Opening address: Professor Caroline Rooney, University of Kent

Professor Caroline Rooney responded to the theme of artistic endeavour in times of conflict and post conflict by showing and discussing her film White Flags. Based on extensive fieldwork and research in Lebanon, White Flags featured filmed portraits of individual Lebanese citizens from different backgrounds reflecting on their respective trust-building initiatives. White flags are usually taken to be signs of truce or surrender, but here Caroline’s lecture, explores how Lebanese citizens from different professional and religious backgrounds bring a range of alternative conceptual, ethical and artistic meanings to the white flag. The film featured interviews with artists-activists Raouf Rifai and Aurelien Zouki, and explores current issues in Lebanon relating to conflictual post-war memory, ideological and sectarian divisions, socio-economic problems, and peacebuilding initiatives amid the challenges and dangers of ongoing crises.

Caroline Rooney, is Professor of African and Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Kent. She works and publishes mainly in the area of postcolonial studies and Arab cultural studies, focusing on liberation struggles and their aftermaths in both sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa and the Middle East. Her research engages with postcolonial theory in relation to diverse philosophical and spiritual traditions, literary and political uses of language, and cross-cultural articulations of gender and sexuality. Her current work is particularly concerned with contemporary Arab writing and popular culture in relation to the Arab uprisings, and explores the resources of arts activism both critically and creatively.

Caroline’s lecture is ended with a discussion on the role of art and artists in cultural and social memory and memorialisation, also including Ruwanthie de Chickera and Susannah Tresilian of Ariadne, and chaired by Annecy Lax, Senior Lecturer in Theatre Studies at the University of Essex.