On July 7th of 2021, Fulbright Jordan is hosting and moderating its first webinar as part of the 75th Anniversary celebrations of the Fulbright Program worldwide. This event falls on "Jordan's Day" where four of our Fulbright scholars will present on the topic of archeology, and the importance of communities alongside their work.
.png)
The Binational Fulbright Commission in Jordan is pleased to announce that it will be hosting a webinar titled Preserving Heritage, Cultivating Communities: A Reflection from Jordanian and American Fulbright Researchers as part of the 75th anniversary of the Fulbright Program worldwide. The webinar will highlight the intersection between historical and archeological work reflecting on the preservation of Jordanian heritage, and its connection to the present communities that exist around Jordanian archeological sites. This webinar falls on Jordan’s Fulbright Day on July 7th that marks the Jordanian Commission and its vital role for over two decades in promoting international cooperation for education and cultural advancement.
This day corresponds with the 7 Wonders Day in which the ancient city of Petra in southern Jordan, was named as one of the modern seven wonders of the world on July 7th of 2007.
The webinar will feature four Fulbrighter panelists; two Jordanian and two American alumni who are notable for their work in their respective fields. Each of the panelists will share a snapshot of the work they have conducted in the field of archeology and history throughout Jordan, and the importance of understanding and honoring the communities that existed or developed around those sites.
Date: Wednesday, July 7th, 2021
Time: 7:00 - 8:00 PM (EEST, Amman Local Time)
4:00 - 5:00 PM (GMT)
12:00 - 1:00 PM (EDT)
Find the events time according to your timezone HERE.
The event will be in English, and will be streamed through Zoom. You can register for the webinar organized and moderated by Fulbright Jordan here.
Dr. Tom Paradise
Dr. Tom Paradise is an American alumnus who received the U.S. Fulbright Scholar award in 1998 to Jordan. He is a geosciences Professor and the former Director of the King Fahd Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Arkansas. Having researched the unique architecture of Petra, Jordan since the 1990’s, he has published more than sixty articles, reports, and chapters on Petra and Wadi Rum and continues to advise U.S. and foreign agencies on cultural heritage management and architectural deterioration, Mediterranean and Middle East architecture, and geographic visualization and cartography. Dr. Paradise has published more than 2000 maps for agencies, authors, publishers, TV networks, and corporations. He has also been a script and graphics consultant to a number of documentary production companies including Nova (PBS), NatGeo, Discovery, and Smithsonian Channels. His award-winning PBS Nova special, PETRA: Lost City of Stone (2016), is one of PBS' highest rated specials. He was the cartographer and author of the award-winning Atlas of Hawai‘i, and the popular Student Atlases of Hawai’i, and Arkansas: an Illustrated Atlas.
Dr. Allison Mickel
Dr. Allison Mickel is an American alumna who received her U.S. Fulbright Student Research Award in 2015 to Jordan. Dr. Mickel is currently an Assistant Professor of Anthropology in the Department of Sociology & Anthropology, and a core faculty member in both Global Studies and the Center for Global Islamic Studies. Dr. Mickel’s research focuses on how local communities have impacted and been affected by the long history of archaeological work in the Middle East. Among her various publications, Dr. Allison published a new book titled Why Those Who Shovel are Silent: A History of Local Archaeological Labor and Knowledge in March 2021, which focuses on the ways in which archaeological excavations rely on the expertise that locally-hired laborers possess about archaeological remains and methodologies. Since her Fulbright award, Dr. Mickel is now back in Jordan conducting further research in collaboration with ACOR (The American Center for Research).
Dr. Omar Al-Ghul
Dr. Omar Al-Ghul is a Jordanian alumnus who was awarded his Fulbright Foreign Student Scholarship to pursue his PhD degree in 1998 at the University of Michigan. Currently he is a tenured Associate Professor at the Department of Epigraphy at Yarmouk University and the Director of Yarmouk University library. Dr. Al-Ghul research interests focus on the Northwest Semitic Epigraphy, Social history of Jordan and Palestine in the 19th and early 20th century. He has also published 30 papers and translated and edited 18 books. Moreover, Dr. Al-Ghul has worked on various projects such as his research work with the project to study and publish the Greek papyri from the Byzantine Church from Petra in collaboration with a University of Michigan team, the co-director of the archaeological Project "Settling the Steppe" from 2004-2006 that was conducted jointly with Yarmouk University and Leiden University, the Director of the Project on the Documentation and Study of Traditional Food in Jordan in 2008-2009, and the Director of the Jordanian Dead Sea Scrolls Project from 2008-2010.
Dr. Fatima Nammari
Fatima Al-Nammari is a Jordanian alumna and an Associate Professor of Architecture and Urban Design at the University of Petra. She obtained her PhD through a Fulbright Foreign Student Scholarship in 2001 from Texas A&M University and is currently the Dean of the Faculty of Architecture and Design. She has worked with several local, regional, and UN organizations in different countries in the fields of participatory urban design and planning and urban heritage conservation. She received several awards and honours and has been involved in various research projects addressing heritage and place-making. Dr. Nammari is also the Head of the Scientific Committee of the Jordan Engineers Association’s Architectural Division, and is an Honorary Research Fellow at the University College, London.
In 2020, Dr. Nammari was awarded the Newton-Khalidi Fund and received the Newton Prize award for that year.
You can register for the webinar organized and moderated by Fulbright Jordan here.
This event is part of the ongoing celebrations held by the Fulbright program. A dedicated site has been made where you can follow up on other events and features throughout 2021: https://fulbright75.org/fulbright-days/.
