In its formal announcement, the conference consciously argues for Gibran’s relevance at this moment, stating:

As crises proliferate across the globe in this era of accelerated globalization, where are the voices that can bring us the kind of wisdom, awareness, and balance so needed if we are to achieve justice, peace and that “brotherhood of man” envisioned in humanity’s perennial philosophies, East and West? In a world where anger, disintegration, corruption, disorientation and anarchy are the order of the day, Kahlil Gibran stands on his own, as one of those rare writers who actually transcends the barrier between East and West, emphasizing the importance of reconciling reason and passion, of balancing the physical with the spiritual, and of finding practical and moral solutions to the major global issues that face humanity today.

For Gibran, the challenges that confront the human race and life on this planet urgently necessitate not only a holistic and global approach, but, at root, a spiritual revolution, a paradigm shift and a quantum change in human consciousness. Gibran’s English and Arabic prose and poetry represent, in fact, an anguished cry to humanity to rediscover its lost harmony with nature; to evolve a universal code of human rights; to promote the emancipation of women; to build bridges of understanding between cultures and religions; to lessen the gap between the rich and the poor; and to curb all forms of exclusivity — whether ethnic, nationalistic, or religious — in recognition of one common humanity and a shared spiritual heritage. If kept to the fore through research and study, these and other values enunciated in Gibran’s work will continue to inspire many, touch their lives in countless ways and give them comfort, hope and joy in the prospect they afford of a genuine Culture of Peace – one in which the East and the West are equal partners.

While Ameen Rihani is not the focus of the conference, on Friday, May 4, at 4:15 PM, Dr. Miles Bradbury shall be presenting a paper entitled “The Author in Search of Himself: Ameen Rihani’s Hurrying Up About it (1922-1929).” The other speakers and papers are:

• Dr. Suheil Bushrui – The Enduring Message of Kahlil Gibran
• Dr. Riad Nourallah – ‘Piping to the Spirit Ditties of No Tone’: Almustafa for Our Time
• Mr. Henri Zoghaib – Gibran’s Lebanon
• Dr. James Malarkey – Nuts to Crack on the Path to Enlightenment: The Enigmatic Aphorisms of Kahlil Gibran
• Dr. Alexandre Najjar – Reading Gibran in the Midst of the Arab Spring
• Ms. Tania Sammons – Kahlil Gibran’s Representations of the Feminine Divine
• Dr. Edmund Ghareeb – Andrew Ghareeb and the Art of Translating Gibran though the Arab American [Al-Majar] Press
• Mr. Ernest Tannis – The Originality of the Famous “Ask Not…” Quote from President Kennedy’s Inaugural Address in the USA
• Mr. Taraz Darabi – Exchanging the Gifts of the Earth
• Mrs. Susan Reynolds – Abdu’l Baha as Seen by Kahlil Gibran
• Ms. Judy Saba – Unity in Diversity
• Mr. Robert Andrews – Kahlil Gibran Stamp Presentation
• Ms. Fatma Essassi – Gibran’s Concept of the Unity of Being
• Mr. Glen Kalem – Love is Work Made “VISUAL”
• Dr. Jean-Pierre Dahdah – France: A Keystone in Gibran’s Life
• Mr. Guy Jones – Gibran in Ireland
• Mr. Francesco Medici – Gibran in Italy
• Ms. Rana Kazkaz – Kahlil Gibran: A Film in the Making
• Mr. Mehrdad Nosrat – Gibran in the Persian Language
• Dr. Ma Zheng – The Study of Kahlil Gibran in Contemporary China: New Development and Influences

While my understanding is that the conference sessions are not open to the public, members of the University of Maryland community should try to attend if they can!

The introduction of this resolution is extraordinarily meaningful for admirers of Rihani. Despite his great impact on the American understanding of the Arab world and his efforts to engage the American government in the early 20th century on Arab political issues, Rihani has never been acknowledged by the United States Congress. To recognize the literary value and important themes of The Book of Khalid, especially at this moment in history, represents an extremely significant move and gesture.

However, the full passage of this resolution is not guaranteed. The 112th Congress has put up some barriers against the passage of honorary resolutions, and we need to make the case that this resolution — because of the symbolic importance of recognizing Arab-American achievements, both in the United States and for the Arab world — deserves special attention.

The first thing that I would earnestly ask is that all admirers of Ameen Rihani call their representatives and ask them to co-sponsor H. Res. 608. I have put up a little widget here that should assist in this, and you can even call directly from your laptop or computer.

The full text of the resolution is:

Whereas Ameen Rihani was born in Freike, Lebanon, in 1876 and moved to New York City with his family at age eleven in 1888;

Whereas Rihani mastered English and Arabic in his youth and wrote many novels, nonfiction books, plays, essays, poems, and travelogues in both languages during his lifetime;

Whereas Rihani became a United States citizen in 1901;

Whereas Rihani became an interlocutor between Arabs and Americans, meeting with Arab leaders, representing the Arabs at important international conferences, and reporting on the situation in the Middle East to the Department of State and several United States presidents;

Whereas by writing in popular American publications and giving lectures at major institutions, Rihani educated the American public about the lives and ambitions of Arabs;

Whereas Rihani introduced free verse poetry into Arabic in 1905, inspired in particular by the American poet Walt Whitman;

Whereas Rihani became a model and mentor for the `Mahjar’ writers of Arab descent in the United States, whose work has become extraordinarily influential and popular around the world;

Whereas his 1911 masterpiece `The Book of Khalid’, the first Arab-American novel, is an important record of Arab immigration to the `Little Syria’ community of Lower Manhattan and today is a powerful example of the potential of the United States to inspire the Arab world in its democratic aspirations;

Whereas Rihani’s travels in the Arabian peninsula in the 1920s and close relationships with the leaders of the region made him, according to scholar Irfan Shahid, `the apostle of the Arab-American relationship’;

Whereas Rihani was quoted by President George W. Bush about the power of the Statue of Liberty in 2008, stating that `[g]azing at her lamp held high, [Rihani] wondered whether her sister might be erected in the lands of his Arab forefathers. Here is how he put it: `When will you turn your face toward the East, oh Liberty?’;

Whereas Rihani’s protagonist in `The Book of Khalid’ argues: `To these United States shall the Nations of the World turn one day for the best model of good Government; in these United States the well-springs of the higher aspirations of the soul shall quench the thirst of every race-traveller on the highway of emancipation; and from these United States the sun and moon of a great Faith and a great Art shall rise upon mankind.’; and

Whereas Rihani died in his hometown of Freike, Lebanon, in 1940: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved, That the House of Representatives–
(1) honors the life and work of Arab-American writer Ameen Rihani; and
(2) celebrates the 100th anniversary of the publication of the first Arab-American novel, `The Book of Khalid’, by Ameen Rihani.

Ameen Rihani continually said that Shakespeare was his greatest inspiration, and a formative event in his life was when he ran away from home to join the Henry Jewett Traveling Shakespeare company. And he wrote the play, Wajda, a clear attempt to write a Shakespearean style play in an authentic Arab historical setting.

The teacher, Peter Friedrich, who has been the Head of Drama at the American University of Iraq-Sulaimani since 2008 and received an MFA from the American Conservatory Theater in 1996, seems like an inspiring character.

I hope that this Kickstarter effort succeeds, and I encourage admirers of Ameen Rihani to consider donating. As an American citizen, Rihani played such an interesting role in Iraqi history, and I think that a cultural project like this is so closely aligned with his early advocacy for cultural contact between the United States, Iraq, and the Arab world writ large.

And here is their blurb from the event:

In partnership with Project Khalid and the CUNY Graduate Center: Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center, The New York Public Library is proud to organize an evening event — with scholars, the Lebanese Ambassador to the United States, and acclaimed journalist Rami Khouri — to celebrate the centennial of the first Arab American novel. In 1911, Dodd, Mead, and Co. in New York City published Ameen Rihani’s The Book of Khalid, a story of two boys from Lebanon who immigrate to the Little Syria neighborhood in Lower Manhattan and peddle on the streets. After exposure to the New York artistic and cultural environment of the period, the two return to Lebanon where, inspired by their New York experiences, they transform into political and social revolutionaries and become in conflict with the ruling Ottoman Empire. The work is considered the foundation of Arab American literature and is seen as a crucial influence on Kahlil Gibran’s famous work The Prophet (1923). Its author, Ameen Rihani (1876-1940), acted as the chief Arab American public intellectual in New York in the early 20th century and dedicated his life to teaching Americans about Arab history and culture.

Dozens of events have taken place around the world to celebrate the centennial year of the novel, and nearly all of the major Arab media sources have reported on these activities, especially given the work’s uncanny connection to the recent turmoil in the region. Returning to Rihani’s home here in New York, this event matches the full-day symposium organized by the United States Library of Congress on March 29. The New York Public Library is an especially appropriate venue as Rihani, who had no formal education, developed his literary knowledge from its holdings. With an introduction by Lebanese Ambassador to the United States Antoine Chedid, our panelists for the evening will be Todd Fine, director of Project Khalid, and Akram Khater, a Professor of History at North Carolina State University. Mr. Fine will talk about Ameen Rihani and The Book of Khalid, and Dr. Khater will speak about Little Syria in Lower Manhattan at the turn of the twentieth century. Journalist Rami Khouri will direct discussion and questions.

Todd Fine, the Director of Project Khalid, the centennial campaign for The Book of Khalid, is a Magna Cum Laude graduate of Harvard University and holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs at Syracuse University. He is the editor of a new critical edition of The Book of Khalid under advance contract with Syracuse University Press. At Harvard, Mr. Fine worked for Samuel P. Huntington as a research assistant for two years on his book on American identity and immigration, entitled Who Are We? (Simon and Schuster, 2004). He also organized and developed the Global Zero campaign on nuclear weapons, which launched in Paris, France in December 2008.

A native of Lebanon, Dr. Akram Khater holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in History from the University of California, Santa Cruz and the University of California, Berkeley, respectively. His books include Inventing Home: Emigration, Gender and the Making of a Lebanese Middle Class, 1861-1921, A History of the Middle East: A Sourcebook for the History of the Middle East and North Africa, and Embracing the Divine: Gender, Passion and Politics in the Christian Middle East, 1720-1798. Currently, he is producing a PBS documentary on the history of the Lebanese community in North Carolina. He sits on the editorial boards of several journals, including the International Journal of Middle East Studies.

Rami Khouri is the Director of the Issam Fares Institute of Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut. He is an internationally syndicated political columnist and author and serves as editor-at-large of the Beirut Daily Star newspaper.

Yet, the neighborhood, because of the construction of the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel and the World Trade Center, has been devastated physically unlike any other in New York, and sadly, despite Washington Street overlapping with the 9/11 Memorial and the site of the South Tower of World Trade Center (where it is especially important to emphasize the long and patriotic history of Arabs in the United States), little has been done to preserve or memorialize this neighborhood. There are no plaques or signs, and many important historical buildings have been demolished without a second thought.

Fortunately, by a kind of miracle, three buildings remain and are physically connected: 103 Washington Street, an Arab church that served as a Irish bar for many years; 105-107 Washington Street, a community house inaugurated by the governor of New York to serve the Little Syria neighborhood; and 109 Washington Street, a tenement building still containing apartments. Tens of millions of tourists will walk every year from the Battery Park and the Statue of Liberty to the 9/11 Memorial and Museum — all through historic Arab New York! — and these three buildings deserve to be preserved as landmarks to leave some general trace of an ethnic neighborhood that has been devastated like no other in the city. Yet, it looks like the community center is in immediate danger of demolition and this trinity of building is in jeopardy.

Therefore, together with Carl Antoun, a Lebanese-American undergraduate studying International Culture Studies and Political Science at Saint Francis College in Brooklyn Heights, New York, whose family once lived and worked on Washington Street, I have founded Save Washington Street, a national coalition of organizations and individuals advocating the preservation of the last remaining traces of the Washington Street neighborhood of the Lower West Side.

We believe that this neighborhood, one of the oldest parts of the city and which has had its ethnic history diminished and denied and has endured more demolition and destruction than any other neighborhood, deserves to have its few remaining historical traces preserved for posterity, and I urge you to sign our petition at savewashingtonstreet.org.

The award ceremony will be a free event at the Carnegie Institution for Science at 1530 P Street NW on Thursday, September 29 at 8 PM. I would encourage all admirers of Rihani in Washington, D.C. metro area to attend, and you can click here to RSVP online. Business attire is suggested.

The full award-winners are:

Loom by Thérése Souk ar Chehade
Arab Americans in Toledo: Cultural Assimilation and Community Involvement by Samir Abu-Absi
Tocqueville by Khaled Mattawa
Saving Sky by Diane Stanley

2011 HONORABLE MENTIONS

Barefoot in Baghdad by Manal Omar
This Isa Nice Neighborhood by Farid Matuk
Time To Pray by Maha Addasi

LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

Ameen Rihani

The full citation is: F. Medici, “Figli dei cedri in America. Il carteggio tra Gubran Khalil Gubran e Amin Faris al-Rihani”, La rivista di Arablit, anno I, numero 1, giugno 2011, pp. 83-112.

Below is the description from the New York Public Library’s website, and I hope you will mark the event on your calendar. This evening will serve as the foundation of a week of events in the city to celebrate Rihani and the centennial of his greatest work.

In partnership with Project Khalid and the CUNY Graduate Center: Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center, the New York Public Library is proud to organize an evening event to celebrate the centennial of the first Arab American novel. In 1911, Dodd, Mead, and Co. in New York City published Ameen Rihani’s The Book of Khalid, a story of two boys from Lebanon who immigrate to the Little Syria neighborhood in Lower Manhattan and peddle on the streets. After exposure to the New York artistic and cultural environment of the period, the two return to Lebanon where, inspired by their New York experiences, they transform into political and social revolutionaries and become in conflict with the ruling Ottoman Empire. The work is considered the foundation of Arab American literature and is seen as a crucial influence on Kahlil Gibran’s famous work The Prophet (1923). Its author, Ameen Rihani (1876-1940), acted as the chief Arab American public intellectual in New York in the early 20th century and dedicated his life to teaching Americans about Arab history and culture.

A native of Lebanon, Dr. Akram Khater holds M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in History from the University of California, Santa Cruz and the University of California, Berkeley, respectively. His books include Inventing Home: Emigration, Gender and the Making of a Lebanese Middle Class, 1861-1921, A History of the Middle East: A Sourcebook for the History of the Middle East and North Africa, and Embracing the Divine: Gender, Passion and Politics in the Christian Middle East, 1720-1798. Currently, he is producing a PBS documentary on the history of the Lebanese community in North Carolina. He sits on the editorial boards of several journals, including the International Journal of Middle East Studies.

This is a great time to raise the topic as I will be in New York this week for a series of events related to Rihani. I will be speaking about the centennial of The Book of Khalid at two dinners (the Women’s National Republican Club on May 24 and the Salaam Club on May 25). And, on Thursday, May 26, the Arab-American National Museum is holding a fundraiser to support a photography exhibit on Little Syria itself.

If you have any question about my “dream” or about the centennial of The Book of Khalid, please call me at +1 857.234.0920 or email me at toddfine@projectkhalid.org. Press are welcome to cover the events this week.

Next week, on Tuesday, May 24, 2011, Mr. Maher Kayyali, the chief editor of the Arab Institute for Research and Publishing will be speaking at the Women’s National Republican Club dinner in Manhattan to celebrate the centennial. I hope that admirers of Ameen Rihani in the New York area will be able to join us and listen to Mr. Kayyali, as well as Caroline Ziade, the Deputy Ambassador of Lebanon to the United Nations, and myself, Todd Fine. For more information about the dinner, please call me at +1 857.234.0920 or Carol Simon at the WNRC at +1 (212) 582.5454 ext. 2304.