Jāl Mythmaking
Embodied Indigeneity in the Marshlands and Coasts of the Persian/Arabian Gulf
Event Details
Date
Monday, March 16, 2026
Time
12-1:15 p.m.
Location
206 Ingraham Hall
Description
Hanan Al-Alawi (UW-Madison) examines how Iraq’s marshland peoples and southern Iran’s coastal communities reimagine Indigeneity through mythmaking and embodied ties to land and water. Using the concept of “jāl,” she challenges ethnographic, nationalist, and orientalist frames. Reading novels by al-Hamrānī and Ravanipour, she shows how literature offers a decolonial poetics that recenters more-than-human worlds.
Cost
Free
Contact
Accessibility
We value inclusion and access for all participants and are pleased to provide reasonable accommodations for this event. Please email csbarr@wisc.edu to make a disability-related accommodation request. Requests should be made by Monday, March 2, 2026, though reasonable effort will be made to support late accommodation requests.