São Paulo – The culture, history and philosophy of the Levant will be discussed in the seminar The East close to us: journeys and stories from yesterday and today, which will take place on December 3rd, from 10 AM to 4:30 PM at São Paulo Federal University (Unifesp) in the city of São Paulo.
The event is part of the Edward Said Chair, a group that since 2014 gathers researchers from many areas for post-colonialism studies. Next week’s activity is the result of a trip by a group of Unifesp post-graduate students to Lebanon, taken in September of this year via a partnership program between the Brazilian university and the Notre Dame University in Beirut.
Olgaria Matos, a full professor of the Philosophy Department at Unifesp and one of the event’s coordinators, explains that five students took the trip – three from the philosophy department, one from the psychology department and one from medical school – along with a professor.
According to her, the students attended classes in history, culture and migrations at historical sites in Lebanon, in regions such as Baalbek and the Bekaa Valley. In one of the event’s lectures, participants will tell about their experiences in the Arab country and show how the content learned there is applied in their studies here in Brazil.
The professor says that the Levant region united, from the 1st century on, the Greek and Judeo-Christian philosophies, and later, from the 7th century on, these met with influences from the Islamic philosophy.
This wide variety of philosophical schools permeates the seminar’s discussions. One of them, for instance, will deal with the differences between servitude and obedience. “There’s a propensity to a single mindset, to the status quo”, says Olgaria about contemporary society.
Palestine and the representation of Arabs in the media is one of the topics of the seminar, which will also cover the refugees situation and the issue of displaced people forced to leave behind their roots.
Seminar “The East close to us: journeys and stories from yesterday and today”
December 3rd, from 10 AM to 4:30 PM
Where: Prédio da Reitoria da Unifesp (Dean’s Building at Unifesp)
Rua Sena Madureira, 1500, 4th floor auditorium – São Paulo – SP
Free admission. The full schedule is available at www.facebook.com/events/1740567502832100/
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
