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Black Arts & Culture: Being Nubian with Mona Sherif Nelson
March 13 @ 7:00 pm - 9:30 pm PDT
$10
An evening of story-sharing with Nubian scholar and artist Mona Sherif Nelson.
This event is a chance to meet Faddjja Nubian scholar and artist Mona Mohi Eddin Sherif Nelson, who
has lived through the ups and downs of moving from her ancestral village to big cities around the world,
before ending up in the U.S. Mona will share stories from her perspective as a Nubian who lived before
and after the mass displacement of the Nubian-Egyptian people in the 1960s by the construction of the
Aswan High Dam. She will illuminate her learnings throughout her migration story across the globe. Her
stories explore culture clashes and connections living as a Nubian in the U.S. To her, living with a set of
cultural morals of an ancient area in this age is like living in two different worlds.
Mona Sherif Nelson will
open up about how she finds herself as a Nubian in this world.
The cultural presentation will include information about ancient and modern Nubia. Learn about the
ancient Nubian language that is still spoken today, modern rituals that blend Pharaonic and Muslim
religious practices, and a hub for arts and culture in the African continent since the dawn of civilization.
You will learn about Nubian culture through firsthand experiences, and you will leave with an
understanding of various elements of cultural preservation of indigenous and diasporic cultures.
Mona will present cultural information about the Nubian people and share a telling of a folktale that she
grew up with in the village of Abu Simbel.
Folk stories are a way for the Nubians to
understand, appreciate and enhance their culture and heritage. Mona will shear some of those stories
and argue the importance of those stories in our life even in the U.S. She will share a traditional folkloric
story passed down to her through matriarchal oral tradition, and you will join Mona in learning how the
Fadija Nubians dance, to celebrate together the continued preservation and sharing of this unique and
beautiful region. This event is a chance to embrace the Nubian culture, heritage, music, art, and dance,
and ask questions to a proud American Nubian.
Featuring a mini-gallery of photos from Nubia, taken by Mona Sherif-Nelson’s husband, Michael Nelson,
professional photojournalist and co-founder of the Nubian Foundation.
In partnership with Langston Hughes Performing Arts Institute, Dunya Productions, and the Nubian
Foundation for Preserving a Cultural Heritage, and their production of Nubian Stories by Nabra Nelson
and Mona Sherif-Nelson, playing March 11-23.