In conversation with Hamid Dabashi: The Arab Spring – The End of Postcolonialism

Renowned author and academic Hamid Dabashi will be joining us to share his reflections on the Arab Spring that challenge current thinking about ‘the Middle East’ and propose a re-imagining of the moral map of the region.

Dabashi, who is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University, will discuss the central argument of his new book The Arab Spring: The End of Postcolonialism that the uprisings that engulfed the region represented a rebellion against domestic tyranny and globalised disempowerment alike.

Extending his analysis of the Green Movement in Iran laid out in Iran, The Green Movement and the USA, Dabashi argues that this rebellion signifies no less than the end of Postcolonialism and that Arabs and non-Arabs alike now have to fight for the Arab Spring in the realm of ideas with the same vigour and determination as in the squares and streets.

Hamid Dabashi has written 20 books, edited four, and written numerous chapters, essays, articles and book reviews. A columnist for the Egyptian al-Ahram Weekly for over a decade, he is a regular contributor to Aljazeera and CNN. He has been a committed teacher for nearly three decades, a staunch anti-war activist, and the founder of Dreams of a Nation.