After anthropologist Zahra Jamal presented her doctoral research to the Islam in the West research workshop last November, one of her peers, sociology student Pete Dewan, admitted he had not fully followed her analysis. At first perplexed, they soon realized their fields employ different definitions for a term. After comparing terminology, Jamal laughed and said, “This is why interdisciplinary discussions are so valuable.” This article is reproduced with the permission of the Winter 2007 Colloquy , the GSAS Alumni Magazine.

"A colleague once accused me of not being enough of a gourmet to justify writing a dissertation entitled 'Food as a Window into Daily Life in Fourteenth Century Central Anatolia.' While I believe this harsh accusation (which, translated in my native French language, would amount to nothing short of slander) is rather inaccurate, it would miss the point of my project even if it were true: my project is, in fact, simply not about food." Nicolas Trépanier gives us food for thought.

For the past 21 years, the government of Saudi Arabia has been sponsoring the annual Janadriya Heritage Festival, a two week cultural event featuring regional artisans, food, costumes, architecture, wedding rituals, and traditional music and dance. Lisa Urkevich takes us inside.

Kendi Kendine Ermenice [Teach Yourself Armenian] by H. SÜKRÜ ILICAK and RACHEL GOSHGARIAN (The Armenian Patriarchate, Istanbul, 2006; pp. 260; $14).By Hannah Louise Clark The publication of Kendi Kendine Ermenice is a major accomplishment for two CMES students, H. Sükrü Ilicak and Rachel Goshgarian.

Professor Eric Davis of Rutgers University is an acknowledged expert on modern Iraq, focusing his research not only on the current political situation, but also on the relationship between state power and historical memory. In a telephone interview with AM candidate Julia Buchmann on January 5, 2006, Professor Eric Davis responded to questions on his latest book Memories of State: Politics, History, and Collective Identity in Modern Iraq (see about the book below) as well as on the current social and political situation in Iraq.

Munir Fasheh, Director of the Arab Education Forum, overviews the program and highlights some of its recent activities.

"Doing Middle East history" means "doing" much more than the Middle East, strictly defined, and "doing" much more than history, strictly defined. Professor Cemal Kafadar, Vehbi Koc Professor of Turkish Studies, explores the changing field of History and Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard.

"A nation is known by its heroes. And in the Egyptian case there can be no doubt that the choice of Muhammad Ali Pasha as the founder of modern Egypt says many things about how Egyptians chose to understand themselves in the twentieth century." Professor E. Roger Owen, Director of the Contemporary Arab Studies Program and the A.J. Meyer Professor of Middle Eastern Studies, explores the impact of Mohammad Ali Pasha on modern Egypt.

Barbara Henson never imagined that she would remain at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies for thirty-eight years. In an interview with Hannah-Louise Clark (AM '05), she reflects on the past and the present of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies.