Behind The Scenes: Brown University’s Social Media and Political Change in Latin America and the Middle East Conference

Last week, I participated as a panelist and speaker in Brown University’s Social Media and Political Change in Latin America and the Middle East Conference. Brown University’s Watson

At Brown University's Social Media and Political Change conference. I spoke on Egypt's Arab Spring street art. Photo: Genevieve Hathaway Photography.

At Brown University’s Social Media and Political Change conference. I spoke on Egypt’s Arab Spring street art. Photo: Genevieve Hathaway Photography.

Institute asked me to speak on the Arab Spring street art movement in Egypt. Over the past two years, I’ve been completing a project called War on Walls — researching and photographing Egypt’s most important, iconic, provocative and creative Arab Spring street art. I was honored to be able to share this project and topic I am passionate about with conference attendees and the interwebs via the webcast the Watson Institute set up to live stream the conference. (You can still catch the conference in its entirety here: http://mediacapture.brown.edu:8080/ess/echo/presentation/4a890168-7e38-49f9-a691-80ab4684b3e9)

Brown University is a beautiful campus located close to the center of Providence, Rhode Island. I was lucky to visit on a sunny Fall day. The leaves were changing on the trees, filling the streets with bright yellows, tawny reds and burnt oranges. I love old architecture. I spent quite a bit of time during my stay in Providence wandering the 400 year old cobblestone streets lined with elegant colonial mansions painted an assortment of pastel and bright colors. Brown University’s main campus is comprised of a series of stately brick and columned buildings organized around grass courtyards.

The conference began with the showing of the Film “NO”, which followed the Chilean NO campaign that ousted Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet. Former Chilean President Ricardo Lagos and NO campaign director Genaro Arriagada. Both spoke about the NO campaign in Chile.

 

The first panel of the conference with speakers Ricardo Lagos, Diamela Eltit, Jorge Arrate, and Genaro Arriagada. Photo: Genevieve Hathaway Photography.

The first panel of the conference with speakers Ricardo Lagos, Diamela Eltit, Jorge Arrate, and Genaro Arriagada. Photo: Genevieve Hathaway Photography.

The next morning, the conference continued with a panel discussing political change in Chile. The panel included former President of Chile and Professor-at-Large of Brown University Ricardo Lagos, Director of the NO campaign and former Chilean Ambassador to the US Genaro Arriagada, Chilean writer and Distinguished Global Professor of Creative Writing in Spanish at New York University Diamela Eitit, and former Chilean Minister Jorge Arrate. My draw dropped when I first learned of that powerhouse panel. And they delivered riveting discussions. The panel discussed how change took place in Chile and how it was or was not successful.

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Posted in Arab Spring, Egypt, Public Speaking Tagged , , , , , , |

Speaking Announcement: Brown University’s Social Media and Change Conference

Exciting announcement — I will be speaking at Brown University’s Social Media and Political Change in Latin American and the Middle East Conference on October 4. I will be presenting on the situation in Egypt and how street art was utilized to spread messages of Egypt’s Arab Spring revolution. The conference will consist of three panels.

The first panel, which will focus on the case of Chile in light of the 25th anniversary of the 1988 plebiscite that ended Pinochet’s dictatorship, will feature former President of Chile and Brown University Professor at Large Ricardo Lagos; former Chilean Ambassador to the United States and director of the “no” campaign Genaro Arriagada; Chilean writer and activist Diamela Eltit; and former Chilean Ambassador to Argentina Jorge Arrate.

The second panel will include recent Brown University alumni Alexandra Ulmer and Taylor Barnes, who are working as journalists in Chile and Brazil, respectively, as well as journalist Claudia López of Colombia. The focus of this panel will be political change and social media from the perspective of practitioners.

Finally, the discussion will expand to include countries from other regions, specifically Turkey and Egypt, with a panel chaired by Director of Middle Eastern Studies Beshara Doumani. The panelists will be Nukhet Sandal (Ohio University), who will speak about the current situation in Turkey and Genaro Arriagada, Sherine Hamdy (Watson Institute) and myself, we will all be discussing the situation in Egypt.

My panel and presentation will be from 2:30 p.m.-4 p.m on October 4th. You can watch the event live here: http://bit.ly/15U2tjB

You can also follow us on twitter. I will be live tweeting the event from my twitter handle @gshathaway. You can also follow the hashtag #SocialMediaChange. And will be sharing images from the even on Instagram and Facebook. My instagram name is gshathaway and my Facebook page is Genevieve Hathaway Photography.

I will also be checking out the other panels. Feel free to shoot me any questions that you have and I will ask the speakers.

Posted in Arab Spring, Egypt, Public Speaking Tagged , , , , |