We are thrilled to be hosting two distinguished keynote speakers: Professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat and Professor Abdulkader Sinno.

Ruth Ben-Ghiat is Professor of History and Italian Studies, Chair of the Department of Italian Studies, and Director of the NYU-CNRS Center for International Research in the Humanities and Social Sciences at New York University. Her field of study is Modern Europe and her research interests encompass the following: modern Italian culture and history, twentieth-century European politics and culture; film history; fascism and the politics of its memory; colonialism and empire. For more information regarding Professor Ben-Ghiat, please see her academic website: http://www.ruthbenghiat.com

Abdulkader Sinno is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Middle Eastern Studies at Indiana University, Bloomington, and a 2009 Carnegie Scholar.  He is author of Organizations at War in Afghanistan and Beyond (Cornell UP, 2008), editor of Muslims in Western Politics (Indiana UP, 2009), and author of articles and book chapters on Muslim representation in Western liberal democracies, public attitudes towards Muslim immigration, the Arab Spring, conflict in Afghanistan, and Islamist parties’ participation in elections. For more information about Professor Sinno, please see his academic website: http://www.sinno.com