Middle East Studies Association (often referred to as MESA) is a

learned society A learned society (; also learned academy, scholarly society, or academic association) is an organization that exists to promote an discipline (academia), academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and s ...

, and according to its website, "a non-profit association that fosters the study of the

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

, promotes high standards of scholarship and teaching, and encourages public understanding of the region and its peoples through programs, publications and services that enhance education, further intellectual exchange, recognize professional distinction, and defend

academic freedom Academic freedom is a moral and legal concept expressing the conviction that the freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teac ...

.".

History

MESA was founded in 1966 with 51 original members. Its current membership exceeds 2,700 and it "serves as an umbrella organization for more than fifty institutional members and thirty-six affiliated organizations". It is a constituent society of the

American Council of Learned Societies American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

and the National Council of Area Studies Associations, and a member of the

National Humanities Alliance National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

. Regions of interest to MESA members include Iran, Turkey, Afghanistan, Israel, Pakistan, and the countries of the Arab world from the seventh century to modern times. Spain, Southeastern Europe, the Soviet Union and other regions also are included for the periods in which their territories were part of the Middle Eastern empires or were under the influence of Middle Eastern civilization. Historians comprise the largest group of disciplinary specialists in MESA followed by political science/international relations, anthropology, and language and literature.

Activities

The current president is Eve Troutt Powell,

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

Publications

The International Journal of Middle East Studies The ''International Journal of Middle East Studies'' is a scholarly journal published by the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA), a learned society. See also * Middle East Research and Information Project * Association for t ...

'' (IJMES) is a quarterly journal published by

Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press is the university press of the University of Cambridge. Granted letters patent by Henry VIII of England, King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press A university press is an academic publishing hou ...

under the auspices of MESA. The editor is Joel Gordon of

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

. The ''Review of Middle East Studies'' (RoMES) is MESA’s journal of review. MESA policy has established the focus of RoMES as the state of the craft in all fields of Middle East studies. The Editor is Heather Ferguson and the journal is based at

Claremont McKenna College Claremont McKenna College (CMC) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It has a curricular emphasis on government, economics, public affairs, finance, and internat ...

. MESA has a very active Committee on

Academic Freedom Academic freedom is a moral and legal concept expressing the conviction that the freedom of inquiry by faculty members is essential to the mission of the academy as well as the principles of academia, and that scholars should have freedom to teac ...

(CAF) that has two wings: CAFMENA (Middle East and North Africa, established in 1990) and CAFNA (North America, established in 2005). Through CAF, MESA monitors infringements on academic freedom on the Middle East and North Africa worldwide. Each year CAF nominates candidates for MESA’s Academic Freedom Award. The winners are confirmed by the Board of Directors.

Controversies

In 2007,

Bernard Lewis Bernard Lewis, (31 May 1916 – 19 May 2018) was a British American historian specialized in Oriental studies. He was also known as a public intellectual and political commentator. Lewis was the Cleveland E. Dodge Professor Emeritus of Near E ...

and

Fouad Ajami Fouad A. Ajami ( ar, فؤاد عجمي; September 18, 1945 – June 22, 2014) was a MacArthur Fellowship winning, Lebanese-born American university professor and writer on Middle Eastern issues. He was a senior fellow at Stanford University's Ho ...

started

Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa The Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA) is an American learned society, dedicated to promoting research and teaching in Middle Eastern and African studies, and related fields. It was founded on October 24, 2007 by Bernar ...

(ASMEA) as a rival to MESA, as they saw MESA as "dominated by academics who have been critical of Israel and of America's role in the Middle East." In mid-March 2022, MESA voted by a margin of 787 to 167 to join the

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet what the BDS movement describes as Israel's obligations ...

(BDS) movement to hold Israel to account for alleged human rights abuses against the Palestinians. MESA's decision was criticised by the Academic Engagement Network, the AMCHA Initiative, and ASMEA.

Awards

Albert Hourani Book Award Since 1991 MESA has awarded the

Albert Hourani Book Award The Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) offers four book awards at its fall annual conference. Albert Hourani Book Award The Albert Hourani Book Award is an award honoring scholarly non-fiction books, given by the Middle East St ...

to recognize "the very best in Middle East studies scholarship". The prize is named after

Albert Hourani Albert Habib Hourani ( ar, ألبرت حبيب حوراني ''Albart Ḥabīb Ḥūrānī''; 31 March 1915 – 17 January 1993) was a Lebanese British historian, specialising in the history of the Middle East and Middle Eastern studies. Back ...

, "to recognize his long and distinguished career as teacher and mentor". Malcolm Kerr Award The MESA Dissertation Awards were established in 1982 to recognize exceptional achievement in research and writing for/of dissertations in Middle East studies. In 1984 the award was named for

Malcolm H. Kerr Malcolm Hooper Kerr (October 8, 1931 – January 18, 1984) was a university professor specializing in the Middle East and the Arab world. An American citizen, he was born and raised in Beirut, Lebanon, where he died. He served as president o ...

to honor his significant contributions to Middle East studies. Awards are given in two categories: Social Sciences and Humanities. MESA Mentoring Award Since 1996 the MESA Mentoring Award has recognized exceptional contributions retired faculty have made to the education and training of others. Jere L. Bacharach Service Award Since 1997

Jere L. Bacharach Jere L. Bacharach (born 1938 in New York) is Professor Emeritus, Department of History, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Academia Bacharach attended Trinity College, receiving his B.A. in 1960, Harvard University receiving his M.A ...

Service Award has recognized the contributions of individuals through their outstanding service to MESA or the profession. Service is defined broadly to include work in diverse areas, including but not limited to outreach, librarianship, and film.

Former presidents

The following persons have been presidents of the association:Previous Boards
/ref> * 2020-21 Dina Rizk Khoury * 2018-19 Judith E. Tucker * 2016–17 Beth Baron * 2014–15 Nathan Brown * 2013 Peter Sluglett * 2012 Fred Donner * 2011

Suad Joseph Suad Joseph ( ar, سعاد جوزيف; born 6 September 1943) received her doctorate in Anthropology from Columbia University in 1975. Dr. Joseph is Professor of Anthropology and Women and Gender Studies at the University of California, Davis and ...

* 2010 Roger M.A. Allen * 2009 Virginia Aksan * 2008 Mervat Hatem * 2007 Zachary Lockman * 2006

Juan Cole John Ricardo Irfan "Juan" Cole (born October 23, 1952) is an American academic and commentator on the modern Middle East and South Asia. Dead link; no archive located. He is Richard P. Mitchell Collegiate Professor of History at the University ...

* 2005 Ali Banuazizi * 2004

Laurie Brand Laurie Ann Brand (born February 25, 1956) is a professor of international relations at the University of Southern California School of International Relations. Professor Brand specializes in the international relations of the Middle East, includ ...

* 2003

Lisa Anderson Lisa Anderson (born October 16, 1950) is an American political scientist and the former University president, President of the American University in Cairo (AUC). Research and career A specialist on Middle Eastern and North African politics, An ...

* 2002

Joel Beinin Joel Beinin (born 1948) is Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History and professor of Middle East history at Stanford University. From 2006 to 2008 he served as director of Middle East studies and professor of history at the American Universit ...

* 2001

R. Stephen Humphreys R. Stephen Humphreys is an American historian specializing in the history of Southwest Asia and North Africa. He was the 'Abd al-Aziz al-Sa'ud Professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara and is now an emeritus professor at that inst ...

* 2000

* 1999 Barbara Stowasser * 1998 Philip S. Khoury * 1997

Leila Fawaz Leila Fawaz is a Lebanese historian and academician. She is the founding director of The Fares Center for Eastern Mediterranean Studies from 2001 to 2012. Fawaz was born in Sudan to Greek-Orthodox Lebanese parents and raised in Lebanon. She too ...

* 1996 Farhad Kazemi * 1995 Ann M. Lesch * 1994 Rashid I. Khalidi * 1993 John O. Voll * 1992 Barbara Aswad * 1991 Dale F. Eickelman * 1990 Yvonne Y. Haddad * 1989

John L. Esposito John Louis Esposito (born May 19, 1940) is an Italian-American academic, professor of Middle Eastern and religious studies, and scholar of Islamic studies, who serves as Professor of Religion, International Affairs, and Islamic Studies at Georg ...

* 1988

William B. Quandt William B. Quandt (born November 23, 1941) is an American scholar, author, professor emeritus in the Department of Politics at the University of Virginia. He previously served as senior fellow in the Foreign Policy Studies Program at the Brooking ...

* 1987 Michael C. Hudson * 1986 Elizabeth W. Fernea * 1985

Kemal Karpat Kemal Haşim Karpat (15 February 1924, Babadag Tulcea, Romania – 20 February 2019, Manchester, New Hampshire, United States) was a Romanian- Turkish naturalised American historian and professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. Earl ...

* 1984

Ira M. Lapidus Ira M. Lapidus is an Emeritus Professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic History at The University of California at Berkeley. He is the author of ''A History of Islamic Societies'', and ''Contemporary Islamic Movements in Historical Perspective'', ...

* 1983 Richard T. Antoun * 1982

I. William Zartman Ira William Zartman is Professor Emeritus at the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) of Johns Hopkins University. He earlier directed the school's Conflict Management and African Studies programs. He holds the Jacob Bla ...

* 1981

Nikki R. Keddie Nikki R. Keddie (née Anita Ragozin, August 30, 1930) is an American scholar of Eastern, Iranian, and women's history. She is Professor Emerita of History at University of California, Los Angeles. Biography Keddie was born in Brooklyn, New York. ...

* 1980 Farhat Ziadeh * 1979

Afaf Lutfi al‐Sayyid Marsot Afaf Lutfi al-Sayyid-Marsot (born 1933) is an Egyptian-born historian, professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles, who has written on the history of Egypt since the eighteenth century.Wilfred Cantwell Smith Wilfred Cantwell Smith (July 21, 1916 – February 7, 2000) was a Canadian Islamicist, comparative religion scholar, and Presbyterian minister. He was the founder of the Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University in Quebec and later th ...

* 1977

George Makdisi George Abraham Makdisi was born in Detroit, Michigan, on May 15, 1920. He died in Media, Pennsylvania, on September 6, 2002. He was a professor of oriental studies. He studied first in the United States, and later in Lebanon. He then graduated in 1 ...

* 1976

L. Carl Brown Leon Carl Brown (April 22, 1928 – April 8, 2020) was a emeritus professor, professor of history at Princeton University. Biography Brown was the Garrett Professor in Foreign Affairs, Emeritus, and professor of Near Eastern studies, emeritus, at ...

* 1975

Roderic H. Davison Roderic H. Davison (April 27, 1917March 23, 1996) was an American historian of the Middle East who taught at George Washington University from 1947 to 1993. He served as president of the Middle East Studies Association and the Turkish Studies Ass ...

* 1974 Leonard Binder * 1973 Charles Issawi * 1972

* 1971 John S. Badeau * 1970 William M. Brinner * 1969 R. Bayly Winder * 1968

George Hourani George Fadlo Hourani (3 June 1913 – 19 September 1984) was a British philosopher, historian, and classicist. He is best known for his work in Islamic philosophy, which focused on classical Islamic rationalism and ethics. Biography George Ho ...

* 1967 Morroe Berger * 1966 G.E. von Grunebaum (Honorary)

References

External links

*
The MESA Debate: The Scholars, the Media, and the Middle East
video from the debate 22 November 1986, Boston MA. Participants:

Edward Said Edward Wadie Said (; , ; 1 November 1935 – 24 September 2003) was a Palestinian-American professor of literature at Columbia University, a public intellectual, and a founder of the academic field of postcolonial studies.Robert Young, ''White ...

Leon Wieseltier Leon Wieseltier (; born June 14, 1952) is an American critic and magazine editor. From 1983 to 2014, he was the literary editor of ''The New Republic''. He was a contributing editor and critic at ''The Atlantic'' until October 27, 2017, when the ...

and

Christopher Hitchens Christopher Eric Hitchens (13 April 1949 – 15 December 2011) was a British-American author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books (including five essay collections) on culture, politics, and literature. Born and educated in England, ...

. The chairman: William H. McNeill {{authority control Middle East Learned societies of the United States Middle Eastern studies in the United States Member organizations of the American Council of Learned Societies Organizations established in 1966 1966 establishments in the United States