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 academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and science. Membership ...

, 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 teach ...

.".

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, p ...

and the

National Council of Area Studies Associations 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 ...

, and a member of the National Humanities Alliance. 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 Eve M. Troutt Powell is an American historian of the Middle East and North Africa and Christopher H. Browne Distinguished Professor of History in the Department of History at the University of Pennsylvania. She is a previous recipient of a MacA ...

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

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 th ...

'' (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 King Henry VIII in 1534, it is the oldest university press in the world. It is also the King's Printer. Cambridge University Pr ...

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 Arkans ...

. 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 liberal arts college in Claremont, California. It has a curricular emphasis on government, economics, public affairs, finance, and international relations. CMC is a member of the Claremont Colleges c ...

. 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 teach ...

(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 ...

and Fouad Ajami started Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (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, "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 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 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 Judith E. Tucker is a professor of history at Georgetown University. She was the editor-in-chief of the ''International Journal of Middle East Studies'' from 2004 until 2009. She is a past president of the Middle East Studies Association of North ...

* 2016–17 Beth Baron * 2014–15 Nathan Brown * 2013 Peter Sluglett * 2012

Fred Donner Fred McGraw Donner (born 1945) is a scholar of Islam and Peter B. Ritzma Professor of Near Eastern History at the University of Chicago.

* 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 * 2005 Ali Banuazizi * 2004 Laurie Brand * 2003 Lisa Anderson * 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 Jere L. Bacharach * 1999 Barbara Stowasser * 1998 Philip S. Khoury * 1997 Leila Fawaz * 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 Yvonne Yazbeck Haddad (born in Syria) is Professor of the History of Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations at the Prince Alwaleed Center for Muslim–Christian Understanding at Georgetown University. Her interests and focus include contemporary Is ...

* 1989 John L. Esposito * 1988 William B. Quandt * 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 * 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 * 1978 Wilfred Cantwell Smith * 1977 George Makdisi * 1976

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

* 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 Charles Issawi (1916 – 2000) was an economist and historian of the Middle East at Columbia University and Princeton University in the United States. Roger Owen (historian), Roger Owen, the A. J. Meyer Professor of Middle East History at Harvard, ...

* 1972 Malcolm H. Kerr * 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, ''Whit ...

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