2017 NEH Summer Institute: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia: The Voices of Women in Literature, Cinema and Other Arts since Independence

2017 NEH Summer Institute: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia: The Voices of Women in Literature, Cinema and Other Arts since Independence

Two previous NEH Summer Institutes serve as foundations for this 2017 Institute. The first in 2007, Berber North Africa: The Hidden Mediterranean Culture, shed light on the significance of Berber culture in North African society today. Inspired by the first, the second institute in 2014, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia: Guiding Themes in Literature, Cinema and Other Arts since Independence, expanded the field of view beyond Berber culture to encompass the importance of artistic expressions across the Maghreb over the last six decades. Both institutes exposed a recurring question that the present Institute seeks to examine: why have North African women rarely been given the right to be heard since Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia gained national independence? This question, in its broadest dimensions, opens gateways to a number of disciplinary responses in the humanities.