CILAS is inviting applications to its offline Spring cycle until April 17th 2026
Heroism and Modernity
Sundays, 6 pm-8:30 pm, Offline
Start Date: 26th of April
Heroism and modernity Course aims to explore anthropological, philosophical and theological changes experienced by modern man at the decisive moment of transition from mythical age to the modern age. when natural empirical science begins to replace traditional metaphysical explanations of the world, we cease to believe in the myth of creation. There’s seemingly no foundation any longer for the meaning and value of things, including ethical values, good and evil. Through conversations and discussions, we will be exploring an array of readings, ranging from philosophical analysis and commentary on literature and films that breakdown and illustrate the progression of the hero figure throughout history.
Sundays, 6 pm-8:30 pm, Offline
Start Date: 26th of April
Heroism and modernity Course aims to explore anthropological, philosophical and theological changes experienced by modern man at the decisive moment of transition from mythical age to the modern age. when natural empirical science begins to replace traditional metaphysical explanations of the world, we cease to believe in the myth of creation. There’s seemingly no foundation any longer for the meaning and value of things, including ethical values, good and evil. Through conversations and discussions, we will be exploring an array of readings, ranging from philosophical analysis and commentary on literature and films that breakdown and illustrate the progression of the hero figure throughout history.
Karim El Dalil is a scriptwriter who worked as a writer and head writer in a number of writing rooms for projects in film and TV. He is also a lecturer researching and studying film history, and works as a film curator and programmer.
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Economies of Refusal: On global histories of capitalism and experiments in the political imagination
Mondays, 6 pm-8:30 pm, Offline Start Date: 27th of April “It’s easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine the end of capitalism”. This phrase, originally attributed to Frederic Jameson, has been repeated so widely that it became a postmodernist adage, gesturing to a paralysis in the political imagination. This course traces alternative economic imaginaries to contemporary global capitalism and their complexities. When we say other worlds are possible, what does that look like in practice? In what ways can we challenge self-evident assumptions about the nature of economy and society? How do divergent configurations of capital, empire, race, class, and gender give rise to collective futures and transnational solidarities? Bringing together insights from economic anthropology, Global South Marxism, the Black feminist tradition, and speculative radical fiction, we will be answering these questions in relation to the theme of refusal, which will anchor our discussions each week. We will be exploring the many lives of refusal under capitalism, whether in its arbitrariness and marginality, like in the absurdist fiction of Albert Cossery, or through material and epistemological critiques articulated against modern economics, extraction, the tyranny of reproduction, and Eurocentric imperatives of growth. Throughout the course, participants will develop anthropological and historically contingent understandings of contemporary capitalism and its colonial architectures, with occasional focus on Egypt and the Middle East. Together, we will examine anti-capitalist experiments, the possibilities they present, and their limits. This course is an invitation to creatively reflect on worldmaking possibilities and to conjure kinder, more just worlds, beyond the impasse of capitalist-imperialist violence and liberal common sense. |
Artwork by Afra Eisma (2025). Image courtesy of the artist.
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Eman Shehata is an economic anthropologist, writer, and editor based in Cairo. She received her PhD in Anthropology from the London School of Economics. Her writing and research sit at the intersections of feminism and counterhumanism, and explore the affective politics of work and practices of worldmaking and play under capitalism. She has words published in Kohl Journal, Haven for Artists, among other platforms, and recently edited an issue for Esmat Publishes on absurdity and play in Egyptian cinema.
Buddhist Psychology
Tuesdays, 6 pm-8:30 pm, Offline
Start Date: 28th of April
This course intends to cover the psychological aspects of the Buddhist Doctrine. Our main focus will be to explore in depth and as much extensively as possible, both the origins and developments of the autochthonous Indian experience of mind-examination, in both its tenets and practices, as they were ingeniously discovered and formulated by early Indian meditators and contemplative practitioners. The course will begin by demonstrating the principle of Buddhist pyrhonism as an epistemology in which conventional and ultimate truths are sharply distinguished, with the latter believed to be reachable fundamentally via the individual experience rather than abstract conceptualization.
The experience with which Buddhist psychology is most concerned is, dukkha, which covers the vast expanse beginning at circumstantial forms of psychological pain and affliction, and extends further to deeper forms including the conditionality regulating mental and emotional habits, impulses, compulsions and responses, and finally reaching down to the dread characteristic of the 'unconscious'. We will explore how Buddhist Sanskrit and Pāli texts give a detailed description of these, and how they further prescribe a path of experiential practice that enables the individual practitioner transcend this dukkha as a universal and fundamental human condition.
The course will cover such characteristic and unique Buddhist practices of spiritual and psychological transcendence, including meditation, tranquillity, mindfulness, Buddhist morality, self-awareness, intuitive observation, motivation and effort, and renunciation, which Buddhist texts frequently explain by juxtaposing and contrasting against their worldly, mundane opposites. This will give us a grand and clear picture of what constitutes "mental health" in terms of Buddhist psychology, and which we will view also in light of what modern Western psychology proposes in terms of therapeutic intervention.
Tuesdays, 6 pm-8:30 pm, Offline
Start Date: 28th of April
This course intends to cover the psychological aspects of the Buddhist Doctrine. Our main focus will be to explore in depth and as much extensively as possible, both the origins and developments of the autochthonous Indian experience of mind-examination, in both its tenets and practices, as they were ingeniously discovered and formulated by early Indian meditators and contemplative practitioners. The course will begin by demonstrating the principle of Buddhist pyrhonism as an epistemology in which conventional and ultimate truths are sharply distinguished, with the latter believed to be reachable fundamentally via the individual experience rather than abstract conceptualization.
The experience with which Buddhist psychology is most concerned is, dukkha, which covers the vast expanse beginning at circumstantial forms of psychological pain and affliction, and extends further to deeper forms including the conditionality regulating mental and emotional habits, impulses, compulsions and responses, and finally reaching down to the dread characteristic of the 'unconscious'. We will explore how Buddhist Sanskrit and Pāli texts give a detailed description of these, and how they further prescribe a path of experiential practice that enables the individual practitioner transcend this dukkha as a universal and fundamental human condition.
The course will cover such characteristic and unique Buddhist practices of spiritual and psychological transcendence, including meditation, tranquillity, mindfulness, Buddhist morality, self-awareness, intuitive observation, motivation and effort, and renunciation, which Buddhist texts frequently explain by juxtaposing and contrasting against their worldly, mundane opposites. This will give us a grand and clear picture of what constitutes "mental health" in terms of Buddhist psychology, and which we will view also in light of what modern Western psychology proposes in terms of therapeutic intervention.
Mahāviveka was born in Giza, Egypt, 1983. He spent five years as a lay practitioner ijuqning Sanihrij anq Pāli, ai lell ai emploring Mahanana anq Therakaqa Buddhism in India, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Cambodia, and Malaysia; after which he received his higher ordination as a Theravada monk in 2017 in the Burmese Shwegyin Nikaya. He's since authored two books titled "Motivation and Effort in Buddhist Soteriology" (2019) and "The Buddha as Messiah" (2025), along with several essays including "Pāli Rhetoric in Translation", "Issues with Pāli Literature and its Translation", and "A Buddhist Perspective on the Psychology of Prejudice". He's delivered several talks on Buddhism, including in the Sitagu International Buddhist Academy in Myanmar, and at the Royal University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. He's currently continuing an ongoing project of producing the first jranilajion of jhe Buqqhiij Pāli Canon in Araric.
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المكان في الأدب الحديث
Saturdays, 6 pm-8:30 pm, Offline Start Date: 25th of April يندُر طرح السؤال عن علاقة الأدب بالجغرافيا، إلا في إطار دراسة الوظيفة التأريخية والاجتماعية للأدب. لكن للجغرافيا علاقة بالأدب، ومدارس الأدب الحديث على وجه الخصوص تفوق تلك النظرة الاستعمالية. فما هي تلك الأدوار وكيف يمكن أن نأخذها في اعتبارنا عند ممارسة الكتابة الأدبية. سواء شعرًا أم نثرًا. سردًا قصصيًا أو غير قصصي. بداية من سؤال اللغة، التي لا يمكن عزلها عن الجغرافيا البشرية، ومرورًا بسؤال الشكل الأدبي، وليس انتهاء بدور المكان في الأدب الذي تعاظم في العصر الحديث. كيف يطبع المكان الأدب بطابعه، بوعي أو دون وعي من الكاتب؟ وكيف يظهر هذا الأثر وما مدى عمق علاقته بنظرة الكاتب إلى العالم. المكان هو وعاء الخبرة الإنسانية، وهو لا يكون ثابتا أبدًا طالما هناك حدث يدور. فالحدث يفترض الزمن، ولا زمن بلا حركة. رفع فن القص أهمية المكان، مع حرية الحركة المتاحة للسرد لدفع الأحداث في مواقع مختلفة، وهو ما لم يكن بنفس السلاسة في الكتابة للمسرح سابقًا. ومن هنا القناعة بمحورية المكان في فنون الأدب الحديث، سواء شعرًا أم نثرًا. سردًا قصصيًا أو غير قصصي، مقارنةً بالعناصر التي كانت تتكئ عليها الدراما المسرحية: كالشخوص المنحوتين بدقة والحبكة والصراع... أحيانًا يكون الافتتان بمكان معين هو المحرِّك الأساسي للنص. والافتتان به لا يعني أنّه جميل في حد ذاته، ولكن قوة ما أو شخصية للمكان وعلاقة مركبة معه هي ما يدفع لمعالجته بالكتابة. في حلقة دراسية من ثماني جلسات نحاول أن نستكشف علاقة الجغرافيا بالأدب؛ ودور المكان المتعاظم في الأدب الحديث، ولماذا اكتسب هذا العنصر أهميته ليتخذ موقع الصدارة مزيحًا عناصر ومفاهيم أخرى لطالما نظر إليها باعتبارها عناصر أساسية في بناء النص الأدبي. مع قراءات تطبيقية لأعمال أدبية من زاوية النظر تلك |
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ياسر عبد اللطيف كاتب وشاعر ومترجم من مصر
تخرج في قسم الفلسفة بجامعة القاهرة عام 1994، وعمل بالصحافة التلفزيونية والخبرية حتى عام 2009. أصدر خمسة كُتب قصصية وأربع مجموعات شعرية ، وترجم إلى العربية عددًا من الكلاسيكيات الأدبية عن الفرنسية والإنجليزية.
حصل على جائزة ساويرس الأولى فئة شباب الكتاب عن روايته "قانون الوراثة" عام ٢٠٠٥، وحصل على نفس الجائزة فئة كبار الكتاب عن مجموعته القصصية "يونس في أحشاء الحوت عام ٢٠١٣.
ترُجمت بعض أعماله القصصية والشعرية إلى الإنجليزية والفرنسية والإسبانية والألمانية والإيطالية. وشارك الكاتب في برنامج الكُتاب العالمي IWP بجامعة أيوا بالولايات المتحدة الأمريكية عام 2009. كما شارك في عدد من الفعاليات الثقافية والمهرجانات الأدبية بفرنسا وإسبانيا زكولومبيا وألمانيا ومالطا وهولندا وكوريا الجنوبية وكرواتيا وكندا والإمارات العربية المتحدة.
أدار عددًا من ورش الكتابة الإبداعية بدار الكتب خان في القاهرة وموقع خط ٣٠ ببرلين وبجامعة آيوا بالولايات المتحدة.
يشرف على تحرير موقع راديو المعادي الحر الإليكتروتي
يعيش ويعمل ككاتب ومترجم حرّ بين القاهرة ومدينة إدمنتون بكندا.
تخرج في قسم الفلسفة بجامعة القاهرة عام 1994، وعمل بالصحافة التلفزيونية والخبرية حتى عام 2009. أصدر خمسة كُتب قصصية وأربع مجموعات شعرية ، وترجم إلى العربية عددًا من الكلاسيكيات الأدبية عن الفرنسية والإنجليزية.
حصل على جائزة ساويرس الأولى فئة شباب الكتاب عن روايته "قانون الوراثة" عام ٢٠٠٥، وحصل على نفس الجائزة فئة كبار الكتاب عن مجموعته القصصية "يونس في أحشاء الحوت عام ٢٠١٣.
ترُجمت بعض أعماله القصصية والشعرية إلى الإنجليزية والفرنسية والإسبانية والألمانية والإيطالية. وشارك الكاتب في برنامج الكُتاب العالمي IWP بجامعة أيوا بالولايات المتحدة الأمريكية عام 2009. كما شارك في عدد من الفعاليات الثقافية والمهرجانات الأدبية بفرنسا وإسبانيا زكولومبيا وألمانيا ومالطا وهولندا وكوريا الجنوبية وكرواتيا وكندا والإمارات العربية المتحدة.
أدار عددًا من ورش الكتابة الإبداعية بدار الكتب خان في القاهرة وموقع خط ٣٠ ببرلين وبجامعة آيوا بالولايات المتحدة.
يشرف على تحرير موقع راديو المعادي الحر الإليكتروتي
يعيش ويعمل ككاتب ومترجم حرّ بين القاهرة ومدينة إدمنتون بكندا.
Modernity and the Ecological Crisis:
Why We Can’t Help but Destroy the World
Thursdays, 6 pm-8:30 pm, Offline
Start Date: 30th of April
Throughout the span of human history, no period has ever alienated humankind from the natural world as much as the modern era. In it, the advent of scientific discovery, the Industrial Revolution, and technological advancement have achieved a dual effect—one that simultaneously furthered the cause of human progress while accelerating the rate of planetary destruction. While these material conditions have certainly deepened the rift between humanity and nature, the origin of this division precedes our desire to consume the planet of its resources and returns to a fundamental belief that modern humans are morally, physically, and spiritually detached from their natural environment.
In this course, students will learn to identify the material, social, and philosophical processes that define Modernity and how they continue to contribute to the worsening condition of the ecological crisis. Using a multidisciplinary approach, this course will call into question the very assumptions that underpin Modernity’s conception of nature as an objective domain with no intrinsic meaning or value beyond its exploitation, and demonstrate the inevitable destruction that such a worldview inflicts upon the world. While the course does aim to deconstruct the essence of the modernist project, students will also be given the opportunity to discover and explore the wide array of methods proposed by a variety of scholars to conceptualize and realize the possibility of a different world(s).
Why We Can’t Help but Destroy the World
Thursdays, 6 pm-8:30 pm, Offline
Start Date: 30th of April
Throughout the span of human history, no period has ever alienated humankind from the natural world as much as the modern era. In it, the advent of scientific discovery, the Industrial Revolution, and technological advancement have achieved a dual effect—one that simultaneously furthered the cause of human progress while accelerating the rate of planetary destruction. While these material conditions have certainly deepened the rift between humanity and nature, the origin of this division precedes our desire to consume the planet of its resources and returns to a fundamental belief that modern humans are morally, physically, and spiritually detached from their natural environment.
In this course, students will learn to identify the material, social, and philosophical processes that define Modernity and how they continue to contribute to the worsening condition of the ecological crisis. Using a multidisciplinary approach, this course will call into question the very assumptions that underpin Modernity’s conception of nature as an objective domain with no intrinsic meaning or value beyond its exploitation, and demonstrate the inevitable destruction that such a worldview inflicts upon the world. While the course does aim to deconstruct the essence of the modernist project, students will also be given the opportunity to discover and explore the wide array of methods proposed by a variety of scholars to conceptualize and realize the possibility of a different world(s).
Ahmad Mahana is an MA candidate of the Sociology-Anthropology degree program at the American University in Cairo. With a regional focus on Saint Catherine, South Sinai, Ahmad’s work deploys ethnographic fieldwork methods to explore the ecological and sociological networks involved in reproducing the region’s sacred landscape. By considering both human and nonhuman actors as ethnographic subjects, his work aims to deconstruct modern dualisms of nature-culture by presenting alternative modes of being in and of the world inspired by contemporary Bedouin sociality, Islamic cosmology, and desert ecologies.
