A delegation of prominent Iranians and US Embassy officials will be among the participants addressing the evolving superpower role of the United States at an International Seminar hosted by the University of Birmingham today.
The three-day event on US Power and the New American Studies, held by the Department of American and Canadian Studies, includes panels on current topics such as US relations with Iran, US Foreign Policy and the World, and the representation of the US in foreign media.
More than 70 speakers, made up of leaders, officials, and academics from across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and North America will address the delegates.
Day One sees US Embassy official Maura Connelly look at relations between the US and the Middle East, with particular focus on the results of the Palestinian elections. A roundtable examination of American Power follows, giving delegates the opportunity to raise political, economic, cultural, ideological, and other issues.
Further highlights include a session on conflict and co-operation in the contemporary US-Iranian relationship by Birmingham postgraduates who have worked with the University of Tehran, Iranian scholars, and a US Embassy offical. Birmingham Professor Scott Lucas, a leading international specialist on US Foreign Policy, will be chairing the discussion.
Professor Lucas, the convenor of the conference and founder of Libertas: Centre for US Foreign Policy, Media, and Culture, comments, “At this criticial time in international relations, the International Seminar brings together officials and scholars from around the world to consider our notions of ‘America’. This is not an issue of being pro-American or anti-American; it’s an issue of understanding how those outside the United States negotiate American power, from Latin America to the Middle East to Asia.”
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
The University of Birmingham’s Department of American and Canadian Studies is the foremost centre in the country for the examination and critique of US foreign policy and the rest of the world. The Department is leading the effort for a “new American Studies” which reconsiders the relationship between literature, culture, and the media from the formation of the United States to the present day.
The Department is the first institution in the UK to forge a working relationship with the Institute of North American and European Studies at the University of Tehran in Iran. It also has developing partnerships with Bologna University, Tokyo University, the Clinton Institute at University College Dublin, and the Roosevelt Centre in Holland. One aim of the Seminar is to extend these international relationships to link Government officials, scholars, and the media.
Further information:
Anna Mitchell – Press Officer, University of Birmingham
Tel: 0121 414 6029
Mob: 07920 593946
Email: a.i.mitchell@bham.ac.uk