February/March 1996, Page 137

Bulletin Board

Compiled by Janet McMahon

Exhibitions

On display at Smithsonian Institution museums in Washington, DC are the following exhibits of interest: "Arab Americans in Greater Detroit: A Community Between Two Worlds" (see story on page 76), at the National Museum of American History, Constitution Ave. between 12th & 14th Sts. NW, through March 31; "Islamic Calligraphy," featuring folios, manuscripts and book covers illustrating the 14th century writing style, at the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, 1050 Independence Ave. SW, through May 27; and "Elihu Vedder's Drawings for the Rubaiyat,"featuring illustrations heralded as masterworks in American art when first published in 1884 by Vedder, who designed every aspect of a book of English-language translations of 12th century poet Omar Khayyam's writing, from the cover, lining paper and drawings to the arrangement of the quatrains, at the National Museum of American Art, 8th and G Sts. NW, through June 9. For further information call the Smithsonian Institution at (202) 357-1300.

Convenings

The Center for Iranian Research and Analysis (CIRA) will hold its 14th annual conference, on "Iran and the Emerging Global Order," at Coventry University, the United Kingdom, March 28-31. More than 130 speakers will address the conference, which will also feature five "Author Meets Critics" sessions, with authors Homa Katouzian, Anoushirvan Ehteshami, Ahmad Karimi Hakkak, Darius Rejali, and Ali and Annabelle Sreberny-Mohammadi. Two nights of cultural activities and music will feature a group of master Persian musicians, led by Faramarz Payvar, performing together for the first time since the Iranian revolution. For complete information contact Dr. Nader Entessar, Dept. of Political Science, Spring Hill College, Mobile, AL 36608, phone (334) 380-3051, fax (334) 460-2184, e-mail:entessar@azelea.sch.edu

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee will hold its 13th national convention, "From Oklahoma to Jerusalem: The Struggle Continues," at the Crystal Gateway Marriott Hotel in Arlington, VA, April 18-21. Activities will include a lobby day on Capitol Hill, an awards banquet, a variety of exhibits, and panels on such topics as news media coverage of Arabs, civil rights challenges in the 1990s, and the Arab-Israeli peace process. For information contact Ghada Mansour-Barakat at ADC, 4201 Connecticut Ave. NW, Suite 500, Washington, DC, 20008, phone (202) 244-2990, fax (202) 244-3196.

Opportunities

Nominations for the 1997 King Faisal International Prize are currently being accepted from official nominating bodies, such as universities, scientific societies, research centers and other learned circles; individuals or political parties are ineligible to nominate. Five Awards, valued this year at $200,000 each, will be given for the following categories: Service to Islam; Arabic Literature (Studies on the Modern Arabic Novel); Islamic Studies (Studies on the Status of Women in Islam); Medicine (Degenerative Diseases of the Nervous System); and Science (Physics). Nomination criteria are available from The King Faisal International Prize, P.O. Box 22476, Riyadh 11495, Saudi Arabia, fax 966-1-465-8685. Deadline for nominations is May 31.

Submissions are sought for a group of exhibitions/screenings, a catalog and a collection of essays, considering the representation of the Middle East and artists/writers working on issues concerning the relationship(s) between the Middle East/West Asia and the West on a personal or geopolitical scale, as well as crises of identity, nationalism(s)/borders, naming, gender/ sexuality, class and the "exoticization" of difference. Send documentation of work in any medium, with self-addressed stamped envelope or return postage if return requested, to J. Salloum/Public Domain, 186 Avenue B, #5, New York, NY 10009, phone/fax (212) 982-8967.

Deaths

Yisrael Eldad, a right-wing Israeli writer who advocated a "Greater Israel" to include parts of Jordan, died Jan. 22 in Jerusalem at the age of 86. Born Yisrael Scheib in Podvolochisk, Ukraine, he attended a rabbinical seminary in Vienna and earned a doctorate in philosophy and history from the University of Vienna. He immigrated to British Mandate Palestine in 1941 and joined the militant underground Lehi organization, which continued to attack British troops during World War II and explored possible cooperation with Germany. Shot and wounded by the British in 1944, he spent 18 months in prison before being rescued by Lehi (Stern Gang) guerrillas. After the establishment of Israel in May 1948, he founded the political Homeland Front, which was outlawed following Lehi's assassination of U.N. envoy Count Folke Bernadotte in September 1948. Since 1949, Eldad has been editor of the Sullam, a far-right periodical calling for Arab emigration from a Greater Israel.

Mohammed Hamed Abul Nasr, leader of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, died Jan. 20 in a Cairo hospital at the age of 82. Born in Manfalout, in Egypt's southern province of Assiut, he was one of the first followers of Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan el-Banna, whom he was said to have met in 1934, and was imprisoned from 1954 to 1973 during the Egyptian government's attempt to eradicate the Brotherhood. In 1986 he succeeded Omar Tilimsani, becoming the organization's fourth supreme guide, or leader, and supported the nonviolent policy of his predecessor, working to avoid confrontations with the state. Although technically outlawed, the Muslim Brotherhood had been tolerated for some two decades until the Egyptian government began cracking down on Islamist opponents last year. The Brotherhood's deputy leader, Mustafa Mashoor, 74, is expected to succeed Abul Nasr and to continue his policies.

Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, a film star who became a powerful figure in Indian politics, died in Hyderabad Jan. 18 of a heart attack at the age of 72. Known as NTR, he starred in more than 300 films in the Telugu language of southern India, often portraying a mythological Hindu deity or hero. He founded the Telugu Desam Party in the 1980s and was chairman of the National Front, an alliance of leftist and centrist parties and India's third largest political organization. A populist, he served three times as the state of Andhra Pradesh's head of government.