Shrek & Ben Affleck: 'A Political Act'

December 15, 2014

On December 11^th, 2014, the American University of Central Asia hosted a professor from Northwestern University, Dr. Brian Edwards. In a lecture entitled “Shrek in Casablanca, Ben Affleck in Tehran: American Culture in Middle East Circulation,” Dr. Edwards spoke on the interplay between culture and politics to a room of students who represented several departments. Business Administration, Liberal Arts & Sciences, Psychology, and American & European Studies were all represented and both listened and participated in the presentation.

 AUCA President Andrew Wachtel has a long relationship with Dr. Edwards, having hired him during his time as an administrator and professor at Northwestern University. President Wachtel and Lyubov A. Jdanova, Faculty Chair and Associate Professor of the European Studies department, introduced Dr. Edwards who began his presentation by explaining the title of the lecture. “The equation that has motivated me is the relationship between culture and politics,” he said to the students.

He recalled the time when he first became interested in the field. “I saw how the media represented Iraq during the 1^st Gulf War in the early 90’s,” he said as he drew a parallel to a recent global conversation, noting that interactions with friends and people from the Gulf area led him to realize that the media portrayed things in a specific and perhaps not accurate way.

 During the presentation, he used the American film “Argo” as an illustration of how cultural products, such as film or music, are sometimes inseparable with politics. “Within the U.S. context the film was perceived as liberal or left-leaning,” he said, while contrasting that with the opposite perception held in Iran. “The teaching of history is always a political act,” he said, transitioning into a Q&A session with the students (and President Wachtel).

 The students asked several questions of Dr. Edwards, revolving around foreign policy considerations and perspective, Ben Affleck, and the film “Borat”. He even implored the students to consider a thesis topic of Borat and the affects of the film on Kazakhstan.

 Having come from Ankara where he was working in a small research group on American studies within Turkey, this has been his 1^st time in Central Asia, which he said was a long time coming. Even in his brief time here, he saw evidence of his ideas in the form of KFC (Kyrgyz Fried Chicken as opposed to Kentucky Fried Chicken).

 Thank you to Dr. Brian Edwards for taking the time to share his experiences and ideas with our community, and if nothing else, at least one student now has an idea for his or her senior thesis.

<< go to news list