PhD Candidate Dareen Hussein Conducts Dissertation Research in France
Still from Terre Tunisienne (‘Tunisian land,’ dir. Jean-Jacques Sirkis, Raymond Vogel, 1951). Courtesy of the Centre National du Cinéma et de l’image Animée (Bois D’Arcy, France.)
A photograph from the filming of La Sahara n’est pas à vendre (‘The Sahara is not for sale,’ dir. Jocelyne Saab, 1977). Courtesy of the Archives of the Cinémathèque Française.
A photograph from the filming of Nous aurons toute la mort pour dormir (‘We will rest when we die’ , dir. Med Hondo, 1977). Courtesy of the Ciné-Archives, Cinémathèque du Parti Communiste Française.
Ahmed Nawash, Histoire de mon pays (‘History of my country’), 1984. On view as part of the “Ce que la Palestine apporte au monde” exhibition at the Institut du Monde Arabe, Paris, France.
The 9th Annual Ciné Festival Palestine, focus theme “Sur cette terre” (‘On this land’), Paris, France.
In June 2023, PhD Candidate Dareen Hussein traveled to France to conduct research for her dissertation, in which she explores connections between the history of militant cinema and the emergence of Arab women’s cinema from the 1970s-80s.
While in France, she visited several archives central for her research, like the Talitha Archives du Cinéma in Rennes, the Centre national du cinéma et de l’image animée in Bois d’Arcy, the archives and libraries of the Cinémathèque Française, and the exhibition archives at the Centre Pompidou. Additionally, she visited other archival collections organized and managed by the Friends of Sarah Maldoror and Mario de Andrade, and the Ciné-Archives at the Cinémathèque du Parti Communiste Française.
While in France, Dareen gained valuable experience networking with other scholars working on anti-colonial cinema. She conducted interviews with film critics, friends, and relatives of Assia Djebar, which will assist with her chapter on Djebar’s detour into cinema. She also attended symposiums at the Centre Arabe de Recherches & d’Études Politiques, and she also attended the 9th annual Ciné Festival Palestine in Paris.
During her trip, Dareen also visited several museums including the Institut du Monde Arabe, the Musée de l’Homme, the Centre Pompidou, the Palais de Tokyo, the Maison Européenne de la Photographie, and the Musée du quai Branly - Jacques Chirac.
Dareen’s trip was generously supported by several grants, including the Murnane Travel Scholarship through the department of History of Art, the Dana Greenblatt Feminist Media Award through the department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, the Spring 2023 Student Travel and Research Grant through the Center for Ethnic Studies, and the College of Arts and Sciences Graduate Research Small Grant.
