Join us for an evening evening with graphic design professor Dina Benbrahim, University of Connecticut.
Moroccan design narratives that have been systematically undervalued, omitted or exoticized. From the nineteenth century through the independence from the French Protectorate in 1956, the story of Moroccan art and design was written largely from a colonialist perspective. Through retelling design histories centered on Moroccan perspectives, Dina Benbrahim challenges dominant narratives that have traditionally positioned European aesthetics and methodologies as universal standards, while relegating non-Western design traditions to categories like vernacular or craft. Her approach to culturally decolonizing design addresses several interconnected layers of historical erasure in North Africa. You are invited to an introductory lecture on the topic and engage in a more pluralistic understanding of global design histories.
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This talk is funded through the generosity of the Mary Ausplund Tooze Endowed Visiting Professor of Islamic + Ancient Art Fund with additional support from the PSU Middle East Studies Center.