Middle Eastern Descent Archives - Page 6 of 7

Zaha Hadid

Visonary architect Zaha Hadid challenged notions of what could be achieved in building. Described by The Guardian as the “Queen of the Curve,” her inventive designs freed architecture from its traditional focus on concrete and steel, introducing radical new ways to create spaces in harmony with their surroundings. With a foundation in painting and the utilizing progressive digital technologies, Hadid’s innovative approach helped shift the geometry of buildings toward a new aesthetic. As a woman and a Muslim, she also helped break barriers in the male-dominated world of high-profile architecture.
Before her designs were realised in actual buildings, Hadid’s architectural drawings and paintings were gaining international acclaim as she challenged the idea that a building was merely a solid mass. Her company would later coin the term Parametricism to define this signature look and feel.
Hadid’s major works include the London Aquatics Centre for the 2012 Olympics, the Broad Art Museum, Rome’s MAXXI Museum, and the Guangzhou Opera House.
Hadid was the first woman to be awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, in 2004, and she received the Stirling Prize, the UK’s most prestigious architectural award, in 2010 and 2011. In 2012, she was made a Dame by Queen Elizabeth II for services to architecture, and in February 2016, she became the first woman to individually receive the Royal Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of British Architects (Ray Eames and Sheila O’Donnell had previously won jointly with Charles Eames and John Tuomey respectively).

al-Khansa

Tumadir bint Amru al-Harith bint al-Sharid, better known as al-Khansāʾ, was one of the most influential poets of Arabia’s pre-Islamic and early Islamic periods in the 7th century. Born into a powerful family near Mecca and Medina, much of her work was inspired by her brothers Ṣakhr and Muʿāwiyah, who died in tribal battles. At the time, the role of female poets was to write elegies for the dead and perform them for the tribe in public oral competitions. Al-Khansāʾ won acclaim in these competitions with her work, and is widely considered as the finest author of Arabic elegies and one of the greatest and best known female Arab poets of all time. In 629, she went to Medina with a group from her clan and, after meeting the Prophet Muhammad, embraced the new religion of Islam. Some sources say she was the favourite poet of Muhammad, who wept when he heard her elegies for her brothers.

Addagoppe of Harran

Addagoppe of Harran was an Assyrian priestess of the moon god Sîn in the northern Assyrian city of Harran, and the mother of King Nabonidus (ruled 556–39 BC) of the Neo-Babylonian Empire.

Tawakkol Karman

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkol Karman is a Yemeni journalist, politician, and human rights activist.

Sediqeh Dowlatabadi

Feminist activist and journalist Sediqeh Dowlatabadi was a pioneering figures in the Persian women’s movement who believed in the advancement of women through education.

Sheema Kalbasi

Sheema Kalbasi is an Iranian American poet, writer, filmmaker and activist for women’s rights, minorities’ rights, children’s rights, human rights and refugees’ rights. Her work discusses these topics as well as other women’s issues, war, refugees, Sharia Law and freedom of expression. In additon to her artistic work, Sheema taught refugee children and worked for the UNHCR and the Center for Refugees in Pakistan, and UNA Denmark. Her poems have been anthologized and translated into more than 20 languages.

Shazia Mirza

Shazia Mirza is an English stand-up comedian, actress, and writer . In addition to her stand up comedy (including The Kardashians Made Me Do It), she is known for her columns and articles in British newspapers The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph as well as New Statesman magazine, Dawn newspaper, FT Magazine and the Chicago Tribune. She has also made guest appearances on a variety of television and radio shows.

Sarah Al Amiri

Sarah bint Yousef Al Amiri is the Emirati Minister of State for Advanced Sciences, chair of the UAE Space Agency and the United Arab Emirates Council of Scientists, and Deputy Project Manager of the Emirates Mars Mission, Hope. She began her career at the Emirates Institution for Advanced Science and Technology, where she worked on satellite projects DubaiSat-1 and DubaiSat-2. She joined the UAE Ministry of Climate Change and the Environment before later taking on a senior role at the Dubai World Trade Centre. In 2016 she was appointed the head of the Emirates Science Council.
In November 2017 Amiri became the first Emirati to speak at an international TED event when she spoke in Louisiana about the Hope Mars Mission. The mission launched in July 2020, scheduled to reach Mars in 2021 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the United Arab Emirates’ independence.
In October 2017 Amiri was named Minister of State for Advanced Sciences in the United Arab Emirates Cabinet. To increase global scientific collaboration, Al Amiri toured US scientific institutions in November 2017.

Mastoureh Afshar

Mastoureh Afshar was an Iranian intellectual, feminist, and leading figure in Iran’s women’s rights movement.

Naqi’a

In some sources, Naqi’a is recorded as the wife of King Sennacharib of Assyria and mother of his son, Esarhaddon, while in others she is said to be Esarhaddon’s wife and mother of his son, Ashurbanipal. Despite the discrepancy, we do know that Naqi’a was influential in the politics of the Assyrian throne, which Esarhaddon and Ashurbanipal held as kings (reigned 680–669 and 668–627 B.C.E., respectively). During each of their reigns, she served in an advisory role to under the title of queen mother.