Press release: for immediate release 28 November 2011

The Arab Spring: leading expert Professor Yasir Suleiman in Edinburgh for public talk
on the role of language and national identity in events in the Middle East this year.
Thursday 1 December, 6 pm.

How did the official media in Egypt, Libya and Syria report the Arab Spring? How did they
use national identity to explain the popular uprisings in these countries and what does this
language tell us about the Arab political scene?

Yasir Suleiman, Professor of Modern Arabic Studies at the University of Cambridge who has
published extensively on the Arabic language and the cultural politics of the Middle East, will
be in Edinburgh on 1 December to discuss these questions. His public lecture at the Royal
Society of Edinburgh, George Street, will examine media representation, inter-Arab political
rivalries and Islamist phobia regionally and in Western circles.

He will examine whether Islamist movements will gain political ascendancy in the post-
revolutionary Arab order, and what lessons can be learnt from the Arab Spring in the way we
discuss and debate the Middle East.

Professor Suleiman, who was made a CBE in the Queens Birthday Honours list earlier this
year, has, throughout his career, extensively researched identity, conflict and modernisation
in the Middle East in so far as these relate to language, modern Arabic literature, translation
and memory.

Professor Suleiman commented: I never thought that I would live long enough to see the
Arab World rise in pursuit of democracy and the rule of law, a non-corrupt law. The Arab
Spring has proven me wrong, but I am delighted to be proven wrong. The Arab countries are
set to face many challenges, but no matter how difficult and frustrating these challenges are,
the present is a better place to be than the unsustainable corruption of the past.

Sir John Arbuthnott, President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, said It is an honour to
welcome Professor Suleiman to Edinburgh, and to the RSE. His talk will provide a much
needed insight into the Arab Spring, from a perspective that few of us are able to gain from
afar. Reflection now on what we can learn from events earlier this year is particularly timely
as the current situation in Egypt shows that their repercussions are far from over. I look
forward to a lively discussion.

The public lecture The Arab Spring: Tropes and Discourses will take place at the Royal
Society of Edinburgh, George Street, on Thursday 1 December at 6 pm. The lecture is free
and open to all to attend but registration is required and bookings can be made through the
website www.royalsoced.org.uk.

ENDS

For further information contact Susan Lennox, Royal Society of Edinburgh
slennox@royalsoced.org.uk
0131 240 2789
07738570315

Notes for Editors:

Professor Yasir Suleiman CBE FRSE
Professor Yasir Suleiman is His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Professor of Modern
Arabic Studies and Director of AIwaIeed Centre of IsIamic Studies at the University of
Cambridge.
Professor Suleiman is working on two books: Arabic in the Fray: Constructing Languages,
Constructing Identities (2013) and Being Palestinian: Reflections on Personal Identity in the
Diaspora (editor, 2012).
Professor Suleiman is Chair of the Panel of Judges, British-Kuwaiti Friendship Society Book
Prize in Middle Eastern Studies. He serves as Trustee on the Boards of the following
organisations: Arab-British Chamber Charitable Foundation, International Prize for Arab
Fiction (in association with the Man-Booker Prize), Banipal Trust for Arab Literature and is
Director of the Gulf Research Centre-Cambridge. He is also Board Member of the Islamic
Manuscript Association, Chair of the Advisory Board of the Centre for the Advanced Study of
the Arab World and Member of the Advisory Board of Our Shared Future, a joint project of
the British Council, USA and Carnegie Foundation. He is a member of the editorial boards of
a number of journals and book series.
The Royal Society of Edinburgh

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was founded in 1783 by Royal Charter for the advancement of learning and useful
knowledge. It has 1500 Fellows whose expertise encompasses the full spectrum of
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sciences, business, industry, the professions and public service. This multi-disciplinary
perspective makes the RSE unique amongst the UKs learned societies.