About this episode

Dr. Muhannad Salhi discusses rare artifacts in the Library of Congress and their impact on understanding Arab history.

Rare artifacts within the vast archives of the Library of Congress (LOC) represent a shift in how our region's history is fundamentally understood. Moving beyond traditional nationalist timelines, Arab World specialist in the African and Middle East division at the LOC, Dr. Muhannad Salhi, explores the transition of diverse items in the library's "Near East" collection, from 3000-year-old economic receipts to unique cultural fragments, into autonomous objects of study that define a global narrative. Reclaiming these stories serves as a resistance against regional erasure and the invisibility often felt in the global cultural landscape.

People in this episode

Guest: Muhannad Salhi

Topics covered

• Library of Congress
• Arab history
• cultural artifacts
• global narrative
• regional erasure

Keywords

• Library of Congress
• Muhannad Salhi
• cultural fragments
• Near East collection
• regional history
• autonomous objects
• global narrative

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Library of Congress

Places: Arab World, Near East

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