From PittArts:
Please join us for a benefit performance of "In Service: Authentic Narrative from Iraq to Pittsburgh" on January 26th
We often speak of war in broad, geopolitical terms, but lost in this discourse is the simple fact that war is local and personal. War is also the story of one individual, your fellow Pittsburgher, perhaps living next door or working in the next office over. Their stories range from horrifying tales of tragedy to gripping accounts of peril and ethical contradictions. They deserve to be told, and we ought to listen.
Combining live performance, projected video, and still images, "In Service" presents first-hand experiences of local men and women serving in The Iraq War as soldiers, government officials, and war correspondents.
Proceeds from this event will help kick off the next multi-media project: "In Service II: Authentic Narrative from Pittsburgh's Islamic Community."
Part I presents the first-hand accounts of the Iraq War by people from our own community. But we have other neighbors who have not yet told their part of our current history-making. Bricolage and Pittsburgh Filmmakers have begun a new series of extensive interviews to give our American-Islamic neighbors and Iraqis a chance to tell their stories in a second film/performance which will partner with the first to show an even more complex narrative.
Pittsburgh is home to one of the oldest and most diverse Islamic communities in America, an early center for immigration from a wide range of nations. Generations have raised their families here as citizens. This project will explore how members of Muslim communities participate in the life of their city through civic engagement, community organization, interfaith projects, the arts, education, and other forms of service and celebration. Interviewers will also ask how the War on Terror has changed Muslim lives, work, schooling, and community service. How has the wider community responded? How are cultural, interfaith, and educational institutions working to mend the fabric torn by paranoia, ignorance, or hostility?
Working with cosponsors such as the Consortium for Educational Resources on Islamic Studies (CERIS), the University of Pittsburgh Global Studies program and English Department, and scholars representing a wide range of other academic departments, this project will help document the mosaic of Muslim histories, ethnicities, philosophies, arts, and professions that are as varied and as ordinary as the faces of the people standing on any street corner in downtown Pittsburgh.
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If you are interested in attending this performance, contact PittArts for tickets and mention you are a Religious Studies major (or minor).
