Pensée 2: Assessment of the Field

2010 ◽  
Vol 42 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-7
Author(s):  
Fatma Müge Göçek
Keyword(s):  
Popular Culture ◽  
Middle East ◽  
The United States ◽  
Vantage Point ◽  
The Other ◽  
Dark Side ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Islamic Studies ◽  
Middle East Studies ◽  
Made In

What has changed in the field of Middle East studies over the last five years, especially when perceived from the vantage point of the United States? Certainly a lot, due mostly to the reverberations of the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the ensuing haphazard U.S. adventure first into Afghanistan and then Iraq in apparent search for the culprits, accompanied by a strong underlying interest in gaining access to oil and other natural resources, as well as sustaining world supremacy. Perhaps as a consequence of these developments, MESA membership escalated, especially among younger cohorts of Americans now interested in the culture and languages of the region, and studies of Middle East and Central Asia as well as Islamic studies once again increased in public significance. Yet the dark side of these developments was of course present once again in the—once again haphazard—associations often made in popular culture among Islam, the region, and terrorism: orientalism tended to rear its ugly head, as all of these were analyzed as the “other,” entirely distinct and separate from “us.”

scholarly journals Popular Culture, Relational History, and the Question of Power in Palestine and Israel

2004 ◽  
Vol 33 (4) ◽  
pp. 5-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
REBECCA L. STEIN ◽  
TED SWEDENBURG
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
Middle East ◽  
The Other ◽  
Nation State ◽  
Close Attention ◽  
The One ◽  
Scholarly Projects ◽  
Middle East Studies ◽  
Relational History

The marginalization of popular culture in radical scholarship on Palestine and Israel is symptomatic of the conceptual limits that still define much Middle East studies scholarship: namely, the prevailing logic of the nation-state on the one hand and the analytic tools of classical Marxist historiography and political economy on the other. This essay offers a polemic about the form that alternative scholarly projects might take through recourse to questions of popular culture. The authors argue that close attention to the ways that popular culture ““articulates”” with broader political, social, and economic processes can expand scholarly understandings of the terrain of power in Palestine and Israel, and hence the possible arenas and modalities of struggle.

Call Your "Mutha"

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane Caputi
Keyword(s):  
African American ◽  
Popular Culture ◽  
The Other ◽  
Political Class ◽  
Mother Nature ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Mother Earth ◽  
Made In

The proposed new geological era, The Anthropocene (a.k.a. Age of Humans, Age of Man), marking human domination of the planet long called Mother Earth, is truly The Age of the Motherfucker. The ecocide of the Anthropocene is the responsibility of Man, the Western- and masculine-identified corporate, military, intellectual, and political class that masks itself as the exemplar of the civilized and the human. The word motherfucker was invented by the enslaved children of White slave masters to name their mothers’ rapist/owners. Man’s strategic motherfucking, from the personal to the planetary, is invasion, exploitation, spirit-breaking, extraction and toxic wasting of individuals, communities, and lands, for reasons of pleasure, plunder, and profit. Ecocide is attempted deicide of Mother Nature-Earth, reflecting Man’s goal to become the god he first made in his own image. The motivational word Motherfucker has a flip side, further revealing the Anthropocene as it signifies an outstanding, formidable, and inexorable force. Mother Nature-Earth is that “Mutha’ ”—one defying translation into heteropatriarchal classifications of gender, one capable of overwhelming Man, and not the other way around. Drawing upon Indigenous and African American scholarship; ecofeminism; ecowomanism; green activism; femme, queer, and gender non-binary philosophies; literature and arts; Afrofuturism; and popular culture, Call Your “Mutha’ ” contends that the Anthropocene is not evidence of Man’s supremacy over nature, but that Mother Nature-Earth, faced with disrespect, is going away. It is imperative now to call the “Mutha’ ” by decolonizing land, bodies, and minds, ending rapism, feeding the green, renewing sustaining patterns, and affirming devotion to Mother Nature-Earth.

scholarly journals Iran Nuclear Deal: Its Political and Economic Implications for the Region as a Whole and for Pakistan

2019 ◽  
pp. 259-267
Author(s):  
Muhammad Shah ◽  
Rab Nawaz ◽  
Muhammad Mahsud
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Persian Gulf ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
Regional Power ◽  
Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia ◽  
Economic Implications ◽  
Economic Opportunities ◽  
Other Hand

Introduction. No doubt that the Iran-USA nuclear deal of 2015 got fame in the international politics. Some countries were in favor of such a deal and some were against this development. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has more concerns over the Iran nuclear deal, it feels that after the deal Iran will become a regional power and will increase its military and political power which will disturb the regional security and stability. As the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) itself provokes the creation of such conditions, thus their influence in the Middle East will be affected. Analysis. The article analyzes the concerns of Israel, implications for Turkey, the question why deal is beneficial for Pakistan, economic concerns of Saudi Arabia, implications for Persian Gulf and Middle East, economic implications for Turkey, economic opportunities for Pakistan. After the nuclear deal, Iran becomes a regional power and increases its political and economic influence in the region, especially in the Persian Gulf. The world says that Iran cannot get nuclear weapons after the deal because it has no such a capacity. However, according to some findings from the documents of the deal Iran is not blocked to become a nuclear power and the deal legitimizes the nuclear program. So, on the other hand after the Iran nuclear deal the regional political and economic environment is totally favorable to Iran. On the other hand, scholars believe that the United States of America (USA) operate in terms of diplomatic competition. From the economic standpoint, the deal will be favorable for Iran. Thus, some countries have objections related to the deal, while others express a positive attitude towards it. Results. Pakistan will be able to generate economic opportunities from Iran, especially with the help of Iran-Pakistan-India Gas pipeline project (IPI project). Consequences of the deal will be beneficial for the regional economic development of the Middle East and South Asia respectively.

US Dealings with Iran, 1979–1980

2021 ◽  
pp. 143-166
Author(s):  
Payam Ghalehdar
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Regime Change ◽  
The United States ◽  
September 11 ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
British Military ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter serves as an introduction to the second part of the book’s empirical analysis by sketching the evolution of US attitudes toward the Middle East. It shows how the United States relied on the British military to safeguard US interests in the region until the end of the 1960s and then on regional proxies after the British military withdrawal from the region. Even after the end of the Cold War, successive US administrations eschewed hegemonic expectations toward the region until the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The chapter concludes by briefly illustrating how the lack of both hegemonic pretensions and perceptions of anti-American hatred in Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait foreclosed US regime change in the 1991 Gulf War.

Promoting Undergraduate Research at MESA

2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 160-161
Author(s):  
Jeff VanDenBerg
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Middle East ◽  
United Arab Emirates ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Undergraduate Research ◽  
The United States ◽  
Application Process ◽  
Research Workshop ◽  
Middle East Studies ◽  
Professional Context

In November 2017, the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) sponsored the fourth annual Undergraduate Research Workshop in Washington, D.C. Organized by MESA's Committee for Undergraduate Middle East Studies, the workshop provides an opportunity for talented undergraduate students to present their scholarship in a professional context. Participants are selected through a competitive application process, and, since the program's inception have come from universities in Sweden, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Singapore, Canada, Mexico, France, and across the United States.

scholarly journals ANDRÉ RAYMOND (1925–2011)

2011 ◽  
Vol 43 (4) ◽  
pp. 779-781
Author(s):  
Jane Hathaway ◽  
Randi Deguilhem
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
North America ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Small Town ◽  
Far East ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Far East ◽  
The University ◽  
Middle East Studies

André Raymond, who passed away at his home in Aix-en-Provence on 18 February 2011, leaves an international legacy in Middle East studies. Born in 1925 in Montargis, a small town situated about seventy-five miles south of Paris, Monsieur Raymond, as he was known to his numerous students and to younger scholars in Europe, Russia, the Middle East, the Far East, and North America, taught for many years at the University of Provence and, after his retirement, in the United States.

Middle East Studies for the New Milleniu

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
Structural Changes ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
The United States ◽  
American University ◽  
The Social ◽  
Big Picture ◽  
The University ◽  
Middle East Studies ◽  
The Relationship

Few world regions today are of more pressing social and political interest than the Middle East: hardly a day has passed in the last decade without events there making global news. Understanding the region has never been more important, yet the field of Middle East studies in the United States is in flux, enmeshed in ongoing controversies about the relationship between knowledge and power, the role of the federal government at universities, and ways of knowing other cultures and places. This book explores the big-picture issues affecting the field, from the geopolitics of knowledge production to structural changes in the university to broader political and public contexts. Tracing the development of the field from the early days of the American university to the Islamophobia of the present day, this book explores Middle East studies as a discipline and, more generally, its impact on the social sciences and academia. Topics include how different disciplines engage with Middle East scholars, how American universities teach Middle East studies and related fields, and the relationship between scholarship and U.S.–Arab relations, among others. This book presents a comprehensive, authoritative overview of how this crucial field of academic inquiry came to be and where it is going next.

scholarly journals EDITORIAL FOREWORD

2015 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Akram Khater ◽  
Jeffrey Culang
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
The United States ◽  
Editorial Team ◽  
The Past ◽  
Common Purpose ◽  
Editorial Work ◽  
Middle East Studies ◽  
Scholarly Inquiry ◽  
Editorial Foreword

It is with humility that we begin our tenure as editor and managing editor of IJMES. Given the breadth and depth of scholarly and editorial expertise within MESA, we feel privileged to have been chosen as the team to oversee the continuing publication of the flagship journal in Middle East studies. We are also mindful of the challenge of building upon the enormous momentum achieved by our predecessors, Professors Beth Baron and Sara Pursley, over the past five years. They and their team raised the profile of IJMES to make it one of the top area studies journals in the United States and, indeed, the world. This accomplishment is attributable to their remarkable work ethic and coordination, keen awareness of the field, vigorous editorial work, and attention to every detail of the journal's production. Daunting though their legacy may be, we are excited about the editorial team that we have assembled and comforted by the speed with which it has developed rapport and a common purpose. We also find solace in the outstanding scholars who make up the new editorial board and in the knowledge that they are as devoted as us to making sure that IJMES continues to thrive. But we are most heartened by the superb scholarship that abounds in Middle East studies. With so many outstanding young and established scholars in the field, we are certain that the pages of IJMES will continue to be filled by intellectually engaging essays that not only enrich existing areas of research, but also push the field toward new terrains of scholarly inquiry.

NELIDA FUCCARO, The Other Kurds: Yazidis in Colonial Iraq, Library of Modern Middle East Studies, vol. 14 (London: I. B. Tauris, 1999). Pp. 246. $55 cloth.

2001 ◽  
Vol 33 (3) ◽  
pp. 463-465
Author(s):  
SARAH SHIELDS
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Identity Formation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
British Mandate ◽  
Mandatory Rule ◽  
Collective Self ◽  
Middle East Studies ◽  
National Identity Formation

The Other Kurds: Yazidis in Colonial Iraq offers an ambitious effort to reinterpret communal identities in Iraq during the British Mandate. Although this work focuses explicitly on Yazidis, Fuccaro engages the ongoing debate about the process of group identity formation in non-national states. In this monograph, Fuccaro argues that changing Yazidi communal identities are constructed within a broader context of government centralization, national identity formation, and British Mandatory rule. She shows that this context is crucial in understanding the reconstruction of Yazidi collective self-definitions.

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