São Paulo – Syrian-Lebanese Immigration; the Pyramids and the Valley of Kings; and the Legacy of Ancient Egypt as World Heritage. All of these subjects will be covered this month in the Cycle of Meetings on Arab-Islamic History and Culture at bookstore Martins Fontes, on São Paulo’s Avenida Paulista, with support from the Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce.
The lecture Syrian and Lebanese people in São Paulo: The Paths of Immigration in the City will be given by Juliana Mouawad Khouri. “I’ve always been really interested in History. I was heavily influenced by the history of my family, who are Syrian and Lebanese descendants. My grandmother is an immigrant, she came by ship and she tells me all kinds of details about it. These stories have always been kept alive at home. And I also wanted to learn about the city of São Paulo,” says Khouri, who holds a master’s degree in Arab Studies from the University of São Paulo (USP) and is a professor and researcher on Syrian and Lebanese immigration in Brazil.
In her presentation, Khouri will discuss the paths taken by Arabs since the first immigrants arrived in Brazil, in the final decades of the 19th century. “My idea is to discuss the history of immigration. Mostly I researched the early days, and Rua 25 de Março (pictured above, 25th of March Street) was the first site. Here, we can see that those people have remained. And then you have the names of streets, places of memory. I look at the pathways. The Paraíso and Vila Mariana neighborhoods as residential areas, Brás as a retail area, and Ipiranga,” says the researcher.
And the three-class course Masterpieces from Ancient Egypt: the Pyramids and the Valley of the Kings will address the only remaining Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the pyramids of Egypt. The course is open to anyone who’s interested in Egyptian civilization. It will be taught by Egyptologist and archaeologist Flavia Haddad. She will not limit herself to the better-known pyramids; she will also go over “a few unknown pyramids,” as well as the Great Sphinx of Giza and the tombs of the Valley of the Kings.
And finally, a lecture on The Legacy of Ancient Egypt as World Heritage will cover the main archaeological sites in Egypt that were declared World Heritage Sites in 1979. “The question of world heritage is very much connected with Ancient Egypt. She wrote an essay on the moving of the Abu Simbel temples as of the building of the Aswan dam. That’s where you have a hands-on laboratory, as several countries come together to protect something that belongs to humanity,” explains Angela Rosch Rodrigues, who holds a doctorate degree in History and Foundations of Architecture and Urbanism and will speak on the subject.
The lecture will also cover other major sites in Egypt that became Heritage Sites in 1979, like the pyramids of Giza, Saqqara, the Memphite Necropolis, the Ancient Thebes area where the temples of Luxor, Karnak and the Valley of the Kings are; and the Nubian temple of Philae. “In order to understand landmark, you must understand its history, the way it was built, the way people relate to it now, and the way it has come to be valued as heritage. The focus is on how they get rediscovered, brought up as landmarks, especially after the 18th century,” Rodrigues concludes.
Translated by Gabriel Pomerancblum