NYUAD Institute Talk

Favorite Posts, Scholarship and Teaching, Travel

By all accounts, the lecture that I gave for the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute on Wednesday night went well. The title of the talk was “Cosmopolitanism, Multiculturalism, and the Promise of Literature.” Like Joanna’s lecture on the Silk Road, it took place...

Grand Mosque

Travel

Grand Zayed Mosque (Interior Courtyard)Wednesday morning began with a visit to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, which is open to non-Muslim visitors in the morning from 9:00 to 11:00 a.m. Gleaming white and dominating its surroundings, it’s meant, I think, to...

Dubai

Travel

After spending an hour-and-a-half at the Museum of Islamic Civilization in Sharjah, we continued on our way back to Abu Dhabi via Dubai. We could see examples of  traditional wooden ships–the dhow–docked along the waterfront. Out of the window I caught a...

Sharjah

Scholarship and Teaching, Travel

Sharjah, which is right next to Dubai, is more conservative than its neighbor. No alcohol is served in the emirate, which was named the cultural capital of the Arab world by UNESCO because of its excellent museums. The American University of Sharjah there was founded...

NYU Abu Dhabi

Scholarship and Teaching, Travel

I’m writing this in a van on the road from Abu Dhabi to Sharjah. We’ve just entered Dubai. The desert surrounds us.I’m traveling with three colleagues from NYU and one from NYU Abu Dhabi. I owe my presence here in part to John McCain.Last year, after...