The State of Islamic Studies in American Universities ... · The State of Islamic Studies in American Universities - The University of Texas ... spent on good primary and secondary

The State of Islamic Studies in American Universities - The University of Texas Case Study

The University of Texas at Austin

Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies

History of the Founding of the University of Texas at Austin

In 1839, the Congress of the Republic of Texas birthed the idea of an institution of higher

education for its residents. More than forty years later, the state legislature called for the

establishment of “a university of the first class.”[1]The University of Texas at Austin, founded in

1883, has become one of the largest and most respected universities in the nation. More than

simply found a university that would address local and regional educational needs, the University

of Texas, it was hoped, would embody the Republic of Texas’s lone star spirit, and its desire to

be unconventional, bold, and new.[2]

So dear was the idea of founding a university that it sustained a forty-year debate over the

university’s exact mission. Many influential Texans, including Sam Houston, the President of

the Republic of Texas, opposed founding a university in the East coast Ivy League tradition. Not

wanting to found a university for a select few, many argued that public funds would be better

spent on good primary and secondary education for all Texas children. This lengthy debate on

the ideals of founding a Texan university produced a tension between serving practical needs and

providing a locale where Texas students would be able to deeply study even the most esoteric

topics. Two universities resulted: Texas A&M University, which would serve to educate farmers,

ranchers, and veterinary doctors in more rural areas, and The University of Texas at Austin,

created to educate Texas youth in the humanities and sciences in the state’s capital. Oran Milo

Roberts, Texas Governor, Chief Justice, and founder of the University of Texas at Austin, said

this about the university’s mission:

[The full result from education] can only be attained by promoting all of the grades of education,

from the lowest to the highest, in harmonious cooperation adapted to the diversified wants of

every class of people, whatever may be their pursuits in life. Nor will the benefits of the

University and its branches be confined to the sons of the wealthy few. By no means will that be

so. Place the facilities of a higher education before the people of this State, make it a reality,

make it complete and cheap by a splendid endowment, and youths all over this broad land…will

stand in the front ranks of the most gifted and favored in the halls of learning, and afterwards

will adorn every sphere of life, with their brilliant accomplishments and practical usefulness[3].

This idea of inspiring students to change the world for the better is still present in UT’s core

mission: “To transform lives for the benefit of society,”[4] and is evident in the current UT

motto: “What starts here changes the world.”

A number of influential people have taught at UT Austin, among them Professor Ilya Prigogine

who received the 1977 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, and the former deputy national security

adviser to President Clinton, James B. Steinberg,[5] now the Dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson

School of Public Affairs. Dr. Steven Weinberg of The University of Texas at Austin, Department

of Physics and Astronomy, and Denise Schmandt-Besserat, Professor of Art and Middle Eastern

Studies, are listed among authors of the hundred books that have shaped and influenced the last

century of science.[6]

Notable graduates include: former Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn; former U.S. Secretary of

State James A. Baker III: former U.S. Ambassador Robert S. Strauss; former Secretary of the

Treasury Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr.; U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison; former Secretary of Energy

Federico Peña; former presidential advisor Paul Begala; cartoonist Sam Hurt;[7] journalist Liz

Carpenter; former Peruvian president Fernando Belaúnde Terry; pop icons like Janis Joplin,

Jayne Mansfield and Farah Fawcett; Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Barbara Conrad;[8]

former First Lady Claudia Taylor “Lady Bird” Johnson; CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite;[9]

Michael Dell of Dell Computers; “Trial Lawyer of the Century” Joseph D. Jamail, Jr.;[10] and

the co-founder of OPEC, Sheik Abdullah Tariki, to name but a few.

The University of Texas Today

Texas is known for its grand scale, and the University of Texas at Austin is no exception. The

“splendid endowment” that UT founder O.M. Roberts mentioned as a central component in the

building of the University of Texas at Austin has been a reality for much of the university’s

history. UT is one of the largest public universities, and one of the biggest recipients of federal

endowment in the United States. Texas offers a high-quality education for a fraction of the cost

one might pay elsewhere.

The original idea of providing an affordable education to as many students as possible is a big

factor in today’s large student body. Student enrollment in fall 2005 was 49,696 students. Of that

number, 36,878 were undergraduates, 11,391 were graduate students, and 1,427 were law

students. The university currently employs some 2,734 faculty and 19,716 staff members, and

has approximately 450,000 living alumni.[11] The University of Texas at Austin comprises

fifteen colleges and schools, with over 100 undergraduate and 170 graduate degree programs.

In a welcome letter to prospective students, UT President William Powers states that “The Times

of London ranked UT second among U.S. public universities and 15th overall in its ranking of

the world's top 200 universities.”[12] UT is a diverse campus, with student organizations

numbering more than 900. UT has students from more than one hundred countries and has made

a commitment to ensure that diversity in the student population continues to grow. Currently,

nine percent of UT students are international students.

A Brief History of Instruction on Middle Eastern Studies and the Islamic World at the

University of Texas at Austin

The history of Middle Eastern Studies and course offerings on the larger Islamic world at the

University of Texas at Austin is told through the presence of language instruction on campus.

Before the birth of area studies programs as we know them today, course offerings on language

and cultures of the Islamic world were housed in various language departments at UT.

Department names have changed many times over the years at UT, but key players in the

establishment of a concerted effort to offer instruction in the cultures and languages of the

Islamic world began in the Linguistics, Germanic Languages, Government, History, and the

Classics departments.

At the request of the local Lebanese community, Arabic instruction was offered within the

Germanic Languages department, where Dr. W.P. Lehmann was Chair.[13] At this time, Biblical

Hebrew was offered occasionally through the Classics Department and often by non-faculty

members. Survey courses of the Middle East were offered occasionally through the History

Department[14]. Concerned with the consequences of American isolationism in the post-Sputnik

era, Dr. Lehmann secured funding from a Title IV grant from the National Defense Education

Act (NDEA) created in 1958 to support the development of International Studies Centers and

Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowships (FLAS). Dr. Lehmann secured funding for both the

Centers of Middle Eastern and Asian Studies at UT, which have both grown and flourished and

become nationally and internationally prominent centers today.

According to all accounts, Dr. W.P. Lehmann is considered the founder of the current Center for

Middle Eastern Studies, and the person whose diligent efforts and hard work put UT on the list

of prominent Middle East centers. The UT Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the first efforts

to build a university-wide network of scholars on the Middle East and the larger Islamic world

began in 1960. In 1965, Dr. Robert Fernea, a new graduate from the University of Chicago’s

Department of Anthropology, became the Center’s first official Director to have a half-time post

to devote exclusively to the development of the Center. In the early days the CMES was housed

in the basement of Benedict Hall and had one part-time assistant[15]. Under Dr. Robert Fernea’s

directorship, the center was moved to a larger space and became a “full-fledged

administrative/academic unit, with expanded staff and facilities”.[16]

Dr. Fernea’s goal in developing the Center was to organize instruction around “the modern

Middle East.” Older centers had been structured around archeological paradigms of an ancient or

premodern Middle East. Dr. Fernea and colleagues in other campus departments around campus

were interested in making the center a place where students might learn about contemporary

issues relating to the Middle East and the Islamic world, so as to better understand contemporary

conflicts and search for ways to resolve them. Perhaps sensing the major paradigm shift that

would result after Edward Said’s Orientalism,[17] Fernea coauthored an article for The Annual

Review of Anthropology[18] that ends with a humorous image of an anthropologist arriving at the

site of the summit of an ancient saint shrine, to find it altogether abandoned by "natives." The

article conveys a sense of anticipation of a radical paradigmatic change in the state of theory and

representation of the Middle East and the Islamic world.

Later on, Professor Elizabeth Fernea began offering courses on women in the Middle East at the

request of the late Dr. Paul English during his tenure as Director of the UT Center for Middle

Easter Studies. While the inclusion of women’s studies within Islamic studies is somewhat taken

for granted today, at the time Professor Elizabeth Fernea began teaching her courses they were

something of a novelty. The first conference held at the University of Texas Center for Middle

Eastern Studies in 1965 was “The Conflict of Traditionalism and Modernism in the Muslim

Middle East,” and one woman was among the speakers.[19] In 1986, then-MESA President

Elizabeth Fernea helped to establish the Association for Middle East Women’s Studies

(AMEWS). At that year’s annual MESA meeting with Huda Naamani, Basima Bezergan, Salma

Jayyusi and Assia Djebar in attendance for a poetry reading, AMEWS was officially

inaugurated.[20] In part thanks to Professor Elizabeth Fernea’s pioneering efforts, women’s

studies are more fully integrated into Islamic studies today. Her own writing continues to be

translated into new languages[21] and is read in many women’s studies and social science

courses.

Professors Robert and Elizabeth Fernea helped to launch MESA, as well as the UT Press Modern

Middle East Series and the Middle East Monographs Series. Dr. Robert Fernea secured funding

to start a modern nonfiction Middle East series in hardback. The first book published in this

series was Dale Eickelman’s Moroccan Islam.[22] Professor Elizabeth Fernea later obtained

funding to publish works of Middle Eastern women and to bring the work of Middle Eastern

writers to English- speaking audiences. The first book published in this series was Layla Abu

Zayd’s Year of the Elephant,[23] which was the first Arab woman’s autobiography to be

translated into English. At the time the UT Press Modern Middle East Series was initiated, it was

the only one of its kind.

Professor Clement Henry (Government) and Professor Roger Louis (History) also did much to

shape the scope of studies focused on the Islamic world soon after CMES’s founding. A goal of

the center has been to offer coursework that viewed the Middle East and Islamic civilization

through a contemporary lens. While the Center’s affiliates in various departments offer courses

on all periods of Islamic history and civilization, there has always been a strong emphasis on

training students to think critically about how we construct the past, and how contemporary

societies in the region see their own histories vis à vis their contemporary lives.

Early Course Offerings and Degrees It is not surprising that language instruction has been a hallmark at UT, considering that the

efforts to found The Center for Middle Eastern Studies emerged from various language

departments. The CMES and then-Department of African Languages and Literature (DALL)

offered a small number of Arabic language courses and linguistics with a couple of area studies

courses. Other languages were added later. Persian courses were introduced in 1962, and Hebrew

in 1963. By 1969, languages and literatures of the Middle East had grown to the extent that the

University’s administration approved the establishment of the Department of Oriental and

African Languages and Literatures (DOALL). For the first time, the university offered

specializations in Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian. Turkish was introduced in 1971 for a short time,

and re-added on a more permanent basis in 1982.

A B.A. in Middle Eastern Studies was introduced in 1972. In 1979, an interdisciplinary M.A. in

Middle Eastern Studies was offered “primarily for persons intending to enter government,

industry, or other nonacademic, professional involvement in the Middle East.”[24] In 1985, an

M.A. and Ph.D. were added, both administered through the Department of Oriental and African

Languages and Literatures, an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures.

Middle East specializations in Linguistics (M.A. and Ph.D.), Comparative Literature (Ph.D.), and

Foreign Language Education (M.A. and Ph.D.) were also added later. In 1985, DOALL began to

offer a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures with specializations in

Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian.[25]

DOALL also then offered an M.A. in Oriental Languages, Literatures, and Cultures with the

options of specializing in areas of the Middle East (Hebrew, Arabic, Persian); South Asia (Hindi,

Sanskrit); and East Asia (Chinese, Japanese). After the CMES had operated for twenty-five

years, it had grown to offer more than two hundred courses, and had associated faculty members

in twenty disciplines throughout four colleges. In 1986, a joint degree program in Public Affairs

and Middle Eastern Studies was created. Joint degrees in Middle Eastern Studies and Law and

Middle Eastern Studies and Library Sciences were added later.

Current Degrees Offered and an Overview of How Islamic Studies and Middle Eastern

Studies are Organized at UT Austin[26]

B.A. in Asian Studies

B.A. in Asian Cultures and Languages

B.A. in Arabic Studies

B.A. in Hebrew Studies

B.A. in Jewish Studies

B.A. in Islamic Studies

B.A. in Turkish Studies

B.A. in Persian Studies

M.A. in Asian Studies

M.A. in Asian Cultures and Languages

M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies

M.A. in Persian Studies

M.A./MBNA in Middle Eastern Studies and Business Administration

M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies and Communication

M.A./J.D. in Middle Eastern Studies and Law

M.A./M.P.A. in Middle Eastern Studies and Public Affairs

M.A./M.S.I.S. in Middle Eastern Studies and Information Studies

Ph.D. in Asian Cultures and Languages

Ph.D.Ph.D. in Arabic Studies

Ph.D.Ph.D. in Hebrew Studies

Ph.D.Ph.D. in Persian Studies

In addition, students may pursue M.A. and Ph.D. degrees with a concentration in the Middle East

and greater Islamic world through other departments such as anthropology, comparative

literature, foreign language education, geography, government, history, linguistics, and

sociology.

Available Fellowships[27]

Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) graduate fellowships

Various University of Texas at Austin fellowships

Ann Grabhorn-Friday Fellowship in Middle Eastern Studies

Elizabeth Warnock Fernea Endowment Fellowship[28]

Teaching assistantships in the Center

Departmental Dorot Foundation travel

Grants for summer study in Israel

Hibbs Scholarship in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures

Dan Danciger Scholarships and Rabbi Israel H. Leventhal Scholarship in Hebrew Studies

Loans and work-study through the Office of Student Financial Aid

The Center for Middle Eastern studies and Interdisciplinary Cooalboration at UT

Historically at UT Austin, there has been a department for the study of Middle Eastern languages

and cultures, and a more interdisciplinary approach apparent at the UT Center for Middle Eastern

Studies. The presence of these two approaches has allowed for an intense scholarly training for

those students who wish to pursue careers in teaching Middle Eastern studies in various

departments, as well as an interdisciplinary M.A. degree that prepares students for other careers

that might require a general overview of Middle Eastern history and politics outside of academia.

The two entities have a great deal of overlap and cooperation and many courses cross-listed in

different departments across campus.

Rather than follow a prescribed model, students are exposed to salient paradigms in various

disciplines, and in the end, their education will have benefited from a very flexible,

interdisciplinary approach.[29] Today, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the Department

of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures are both housed in the West Mall Building.

A distinctive interdisciplinary approach in teaching languages and cultures of the Islamic world

is combined with an important collaboration with scholars of Hebrew and Jewish history and

culture, and Christian history and culture. While this piece focuses specifically on those

developments related to the Islamic world in broad terms, to separate the Islamic component

from the Jewish and Christian facets of instruction and collaborative efforts that occurred at UT

would be misrepresentative, and contradict the spirit of the CMES and the Department of Middle

Eastern Studies. Islamic studies is but one component of the dynamic region of the Middle East

and the Islamic world, and there has been a sustained interest in showing how different

languages and religions overlap and borrow from each other. Two programs have come about as

a result from this perspective, the Tracking Cultures Program and the Mediterranean Crossroads

Program. Both programs include travel to multiple countries on different continents with a focus

on examining how different ethnic, linguistic, and faith communities have interacted historically.

Individual faculty and staff members have also integrated this approach with their own research

and outreach efforts. For example, Professors Liebowitz and Epstein conducted research on

regional variation in Texas and Mexico on Sukkah and the Feast of Tabernacle.[30] The

University of Texas at Austin hosted a Sephardic Festival in 1988,[31] and later a major lecture

on the Sephardic Legacy on the 500th

Anniversary of the expulsion of Jews from Spain.[32] A

“Women of the Book” conference, organized by Elizabeth Fernea in 1998, examined the ways

that Jewish, Christian, and Muslim women’s spheres of experience overlap.[33]

This same spirit defines the UT CMES Outreach Program, which has been very actively engaged

with the Austin public since the Center’s founding in 1960. In the summer and fall of 2000, the

Outreach Program organized a Summer Teacher’s Institute, “Faith, Culture, and Identity:

Teaching about Religion Today,” that brought together thirty middle and high-school school

teachers from all over the state of Texas. A similar Summer Institute was held in 2001: “World

Cultures through the Arts.”[34] Current Outreach Program Coordinator Christopher Rose speaks

widely on various topics on the Middle East at different events throughout Austin. Hillary

Hutchison, in her capacity as CMES Executive Assistant, spoke to the Austin Interfaith

Ministries about faith traditions in the Middle East.[35]

For students who appreciate this flavor of atmosphere, UT is an ideal place to study. For those

interested in an academic environment specifically focused on Islamic studies, they will not be

disappointed in UT. The University of Texas at Austin has a very broad array of course offerings

in different departments and faculty with a wide array of interests, so much that almost any

student, no matter what his or her interests, will feel at home.

Language Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin[36]

Arabic Instruction in the Arabic language has always been a cornerstone of the University of Texas

Middle East program. Many UT instructors have played an important role in developing ideas

about the teaching of Arabic at other U.S. institutions and abroad.[37] The University of Texas at

Austin is very happy to welcome Mahmoud al-Batal and Kristen Brustad to its Arabic program.

Authors of the widely adopted Arabic text, al-Kitab fii Ta’alum al-‘Arabiya, their expertise and

successful teaching strategies will certainly secure UT’s place among the best institutions in the

world for studying Modern Standard Arabic.

The University of Texas at Austin was one of the first to promote the use of computer-aided

technology in Arabic instruction. In 1982, Dr. Victorine Abboud developed a program to teach

intermediate level Modern Standard Arabic.[38] She helped build a Computer Assisted

Instruction (CAI) Lab, which was then housed under the DOALL. She added this technological

component to the language lab that she had helped found in 1971.[39]

In 1982, Dr. Peter Abboud was selected to organize and direct the School of Arabic at

Middlebury College, Vermont, marking the first time that Middlebury offered its summer Arabic

program.[40] Dr. Abboud successfully established the Arabic summer program at Middlebury,

which continues to be an important center for the study of Arabic. Both Dr. Peter Abboud and

Victorine Abboud continued to lead the Middlebury Summer Arabic program in 1983.[41] After

Dr. Victorine Abboud’s death in 1985, Dr. Peter Abboud completed her CAI program for

teaching intermediate Arabic, one of the first of its kind in the country.[42] Dr. Abboud’s early

Arabic textbook, and later editions co-authored with Dr. Aman Attieh, have been widely used in

the teaching of Modern Standard Arabic in the U.S. and abroad. Dr. Mohammed A. Mohammed

added an important component of Arabic linguistics to the UT Arabic Program, and Dr. Samer

Ali’s classes on Arabic translation and pre-Islamic poetry are among the most popular courses

among students today. Students with topics ranging from pre-Islamic texts to Islamic Spain,

modern-day Egypt, and beyond will find a score of resources and support in UT Austin’s Arabic

program.

In addition to Arabic courses offered during the academic year, the CMES and DMES offer

comprehensive courses in the summer through the Summer Language Consortium Program. First

called “The Middle East Summer Institute,” the summer language program began in 1983, and

focused on teaching Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian and courses in Middle Eastern politics, culture,

and history.[43] It was co-sponsored by the Consortium of Western States Universities (The

University of Denver, the University of Utah, and Portland State University). When it began in

1983, nearly one hundred students attended from UT, Princeton, the University of Arizona,

University of Michigan, and the University of Pennsylvania. The Institute was the only one of

two summer programs that offered both Arabic and Hebrew. The program, now called The

Summer Language Institute of the Western Consortium of Middle East Centers,[44] has grown

and today continues to be a positive experience for students who chose to do summer language

study in the U.S.

Persian As mentioned earlier, the study of Persian at UT predates both the CMES and the DMES. The

Persian program at UT was formally started by the late Dr. M.A. Jazayery. He had a great

interest in the work of Ahmad Kasravi and was considered one of the foremost experts in

Kasravi studies.[45] UT’s current offerings and instruction have been greatly shaped by Dr.

M.A. Jazayery, Dr. M.R. Ghanoonparvar (both graduates of UT Austin), and Michael Hillmann,

who also teaches Tajik. Dr. M.R. Ghanoonparvar, current Director of the Persian Studies

Program, has a special interest in twentieth-century Persian literature, comparative literary

history and criticism, and the methodology and practice of literary translation.

Dr. Jazayery, in keeping with the Center’s emphasis on the modern Middle East, conducted

research on language reform in Iran during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries during the

Pahlevi period and between opponents and proponents of language reform.[46] Persian

instruction at UT has thus mainly focused on modern Persian. In the early days of the CMES,

funds from the Iran-America Foundation, after its dissolution following the Iranian Revolution,

were given to the UT Press to support scholarly works in Iranian Studies.[47]

During the course of the Persian Program at UT over the years, a great number of international

conferences have been organized, bringing together many leading figures in Persian and Iranian

studies. Persian fiction writer and literary critic Hushang Golshiri[48] visited a UT conference,

“Iranian Literature in Exile,” which featured speakers like Manoucher Parvin and Sattareh

Farman Farmaian.[49] A later conference, “Nineteenth-Century Persian Travel Memoirs,”[50]

was held at UT attracting scholars from around the world.

The UT Austin Persian Program has benefited greatly from generous contributions from local

and regional Iranian donors who have made important library acquisitions possible[51] (see

library holdings below). Persian Studies at UT are supported by experienced faculty and unique

resources in terms of reference materials and a dynamic relationship with the local community.

Turkish

In fall 1983, after a ten-year lapse, UT began to offer beginning Turkish under the supervision of

Dr. John Bordie (FLEC) and Assistant Instructor Ayshegul Musallam, under the auspices of

DOALL.[52] At this time plans were also made to expand Turkish studies the following year to

offer second-year Turkish. Students with some familiarity in Turkish were also able to study

Uzbek through DOALL[53] and Azeri later on. In 1985, the University of Texas began to offer

more Turkish courses and secured funding to do so from the U.S. Department of Education and

the Institute of Turkish Studies. Dr. Donald Quataert offered courses in Turkish history and

Abraham Marcus offered a course in Ottoman history.[54] At this time, the CMES organized

lectures and exhibits for the UT community and local community on topics relating to Turkey

and Turkish culture.[55] Funding from the Institute of Turkish Studies also helped in acquiring

important Turkish-language reference works for the University’s Middle Eastern Collection.[56]

Professor Yildiray Erdener is the current Turkish Program Coordinator. His distinctive approach

to teaching Turkish comes from his background in folklore, ethnomusicology, and his own

experiences as a musician. He has developed very unique teaching resources and a textbook on

teaching Turkish through folksongs.[57] Professor Erdener also does a great number of

conference courses with graduate and undergraduate students in a variety of different fields. He

has also maintained a very active study abroad program with Bogaziçi University in Istanbul.

Urdu The Urdu program is organized through the UT Center for Asian Studies. Urdu has been taught

over the years at UT at various levels since the founding of the Center for Asian Studies in 1960.

Courses in Urdu are currently taught from the beginning level through the fourth year. Starting in

2000, with the arrival of Professor S. Akbar Hyder, the Urdu Program has consistently offered all

levels to students every semester. Students who want to go beyond the fourth year may also take

advanced courses in Urdu literature on topics as diverse as the Sufi traditions of Southeast Asia,

devotional literature, and the contemporary Urdu novel.[58] Dr. Gail Minault, who specializes in

the history of India and Pakistan, women's history, and the history of Islamic art, also teaches

courses on women's writings in Urdu.

The Urdu program at UT strongly encourages students to study Urdu abroad for a year in

Lucknow, India.[59] Although a degree in Urdu is not currently available, students majoring in

Asian Studies or Asian Cultures and Languages at the B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. levels will certainly

be able to incorporate study of Urdu into their course program.

Library Resources at the University of Texas at Austin

According to a proposal[60] recently made by the UT Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the UT

Library System is ranked “the fifth largest academic library in the country.”. With combined

Title VI and institutional funding, the CMES has built the general libraries' Middle East

Collections, which rank among the top ten in the U.S. In the 2004-2005 academic year, close to

5,000 items were acquired in Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Turkish, and Azeri. Monographs and

bound periodicals currently total 379, 041 (Arabic 88,309; Hebrew 38,425; Persian 40,863;

Turkish/Ottoman Turkish 11,867; Azeri 3,107; and Western languages 196,470). Other holdings

include: 2,761 serials; 10,805 microforms; 1,020 musical recordings; 1,401 films/videos/DVDs;

53,500 slides; and 12,717 digitized slides in a searchable database.[61]

The libraries’ holdings are to a great extent the efforts of Abazar Sepheri, who worked as the

lead Middle Eastern librarian for more than twenty-five years since 1975.[62] In addition to

traveling widely throughout the world acquiring resources for UT, Seperi consulted with a

number of librarians, scholars, and government officials. He also acted as consultant for an

Azerbaijani Romanization table for the Library of Congress, and taught Azerbaijani for the

Center for Middle Eastern Studies using unique teaching aids he developed for the new Latin

alphabet.

The UT collection focuses specifically on the contemporary Middle East, and has important

holdings in the areas of modern Persian and Arabic literature, hadith, works on Shi’ism

published in Iran, a complete collection of works by and about Ahmad Kasravi, Islamic

philosophy and jurisprudence, a microfilm set of rare Zaydi manuscripts from Yemen,[63] and a

great number of resources on a wide variety of topics in Urdu.[64] The University of Texas also

has one of the nation’s largest vernacular collections in Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian literary

materials[65].

Mr. Sepheri also dedicated a great amount of effort in expanding the collections’ Turkish and

Azeri holdings, which include a nearly complete set of periodicals “unique in the country,” many

of which are not held by any other library in the U.S.[66] UT holdings also include a unique

collection, the Development Communication Archive, which was donated by the U.S. Agency of

International Development.[67]

Volumes of census records from Middle Eastern countries are housed at the Population Research

Center.[68] The Center for Middle Eastern Studies Resource Center houses a number of

important works, as well as a large film and music collection. The Fine Arts Library also houses

a vast CD collection of musical traditions from virtually every corner of the Islamic world.

Other important resources can be found in the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center and

the Joseph D. Jamail Center for Legal Research.[69] While the former houses rare and older,

historically important documents, the latter[70] is actively collecting contemporary works on

Islamic law in English, French, and German.

The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center Dubbed the “Bibliothèque Nationale of the only state that started out as an independent nation,”

the Harry Ransom Center has become one of the foremost American research centers. In addition

to its Middle Eastern holdings and resources on the Islamic world in the general library

collections, the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center also contains a number of rare,

unique documents related to the Middle East.[71] Among the Center’s holdings are personal

papers of T.E. Lawrence, Paul Bowles, Freya Stark, Richard Burton, and many others.[72]

Professor Roger Louis, who began teaching at UT in 1970 in the Department of History, served

as the curator of historical collections in the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center from

1985.[73]In spring 1989, the University acquired 68 rare volumes, some written by and others

belonging to Sir William Jones, the well-known eighteenth-century English linguist.[74] Funds

to acquire the Sir William Jones Collection came from the Dean’s Office in the College of

Liberal Arts, the Harry Ransom Research Center, and the General Libraries. The collection spans

Sir Jones’s career, including his working copy of The Moallakát, the name given to the Seven

Odes that hung in the temple of Mecca, considered to be some of the most important work in the

cannon of pre-Islamic poetry. The collection also includes Sir Jones’s translation of a Persian

manuscript brought to England by Christian VII of Denmark, Ta’rikh-i-Nadiri, or Histoire de

Nader Chah.

For students and researchers interested in accessing the HRC’s collections, a user-friendly

searchable database has been established. Detailed information, down to the contents of every

box and file, is available online.[75]

The University of Texas Outreach Program

One very special feature of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies is its extensive outreach

program. Like the University of Texas in general, the center’s concern for integrating the

university with the local Austin community is a primary distinguishing characteristic, and an

endeavor in which much effort and care is placed.

The Center's outreach program, which began in the mid-1970s, is a national leader in the field.

The outreach staff maintains resources in the Center’s Resource Center, which contains a

collection of 4,000 English-language books and reference works, some 10,000 slides, and

hundreds of journals, films, musical recordings, and curricular materials, organizes conferences,

speaks at local schools, develops curricular modules for teaching, and organizes film festivals

and musical concerts. The University of Texas Middle East Network Information Center (UT-

MENIC), established by the Center in 1994, provides the world's most thorough directory of

online information on the Middle East, with links to hundreds of databases. UT-MENIC receives

over two million hits a year.

Living in Austin

Austin is consistently voted one of the nicest places in the U.S. to live. For any prospective

student of the Middle East and Islamic world, of Muslim background or not, Austin is indeed an

ideal place to live. Austin’s unique title as “the live music capital of the world” makes the city an

exciting place, and the world music and Middle Eastern music performances are consistently

original and of very high quality. The Center for Middle Eastern Studies has successfully

brought Middle Eastern music to the UT campus and the larger Austin community. The UT

Austin Performing Arts Center has also brought well-known and musicians who represent

various regions of the Islamic world to UT. Austin is home to many international restaurants and

markets, art museums, and local interfaith festivals and interfaith musical ensembles that make

Austin a wonderful place to live for the student of the Middle East and Muslim world.

The longstanding reputation of instruction in these areas at UT has inspired a loyal local base of

supporters, some former students, who put their education to use in a number of creative and

surprising ways. Muslim communities from nearly every world region live in or around Austin,

and there are several mosques in the local area that organize their own cultural programs for

Muslims and non Muslims. The combination of excellent and varied instruction at UT, local art

and music events, cultural and gastronomic festivals, well-established Muslim and Jewish

communities, as well as Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Christian communities, make Austin

a living laboratory of contemporary life in a globalized and diasporic world.

Appendix I

Current and Past Courses Taught at the University of Texas at Austin

Anthropology (Cultural) Courses are grouped together in similar topics.

Intro. to African Pre-History; Archaeology of African Thought

The Cultural Construction of Masculinity; Body Theory

Anthropology of Islam

Films: An Anthropological Perspective; Art, Politics and Identity

Peoples and Cultures of the Mid. East

Migration: The Case of Germany; Photos of First Generation Immigrants

Jewish Folklore;Fundamentals of Folklore; Bodylore

Race and Ethnicity in the Mid. East

Colonialism and Post-Colonialism in the Mid. East

Mid. East. Magic, Religion, and Lore

Class and Gender in the Mid. East

Intro. to India; Music of India; Identity, Power & Resistance in South Asia; Cultures of

Southeast Asia

Anthropological Perspectives of the Middle

East and North Africa

Gypsy Language & Culture

Religion and Society in the Mid. East

Anthropology of the Middle East and North Africa

Postcolonial Aesthetics and the Question of Authenticity

Middle Eastern and South Asian Government

Arabic(Modern Standard, Elementary through Advanced, and Colloquial Levantine Also see

Lit.) Arabic for Native Speakers

Colloquial Arabic; Levantine Arabic I, II; Egyptian Arabic I, II

Modern Standard Arabic

(Beginning through Advanced)

The Arabic Press: Readings and Analysis

Classical Arabic Texts

Translating Arabic Texts

Conf. Course in Arabic Studies

Conf. Course in Mid. East. Langs. and Cultures

Arabic Readings and Grammar I, II

Intro. to Arabic Lit.

Conf. Courses in Arabic Lang. and Lit.

First- Year Arabic I, II; Second-Year Arabic I, II

Advanced Spoken Media Arabic I, II

Conf. Course in Arabic Lang. & Lit.

Advanced Readings in Arabic I, II

Loyalty/Rebellion in Arab Lit.

Honors Tutorial Course

Classical Islamic Studies

The Arabian Nights

Arab Women Poets

The Qur'an

Aramaic:

(Also see Lit.)

Biblical Aramaic


Archaeology Fundamentals of Field Archaeology; Intro. to Archaeological Analysis

Greek Archaeology Survey

Cultural Ecology

Village Life and the Development of Urbanism

Irrigation/Water Control Systems

Ceramic Technology

Intro. to Archaeological Studies: Prehistoric Archaeology

Intro. to Archaeological Studies: Egypt, Near East, Greece, and Rome

Architecture Art and Architecture of Islamic Spain and North Africa

Housing and Culture

The Islamic City

Islamic Art and Architecture

Sacred Geometry and Decorative Tiling

Art History (Some courses have been grouped together where appropriate)

Art in the Age of Hadrian

Diversity of Traditions: Indian Art 1200-1900

Art of Late Antiquity

Art of Ancient Sumer

Frames and Framing

Religion, Magic and Art in the Ancient Near East; Technology and Art in the Ancient Near East;

Art as Power: The Ancient Near East; Art of Kings: The Ancient Near East

Intro. to Islamic Art;

Sacred Spaces and Spatial Practices in Islam; Sacred Spaces and Pilgrimages Sites in the Mid.

East

The Art of the Book of Islam; Symbols and Origins of Writing;

Interface Between Writing and Art in the Mid. East; Text and Image in Islamic Royal Illustrated

Manuscripts

Roman Imperial Art; Roman Architecture; Hellenistic Art and Architecture

Monumental Sacred and Secular Architecture in Islam

Non-Muslim Art in Islamic Lands; Jewish Ceremonial Arts in Arab Lands; Crusader Art

Houses in Islamic Cities; Palaces and Palatial Spaces in Islam

Real and Imagined Oriental Spaces

Byzantine Art and Architecture; Byzantine Image Theory; Byzantine History and Art

Asian Studies (Courses in similar topics grouped together. Also see Lit.)

Ancient India;

Religions of Ancient India and Iran

Muslim India Before 1750

Intro. to Traditional Music in World Cultures

Medieval Lit. of Northern India

Politics and the Novel in South Asia

Intro. to Devotional Lit. of India

Contemporary India; Intro. to India

History of Religions of Asia

European Expansion in Asia; European Empires in Asia; European Imperialism: British Empire

Intro. to the Study of Religion; Intro. to Comparative Religion

Identity, Power and Resistance in S. Asia

Muslim Women: Past/Present; Women in South Asian Societies; Feminist Theory.

Intro. to the History of India

Storytelling in India

Religion, Violence and Non-Violence

South Indian Cultural History

Government and Politics of South Asia: Political Parties and Elections in South Asia; Politics in

India.

Diasporas, International Migration and Development

Sufism and Islamic Mysticism

Cultures of Southeast Asia

International Relations of East/Southeast Asia

Globalization and Indian Society

Gypsy Lang. and Culture

Senior Seminar in Asian Studies

Research in Asian Studies

India's Nonconformist Thinkers

Philosophies of India

Historical Traditions in India

Transmission of Knowledge in South Asia

Afghanistan: Religion, History, and Politics

Culture of Food in India

Business and Marketing International Marketing

Intentional Marketing and Management

Business in Emerging Markets

International Business Fellows Seminar

Doing Business in the Arab World; Doing Business in Israel

Classics (See Art, Middle Eastern Studies, History, Geography, and Literature.)

Communication Intro. to International Communication

International Communication

The Media and the Mid. East

Mid. East. and Asian Cinema

Comparative Media Systems in a Global Context

Israeli Cinema and Television

Communication and Transition in the Middle East

Development Communication

Media and Social Change

Economics Development Economics

Islamic Finance

Comparative Economic Systems

Seminar in Economic Systems

Studies in World Economic History, 1750-1900

The Economics of the Mid. East and North Africa

Economic History of the World, 1900-Present

Geography Seminar in Resources and Conservation

Geographies of Conflict

Geography of the Mid. East

The Mid. East. City

Resources and Environment in the Mid. East

Mapping the Mid. East

Pastoralism in the Mid. East

Cultural Adaptation and Change

Maps and Map Interpretation

Geo-Archaeology

Research in Remote Sensing of the Environment

Remote Sensing of the Environment

Geography and Religion

Issues in Mid. East. Geography

Cultural Ecology, Irrigation, and Settlement in pre-Islamic Egypt

Historical Geography of Axumite to Early Modern Ethiopia

Research in Geography (M.E.)

Muslim Minorities in Christian Spain

Desert Ecology

Government (Similar courses grouped together)

U.S. Security and Foreign Policy

U.S. Policy in the Middle East

U.S. Foreign Economic Policy

International Security-W

Arab-Israeli Politics

U.S. Immigration Policy in Comp. Perspective; Comp. Political Behavior; Democratization in

Comp. Perspective

Terrorism in the U.S. and Abroad

Authoritarianism in the Middle East-W

Globalization and Trade

Politics of Regime Change

The United States and the Middle East

Intro. to International Relations

State Sovereignty and Human Rights- W

Introduction to the Middle East

Global Change: Regional Response

Understanding the Cold War-W

U.S. Policy in the Middle East

America and the World; America and World Affairs

Governments and Politics of Russia

Politics of the Middle East and North Africa

International Political Economy

Politics of India

International Conflict

Competing Visions of Good Life

Studies in Asian Politics

Political Economy of the Middle East

Political Order and Organized Violence

British History, Literature, & Politics

Military in Politics

Theoretical Foundations of Modern Politics-W

Politics of New Democracies

Government Research Internship - D C

International Political Economy

News Media as a Political Institution

Honors Tutorial Course

Politics in the Middle East [76]

Assassination and Terrorism: The Political Dimensions; The Politics of Assassination

The Transition from Traditionalism to Modernism in the Muslim Middle East

Economics and Politics of Petroleum

Hebrew (Modern Israeli, Elementary through Advanced, and Biblical. Also see Lit.).

Biblical Hebrew; Biblical Hebrew: Isaiah

Talmudic Lit.: Text and Lang.; Readings in Biblical Hebrew Prose and Poetry

Advanced Readings in Modern Hebrew

Conf. Course in Hebrew Lang.; Conf. Course in Hebrew Studies

Hebrew via Popular Culture


History[77] (Courses are grouped together in similar topics.)

Africa: A Visual Journey; Modern Africa; Modern African Intellectual Traditions; The Hist. of

Africa Since 1800: African Muslims in Ante-Bellum America; Intro. to Traditional Africa;

Decolonization of Brit. Empire; Imperialism: Empire-Globalization; 19th

-Century Europe; 19th

-

Century Military Hist.; Imperialism: New Imperial Hist.; Imperialism & Nationalism in the Mid.

East; Hist. of French Colonialism; Adventure, Exoticism, & Imperialism.

Gender in Islamic Hist.; Women & the Family in the Hist. of Islam; Women in Islamic

Societies; Hist. of Women/Development in 20th

-century Africa; Gender & Militarization in the

Arab World.

Intro. to Modern Africa; Globalization & African Politics; Intro. Conf in African Hist.

Imperialism;

Hist. of the Jews to Medieval Times, Jewish Life in Medieval Europe; Modern Israel; Jews &

Judaism Since 1492

Arabia & the Indian Ocean World; Historical Traditions in India; Transmission of Knowledge in

South Asia; South Asian History; Migration between Middle East and South Asia

The Ancient Mediterranean World; Rome & Jerusalem; Intro. to Ancient Greece; Intro. to

Ancient Rome; Ancient Seafaring; Ancient Hist. to 146 B.C.; Greek & Roman Numismatics;

Humanism in Ancient World Civilizations; Hist. of Rome: The Republic; Hist. of Rome: The

Empire

Intro. Mid. East: Rel/Cul/Hist Fnd; Hist. of the Arab World; Intro.Mid. East: Adj/Chg Mod.

Tmes; Muslim Culture & Mid. East, Past/Pres.; Conf. Course in Medieval Islamic Hist.;

Foundations of Classical Islamic Civilization; Hist. of the Arab World; Intro. Conf. Crs. Mid.

East Hist; Meth. & Thry. in Mid. East Stds;

The Premodern World; Making the Early Modern World Adventures in World Hist.; Medieval

Points of View; Power & Authority in the Mid. Ages

The Bible & Hist.; The Dead Sea Scrolls; Judaism, Christianity, & Islam; The Crusades

Balkan Hist. Since 1453;

Minorities in East. Europe;

Ethnic Conflict in Balkans.

Hist. of the Ottoman Empire; Ottoman Egypt & Syria, 1516-1918.

Religious Sectarianism & Civil Violence in the Modern World

Hittite & Mycenean Civilization; Indo-Euro. Lang. & Culture

Modern Islam: Its Hist. & Political Dynamics in the Modern States of the Mid. East;

20th-Century Egyptian Soc/Polit/Thought; The Radicalization of the Middle East in the 20th

Century

Hist. of Iran to 1800; Modern Iran; The Islamic Revolution of Iran, 1978-88

Islamic Spain & North Africa to 1492; Cultures in Contact in Medieval Spain; Muslim

Travelers; Islam in Europe & America

Medieval Islam: Faith & Hist.; Islamic Historiography; Sufism & Islamic Mysticism; Seminar

on Ibn Khaldun; Modern Islam; Prophet of Islam: Life/Times; Islamic Historiography: The Old

World & the New; Books, Libraries, Civ. to 1500

Intellectual Hist. of Indo-Iranian Islam; Modern Iranian Hist. & Historiography

Euro. Imperialism: The Brit. Empire, the Mid. East, & India; Conf. Course in Brit. Imperialism

in the Mid. East; Controversies in the Hist. of Imperialism.

Nationality & World Hist.; Making Nationalism in Mid. East; State & Society in the Mid. East,

1700-1920

The U.S. & the Mid. East; Diplomatic Hist. of U.S. since 1890; U.S. Diplomatic Hist.; Cold

War; America & the World

Musical Cultures of the Middle East

Hittite[78]

Indo-European Lang. and Culture


Islamic Studies[79]

Judaism, Christianity & Islam

Veiling in The Muslim World

Introduction to Islam

Muslim Women: Past/Present I

Conference Course in Islamic Studies

Honors Tutorial Course; Honors Tutorial Course-W[80]

Classical Islamic Studies- W

Introduction to Arabic Literature

Prophet of Islam: Life/Times

Sufism and Islamic Mysticism

Loyalty/Rebellion in Arab Literature

The Arabian Nights

Arab Women Poets

The Qur'an

Liberal Arts/Humanities Humanities: Colonial Outsider Honors-W

Liberal Arts Honors: Rethinking Religion in the 21st Cent.

Linguistics Translation: Theory, History, and Practice (Hebrew/English)

Northwest Semitic Epigraphy

Translation: Theory, History, and Practice (Hebrew/English)

Gypsy Lang. and Culture

Pre-Islamic Mid. East. Civilizations

Comparative Semitic Langs. and Cultures

Concepts in Judaic Culture

Lang. and Identity

Lang. and Society in the Mid. East

Sociolinguistics

Literature (and Comparative Lit./ English.):

Survey of Hebrew Lit.; Archetypal Stories in the Bible; Israeli Children's Lit.; Yiddish Lit.; 20th

-

Century Jewish Literature

Persian Lit. Since the Revolution; Nima Yushij and Modernist Persian Poetry; Hedayat: 20th

-

Century Persian Prose Fiction

East Meets West: Modern Arabic Fiction; Modern Arabic Lit.; The Modern Arabic Short Story;

The Arabic Novel Since 1967; Najib Mahfuz: Realistic Arabic Fiction; The Arabian Nights in

World Lit. and Culture

Hebrew Love Poetry; Modern Hebrew Poetry; Modern Jewish Poetry and Prose; Honors

Seminar: Russian and Jewish Comic Novel.

Hafez and Classical Persian Poetry; Rumi's Poetry

Sociology in Contemporary Arab Thought; Contemporary Arab Culture

Songs of the Land of Israel

Images of the West and Westerners in Persian Lit.;

Iranian Travel Lit.

Film and Drama Arab Cinema; Film Adaptations of Israeli Lit.; Iranian Film and Fiction; Iranian Drama; Yiddish

Drama and Film

Women and Gender Mid. East Feminism: Theory and Practice; Self-Revelation in Women's Writing; Images of

Women in Modern Arabic Fiction Women and Gender in Judaism; Jewish Women's Writing;

Iranian Women Writers

Lit. and Human Rights

Honors Seminar: World Lit.

History, Romance, Nation

Autobiography: Modern Lit. Species

The Comic Novel in Three Traditions

Colonial and Resistance Literature of the Middle East and Africa

Political Representation in the Afro-Asian Novel

The Golden Age in Spain

Ancient Indo-European languages, linguistics, and literatures

Wisdom Lit.

Lit. and Culture of the Crusades; Race in the Mid. Ages

The Blind Owl

Mid. East. Studies/Interdisciplinary Studies Theory and Practice of Literary Translation; Translation: Theory, History, Practice

Intro. to Jewish History and Culture; Intro. to Jewish Studies; Concepts in Judaic Culture

Intro. to Mid. East: Religion/Culture/History; Cultural and Historical Foundations (570-1453);

Mus. Cul. Mid East, Past/Pres;

Lang & Nationalism in the Mid. East; Lang. and Politics in Lang. Planning

Sacred & Secular in Jewish Lit. from France, Israel, & US; Intro. to Israeli Lit.; Love/State in

Contemp. Israel; Israel's Political Culture; Aggadah: Legends of The Jews;

Intro. to Arabic Lit.; Cont. Afr. Francophone Lit.; The Arabian Nights; Loyalty/Rebellion in

Arab Lit.

Methods and Theory in Mid. East. Studies; Mid. East Sts.: Approaches/ME THS; Cultural

Studies: Theory and Methodology

Jewish Communities of the Mid. East and North Africa; Ethnic and Social Israeli Cinema;

Jerusalem in Israeli Lit. and Cinema;

Intro. to Islam; The Qur'an; Islam in Europe and America; Sufism and Islamic Mysticism; Islam

Spain/N. Africa to 1492; Prophet of Islam : Life/Times; Classical Islamic Studies; Islamic

Historiography

Muslim Women: Past and Present I; Intro. to Women's Studies: The Humanities; Gender

Inequality: Comparative Perspectives; Gender Politics in the Islamic World; Veiling in the

Muslim World; Arab Women Poets; Iranian Women Writers; Gender and Militarization in the

Mid. East and N. Africa; Women in Scripture;

Iranian Cinema

History of the Arab World

Globalization in the Mid. East and N. Africa; Environment and Development in the Mid-

Religions of Ancient India and Iran; Modern Iranian History and Historiography;

European Imperialism: The British Empire, India, Mid. East, & Africa

East; Cross-Border Water Management; Suicide Terrorism; Making Nationalism in the Mid.-

Movements of the Modern Mid. East: Trans-nationalism

20th-Century Egyptian Soc/Polit/Thought

East; Politics of Regime Change;

Conf. Course; Honors Tutorial Course

Indo-European Lang. and Culture

Authoritarianism in the Mid. East; Military in Politics; State & Society in the Mid. East; Politics

of Mid. East and North Africa; Radicalization of the Mid. East.

Survey of Exile in Hebrew Literature; Bible to the Present; The Sacred and the Secular in Jewish

Literature from France, Israel, and the U.S.; Mizrahi Writing in Israel; Love and the State in

Contemporary Israeli Literature; Post-Zionist Perspectives in Israeli Literature and Film;

Postmodernist Israeli Literature; Jerusalem in Israeli Literature

Rome and Jerusalem;

Core Graduate Seminar in Mid. East. Studies

Master's Report

The Dead Sea Scrolls; Ecclesiastes: Scroll of Qohelet;

Supervised Teaching in Mid. East. Studies

Thesis

Topics in Medieval Art

Pract: Internship in applied MES

Social Transformation of Love/Relationships

International Business Fellows Seminar; Business in Emerging Markets

MES Special Interdisciplinary Programs (below)

Mediterranean Crossroads Seminar;

Mediterranean Crossroads Study Abroad Seminar; Mediterranean Crossroads Conf. Course

Tracking Cultures Seminar; Tracking Cultures: Study in Morocco and Spain; Tracking Cultures

Conf. Course

Music Intro. to Popular Music in World Cultures

Music Cultures of Turkey and Central Asia

Intro. to Traditional Music in World Cultures

Ethnographic and Analytical Methods in Ethnomusicology

Music Cultures of the Mid. East: Past and Present

Improvisation in Cultural Perspectives

Persian (Standard, Elementary through Advanced Avaston, Old Persian, Pahlavi (Also see Lit.).

Spoken Persian

Persian-English Translation

Hafez and Classical Persian Lyric Poetry

Conf. Course in Persian Lang. and Lit.

Persian Newspaper Reading

Iranian Cinema

Conf. Course in Persian Studies; Conf. Course in Persian Lang. and Lit.

Iranian Women Writers


Political Science Arab-Israeli Politics

Social Transformation in the Gulf Region

The U.S. and the Mid. East

Political Trends and Stability in the Gulf Region

Civil Society and Citizenship in the West and Mid. East

Military in Politics

Intro. to Comparative Politics

Comparative Political Economy: Mid. East, Latin America, Asia and Africa

Comparative Political Economy of Globalization

Politics of the Mid. East and North Africa

Political Economy of the Mid. East and North Africa

Politics of Oil

Soldiers and Politics in Comparative Perspective

International Environmental Policy

The Peace Process in the Mid. East

Comparative Political Economy of Globalization

Islam and Democracy in the Mid. East and North Africa

(Honors Seminar) Civil Society and Citizenship: Comparing Western and

Mid. East. Experiences

(Honors Seminar) Civil Society and the Internet

Israel's Political Culture

Gender and Power in Comparative Context

Public Affairs Fundraising and Proposal Writing for Mid. East. Projects

Public Policy Issues in the Mid. Eat after the Peace Accords

Environment Resource Management

Resources and Politics in the Middle East

Demographics of the Middle East

Water Resources and Development in the Mid. East

Trade and Transportation Corridors in the Mid. East

Religious Studies and Philosophy Jesus in History and Tradition

Intro. to Islam

Jewish Ethics

The Rise of Christianity

The Qur'an

Intro. to the Hebrew Bible

Paganism to Christianity

Prophet of Islam: Life and Times

Biblical Prophecy

Jesus in History and Tradition

Sufism: History and Doctrines

Jews in the Graeco-Roman World

Religion in the Social Context: Paul and Plutarch

Popular Iranian Rituals and Traditions

Intro. to the Philosophy of Religion

Honors Seminar: Jesus in History and Tradition

Practice of Islam in America

The Bible in Philosophy and Lit.

Religions of the Ancient Near East

Islamic Studies: Theory, Method, and Historiography

Honors Seminar: On Matters of Life and Death

Intro. to Classical Mythology

Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies[81]

Eastern Europe in the 20th Century

Comparative Economic Systems; Seminar in Economic Systems

Intro. to Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies

Political Economy of International Crisis

Russian Cinema

Hist. of the Jews in Russia and Eastern Europe; Modern Jewish Fiction; Staging the Jew in

European Culture

Governments and Politics of Eastern Europe; Governments and Politics of Russia; Hist. of

Russia To 1917; Stalinist Russia;

Causes of War

[Balkan] Nationalism in Lit. and Film; Balkan History Since 1453; Ethnic Conflict in the

Balkans

Understanding the Cold War; Regions and Cultures of Europe; Geography of the Former Soviet

Union

Force and Politics; Military in Politics

Gypsy Language and Culture

19th-Century Europe

Chechnya: Politics/Power/People

Minorities in Eastern Europe

Sociolinguistics (also see Lit. and Linguistics)

The Poetic Art of the Bible

Translation: Theory, History, and Practice

Research in Socio-Linguistics

History of the Hebrew Lang.

Lang. and Politics in Lang. Planning

Turkic Cultures and Langs. in Central Asia

Origins of Indo-European Lang. and Culture

Lang. and Cultures

Lang. Planning: Revival and Decline

Sociology Intro. to the Study of Religion

Sociology of the Mid. East

Peace and Conflict

Mid. East. Sociology Through Film

Social Change in Developing Nations

Sociology of Love and Intimacy

Migrations in the Mid. East

The Cultural Meanings of the Hijab: (Veiling) in the Muslim World

Sacred-Ceremonial Textiles: Rites of Passage in Muslim Societies

Gender, Clothing and Identity in Muslim Societies

The Sociology of Islam

Analytical Demography

Population and Society

General Approach to the Study of Population

Demography of the Mid. East

Demography of Labor Force

Sociological Perspectives on the Mid. East

Eastern States

Health and Development in the Third World

Global Social Theory

International Migration

Spanish and Portuguese[82]

Ibn Zaidun, Ibn Arabi

Spanish Orientalism in the Literature of the 18th and 19th Centuries

Civilization and Culture of Spain

Textos poeticos y estudio

History of the Spanish Language: Old Spanish

Entre Monjes y Musulmanes

Syntax of Modern Arabic Prose

Spanish Medieval Literature to 1369

El conflicto que fue Espana

Arabic Poetics

Qasidas de amor, profano y mistico

Tajik[83] (Also see Lit.)


Basic Tajik

Turkish (Elementary through Advanced)

Conf. Course in Turkish Lang. and Lit.

Conf. Course in Mid. East. Langs. And Cultures

Turkish I, II, III

Musical Cultures of Turkey and Central Asia

Honors Tutorial Course, Honors Tutorial Course-W

Urdu (Elementary through Advanced. (Also see Lit.)

Practice in Spoken Urdu I, II

Practice in Spoken Urdu I, II

First Year Urdu, Second Year Urdu, Third Year Urdu, Fourth Year Urdu

Partition in Urdu Lit. and Film


Progressive Urdu Literature

Urdu Aesthetics

Female Voices in Urdu Lit.

Islam in South Asia

Love and Devotion in Urdu Literature

The Sufi Traditions

Women’s and Gender Studies[84]

Gender and Politics in the Islamic World

Asian American Sexualities

Sociology of Sexualities

Love and State in Contemporary Israeli Literature

Communication Technologies and Gender

Sociology of the Family

Intro. To the Qur’an

Gender, Sexuality, and Migration

Special Topics in Race: Nation and Citizen

The U.S. and 3rd

-World Feminisms

Women in the history of Political Thought

Sociology of Gender

Mass Media and Minorities

Women and the News

Contemporary Issues in Domestic Violence

Feminist Theories in Comparative Literature

Feminist Theory Field Seminar

Feminist Theory

Feminist Theory and Performance

Gender in Higher Education

Methods for Cultural Studies Topic: Cultural Memory and Trauma

Performing Autobiography

APPENDIX 2: Current Faculty Departments, Affiliations, and Research Interests[85]

College of Communication

Department of Radio-Television-Film

Karin S. Wilkins(Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Radio-Television-

Film, Urban Studies) Development and international communication, media and social change.

Development communication as it relates to international health, population and environmental

issues, media studies.

College of Fine Arts

Department of Art & Art History

Glenn Peers(Art and Art History, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Religious Studies, Russian,

East European & Eurasian Studies) The theoretical aspects of Byzantine art; hagiography

theological and hagiographical problems.

Denise Schmandt-Besserat (Department of Art and Art History, Center for Middle Eastern

Studies) Middle Eastern archaeology; origins of writing and numeration in the Middle East; art

history.

College of Liberal Arts

Department of Anthropology

Kamran Asdar Ali(Anthropology, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies,

Religious Studies, South Asia Institute, Women's and Gender Studies, Population Research

Center) Gender, Health, Development, Labor History, Political Economy; Post-Colonialism;

Urban Social Histories, Popular Culture, Historiography, Memory, Liberalism, Middle East;

South Asia (Egypt, Pakistan).

James A. Neely (Anthropology, Center for Middle Eastern Studies) Prehistoric and early historic

cultural development and culture change; processes of plant and animal domestication;

development of urban life; ancient technology (lithics, ceramics, water control, and irrigation).

Department of Classics

Carol F. Justus(Classics, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Linguistics Research Ctr.) Indo-

European language and culture, language change, grammatical structure, prayer & pragmatic

structure, evolution of numerals, Hittite, Greek, Latin.

William R. Nethercut (Classics, Center for Middle Eastern Studies) Greek and Roman

literature; Ancient Egypt; Egyptian history, art, culture, hieroglyphics,

Greek and Roman literature.

Thomas Palaima (Classics, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Religious Studies) Aegean and

eastern Mediterranean prehistory and archaeology pertaining to inscribed or marked materials.

Department of English

Barbara J. Harlow(Comparative Literature, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, English, Middle

Eastern Studies, Women's and Gender Studies) Cultural politics and political cultures; third

world studies; critical theory; prison and resistance writings and postcolonial studies (particularly

Anglophone African and modern Arabic literatures and cultures).Colonial and resistance

literature of the Middle East and Africa.

Geraldine Heng (Comparative Literature, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, English, Middle

Eastern Studies, Women's and Gender Studies) The Crusades, medieval studies; medieval

romance; Middle English literature; literature and culture of the Crusades; Chaucer; Arthurian

literature; feminist, race, and cultural theory.

Sara E. Kimball (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, English, Linguistics Research Ctr.)

Hittitology, Hittite, and Indo-European languages, historical linguistics, history of literacy,

lexicography, language and gender.

Adam Zachary Newton (Comparative Literature, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, English,

Middle Eastern Studies, Religious Studies) twentieth-century American literature; literary and

narrative theory; the novel; aesthetics and hermeneutics; literature and ethnicity; Jewish studies;

popular culture; nineteenth century British novel, poetry, non-fiction prose; contemporary

fiction; modern Jewish poetry and prose; Jewish thought; diaspora studies; comparative national

literatures and "minor" modernisms; literature and philosophy (ethics, hermeneutics, philosophy

of language); comics as genre and narrative form; languages: Hebrew, Yiddish, French, Russian,

Spanish, German, Latin, Greek.

Department of Geography

Karl W. Butzer(Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Geography and the Environment, Latin

American Studies Environmental Science Institute, LLILAS) Cultural ecology, irrigation, and

settlement in pre-Islamic Egypt; historical geography of Axumite to early modern Ethiopia;

historical geography of Roman and Islamic Spain; Muslim minorities in Christian Spain.

Diana K. Davis (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Geography and the Environment, Middle

Eastern Studies, Environmental Science Institute) Political ecology; critical environmental

history; colonialism; pastoral societies and arid lands; range ecology; ethnoveterinary medicine;

gender, environment and development; Middle East and North Africa; medical geography.

Ian Manners (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Geography and the Environment, Middle

Eastern Studies, Urban Studies) Resource management with particular reference to ecological

and socioeconomic processes influencing decision-making; ecologically sustainable

development; environmental impact assessment and mitigation.

Department of Government

Jason Brownlee(Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Government) Comparative politics in the

developing world, with an emphasis on the Middle East and questions of domestically-driven

regime change and regime durability; the impact of ruling parties in maintaining authoritarianism

and preventing democratization; political institutions; domestic democratization movements and

international democracy promotion.

George Gavrilis (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Government) Why aggressive attempts by

states to control their borders often fail to provide security, focusing on the Middle East, Central

Asia, and parts of Africa; the strategy of conflict. International relations, comparative politics,

conflict, boundaries.

Clement Moore Henry (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Government, Middle Eastern

Studies) Political parties, the engineering profession, financial institutions, and development of

civil society in the Middle East and North Africa. Comparative politics of the Middle East and

North Africa; financial systems and business elites; international business (oil and political risk

analysis).

Ami Pedahzur (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Government, Middle Eastern Studies)

Political extremism in Israel, political violence and political parties, terrorism.

Department of History

Yoav DiCapua(Center For Middle Eastern Studies, Department of Middle Eastern Studies,

History) Modern Arab Thought with an emphasis on Egypt.

William Roger Louis (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, History, Middle Eastern Studies)

British Empire/Commonwealth and the history, literature, and politics of nineteenth and

twentieth-century Britain. British Empire in the Middle East, especially in the post-1945 period;

the contemporary Middle East.

Abraham Marcus (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, History, Middle Eastern Studies,

Religious Studies) Arab and Ottoman history; Islamic history; social history of the Middle East;

music cultures of the Middle East; Middle Eastern cities and urban history.

Gail Minault (South Asia Institute, Women's and Gender Studies, History) History of India and

Pakistan; women's history, history of Islamic art. Intellectual and social history of Muslims in

South Asia; Islam and politics in India and Pakistan; religious sources of social change; Muslim

women's degree-institution and women's writings in Urdu.

Mary C. Neuburger (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Department of Middle Eastern Studies,

Women’s and Gender Studies) Balkan and Eastern European history.

Denise A. Spellberg (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, History, Medieval Studies, Middle

Eastern Studies, Religious Studies, Women's and Gender Studies

Bridging Disciplines Program) Middle East history and religion; Medieval Islamic history and

religion; Ottoman Turkish and Byzantine cultures; pre-Islamic religions of Iran; social attitudes

toward women in each of these historical contexts.

Department of Linguistics

Samuel Keith Walters (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Linguistics, Department of Middle

Eastern Studies, Religious Studies) Linguistic diversity; sociolinguistics; language contact and

change in the Arab world.

Department of Middle Eastern Studies

Peter F. Abboud(Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies)

Arabic syntax and phonology; Arabic dialectology; medieval Arabic grammar and grammarians;

socio-linguistics; history of the Arabic language.

Kamran S. Aghaie (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Current Acting Director) Islamic

studies; and modern Iranian and Middle Eastern history, Shi'ism, Islamic rituals, social and

cultural history, economic history, religious and political discourses, historiography, nationalism,

and gender studies. Language areas include Persian and Arabic.

Mahmoud al-Batal (Arabic Applied Linguistics, Center for Middle Eastern

Studies, Middle Eastern Studies) Arabic Linguistics, Theory and practice of Teaching Arabic as

a Foreign Language (TAFL).

Samer Ali (Comparative Literature, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies,

Religious Studies) Islamic kingship, court literature and patronage, classical historiography,

modern and medieval folklore and folklife, Arab women poets, oral performance of Homeric

epic, literary criticism.

Hina Azam (Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Center

for Women’s and Gender Studies, Religious Studies) Islamic law and jurisprudence, women and

Islam.

Aaron Bar-Adon (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Religious

Studies) Socio-linguistics and language acquisition; Hebrew and Arabic language, literature, and

linguistics.

Kristen Brustad (Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Center For Middle Eastern Studies)

Arabic language and literature of all periods and regions; language ideology; dialect studies;

methodologies of comparative study; pedagogy.

Yildiray Erdener (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Russian, East

European & Eurasian Stud., Américo Paredes Center for Cultural Studies) Turkish language;

folklore and ethnomusicology of Turkey and the Turkic Republics; Turkish minstrel music;

folklore and music of the Middle East and Central Asia.

Mohammad Ghanoonparvar (Comparative Literature, Center for Middle Eastern Studies,

Middle Eastern Studies) twentieth century Persian literature; comparative literary history and

criticism; methodology and practice of literary translation.

Karen Grumberg (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Women's and

Gender Studies) Contemporary Hebrew literature, American Jewish literature, comparative

Jewish literatures, Mizrahi writing, women's writing in Israel.

Michael Craig Hillmann (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies) Persian

(Farsi and Tajiki) language and literature; Iranian art and culture; literary autobiography; lyric

verse.

Harold A. Liebowitz (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Religious

Studies) Archaeology and art history of the land of Israel in the Biblical and Greco-Roman

periods; art and archaeology of the Ancient Near East with particular emphasis on the Late

Bronze to Mamluk Periods in Israel, Jordan, and Syria; daily life in Ancient Israel; material

culture and literature of the period of the Mishnah and Talmud; medieval Jewish illuminated

manuscripts from Spain, and Old Testament narrative painting from the Byzantine period until

the Renaissance.

Mohammad A. Mohammad (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies)

Linguistics and the Arabicl. Standard and Palestinian dialect.

Nader Morkus (Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Center for Middle Eastern Studies)

Discourse analysis, intercultural communication between Arabs and Americans, the use of

technology to enhance intercultural communication.

Esther L. Raizen (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Chair of Middle Eastern Studies,

Linguistics Research Ctr.) Modern and classical Hebrew language, linguistics and literature;

Hebrew as a foreign language; Jewish history and culture; computer-assisted instruction and

computational linguistics; academic advising and student development.

Yaron Shemer (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Radio-Television-

Film) Radio, television, and film; Israeli film; Hebrew language and cultures.

Faegheh S. Shirazi (Asian American Studies, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle

Eastern Studies, Center for Women's and Gender Studies) Material culture and its influence on

gender identity and discourse in Muslim societies. Textiles and clothing, particularly the Islamic

veil (hijab). Women, rituals, and rites of passage as they relate to material culture in popular

Islamic societies.

Monica Yaniv (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies) Hebrew language.

Abraham Zilkha(Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Religious Studies)

Hebrew language and linguistics; modern Israel.

Department of Sociology

Mounira Charrad (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Religious

Studies, Sociology, Center for Women's and Gender Studies) Gender and women's rights;

political sociology; development; and comparative historical methodology.

William P. Frisbie (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Sociology, Center for HPR, Institute of

Gerontology, Population Research Center) Demography, pregnancy outcomes, mortality,

race/ethnic differentials in health, urban ecology, immigration.

Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs

David J. Eaton(Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Latin American Studies, LBJ School of

Public Affairs, Middle Eastern Studies, Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies,

Environmental Science Institute, Urban Studies) Water; natural resources; agriculture; health;

urban services; water management in the Jordan River Basin; public administration,

management, and dispute resolution. Sustainable development in international river basins,

evaluation of energy and water conservation programs, and prevention of pollution; new

methods for evaluation of air pollution emissions, joint management by Palestinians and Israelis

of shared groundwater.

Red McCombs School of Business

Department of Marketing

Kate Gillespie(Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Latin American Studies, Marketing, Middle

Eastern Studies, Russian, East European & Eurasian Stud. LLILAS) International marketing,

macromarketing, international business-government relations, business in developing countries.

APPENDIX 3: Current, Emeritus, and Former Faculty[86]

Current Faculty

Peter Abboud (Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, former Director of

MELC,[87] former Arabic Program Coordinator)

Robert H. Abzug (Oliver H. Radkey Regents Professor in History)

Mahmoud al-Batal (Associate Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies)

Matthew Bailey (Associate Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese)

Susan Boettcher (Assistant Professor, Department of History)

Pascale R. Bos (Associate Professor, Department of Germanic Studies)

Kamran Aghaie (Director, Center for Middle Eastern Studies)

Samer Ali (Assistant Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Graduate Advisor

in Islamic Studies, Arabic Studies, Jewish Studies, Hebrew Studies, Persian Studies, and Turkish

Studies)

Kamran Asdar Ali (Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology)

Hina Azam (Instructor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies)

Matthew Bailey (Associate Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese)

Aaron Bar-Adon (Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies)

Zoltan Barany (Frank C. Erwin, Jr. Centennial Professor in Government)

Valerie Bencivenga (Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics)

Gordon Bennett (Associate Professor, Department of Government)

Jason Brownlee (Assistant Professor, Department of Government)

Kristen Brustad (Associate Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies)

Catherine Boone (Associate Professor, Department of Government)

Karl Butzer (Raymond Dickson Centennial Professor, Department Geography and the

Environment)

Joseph Carter (Centennial Professor in Classical Archaeology, Department of Classics)

Mounira Charrad (Associate Professor, Department of Sociology)

David F. Crew (Professor, Department of History)

Diana Davis (Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and the Environment)

Penelope Davies (Associate Professor, Department of Art and Art History)

James Denbow (Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology)

Yoav DiCapua (Assistant Professor, Department of History)

David Eaton (Bess Harris Jones Centennial Professor in Natural Resource Policy Studies,

Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs)

Paul W. English (Professor, Department of Geography, Former CMES Director)

Yildiray Erdener (Assistant Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Program

Coordinator of Turkish Studies)

Oloruntoyin O. Falola (Frances Higginbotham Nalle Centennial Professor in History)

W. Parker Frisbie (Professor, Department of Sociology)

Eric David Frances (Professor, Department of Classics)

Michael Gagarin (James R. Dougherty, Jr. Centennial Professor in Classics)

George Gavrilis (Assistant Professor, Department of Government)

M. R. Ghanoonparvar (Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Program

Coordinator for Persian Studies, former CMES Associate Director, former Middle

Eastern Summer Language Institute Director)

Kate Gillespie (Associate Professor, Department of Marketing Administration, Red

McCombs School of Business, Former CMES Associate Director)

William Glade (Professor, Department of Economics)

Benjamin Gregg (Associate Professor, Department of Government)

Karen Grumberg (Assistant Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies)

Mehdi Haghshenas (Lecturer, Department of Sociology)

Ian F. Hancock (Professor, Department of Linguistics)

Barbara Harlow (Louann and Larry Temple Centennial Professor in English Literature)

Geraldine Heng (Associate Professor, Department of English)

Clement Moore Henry (Professor, Department of Government)

Michael Hillmann (Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, former Middle

Eastern Language Institute Director)

Melvin Hinich (Mike Hogg Professor of Local Government)

John M. Hoberman (Chair, Germanic Studies)

Thomas Hubbard (Professor, Department of Classics)

S. Akbar Hyder (Assistant Professor, Department of Asian Studies, Islamic Studies Committee

Chair)

Carol Justus (Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Classics)

Lisa Kallet (Professor, Department of Classics)

Sara Kimball (Associate Professor, Department of English)

John Kroll (Professor, Department of Classics)

Lester Kurtz (Professor, Department of Sociology)

John Lamphear (Professor, Department of History)

Richard Lariviere (Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, former Director of the Center for

Asian Studies)

Janice Leoshko (Associate Professor, Department of Art and Art History)

Harold Liebowitz (Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, former Director)

Naomi E Lindstrom (Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese)

W. Roger Louis (Mildred Caldwell and Baine Perkins Kerr Centennial Chair in English

History and Culture)

Ian Manners (Professor, Department of Geography and the Environment, Former

Director of CMES)

Abraham Marcus (Associate Professor, Department of History, Former CMES Director)

Susan Marshall (Distinguished Teaching Professor, Department of Sociology)

Aloysius P. Martinich (Roy Allison Vaughan Centennial Professor in Philosophy)

Gail Minault (Professor, Department of History)

Mohammed A. Mohammed (Associate Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies,

Coordinator of Arabic Studies)

Robert W. Mugerauer, Jr. (Centennial Professor, School of Architecture)

Nader Morkus (Lecturer, Department of Middle Eastern Studies)

William Nethercut (Professor, Department of Classics)

Joan Neuberger (Associate Professor, Department of History)

Martha G. Newman (Associate Professor, Department of History)

Mary Catherine Neuburger (Assistant Professor, Department of History and Center for

Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies)

Adam Z. Newton (Jane and Roland Blumberg Centennial Professor in English, Acting

Director for Jewish Studies Program)

Thomas Palaima (Raymond Dickson Centennial Professor, Department of Classics)

Barbara Parmenter (Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture)

Ami Pedahzur (Associate Professor, Department of Government)

Glenn Peers (Associate Professor, Department of Art and Art History)

Paula Perlman (Associate Professor, Department of Classics)

Joseph Potter (Professor, Population Research Center)

Esther Raizen (Associate Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies Director)

Ellen Rathje (Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering)

Cory Reed (Associate Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese)

Ramin Saraf (Assistant Instructor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies)

Cynthia Shelmerdine (Robert M. Armstrong Centennial Professor, Department of

Classics)

Yaron Shemer (Senior Lecturer, Department of Middle Eastern Studies)

Faegheh Shirazi (Associate Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies)

Andree F. Sjoberg (Associate Professor CMES)

Stephen Slawek (Professor, School of Music)

Denise Spellberg (Associate Professor, Department of History)

James B. Steinberg (Dean, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs)

Joseph Straubhaar (Amon G. Carter Centennial Professor in Communication, Department

of Radio Television Film, College of Communication)

Madeline Sutherland-Meier (Associate Professor, Department of Spanish and

Portuguese)

S. Keith Walters (Professor, Department of Linguistics, former CMES Associate

Director)

Nina Warnke (Assistant Professor, Department of Germanic Studies)

L. Michael White (The Ronald Nelson Smith Chair in Classics & Christian Origins,

Department of Classics)

Stephen White (Professor, Department of Classics)

Karin G. Wilkins (Associate Professor, Department of Radio, Television, and Film)

Seth L. Wolitz (L. D., Marie and Edwin Gale Chair of Judaic Studies,

Department of French and Italian)

Monica Yaniv (Lecturer, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Undergraduate Advisor

in Islamic Studies, Arabic Studies, Hebrew Studies, Jewish Studies, Persian

Studies, and Turkish Studies)

Avraham Zilkha, (Associate Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Languages and

Cultures, Program Coordinator in Hebrew Studies, former CMES Assistant Director)

Emeritus Faculty

David Armstrong (Professor Emeritus, Department of Classics)

John G. Bordie (Professor Emeritus, Department of Linguistics, and FLEC)

Albert M. Chammah, (Associate Professor Emeritus, CMES)

Hafez Farmayan (Professor Emeritus, Department of History, former Director of the

Iranian Studies Program)

Robert Fernea (Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology, former Director of the

CMES, Co-founder of UT Press Middle East Series)

Elizabeth Fernea (Professor Emeritus, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, former CMES

Graduate and Ungergraduate Advisor, Co-founder of UT Press Middle East Series)

Robert Folk (Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography)

Omer Galle (Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology)

Michael Hall (Professor Emeritus, History)

Robert L. Hardgrave, Jr. (Louann and Larry Temple Centennial Professor Emeritus in the

Humanities, Department of Government and Asian Studies)

Robert Holz (Erich W. Zimmerman Regents Professor Emeritus in Geography, former

CMES Director, former Department of Geography Chair)

Mohammad Ali Jazayery (Former CMES Director, former DOALL Director, Professor

Emeritus MELC, founder of Persian Program)

W.P. Lehmann (Louann and Larry Temple Centennial Professor Emeritus in the

Humanities, Department of Germanic Studies, Founder of the UT Centers for

Middle Eastern and Asian Studies, Former CMES Director)

Carl Leiden (Professor Emeritus, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, former Associate

Director and Acting Director)

James Neely (Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology)

Edgar C. Polomé (Christie and Stanley E. Adams Jr. Centennial Professor, Emeritus,

Department of Germanic Languages, Co- founder of Department of Oriental and African

Languages and Literatures, DOALL[88])

William (Walt Whitman) Rostow[89] (Rex G. Baker, Jr. Professor Emeritus of Political

Economy, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs)

Denise Schmandt-Besserat (Professor Emeritus, Department of Art and Art History)

Antonio Ugalde (Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology)

Former Faculty[90]

Shafeeq al-Ghabra (Department of Government)

Khaled Abou El Fadl (School of Law and Instructor, MELC)

Victorine Abboud (Curriculum and Instruction Lecturer, DOALL)

Mehdi Abedi (MELC/CMES)

Saheed Adejumobi (Assistant Instructor, Center for African and African American

Studies)

Taghreed al-Qudsi (Assistant Instructor of Arabic, MELC)

Teirab AshShareef (Visiting Professor, CMES)

Aman Attieh (Senior Lecturer and Former Arabic Program Coordinator, MELC)

Persis Berlekamp (Assistant Professor, Department of Art and Art History)

Nina Berman (Associate Professor, Germanic Langs./MELC, Former CMES

Associate Director)

Carol Bertram (Visiting Lecturer, CMES and the Department of Art and Art History)

James Bill (Former CMES Director, Government)

Elizabeth Bishop (Visiting Lecturer, Department of History)

Roy B. Blizzard Jr. (Adjunct Assistant Professor, CMES and DOALL)

Mehrzad Boroujerdi (Visiting Professor, CMES)

Naima Boussofara (Assistant Instructor of Arabic, MELC)

Vincente Cantarino (Professor, Departments of Spanish and Portuguese and Oriental and

African Languages, Chairman of the Medieval Studies Program)

Gilbert Cardenas (Professor, Department of Sociology)

Donald P. Cole (Adjunct Professor, CMES)

Erwin Cook (Associate Professor, Department of Classics)

Hamid Dabashi (DOALL)

Virginia Danielson (Visiting Professor, CMES)

William Darity, Jr. (Professor, Department of Economics)

John Downing (John T. Jones, Jr. Centennial Professor of Communication, Former Chair

of the Department of Radio, Television, and Film)

Allen Douglas (Department of History)

Shifra Epstein (DOALL)

Mansour Farhang (CMES/DMES)

James Faris (Visiting Professor, Center for Middle Eastern Studies)

Sheila Fitzpatrick (Department of History, Co-Chair of Soviet and East European

Program)

Esther Fuchs (MELC, Hebrew)

Robert German (Visiting Professor of Public Affairs)

Izzat Ghurani (Visiting Professor, CMES)

Zilla J. Goodman (Assistant Professor, MELC)

James Grehan (Visiting Lecturer, History)

Akile Gürsoy-Tezcan (Visiting Professor, CMES and the Department of Sociology)

Dieter Haller (Professor, Germanic Langs. and Cultures)

Walid Hamarneh (Assistant Professor, MELC)

Fatiha Hamitouche (Visiting Professor, CMES, Center for Women’s Studies, and the

Department of Sociology)

Deborah Harrold (Visiting Professor, Department of Government)

Sherman Jackson (Assistant Professor, MELC)

Akel Kahera (Assistant Professor, MELC)

Deborah Kapchan (Associate Professor of Anthropology, former Director of the Americo

Paredes Center for Cultural Studies)

Ahmed Karimi-Hakkak (Lecturer, Department of English)

Resat Kasab (International Studies)

Mubeccel Kiray (Visiting Professor, CMES)

Güliz Kuruoglu (Associate Professor, MELC)

Daniel Laufer (Lecturer, Marketing Administration)

Walter Lehn (Professor, Department English, former CMES Director)

Hilary Waardenburg-Kilpatrick (Visiting Professor, CMES)

Fedwa Malti-Douglas (Former CMES Associate Director, MELC)

Irving Mandelbaum (Associate Professor, DOALL)

David Martinez (Associate Professor, Classics)

Khaled Mattawa (Assistant Professor, Creative Writing Department of the Department of

English)

Yair Mazor (Assistant Professor, DOALL)

Jaget Mehta (Visiting Professor of Public Affairs and Asian Studies)

Elizabeth Meyers (Department of Art and Art History)

Ahmed Ali Morsy (Visiting Professor, CMES)

Ayshegul Musallam (Assistant Instructor, DOALL)

Kristina Nelson (Department of Musicology)

Roger Owen (Visiting Professor, CMES)

Donald Quataert (Visiting Professor, CMES and DOALL)

Anne Rasmussen (Lecturer, Department of Music and CMES)

Gregory Rose (Department of Government)

Candelario Saenz (Department of Anthropology)

Tagi Sagafi-Nejad (Department of Economics)

Claudio Segre (Department of History)

Jonathan H. Shannon (Visiting Professor, Department of Anthropology)

Eisig Silberschlag (Visiting Gale Professor of Judaic Studies, CMES Research Associate)

Mark Southern (Assistant Professor, Germanic Langs.)

Robert Stookey (CMES Research Associate)

Poopak Taati (Department of Sociology)

Ramon Tasat (Department of Music)

Cem Taylan (Visiting Professor, CMES)

Esser Taylan (Visiting Scholar, MELC)

Robert Vitalis (Assistant Professor, Department of Government)

Jacques Waardenburg (Visiting Professor, CMES)

John Williams (Department of Art and Art History)

Caroline Williams (Department of Architecture/CMES)

Barbara Wolbert (Visiting Associate Professor, Germanic Langs.)

Paul Zissos (Assistant Professor, Department of Classics)

[1] “A University of the First Class,” at http://bealonghorn.utexas.edu/whyut/location/. [2] The following sources were consulted for historical information on the founding of the University of Texas at

Austin: H.Y. Benedict, “A Source Book Relating to the History of the University of Texas: Legislative, Legal,

Bibliographical, and Statistical,” University of Texas Bulletin, no.1757 (Austin: The University of Texas, October

10, 1917); Margaret Catherine Berry, UT Austin: Traditions and Nostalgia, revised edition (Austin: Eakin Press, 1992); J.J. Lane, History of the

University of Texas: Based on Facts and Records, first edition (1891). [3] This quote is taken from a speech given by O.M. Roberts, which appears on an unnumbered dedication page to

the University of Texas founder. [4] “The University of Texas Mission Statement,” at http://www.utexas.edu/welcome/mission.html. [5] “Steinberg Appointed Dean of LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin.” July 6, 2005,

at http://www.utexas.edu/opa/news/2005/07/lbj06.html [6] UT news advisory, 1999 (no longer available online). . [7] “History of the University of Texas at Austin Law School,” http://www.utexas.edu/law/about/history.html [8] “Fame! A Gallery of Longhorn Celebrities,” The Center for American History, p. 2, at

http://www.cah.utexas.edu/exhibits/UTCelebritiesExhibit/page2.html. [9] Ibid, p. 3, at http://www.cah.utexas.edu/exhibits/UTCelebritiesExhibit/page3.html. [10] John Spong, “Lawyer of the Century.” Texas Monthly, December 1999, vol.2, no.12,

at http://www.joejamail.net/Lawyer%20of%twentiethe%20Century.htm. [11] Information from this section was taken from UT President William Powers’s online letter to prospective

students, no longer available online. [12] Ibid. [13] UT Center for Middle Eastern Studies Newsletter (CMESN), no.5. [14] CMESN, no.5. [15] Interview with Dr. Robert Fernea, Professor Emeritus, The University of Texas Department of Anthropology,

Austin, Texas. March 15, 2006. [16] CMESN, no.5, front cover and second page. The newsletters began to be written and circulated in 1981. Their

pages are not numbered, thus the above citation referring to the front cover and second page. The history of the

CMES is largely unwritten outside the CMES Newsletter. This proved to be a very important document and the

author wishes to thank all those who contributed to the writing of the newsletters, and particularly to Outreach

Coordinator Christopher Rose for bringing them to my attention and very generously making them available to me.

The author also wishes to thank all those who granted interviews and gracious assistance in the completion of this

case study, particularly Robert and Elizabeth Fernea, Kamran Aghaie, and Hillary Hutchison. Some insight has

come from my own observations as a student at UT where I have been involved in graduate studies since 1996. I

would also like to thank all those for their efforts in preserving information in the CMESN over the years,

particularly Dianne Watts and Annes McCann-Baker. [17] Edward W. Said, Orientalism (New York: Random House, 1978); Edward W. Said, Covering Islam: How the

Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World (New York: Pantheon Books, 1981). [18] Robert A. Fernea and James M. Malarkey, “Anthropology of the Middle East and North Africa: A Critical

Assessment.” Annual Review of Anthropology, vol.4., 1975, pp.183-206.

[19] “Center Celebrates 25th

Anniversary,” CMESN, no.5. Fall 1985. [20] “Elizabeth Fernea Presides Over MESA Annual Meeting,” CMESN, no.8. Spring 1987. [21] Interview with Professor Elizabeth Fernea, Professor Emeritus, The University of Texas Center for Middle

Eastern Studies, Austin, Texas, March 20, 2006. [22] Dale Eickelman, Moroccan Islam: Tradition and Society in a Pilgrimage Center (Austin and London:

University of Texas Press, 1976). [23] Layla Abu Zayd, Year of the Elephant: A Moroccan Woman's Journey Toward Independence, and Other

Stories (Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1989). [24] This quote is taken from a historical sketch written by Dr. M.A. Jazayery, the CMES’s then-Director. This

account was written for the CMESN, no. 5 in the Fall of 1985 on the occasion of the 25th

anniversary of the Center’s

opening. [25] CMESN, no.4. Spring 1985. [26] According to a phone interview with Dr. Hyeer Akbar, UT Austin hopes to offer an M.A. and Ph.D. in Islamic

Studies in the very near future. Approval of these programs is in its final stages. [27] Directory of Graduate and Undergraduate Programs and Courses in Middle East Studies in the U.S., Canada,

and Abroad, “University of Texas at Austin,” at http://fp.arizona.edu/mesassoc/Directory/Texas.htm. [28] “Fernea Award Presented,”CMESN, no.30. 2004. [29] Phone interview with Professor S. Akbar Hyder, Assistant Professor of Asian Studies and Islamic Studies

Program Chair, The University of Texas at Austin. Austin, Texas, March 26, 2006. [30] “Faculty News,”CMESN, No. 8. Spring 1987. [31] “Sephardic Festival,” CMESN, no.11. Fall 1988. [32] “From the Director,” CMESN, no.16. Fall 1992. [33] “Women of the Book Conference,”CMESN, no.25. Fall 1999/Spring 2000. [34] “Outreach News,” CMESN, no.26. Fall 2000. [35] The activities of the UT CMES Outreach Program have been truly outstanding. Far from being a side

component of the Center, the Outreach Program is at the core of the Center’s mission, and fulfills the ideals first put

forth by the founder(s) of the University of Texas at Austin in their mission to provide people of all ages with

education, whether officially enrolled UT students, or local Austin school children, or older adults participating in

the SAGE program. Little has been said here about the Outreach Program due to space limitations, but students

interested in attending UT will certainly benefit from the many experiences it offers. [36] Here I assume that prospective students of Islamic civilization are particularly interested in Arabic, Persian,

Turkish, and Urdu. In this section, narrative of those programs is devoted to these languages. However, a student

interested in Hebrew may refer to the course listing appendix and the faculty listing appendix, which describes

Jewish and Hebrew studies, as well as Tajik, Hittite, and general studies in Indo-European languages at the

University of Texas at Austin. [37] CMESN, no.1. [38] Funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the University of Texas Center for Middle

Eastern Studies. [39] CMESN, no.1. [40] Ibid. [41] CMESN, no.3. [42] CMESN, no.4. [43] CMESN, no.2. [44] “From the Director,” CMESN, no.16. Fall 1992. [45] “In Memoriam,” CMESN, no.26. Fall 2000. [46] CMESN, no.3. [47] CMESN, no.1. [48] “Iranian Authors Visit Campus,” CMESN, no.16. Fall 1992. [49] “Iranian Authors Visit Campus,” CMESN, no.18. Spring 1993. [50] “Conference on Nineteenth-Century Persian Travel Memoirs,” CMESN, no.20. Spring 1994. [51] Dr. Mohsen Mirabi of Houston, with help from Mr. Behrouz Gholamrezaey who transported books from Iran to

Austin, made a donation toward purchasing a private book collection that was added to the Persian works in the

general libraries collection. (“Donation of Persian Book Collection,” CMESN, no.24. Spring 1998) [52] CMESN, no.3. [53] Ibid.

[54] CMESN, no.4. [55] Ibid. [56] Ibid. [57] “The Turkish Library Collection,” The University of Texas at Austin, at

http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~melc/index2.html#1%20TURKISH%20LIBRARY%20COLLECTION. [58] See Appendix I under Asian Studies and Urdu for a more complete course listing. [59] As an unfortunate consequence of post-9/11 security issues, students are currently encouraged to study in India

rather than Pakistan. (Phone interview with Professor S. Akbar Hyder, Assistant Professor of Asian Studies and

Islamic Studies Program Chair, The University of Texas at Austin. Austin, Texas, March 26, 2006.) [60] Proposal, U.S. Department of Education, National Resources Center and Foreign Language and Area Studies

Fellowships. CFDA no.84.015 A and B, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, The University of Texas at Austin.

November 14, 2005. [61] Ibid. [62] “Library Excellence Award,” University of Texas, at

http://www.lib.utexas.edu/vprovost/honors/lib_excel/1993.html; “Awards May 2003-May 2004,” University of

Texas, at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/vprovost/honors/awards2003-2004.html; “Middle Eastern Library Program,” University of Texas, at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/subject/melp/melp.html [63] “Library Resources Supporting Middle Eastern Studies,” informational brochure. General Libraries, The

University of Texas at Austin. November 1996. [64] Phone interview with Professor S. Akbar Hyder, Assistant Professor of Asian Studies and Islamic Studies

Program Chair, The University of Texas at Austin. Austin, Texas, March 26, 2006. [65] “Center Received Rockefeller Grant,” CMESN, no.13. Fall 1989. [66] “Library News” and “The University of Texas at Austin, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies,” informational

brochure about the CMES, CMESN, no.24. Spring 1998; Abazar Sepheri, “The Library Chronicle of The University

of Texas at Austin,” Middle Eastern Library Program at the University of Texas, v.27, no.3. 1997, pp.154-65. Other

entries on the Middle East are: Middle East, v.20, no.3. 1990, pp.14-15; Middle East Cooperative Acquisition

Program (MECAP). See PL-480 Program. [67] Ibid. [68] Ibid. [69] “Library Resources Supporting Middle Eastern Studies,” informational brochure. General Libraries, The

University of Texas at Austin. November 1996. [70] Email correspondence, Jonathan Pratter, International Law Librarian and Lecturer. Tarlton Law Library, School of Law, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas. April 12, 2006. [71] “Library News,” CMESN, no.24. Spring 1998. [72] Ibid. [73] CMESN, no.4. [74] “Arabic and Persian Translations in the New HRC Collection,” CMESN, no.12. Spring 1989. [75] Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin, at http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/. [76] The courses listed here in the bottom row were taught by Dr. Carl Leiden. He was the first University faculty

member to teach survey courses on the Middle East in 1961. He also started teaching two freshman seminar classes

which form the core of undergraduate interdisciplinary curriculum (CMESN, no.7, Winter 1986, “Carl Leiden

Retires.” [77] Within the UT History Department is a specialization in British Studies. A number of courses concerning

British Imperialism are offered through this specialization. [78] Although not many courses are currently taught in Hittite, Hittite studies may be studied individually through

conference courses. Also, the A. Richard Diebold Center for Indo-European Language and Culture at the Linguistics

Research Center of The University of Texas at Austin offers a Hittite Online Series, with an Introduction written by

Winfred P. Lehmann and Jonathan Slocum. . [79] This brief listing represents some courses offered under Islamic Studies in the 2005-06 school year. Many other

courses were listed under Islamic Studies as well but were cross-listed in other departments. [80] The “W” here indicates a course that satisfies a writing component requirement. [81] For more information on Central Asian languages, see UT’s REENIC, Russian and Eastern European Network

Information Center, http://inic.utexas.edu/reenic/index.html. [82] The italicized courses were taught by Dr. Vicente Cantarino who taught at UT from 1969 to 1986 (“Vincento

Cantarino Leaves,” CMESN, no.7. Winter 1986). He was perhaps the first instructor at UT to establish what remains

a current thread of interest among today’s faculty: the link between Islamic Spain, North Africa, and the Middle

East. This was perhaps an understudied aspect of Islamic history until scholars like Dr. Cantarino made explicit the

links between Europe and the Middle East during medieval times. This remains a topic of interest among the

following faculty today: Dr. Denise Spellberg, Dr. Matthew Bailey, and Dr. Cory Reed. This is a subject that enjoys

great interdepartmental collaborative effort through UT’s CMES, DMES, Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese, and the

Dept. of Mexican American Studies, and is the framework behind the Tracking Cultures and the Mediterranean

Crossroads Programs. [83] Currently Tajik is offered under Persian instruction to students who already possess a foundation in Persian.

Tajik courses can be tailored to a student’s needs through self-study in conference courses. Interest is growing

among students and faculty in seeing course offerings in Tajik expand. In spring 2006, UT organized its first Tajik

Week in which faculty and students organized panels on the subject of learning Tajik. For more information on

Tajik and other Central Asian languages, see UT’s REENIC Russian and Eastern European Network Information

Center, http://inic.utexas.edu/reenic/index.html. [84] This course listing for Women’s and Gender Studies is a sample of courses available. While all of the course

listed above may not focus entirely on Islam and the Islamic world, they offer important theoretical training for

students interested in gender studies in the region. [85] This Appendix draws heavily from information provided on Eureka’s

http://www.utexas.edu/research/eureka/departments/view.php?id=17, and current information available at

http://www.utexas.edu/cola/cmes/faculty/. Appendix 3 is a lengthier list of faculty members across campus with

interests in the Middle East and the Islamic world. [86] This list is based on information from CMES Newsletters no. 1through no. 30, information from the MESA

website’s program directory, http://fp.arizona.edu/mesassoc/Directory/Texas.htm, and older faculty listings in UT

online catalogs at http://www.utexas.edu/student/registrar/catalogs/ug98-00/ch13/ch13la4.html,

http://www.utexas.edu/student/registrar/catalogs/undergrad/faculty/fac-mes.html, and the UT Online Directory. This

list represents faculty who taught courses related to the Islamic world, broadly defined, and those who may have

taught some aspect of Hebrew and Judaic studies. UT does not have a directory of former faculty and the CMES

does not have a list of former faculty, so all information on past faculty was pieced together from information found

online and in the CMES Newsletters. [87] Former name of the current Department of Middle Eastern Studies: MELC, Middle Eastern Languages and

Cultures. [88] One of the former departmental names given to what has evolved into the current Department of Middle

Eastern Studies. A memorial text for Edgar C. Polomé offers interesting information about his life, and the state of

language instruction at UT in Middle Eastern languages before the CMES and DOALL were founded. [89] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Whitman_Rostow. [90] In some cases the author has listed departmental affiliation as CMES, The Center for Middle Eastern Studies,

when specific departmental affiliations were not available. In some cases, departmental affiliations were available

while their official titles and while last at UT were not.

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