Description
Renowned experts, Barnaby Rogerson and Eugene Rogan, take a deep dive into the watershed moments that helped make and, at times, break the modern Middle East.
In his new book, The House Divided, Rogerson argues that at the heart of the Middle East’s conflicts and proxy wars is a 1,400-year-old schism between Sunni and Shia, which created a slender fault-line across the region shaping its religious, ethnic and national identities and rivalries.
Meanwhile, Rogan’s new book, The Damascus Events, charts the outbreaks of disorder across the Levant in the crisis years of the Ottoman Empire, when increasing social tensions resulted in the massacre of thousands of Christians in the beleaguered Syrian capital.
Join our experts as they unpick the chequered history of the modern Middle East and ask some challenging questions of a diverse region that is both incredibly culturally rich and yet fragile from the effects of empire and past and present power rivalries.
Please note, this venue has changed from the printed programme.
About the Authors
Barnaby Rogerson
Barnaby Rogerson is an author, publisher and journalist. Together with his partner Rose Baring, he runs Eland Publishing, which specializes in keeping the classics of travel literature in print. He has also written dozens of travel articles, book reviews and historical essays on various North African and Islamic themes, for Vanity Fair, Cornucopia, Conde Nast Traveller, Geographical, Traveller, Guardian, Independent, Telegraph, House & Garden, Harpers & Queen and the TLS.
Eugene Rogan
Eugene Rogan is Professor of Modern Middle Eastern History at the University of Oxford, where he has taught since 1991. An American citizen, he grew up in Europe and the Middle East, returning to the US for university study in Columbia and Harvard. He is author of The Arabs: A History (2009; 2nd ed. 2017) and The Fall of the Ottomans: The Great War in the Middle East (2015). In 2017 he was elected a Fellow of the British Academy.
About the Chair
Aaqil Ahmed
Professor Aaqil Ahmed is the former Head of Religion and Ethics at both the BBC and Channel 4. He is currently a Media, communications and diversity consultant and a Professor in media. Aaqil is a Non Executive Director of a number of organisations including The Advertising Standards Authority, OFCOM and The Higher Education Funding Council for Wales.
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