Robert Vitalis' America’s Kingdom: Myth-Making on the Saudi Frontier
Wednesday, April 8, 2009 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM EDT
Johnson Center Bistro
Professor Vitalis discusses the interaction between Saudi society and ARAMCO. ARAMCO is the US oil giant that had its beginnings when the Saudi government granted its first concessions to Standard Oil of California in 1933. Combining history with political anthropology, Vitalis sheds a bright light on the origins and less savory aspects of the Saudi-US relationship in its first phase, when oil production was accompanied by the manufacturing of myths that prettified the US presence.
Professor Vitalis' Brief Biography
Robert Vitalis teaches political science at the University of Pennsylvania. The London Guardian named his most recent book, America's Kingdom: Mythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier, a book of the year in 2006. his new work in progress, The End of Empire in American Political Science, moves away from the Middle East to explore the unwritten history of international relations, development, and area studies and to recover the African-American internationalist tradition.
Hosted by the Middle East Studies Program, Global Interdisciplinary Programs, the Department of Modern and Classical Languages, and the Department of Public and International Affairs.
