No. 29 The University of Texas at Austin Fall2002jSpring 2003
Center Awarded Large Department of Education Grants
I n the recent national competition
for u.s. Department of Education
grants to support area studies pro
grams, the Center for Middle Eastern
Studies won a high level of funding
for the next three years. Our award
totals $599,000 a year, an amount con
siderably higher than any of our pre
vious federal grants. (The specific al
location for the second and third years
of the grant may change based on
congressional appropriations.) The
award includes an NRC (National
Resource Centers) grant to promote
our academic and outreach activities,
and FLAS (Foreign Language and
Area Studies) Fellowship money to
support our graduate students, pri
marily in their study of Middle East
ern languages.
To support its work as an NRC,
the Center was awarded $282,000 a
year, the highest grant given to any of
the seventeen Middle East programs
that won funding in this catego;:-y.
This money will help hmd the Center's
operations and a host of new initia
tives. In the next three years, a large
number of new courses in all major
disciplines will be added to the cur
riculum. Language faculty plan to
enhance their training with new
courses and computer-assisted instruc
tional programs. We will host major
conferences on a broad range of top
ics, all of them to be organized in coop
eration with other programs on cam
pus. The Middle East library collec
tion will continue to receive generous
contributions from the Center for ac
quisitions and staff assistance to help
maintain its stature as a leading na
tional resource in the field. Funding
for the Center's outreach program will
support a wide range of new educa
tional and cultural activities aimed at
the K-12 level and the public more
broadly.
For FLAS fellowships the Center
received $317,000 a year, more than
double the level of funding available
in the last three-year cycle. Awards for
the academic year and the summer
will cover the costs of tuition and fees,
and also include a stipend-$14,OOO
for academic year awards and $2,400
for summer awards. The Center may
be able to award as many as 15 aca
demic year and 7summer fellowships
in next year's fellowship competition.
(The recipients of FLAS awards for
summer 2003 and academic year 2003
04 are recognized below.)
Department of Education fund
ing is awarded in a national competi
tion held every three years based on
the evaluation of elaborate grant pro
posals. Preparation of the proposal
represents a major effort. In addition
to a thirty-five page narrative replete
with charts and other data on all as
pects of the program, the proposal
required a proposed budget and
timeline for activities during the com
ing three-year grant cycle. Also re
quired were a short curriculum vita
from all 145 faculty on campus teach
ing courses with Middle Eastern con
tent and a listing of all 318 courses
offered at UT with 25% or more
Middle Eastern content during the
three-year period 2001-2004. We thank
the faculty and staff who contributed
to the preparation of our successful
proposal.
Letter from the Director
This has been my eighth and last year as Center Director. OnAugust 31, I step down as Director and Department Chair and
take a year of leave to work on a hook and other projects. After that,I will return to regular teaching and research duties.
I am grateful for the opportunity given to me to serve, especiallyduring a period of dramatic growth in the program and its resources.Our course offerings, degree options, student enrollments, facultynumbers, fellowship support, outreach impact, and outside fundingare today at an all-time high. But an academic program, even anestablished one like ours, is a work in progress. Much will certainly be
I done in the coming years to strengthen it and take it to new heights.And the opportunities are there. The events of September 11 and theiraftermath have excited unusual public interest in our region and fieldof study. They have also exposed common misunderstandings of theMiddle East and its complexities, underscoring the importance ofcultivating informed knowledge. Such knowledge can come in theend only from solid, broad, in-depth education, one that resists thedaily temptations to become preoccupied with the dramas of the hour.In these interesting times, it is our academic and intellectual challengeto maintain a steady focus on the ingredients of serious training andthinking, and to make them available to our students and the widercommunity.
Many colleagues and friends helped make my tenure pleasant andrewarding. I want to thank them all for their support and the invaluable contributions they made to the program. The dedicated staffmembers of the Center and the Department are one of our chief assets;I thank them for bearing patiently with me and for doing the program'sdaily work with such loyalty and good cheer. The university administration has supported many of our needs over the years; lowespecial thanks to Dean Richard Lariviere, Provost Sheldon EklandOlson, and the staff in the Dean's office for their help on countlessoccasions. Through all the administrative business that occupied medaily, our students were a constant source of inspiration and a usefulreminder of why we are here.
My good colleague Ian Manners is taking over the task of heading theCenter and the Department. The experience, commitment, and goodjudgment he brings will serve us well. I am pleased that the programwill be in his capable hands, and I wish him all the best.
Thank you.
Abraham Marcus
Program Reorganized forGreater Cohesion
D uring the past academic year theMiddle Eastern Studies program
underwent a reorganization designedto create a more cohesive and streamlined structure. For many years theprogram was made up institutionallyof two complementary units: the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and theDepartment of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures (MELC). TheDepartment's faculty were core members of the program and took part in itsactivities alongside dozens of core andaffiliated faculty in departments andcolleges across the university. In aninitiative that began last year, we carried out a plan approved by the Deanof Liberal Arts to create greater institutional integration of the Center andthe Department. While the two unitsfulfill different functions requiring thatthey remain institutionally distinct, therestructuring has opened the way formerging many of their administrativeand academic functions and achieving greater programmatic cohesion.
As part of the reorganiza tion theCenter Director, Abraham Marcus, became also Chair of MELe. The facultyof MELC was expanded to incorporate the core faculty of the Center on azero-time basis, and MELC changedits name to the Department of MiddleEastern Studies (DMES) to reflect thebroadened multi-disciplinary scope ofits faculty. The two units now sharethe same head and core faculty, whichprovides for greater cohesion bothadministratively and academically.Course offerings, web sites, brochures,committee work, and other aspects ofthe program have been streamlined,and the staff members of the two 1I nitswork in close cooperation. In th is moreintegrated setting the Center and Department continue to offer their respective undergraduate and gr<ld uateprograms, and facul ty ad visers in bothunits are available to assist studentswith their academic plans.
Publications
Ibrihal Salen:l
rr'll1slnred from th~ Ar"bithI' Mnnl)TI 11o",h
The Center has issued a new fictiontranslation from Arabic, Children
of the Waters by Ibtihal Salem, translated by Marilyn Booth. Salem livesand works in Cairo, where she haspublished for the last thirty yearsworks lauded for their social messages. Booth, one of the best translators of Arabic fiction working today,deals in her introduction to this collection with its unusual experimentalform by examining Salem's craft aswell as the contextual history surrounding the pieces. Salem's collection consists of stories, vignettes, andpoetry. The pieces both record andevoke a literary ferment occurring inEgypt today. Children of the Waters isthe thirty-second book in the ModernMiddle East Literatures in Translation Series, published by the Centerand the University of Texas Press.
Planning the Family in Egypt: NewBodies, New Selves by Kamran AsdarAli came out in the Center's ModernMiddle East Series last year. The bookdeals with development initiatives ingeneral and family planning in particular, in order to shed light on socialplanning in countries where Western
institutions guide local policies. Theauthorbuilds a complex picture, basedon ethnographic research, of a government having to respond to its citizenry, international developmentagencies, Western feminist groups,and conservative Islamists. KamranAli is Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of Texas.
The Center will bring out nextSeptember a collection of stories byIranian author Goli Taraghi. The English translation by Faridoun Farrokhis entitled A Mansion in the Sky andOther Short Stories. Taraghi poignantlydescribes her childhood in pre-Revolution Tehran and portrays the experience of later exile in France. Farrokhprovides the collection with contextand critical insight in his introduction.
In addition to the two series mentioned above, the Center publishesthe Middle East Monograph Series.All books are distributed through theUniversity of Texas Press atwww.utexas.edu/utpress.
North African Studies atUT
A lthough few people realize it, UThas more scholars specializing in
the study of contemporary North Africa than any other institution in theUnited States: Mounira Maya Charrad(Sociology), DianaDavies (Geography),Clement Henry (Government),Deborah Kapchan (Anthropology),Helene Tissieres (French and Italian),and Keith Walters (Linguistics). Asnoted elsewhere in this issue in thearticle on conferences organized at UTthis past spring, these scholars joinedtogether for the first time to presenttheir work at a two-day conference inApril. (Professor Kapchan, who was onleave for the semester and not in residence, was unable to participate.) Theywerejoinedby ProfessorMichelCamau,a North Africanist currently at Aix-enProvence, and Professor JamesHousefield, who teaches at SouthwestTexas University.
Fostering greater cooperationamong these faculty has been the UTFrance Center for InterdisciplinaryStudies (www.utexas.edu/cola/france-uti), one of eighteen such centers at American universities. Sponsored by the Cultural Services of theFrench Embassy in Washington, theConsulate General of France in Houston, and the University of Texas, theCenter is devoted to encouragingscholars to collaborate across disciplinaryand geographic boundaries in their research. In the humanities and socialsciences, such efforts often include research on a subject of interest to bothFrench and American scholars. TheFrench presence in Algeria, Morocco,and Tunisia during the nineteenth andtwentieth centuries and its continuinginfluence there is a common threadrunning through the work of all the UTprofessors whose research focuses onone of more of the North African COlffi
tries-the Maghreb as it is known inFrench-language research and theMaghrib as it is increasingly called inEnglish-language work on the area.
Samer M. Ali (Arabic Studies,Comparative Literature) was ar
tistic director for two Austin-area productions of stories from the ArabianNights intended to promote an understanding of the Arabic heritage.The first, held on October 25 at theHideout Theatre, presented"Ali Babaand the Forty Thieves" to a sold-outaudience of 85. The performanceraised funds for the Capital Area FoodBank of Texas. The second production, during Explore UT (March 1),was a double performance ofselectedstories. Ali is conducting archival research in Morocco this summer withthe support of an American Institutefor Maghrib Studies grant.
Beverly Benham, who is in her second year as Senior Office Assistant inthe Department of Middle EasternStudies, received the College of Liberal Arts Award for Outstanding Service by a Staff Member this pastspring. The recipient of this annualaward receives a certificate and a stipend.
Catherine Boone (Government) received a Fulbright Scholar grant toteach and carry out research at BeijingForeign Studies University in China.
Mounira Maya Charrad (Sociology)has received a number of awards forher book, States and Women's Rights:The Making ofPostcolonial Tunisia, Algeria, and Morocco. As well as winningthe Hamilton Award at The University of Texas, she received the Distinguished Contribution to ScholarshipAward for the Outstanding Book inPolitical Sociology, American Sociological Association, 2002; the Award(co-winner) for the Best Book in theField of History from the Phi AlphaTheta International Honor Society inHistory, 2002; and Honorable Mention for the Best Book in SociologyKomarovsky Award, Eastern Sociological Society, 2003. Her other recentpublications include "From State Action to Women's Agency: Gender De-
Faculty and Staff News
bates in Tunisia," in Women's Movements and Gender Debates in the MiddleEast and North Africa, H. Hoodfar, ed.,forthcoming; and "Continuity orChange: Family Law and Family Structurein Tunisia," with Allyson Goeken,in African Families at the Turn of theTwenty-First Century, ed. by Y.Oheneba-Sakyi and B. K. Takyi, forthcoming. Charrad presented an invitedpaper, "Nation-building, Islam, andWomen's Rights: Perspectives fromthe Maghrib," at the annual meetingof the American Political Science Association; and a paper, "Nation-States,Kin-Based Formations, and Gender inthe Maghrib," at MESA.
Diana Davis (Geography) delivered alecture, "Brutes, Beasts and Empire: AComparative Study of the British andFrench Experience," at the British Studies Seminar in January. It examinedthe role and influence of veterinariansin Frenchcolonial North Africa (mainlyAlgeria) and in British India. She alsogave a paper at UCLA on "DesertWastes of the Maghreb: Desertification Narratives and Colonialism inNorth Africa." Davis received a National Endowment for the Humanities(NEH) summer research fellowship tosupport her book project "DesertWastes of the Maghreb: (Re)WritingFrench Colonial Environmental History of North Africa." She will conduct research this summer in theFrench colonial archives of North Africa in France.
Ytlduay Erdener (Turkish Studies)published Turkish through Songs, issued by Indiana University TurkishStudies. The book is the first work touse music as an aid in teaching theTurkish language. Erdener attendedthe 2003 Western Consortium MultiLanguage Conference: Theory andPractice, held at the University of Arizona on April 4-6.
Elizabeth Fernea (English) wasawarded the Pro Bene Meritis Awardby the College of Liberal Arts on April
4. The award honors individuals whoare committed to the liberal arts, whohave made outstanding contributionsin professional or philanthropic pursuits, or who have participated in service related to the College. Ferneataught in the Department of Englishand the Center for Middle EasternStudies for over thirty years and isnow an emeritus scholar. She continues to serve the university in manycapacities, to make films and writebooks about the Middle East, and toact as an advisor to the Center's Publications Program. A scholarship forstudents of Comparative Literatureand Middle Eastern Studies has beenestablished through the College ofLiberal Arts in Fernea's name.
Kate Gillespie (Marketing Administration) chaired a panel at MESA onPerspectives on Today's Middle EastTextile Industry. With Liesle Riddle(George Washington University), sheco-presented apaper on "Firmographicand Demographic Changes in the Turkish Textile Industry in the 20 th Cen-tury."
Clement Henry (Government) gavea talk at St. Antony's, Oxford, on "TheClash of Globalizations in the MiddleEast" on December 6, and delivered apaper, "Algeria's Agonies: Oil RentEffects in a Bunker State," to a conference on Algeria at the University ofMichigan in September. He attendeda conference on interna tional terrorism in Algiers inOctoberand returnedfor a longer period in January-February. With UT support and an American Institute for Maghrib Studiesgrant, he spent five weeks lecturingand interviewing in Algiers,Constantine, and Oran.
Michael Hillmann (Persian Studies)published Persian Vocabulary Acquisition: An Intermediate Reader and Guideto Word Forms and the Arabic Elementsin Persian, Second Edition (2003); Reading Iran Reading Iranians, Second Edition (2003); Tajiki Textbook and Reader,
Second Edition (2003); and Basic TajikiWord List (2003). Hillmann conductedtwo week-long seminars for government Persian experts and advanceduniversity students of Persian at theUniversity of Baltimore in May andAugust.
Roger Louis (History) received fromthe University Co-operative Societythe Career Research ExcellenceAward, which carries a $10,000 stipend. The award was given for Lewis'srecord of publications, continuing research, efforts to encourage the research of younger scholars throughBritish Studies on campus, and direction of the National Endowment forthe Humanities summer seminars.
Ian Manners (Geography) was hostedby the American Geographic SocietyLibrary (AGSL) in October, as its second Helen and John S. Best ResearchFellow for 2002. Manners visited theAGSL to study historic maps and atlases for his current research projecttracing how the West's mapping ofthe Middle East in the nineteenth century influenced the modern-day political map.
Abraham Marcus (History) has accepted an invitation to serve as one ofthe editors of the Encyclopaedia of Islam, 3'd edition, which is now beinglaunched. The new 16-volume edition will differ markedly from its predecessors by incorporating new methodological approaches and makingthe reference work broader in scopeand more readily accessible to a wideraudience.
Annes McCann-Baker (CMES) presented a paper entitled "Responsibilities of U.S. Translators and Publishers" at the annual meeting of theAmerican Literary Translators Association in Chicago. Her article, "TheInternational Reception of Sitt MarieRose," was published in Etel Adnan:Critical Essays on the Arab-AmericanWriter and Artist.
Faculty and Staff News
Esther Raizen (Hebrew Studies) gaveinvited presentations on technologyin the Hebrew classroom at three conferences held in the spring and summer: the Western Consortium language workshop at the University ofArizona, a Middle Eastern languagesworkshop at Emory University, and aHebrew teachers' workshop atBrandeis University. She also presented a paper on her work on a Hebrew speech synthesizer at the National Association of Professors ofHebrew conference held in the summer. Raizen was promoted to the rankof Associate Professor with tenurebeginning September 1,2003.
Geoffrey Schad (History) published"Toward an Analysis of Class Formation in Syria: Aleppo's Textile Industrialists and Workers during the Mandate" in France, Syrie et Liban: Lesambiguites et les dynamiques de la relation mandataire. He has accepted a tenure-track position at ShippensburgUniversity of Pennsylvania.
Denise Schmandt-Besserat (Art History) has a fellowship for 2003-04 atthe Stanford Humanities Center,Stanford University, to study the interface between writing and art.
Abazar Sepehri (Library) traveled toTurkey and Azerbaijan last summerto acquire new titles for the MiddleEast Collection. The University's collection of Azerbaijani materials is considered to be the strongest in theUnited States.
Yaron Shemer (Hebrew Studies) organized "A Showcase of Israeli Cinema: the Films ofJudd Ne'eman" (described later in this issue). He waspromoted to the rank of Senior Lecturer beginning September I, 2003.
Denise Spellberg (History) presenteda paper at the conference on Islam andMuslims in America: History, Development, and Future Prospects, sponsored by the University of California
at Berkeley. Her paper was entitled"Islam in Early American Thought: AForgotten History." During the year,she has had a Faculty Research Assignment Award to work on her bookproject, "Islam and the Founding ofAmerican Religious and Political Ideals, 1598-1848," and a Research Grantfrom the Office of the Vice-Presidentfor the study of 'A'isha bint Abi Bakrand the Prophet's wives in contemporary controversies. Spellberg receivedthe Dad's Centennial Teaching Fellowship for Excellence inUndergraduate Instruction and the Department ofHistory Teaching award for 2002-03.
Keith Walters (Linguistics) has givenseveral papers this year based on hisresearch, which considers questionsof language and identity in North Africa. Last fall, he presented "How andWhy Media Language Has InfluencedLinguistic Variation in the ArabWorld" at the thirtieth annual NewWays of Analyzing Variation conference at Stanford. In March, his paper"Literacy and the Lives of TunisianWomen" was part of a roundtable on"New Directions in Research on Gender and Literacy" at the annual meeting of the Conference on College Composition and Communication in NewYork City. In early April, he was amongthe speakers invited to a Berkeley conference on Language, Identity, andChange in the Modern Arab World,where he presented "Gender, Nationalism, and Language Ideology: TheTunisian Case."
Karin Wilkins and John Downing(Radio-Television-Film) published"Mediating Terrorism: Text and Protest in Interpreta tions of The Siege" inCritical Studies in Media Communication (2002).
Conferences
Neil Smith, City University of New York
Ozyurek (University of Pittsburgh),Selim Eyuboglu (Bilgi University,Istanbul), AY$e Oncu (SabanCl University,Istanbul), Fatih Ozgtlven (BilgiUniversity, Istanbul), Asuman Suner(Bilkent University, Ankara), GonulErtem (independent scholar), NilgunUygun (Duke University), and FundaOdemi§ (Pan-Film Production,Istanbul). The organizers of the conference were graduate students FaikGur, Ozlem Okur, and Halide Velioglufrom the Anatolian Cultural StudiesAssociation at UT.
French Legacies and National Trajectories in the Maghreb: Politics andCulture
On April24 and 25, the Center andthe France-UT Institute for In
terdisciplinary Studies presented aconference on the legacies of Frenchpresence in Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia. The invited speaker was MichelCamau from the Institut de Rechercheset d'Etudes sur Ie Monde Arabe etMusulman (IREMAM) in Aix-enProvence,France, whose presentationwas entitled "Le projet maghrebin:Occident arabe, Afrique du Nordfran<;:aise et region Mediterraneene."Five UT professors presented papersbased on their research in North Africa: Mounira Maya Charrad (Sociology), Diana Davis (Geography), Clement Henry (Government), HeleneTissieres (French and Italian), andKeith Walters (Linguistics). JamesHousefield (Art and Design, Southwest Texas State) also presented at theconference. (See related article onNorth African Studies at UT.)
Visions of Modernity: Cinema andVisual Culture in Turkey
sity of Kentucky). The conference wascosponsored by the College of LiberalArts, the Graduate School, and theDepartment of Geography.
The Center hosted a multi-disciplinary panel series and festival
on Turkish film on March 28-29.Twelve films were shown in conjunction with the presentations. CenterDirector Abraham Marcus (History)welcomed the international group ofparticipants. The speakers includedNezih Erdogan (Bah<;:e~ehir University, Istanbul), Duygu Koksal(Bogazi<;:i University, Istanbul), Esra
Middle East Geographies in the Twenty-First Century
On April 4-5, geographers fromaround the United States,
Canada, and England came to theUniversity for a conference organizedby Ian Manners (Geography). Themeeting was motivated by the relative neglect of the Middle East bygeographers, and particularly American geographers, in recent years. Itsought to demonstrate the ways inwhich geographers are integratingarea studies and social science researchin new ways in the light of September11,2001, and to respond to the emerging geopolitical cartographies of thetwenty-first century.
The keynote speaker was NeilSmith (City University of New York),who lectured on "Geography of theAmerican Empire: The Middle East asEndgame of Globalization." Otherspeakers were Mark Blumler (StateUniversity ofNew York, Binghamton),Karl Butzer (University of Texas),Diana Davis (UniversityofTexas),KayEbel (Ohio Wesleyan University),Derek Gregory (University of BritishColumbia), Joseph Hobbs (Universityof Missouri), Paul Kaldjian (University of Wisconsin at Eau Claire), GwynRowley (University of Sheffield inEngland), and Anna Secor (Univer-
Concerts
Bengi Baglama Trio
Simon Shaheen
musicians, all accomplished performers on the Turkish long-necked folk lute(baglama), presented their rich repertory with the musical creativity that haswon them widespread reCOgnition inTurkey and beyond. Fail< Gill helpedwith the event.
"An Evening of Arab Music" withSimon Shaheen and h.is Near EasternMusic Ensemble, May 10. The programfea tured a repertory of traditional songsand pieces as well as modern compositions. Singer Youssef Kassab was accompanied by Simon Shalleen (ud andviolin), Michel Merhej (percussion),Najib Shaheen (ud), and Bassam Saba(flute).
"Folk Music of Turkey" with the BengiBaglamaTriofromAnkara(MuratOkanOzti.irk, Ozay Onal, and MehmetGi.i<;er), April 26. The program featuredtraditional songs and instrumentalpieces representative of different regional styles of Anatolia. The three
"Asmar" with Yair Dalal and his ensemble from Israel, April 20. The concert, organized by Esther Raizen (HebrewStudies), presentedDalal's uniquerepertory of Judeo-Arab songs and instrumental pieces, both traditional andmodem, from Iraq and other parts ofthe Middle East.
Yair Dalal
A n Algerian Gala on November 16featured "Sounds from the Sa
hara" performed by Sidi Barhoom andMohamed Firoozi; "Andalusian Music" performed by an ensemble led byYahia Ghoul; "Contemporary Rai Music" performed by Zakaria KouloughH;"Traditional Alawi Dance" led byCheikh Mohammed Liani; and "BerberDance" led by Barhoom Bouzidi. Theevent was organized by the Center incollaborationwith the Algerian-American Association of Texas.
Yahia Ghoul
"From AnatoHa to Andalusia: Sufi andTraditional Music ofTurkey and NorthAfrica," February 8. Tills special twopart program, organized by Abral"tamMarcus, featured Sufi devotional songsand traditional pieces from the repertories of Turkey in the eastern part of theMediterranean and Morocco and Algeria in the west. Theperformers includedLatif Bolat and Ensemble (Erin Foster,Chris Henke, and Abraham Marcus)and Yahia Ghoul and Ensemble (ErinFoster and Zakaria Kouloughli). Theconcert concluded with a song and improvisations performed together by thetwo ensembles.
A Showcase of Israeli Cinema: The Films ofJudd N e'eman TeacherVVorkshop
Arabic Circle
H emispheres, which is composedof au treach programs in the four
Title VI area studies centers on campus, presented a workshop for K-12teachers of social studies and worldliterature entitled "Folklore and Mythology Around the World" on November 2.
Receptions
A braham and Rina Marcus hosteda dessert reception on October 6
in their home for the students, staff,and faculty of the Center of MiddleEastern Studies and the Departmentof Middle Eastern Studies.
In early January, the Centerhosteda farewell reception for Dr. FatihaHamitouche, visiting FulbrightScholar, who was returning to hernative Algeria.
On May 9, the Center hosted areception to honor students graduating from its M.A. program.
cinema and television. He presented alecture entitled "The Combat Woundin Israeli Cinema" on AprilS. Two ofhis films-Paratroopers and Streets ofYesterday-were shown in conj unctionwith the lecture, and he was availableto answer questions after each showing. Professor Yaron Shemer (HebrewStudies) organized the event.
discussing them afterward. Meetingsof the Circle are co-sponsored by theCenter for Middle Eastern Studies andthe Department of Middle EasternStudies. Speakers this past year haveincluded Abri HOUl"ani in Decemberand Abdul Majid Shihadeh in Januaryand again in February.
A n innovation in the teaching ofArabic at UT this year has been
the institution of the Arabic Circle,which meets irregularly and offersstudents a chance to use their language skills by listening to lectures inArabic by local members of the Araband Arab American community and
Judd Ne'eman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Film
and Television at Tel-Aviv University, and a producer and director offeature films and documentaries for
Taieb Belghazi
The Center organized or helped toco-sponsor a number of lectures
and presentations.
"The Mediterranean as 'Barzakh': Perspectives from Morocco," by TaiebBelghazi, Professor of Cultural Studies at Mohammed V University, Rabat,Morocco, September 30.
"Sufi Imagery in Song-Texts of Popular Music," by Shemeem Abbas, lecturer in the Department of English,October 17.
"TransActions: Tourism in the Southern Mediterranean," by KamranAsdar Ali, Assistant Professor in theDepartment of Anthropology. October 21.
"King-Sized Panegyric Odes Delivered at Tiny Hamdanid Courts," bySamer Ali, Assistant Professor in theDepartment of Middle Eastern Studies, October 30.
"Manufacturing Independence: TheSyrian Bourgeoisie during the French
Lectures
Mandate," by Geoffrey Schad, a lecturer in the Department of History,November 4.
"Milk and Meat: The Interaction ofEconomics and Gender amongBaggara Pastoralists of the Sudan, "by Barbara Michael, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at Stephen F.Austin State University inNacogdoches, November 8.
"Geographies: Transnational, Linguistic and Urban," by Afra al-Mussawir,M.A. student in Anthropology, basedon a year of field research amongyoung Arab women living and studying in Amman, Jordan, November 14.
"The Questions of Democracy in Turkey: Islam and Modernity," by HaldunGiilalp, Professor of Sociology atBogazi<;i University in Istanbul, November 20.
"Understanding the Public Face ofPiety: Building Portals in SeljukAnatolia," by Professor E. Sara Wolperof the University of New Hampshire,March 4.
"Postmodern Humanism from theSources of Judaism," by Paul MendesFlohr, Professor of Modern JewishThought at the University of Chicago,March 6.
"Wonder and Its Images in MedievalIslamic Culture," by Persis Berlekamp,PhD candidate in the history of artand architecture at Harvard University, March 19.
"Kafka's Canon: Hebrew, Yiddish, andthe Comedy of Language in The Trialand Amerika," by David Suchoff, ProfessorofLiteratureatColbyCollege,March27.
"Forgiveness and Time's Arrow: TheCase of Monsieur Adolf Paul-
Damascus" (April 3) and "Commensurating the Incommensurate:American Slavery and the Holocaust"(April 4), by Laurence MordekaiThomas, Professor of Philosophy andPoliticalScienceatSyracuse University.
"The Iraq War in Historical Perspective," by Avi Shlaim, Professor of International Relations at Oxford University, April 10.
"The Many Faces of Yiddish Poetry: AReading with Commentary," byAbraham Brumberg, author and Editor-in-Chief of the journal Problems ofCommunism, April 10.
"Democratizing the Arab World: Fantasies, Realities, and Possibilities," byMichael Hudson, Professor of Political Science at Georgetown University,April 18.
"Hegemony: Speaking Truth toPower," by Fadwa EI Guindi, AdjunctProfessor of Anthropology at the University of Southern California, April24.
"The Kurds: APeoplewithouta COlmtry," by Ardeshir BagherpoUI, Ph.D.,partner and chair of Qual MedicalManagement, April 25. Dr.BagherpoUI hails from a Kurdish region in Iran.
Dr. Fatiha Hamitouche
Dr. Byung-Ock Chang
During fall 2003 the Center will hostDr. Roberto Marin-Guzman, Professor of Middle Eastern History at theUniversity of Costa Rica. He is a visiting Fulbright Scholar currentlyworking on a book about the dynamics of interfaith dialogue. He has published a number of books and articleson medieval and modern MiddleEastern history.
Dr. Fatiha Hamitouche, whospent the 2002 calendar at the Centeras a visiting Fulbright Scholar, returned in January 2003 to the University of Algiers, where she teachesEnglish and linguistics.
Visiting Scholars
During the 2003 calendar year theCenter is hosting Dr. Byung-Ock
Chang from Hankuk University inSeoul, South Korea. Dr. Chang is aspecialist in Iranian studies and iscurrently an Associate Professor ofForeign Studies and Chairman of thePersian Department at Hankuk UniverSity, where he received his Ph.D.in International Relations. He is working on a book about Islamic politicsand the rule of the ulama. His publications inelude works on Iranian politics and foreign policy, the role of theUnited States in the Persian Gulf, andthe Persian language.
Student and Alumni News
Ann Grabhorn Friday Scholarship-Aja Bonsu, M.A. Middle Eastern Studies
Turkish Studies Scholarship-J. Patrick Reidy, Middle Eastern Studies/LawIranian Studies Scholarship-Mehmet DarakclOglu, Middle Eastern Shldies/
Public Affairs
"Public Memory as a Power Currency:The Intention of Public Address" atthe University of Chicago's annualconference on Middle Eastern historyand theory this summer.
Alissa Perkins, an M.A. studentin Anthropology, has received aFulbright award for the coming year.She will be researching gender andpoetics in Morocco.
American University of CairoUniversity of Utah, Summer InstituteBogazi<;i University, IstanbulUniversity of Utah, Summer InstituteArabic Language Institute, MoroccoUniversity of Utah, Summer InstituteUniversity of Utah, Summer InstituteUniversity of Utah, Summer InstituteUniversity of Utah, Summer InstituteUniversity of Utah, Summer InstituteUniversity of Utah, Summer InstituteBogazi<;i University, IstanbulUniversity of Utah, Summer InstituteAmerican University of CairoArabic Language Institute, Morocco
SummerFLASArabicAl"abicTurkishArabicArabicArabicArabicPersianArabicHebrewPersianTurkishArabicArabicArabic
Center Awards and ScholarshipsAcademic Year FLASArabic M.A. Middle Eastern StudiesArabic M.A. Middle Eastern StudiesArabic M.A. GeographyArabic Ph.D. AnthropologyArabic PhD. AnthropologyPersian M.A. Middle Eastern StudiesTurkish M.A. MES/CommunicationArabic M.A. Middle Eastern StudiesPersian M.A. Public Affairs/MESArabic M.A. Middle Eastern StudiesArabic Ph.D. AnthropologyArabic M.A. Hebrew /Medieval StudiesArabic Ph.D. AnthropologyArabic M.A. Middle Eastern Studies
Alden, HeatherEtheridge, JamieFitzgerald, HopeGilman, Daniel J.Gould, Miriam R.Hammad, HananHungerford, MarkJoudi, SteveKamrani, MarjonSzanto, EdithWagner, laurenWalker, R. DavidWestmoreland, MarkWiddifield, Jonathan
Israel on "ethnic music" under theauspices of a Fulbright Fellowship.
Daniel Micallef, a student in theCenter's M.A. program, presented apaper, "The Portrayal of the IslamicCommunity in the West," attheAMSSconference in Washington, DC lastfall. Tarlan Useynov, a doctoral student in the Department of MiddleEastern Studies, and Daniel presen ted
Alden, HeatherBonsu, AjaDaraiseh, NidalEtheridge, JamieGould, Miriam R.Holland, LeslieJoudi, SteveKamrani, MarjonMcCormack, JenniferMcCullough, MarkMoretz, JeffreyReidy, J. PatrickSaenz, IsraelTurpin, AndreaWagner, Lauren
Bill Edmonds, Ariane Marion,Elisabeth Sheiffer, and Suzanne
Yountchi graduated from the Center'sM.A. program in Middle Eastern Studies this past spring, and Gina Anderson will graduate at the end of the fall.Sheiffer and Yountchi have acceptedjobs with the U.s. government, andAnderson will be returning to the U.5.Army, where she is part of the ForeignArea Officers program. Ryan Osbornegraduated from the dual degree program in Middle Eastern Studies andLaw.
Hiilya YIldiz won the first Elizabeth Fernea Scholarship in the LiberalArts. Yildiz, a graduate student inComparative Literature, is focusingon nineteenth-century Ottoman novels.
Sahar Aziz (dual program inMiddle Eastern Studies and Law) wasthe recipient of a Continuing University Fellowship for this past academicyear. For the coming year, HananHammad has received a ContinuingUniversity Fellowship and EdithSzanto has been awarded a BrutonFellowship. Both are students in theM.A. program in Middle Eastern Studies. Pre-emptive fellowships wereawarded to incoming M.A. studentEmily Hunter and Ohad Meyer.
Kamran Bokhari, a student in theCenter's M.A. program, has published"A Divided Epistemic Communityand Political Islam" in The AmericanJournal of Islamic Social Sciences; "TheSocial and Ideological Roots ofJihadism: A Constructivist Understanding of Non-State Actors" inMiddle East Affairs Journal; a book review; and several op-ed pieces. Hepresented papers at six conferencesthis past year. In the fall, he will bebeginning a doctoral program atCatholic University in Washington,DC.
Galeet Dardashti, a doctoral candidate in Anthropology, is currentlyconducting dissertation research in
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