Journalist Kim Ghattas to present on rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran

Community members are invited to think broadly about “The World Beyond Our Borders” with the arrival of this week’s Alworth Peace and Justice lecture. Scholar and award-winning journalist Kim Ghattas will present “Rivalry Between Saudi Arabia and Iran” virtually on Thursday, March 24 at 7:30 p.m. This will be made possible by the collaborative efforts of the Royal D. Alworth, Jr. Institute for International Studies at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

Ghattas is the author of Black Wave: Saudi Arabia, Iran, and the 40-year Rivalry that Unraveled Culture, Religion, and Collective Memory in the Middle East. This book was recognized by The New York Times as one of the 100 Notable Books of 2020. Ghattas has spent most of her time on the road covering the Middle East, reporting from Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Lebanon. In 2006 she covered the war between Israel and Hezbollah, winning an Emmy for international news coverage. Ghattas is currently a non-resident senior scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, shuttling between Beirut and Washington, D.C.

Tom Morgan, newly retired director of the Alworth Center for Peace and Justice, described “The World Beyond Our Borders” as the most ambitious lecture series he has coordinated to date. By presenting a series of points of view that are not American, he hopes attendees can begin to see themselves in a wider context and understand the human story in a bigger way.

All lectures are free and open to the public. Attendees must register in advance to receive the Zoom webinar link.

The Alworth Center for the Study of Peace and Justice seeks to bridge social and political barriers to bring together people of all ages and philosophies to work toward the common goals of peace and justice. The Center is funded in part by the Manitou Fund, the Global Awareness Fund of the Duluth Superior Area Community Foundation, and Reader Weekly.