Held before a large audience (see photos) on the campus of Tulane University, this roundtable brought together two eminment scholars of Middle Eastern and Latin American history to discuss and compare the experiences of each region with American power, particularly from the Cold War on. This website makes available photos of the event and a complete audio slideshow of the talks and Q&A session.

Participants

Dr. Juan Cole is Richard P. Mitchell Distinguished University Professor of Middle Eastern History at the University of Michigan. He has published some half-dozen books and countless articles on Islamic society, religious revivalism, colonialism, Middle East politics, and relations between Islam and the West.  Among his most recent books is Napoleon's Egypt: Invading the Middle East (Palgrave, 2007) and Sacred Space And Holy War: The Politics, Culture and History of Shi'ite Islam (I.B. Tauris, 2002).  Professor Cole also writes one of the most well-read blogs on Middle East politics, history and society, Informed Comment.

Dr. Greg Grandin is Professor of Latin American History at New York University. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship, and the author of a wide array of publications on Latin American politics, indigenous rights, and U.S.-Latin American relations.  His most recent books include Empire's Workshop: Latin America, the United States, and the Rise of the New Imperialism (Metropolitan/Henry Holt Books, 2006) and The Last Colonial Massacre: Latin America in the Cold War (University of Chicago Press, 2004).  He also just co-edited a revised edition of Human Rights and Revolutions (Rowman & Littlefield, 2007).

Moderator

Dr. Justin Wolfe is William Arceneaux Associate Professor of Latin American History at Tulane University. He is author of The Everyday Nation-State: Community and Ethnicity in Nineteenth-Century Nicaragua (Nebraska, 2007).

This event was made possible thanks to the generous support of the following at Tulane University: The Center for Scholars of the School of Liberal Arts, the Stone Center for Latin American Studies, the Provost's Office, the Murphy Institute, the Department of History and the Honors Program.