Spring '26 MEIS Talk Series: Dr. Rayya El Zein
Thursday, March 5, 2026 3:00 PM to 4:30 PM EST
Horizon Hall, 4225
On March 05th, from 3:00–4:30 p.m. in Horizon Hall 4225, Dr. Rayya El Zein will deliver a presentation titled “Book Talk: Filling the Head, Listening to Rap in Arabic ”.
In this ethnography, El Zein listens to the experiences of rappers and their audiences in three Arab cities (Amman, Ramallah, Beirut) as they search for ways to engage the political beyond the framework of resistance. Filling the Head summons an interdisciplinary convergence across anthropology of religion and media, global hip hop studies, and black feminist approaches to aesthetics and performance studies to build a model of political agency rooted in the feeling of yearning to be hailed otherwise.
If you plan to attend virtually, please RSVP to receive the Zoom link. For security reasons, a GMU email address is required.
More about the author Rayya El Zein is an independent writer and researcher. A Palestinian and Lebanese American mother and daughter, her recent writing explores return, yearning, and other frameworks of belonging and becoming. She holds a PhD in Theatre and Performance from the Graduate Center, CUNY. www.rayyaelzein.com
