgan-Jones, and Professor of History at UAE University Dr. Hamad Bin Saray participate.
The second session will discuss the theme of the project entitled “Leaders of the Arab Mashreq Series: Idea and Ambition”. It will include Abdullah Majid Al Ali, Acting Executive Director of the Dar Al Kutub Sector, Abu Dhabi, Syrian Researcher Dr. Ahmed Ibish, and Russian Researcher Anna Safinig. The third session on the second day will tackle the topic of “Representations of Travelers in the Arabian Peninsula”, with the participation of the German historian Dr. Frauke Heard Bay, the UAE researcher Dr. Fatima Al-Sayegh, the Japanese academic and translator Dr. Kaoru Yamamoto.
The second day will conclude with a session titled “Review of Personal Journeys”, in which Zaid Al-Rifai from Kuwait, the first Arab to climb the Everest Summit, Syrian poet Nuri Al-Jarrah, and the Italian traveler and researcher Eros Baldsera will participate.
Exhibition
The seminar will be accompanied by an exhibition titled “Five Centuries of Adventure and Entrepreneurship - West Travelers in the Arabian Peninsula”, which will run until November 30. The exhibition includes a collection of rare photographs, maps and drawings of the journeys undertaken by Western travelers to the Arabian Peninsula over five centuries.
«Representations of Arabia
In the writers of the travelers
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Seminar Sessions.