Enemies by Design: How Demonizing Arabs and Muslims Fuel Endless War
How Can We End the Cycle and Find Peace?
Ken Dorph has spent over fifty years visiting the Arab world, from Morocco to Iraq. He has developed a deep affection for the Arab peoples and an abiding sadness at the forever wars that the United States inflicts on the region. Ken would like to share his perspectives to explore the deep roots of these conflicts, what keeps them going, and how we can get out of this doom loop.
Producer: Ken Dorph
Ken Dorph’s personal experience and professional career have given him a unique perspective on the Arab world. As a young man, Ken studied at the Université Mohamed V in Morocco, spent three years as an educator in Tunisia, and a year as a Fulbright scholar in Damascus. After his MBA, he worked in Egypt and Bahrain, each for two years, then went on to a consulting career that took him to every Arab country. Unique for an American, Ken is fluent in Standard Arabic and several Arabic dialects. During his twenty-five years as a consultant, he was dubbed the World Bank’s ‘go to guy’ for Arab financial sectors, advising central banks from Palestine and Algeria to Saudi Arabia and Jordan, on topics from risk management to Islamic finance, while drafting financial sector reform plans from Libya to Iraq to Palestine.
Public Speaking and Advocacy
During the past fifteen years, Ken has built a second career speaking about the Arab world and Islam. Ken has been invited to lecture and has led panels at UC Berkeley, the Wharton School, CUNY, the University of Michigan, the New School, Georgetown University, the World Bank, the C3 US-Arab Summit, and the Harvard Arab Weekend. He has been invited to meet with the State Department, USAID, and the US Department of Commerce to share his insights into the region. Ken gives frequent talks at high schools, libraries, museums, colleges, churches, synagogues, and business clubs. He has published scholarly articles and written opinion pieces on topics as diverse as Islamic law, Arab divorce, and the wars in Iraq, Yemen, and Palestine. Ken has been sought out by the media to share his views, giving frequent radio interviews (WLIW, WPPB, WCBS) as well as interviews on US and foreign television.
In sharing his experience, Ken tries to debunk negative stereotypes and instead portrays the richness and diversity of the Arab world. His educational talks have included, “Seven Keys to Understanding the Arab Middle East,” “An Evening with My Friends the Arabs,” “Palestine/Israel: What Gives,” in response to the Israel-Gaza war, and “Hidden Cosmopolitanism of the Arab World” where he explored questions of gender and religious minorities in Arab societies. In Ramadan 2016, Ken launched the Eastern Long Island’s first interfaith Iftar, which in turn led to the founding of the Islamic Center of the Hamptons.
Ken has a Masters of Middle Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan, including a year as a Fulbright Scholar in Damascus, and a Master of Business Administration and International Finance from the Wharton School. Ken also studied at Mohammed V University in Rabat and spent three years in the Peace Corps in Tunisia. In addition to Arabic, Ken is fluent in Spanish and French and is conversant in several other languages. Ken’s studies were fully funded by scholarships.
Ken lives in Sag Harbor, New York where he is known as “the Bike Guy” for his advocacy of walking and biking or, more generally, as “Leyla and Darius’s dad.”