e-cmes Prospective Students
Current Students
Faculty, Staff and Associates
Visiting Researchers
CMES Alumni
Reporting on Muslim Communities
CMES Community Activities at the 2009 MESA Annual Meeting
Submitted by colin_donovan on November 16, 2009 - 3:49pm.

CMES graduate students, faculty, alumni, visiting fellows, and past affiliates took part in this year's MESA Annual Meeting held November 21-24, 2009 in Boston, MA. Members of our community participated in over 40 panels during the four-day conference. CMES names are below in boldface for easy reference. For further information about the panels or the annual meeting, visit http://www.mesa.arizona.edu/annual/program.htm.

A pdf of the list (updated 11/19/09) can be printed to have hard copy in hand.

Note: We strive to include all CMES affiliates in the list.  However, the large volume of conference participants and panels presents a challenge in indentifying all who participate.  We sincerely regret if we have overlooked any of our affiliates in the process.  We would be happy to update the list if you contact us.

Contact:Kristin Brown (kebrown@fas.harvard.edu)

Session I
Saturday, November 21
5:00pm-7:00pm

(2045) Democratic Elections in Iraq: From Theory to Legal and Political Reality

Organized by Hannibal Travis

Chair: Hannibal Travis, Florida International U

Hannibal Travis, Florida International U–The Political Struggle for Mosul: Constitutionalism and Transitional Justice in the Shadow of War and Ethnosectarian Conflict
Yusri Hazran, Harvard U–The Rise of Politicized Shiite Religiosity in Iraq and Lebanon: a Comparative Perspective
Eric Davis, Rutgers U–The 2009 Provincial Elections in Iraq: Implications for Theories of Democratic Transitions in Ethnically Divided Societies

(2069) New Directions in the History of Women in Nineteenth Century Iran

Organized by Dominic Parviz Brookshaw

Discussant: Afsaneh Najmabadi, Harvard U

Nahid Mozaffari, New York U–Akhtar Khanum and Her Fellow Courtesans
Dominic Parviz Brookshaw, U of Manchester–Poetry Anthologies and Royal Histories: Sources for Writing the History of Women in Qajar Iran
Naghmeh Sohrabi, Brandeis U–The King, His Wives, the Prime Minister, and Europe: Anis al-Dawlah’s Truncated Journey to Europe and Its Aftermath

(2072) Situating Slavery in the Context of the Nineteenth-Century Middle East
Organized by Michael Ferguson

Organized under the auspices of Indian Ocean World Center at McGill University

Discussant: Eve Troutt Powell, U of Pennsylvania

Steven Serels, McGill U–Chiefs and Kadis: British Military Policy in the Sudan and the Incorporation of Indigenous Elites into the Colonial State, 1884-1905
Sarah Ghabrial, McGill U–White Fathers: Missions of Emancipation and Pedagogies of Race in Colonial Algeria
Michael Ferguson, McGill U–“Slave Religions” in Comparative Perspective: The Zar/Bori in Ottoman Lands and Candomblé in Brazil
Ceyda Karamursel, U of Pennsylvania–“Hürriyet” in the Name of the Machine: Singer Sewing Machines in the Late Nineteenth Century Ottoman Empire and the Changing Nature of the Ottoman Household

(2145) Ottoman Minority Diasporas in New England: Community Formation and Evolution

Organized by Sargon Donabed

Chair: Shamiran Mako, Wilfrid Laurier U

Gregory Christakos, Council of Eastern Orthodox Churches of Central Mass.– Ethnic Self-Identity and Ownership of Culture: Orthodox Christians in Worcester
Sargon Donabed, Roger Williams U–Evolving Identity: Religion and the Secularization of Assyrians in Massachusetts in the Early 20th Century
Michael E. Hopper, Harvard College Library–Preservation or Disappearance: Documenting the Heritage of the Assyrian Community

(2224) Geopolitics

Mehran Kamrava, Georgetown U–Re-Making the Persian Gulf: Qatar, the UAE, and the Changing Geopolitics of the Middle East
Mostafa Minawi, New York U–Ottomans and Urban: Negotiating the Extension of the Hijaz Line
Ana Torres-Garcia, U de Sevilla–U.S.Diplomacy and the North African “Sand War” (1963)
Rania Ghosn, Harvard U–The Trans-Arabian Pipeline: An Energy Infrastructure and Its Hydrocarbon Territory
Gokce Baykal, Rutgers U– Who Makes the Turkish Foreign Policy: An Analysis of the Role of Decision-Units in 1990-1991 Gulf War and 2003 Iraq War

(2255) Islam, Christianity and Judaism in the Medieval Period

Chair: Asma Afsaruddin, Indiana U

Maged S. A. Mikhail, CSU Fullerton–The Significance of Copto-Arabic Apocalyptic Literature for Middle Eastern History
Daniella Talmon-Heller, Ben-Gurion U of the Negev–Reciting the Qur’anand the Torah in the Medieval Middle East: Muslim and Jewish Attitudes and Practices in a Comparative Perspective
Lutz Richter-Bernburg, U of Tuebingen–Fatimid Period Ismailism on the Bible and Christianity
Bryan Averbuch, Harvard U– The Newly-Discovered Judeo-Persian Letter: Date, Provenance, and Historical Context

(2277) Contested Identities in the Ottoman Sphere

Chair: Carter V. Findley, Ohio State U

Rachel Goshgarian, Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center–Armenians, Armenology and the Study of the Early Ottoman Empire
Bestami S. Bilgic, Turkish Historical Society–Ankara Government and the Pontus Question, 1920-1923: A Reassessment
Ilektra Kostopoulou, Bilgi U-Bogazici U–Myth and Modernity in 19th Century Crete: Re-Creating the Locality
Karen A. Leal, Harvard U–The Overlapping Meanings of Ta’ife: A Study of Corporate Identity in Some Mid-Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Decrees
                                                                                                           

Session II
Sunday, November 22
8:30am-10:30am

(1992) State Repression and Societal Dissent in the Contemporary Middle East
Organized by Joshua Stacher

Chair: Michele Penner Angrist, Union College
Discussant: Eva Bellin, Hunter College, CUNY

Arzoo Osanloo, U of Washington–Advocacy in an Age of Reform Change: A New Politics of “Rights Talk” in Iran
Joshua Stacher, Kent State U–Egypt’s Americans & the Rebranding of Autocracy
Jillian Schwedler, U of Massachusetts, Amherst–The Repression-Dissent Nexus: Insights from Jordan
Jason Brownlee, U of Texas at Austin–Lessons of Democratization from the “Kefaya” Literature

(2179) Writing and Contesting History in Egypt and Syria in the Late-19th and Early-20th Centuries
Organized by Hilary E. Kalmbach

Chair: Charles D. Smith, U of Arizona
Discussant: Yoav Di-Capua, U of Texas at Austin

Hilary E. Kalmbach, U of Oxford, St Antony’s College–History as a Hobby in Interwar Egypt: Memoirs, Modernity and Muhammad ‘Abd al-Jawad’s Yearbook, Taqwim Dar al’Ulum
Hussein Omar, Oxford U–“And I Saw No Reason to Chronicle My Life”: Between the Autobiography and Diaries of Fathallah Barakat Pasha
Leonard Wood, Harvard U–Egyptian and Syrian Views on the Historical Relationship between Islamic and Roman Law
Nadia Bou Ali, U of Oxford–Contested Knowledge: Historiography in the 19th Century Arabic Science Journal al-Muqtataf

(2055) Ibn Asakir in Medieval Arabic Historiography
Organized by Steven C. Judd

Chair: Jere L. Bacharach, U of Washington
Discussant: Fred M. Donner, U of Chicago

Steven C. Judd, Southern Connecticut State U--Ibn Asakir's Peculiar Biography of Khalid al-Qasri
Zayde G. Antrim, Trinity College--The Politics of Place: A Comparison between Ibn Asakir’s Tarikh Madinat Dimashq and al-Khatib al-Baghdadi’s Tarikh Baghdad
Suleiman A. Mourad, Smith College--Was Ibn ‘Asakir a Hadith Scholar, Historian, or Religious Reformer?
Nancy Khalek, Brown U--Fada'il al-Sham wa-Dimashq in Ibn Asakir's Tarikh Madinat Dimashq

                                                                                                         

Session III
Sunday, November 22
11:00am-1:00pm

(2010) Changing Futures: Youth in the Middle East
Organized by Maia Sieverding and Manata Hashemi

Chair: Diane Singerman, American U
Discussant: Asef Bayat, ISIM

Arlene Dallalfar, Lesley U–Locality, Identity and Community: Jewish Youth in Iran and the United States
Manata Hashemi, UC Berkeley–The Quiet Encroachment of Young Urban Subalterns in the Islamic Republic of Iran
Maia Sieverding, UC Berkeley–The Ambivalence of Higher Education: Class Aspirations among Women University Students in Cairo

(2025) The Interplay Between Turkish Cinema and Literature
Organized by Burcu Karahan

Chair/Discussant: Cemal Kafadar, Harvard U

Sevinç Türkkan, U of Illinois–BenimAdim Kirmizi and Cenneti Beklerken: Translation? Adaptation? Or, Fluidity in Terminology?
Didem Havlioglu, U of Utah–Transformations of the Same Narrative from Ottoman Court Records to Contemporary Turkish Novel and Cinema
Burcu Karahan, Indiana U–Breaking the Illusion of Masculinity: Contrasting Perspectives in Namik Kemal’s Novels and Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Films
Sibel Erol, New York U–Fatih Akin’s Edge of Heaven: Literature as Source and Solution

(2103) Between Cooperation and Resistance: The League of Nations Mandates in the Middle East (Roundtable)

Organized by Dina Rizk Khoury and Helena Kaler

Sponsored by Syrian Studies Association

Chair: Dina Rizk Khoury, George Washington U
Discussant: Peter Sluglett, U of Utah

Max Weiss, Harvard U
Sherene Seikaly, American U in Cairo
Helena Kaler, George Washington U

(P2107) Formulations of Authority in Early Shi'i Islam
Organized by Teresa Bernheimer

Chair and Discussant: Roy Mottahedeh, Harvard U

Najam Haider, Franklin and Marshall College-Authority at the Margins: The Importance of Public Affirmations of Sectarian Identity in Kūfa from the 2nd/8th to the 4th/10th Century
Teresa Bernheimer, SOAS, University of London-‘Alidism and Political Authority: 'Alids in 9th-10th Cent. North Africa, Caspian and Yemen
Gurdofarid Miskinzoda, The Institute of Ismaili Studies-The Significance of the ḥadith on the Position of Aaron for the Formulation of Shī'ī Doctrine of Authority
Toby Mayer, Institute of Ismaili Studies-Shahrastani’s Concept of the Ahl al-Bayt as Protector’s of the Qur’an’s Higher Meanings

(2182) Contest and Order: Spatial Configurations in the Middle East and North Africa
Organized by Laryssa Chomiak and Rodney Collins

Chair: Angel M. Foster, Ibis Reproductive Health

Rodney Collins, Columbia U–‘Making Air’ in the Tunisian Coffeehouse: Transfiguration and the Socio-Spatial Imagination
Laryssa Chomiak, U of Maryland–Locating Civic Politics in Tunisia: Space, Spectacle, and Contestation
Ahmed Kanna, U of the Pacific–A Critique of Urbanist Ideology in the UAE: Starchitects, Sheikhs, and the Spatialized Death of Politics in the Gulf
Alma M. Gottlieb-McHale, The Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies,U of Notre Dame–Taking the Hilltops: A Comparative Study of Civilian Occupation

(2237) Reflections on Arab Poetry
Chair: Adel S. Gamal, U of Arizona

Jafar Muhibullah, UT Austin–Rethinking Arab Women’s Poetry
Marlé Hammond, Oxford U–The Morphing of a Folktale: Sallamat al-Qass
W. Ben Adams, U of Arizona–Guide Stars: The Celestial Clock as Interpreter of Classical Arabic Poetry
Yaron Klein, Harvard U–‘Refined’ Discourse: Inscribing Poetry on Objects in zarf Etiquette

(2294) The Ottoman Mahalle in Court Records, 17-19th Centuries, Part I: Istanbul
Organized by Betul Basaran

Chair: Betul Basaran, St.Mary’s College of Maryland
Discussant: Engin D. Akarli, Brown U

Eunjeong Yi, Seoul National U–Expulsion, Self-Protection, and Sustained Openness in the Setting of Early Seventeenth-Century Istanbul Mahalles
Richard Wittmann, Orient-Institut Istanbul–‘He Shall Be Prohibited from Disturbing the Peace in Our Neighborhood’: Non-Muslims and the Identification with Their Mahalle in the Resolution of Disputes with Coreligionists before Islamic Legal Tribunals in 17th Century Istanbul
Betul Argit, Bogazici U–Manumitted Female Slaves’ Relationship with Residents of Their Neighborhood
Betul Basaran, St.Mary’s College of Maryland–‘Unidentified’ City Dwellers and Public Order in Istanbul Neighborhoods at the End of the 18th Century
Nalan Turna, Yildiz Technical U–Public Anxieties in Early Nineteenth-Century Istanbul Neighborhoods

                                                                                                                     

Session IV
Sunday, November 22
2:00pm-4:00pm

(2022) Citizenship and Social Contracts in the Middle East and Countries with Muslim Minorities
Organized by Amelie Barras, London School of Economics

Karam Dana, Harvard U–Islam and America: Beliefs in Contradiction?
Sebnem Gumuscu, U of Virginia and Amelie Barras, London School of Economics–Amending the Social Contract with Veil in Turkey and France
Justin Gest, London School of Economics and Political Science–On the Inside Looking Out: Young Moroccans in Madrid
Claire Beaugrand, London School of Economics–Squaring the Circle in Gulf Polities: Enlarging the Rulers-Merchants Alliance without Undermining the Legitimacy of the Social Contract
Raja Abillama, CUNY Graduate Center–Articulating the Secular: The Discourses of Religious Authorities on the ‘Optional Civil Marriage Law’ in Lebanon

(2087) Shi'i Religio-Political Leadership
Organized by Robert J. Riggs

Chair and Discussant: Roy Mottahedeh, Harvard University

Zackery Heern, University of Utah-Charismatic Authority in Early Modern Shi'ism
Michaelle L. Browers, Wake Forest University-Wilayat al-Faqih and Wilayat al-Umma in Arab Shi‘i Political Thought
Robert J. Riggs, U of Pennsylvania-The Double-Edged Sword: How Khums Collection and Redistribution Creates Intellectual Diversity or Uniformity in the Shi‘i Scholarly Community
Babak Rahimi, UC San Diego-Shia Female Authority: the Case of Taleqani

(2089) Recent Trends in Late Antique Iranian Studies, Part I: Legal Structures of Iran in Late Antiquity
Organized by Parvaneh Pourshariati

Sponsored by Association for the Study of Persianate Societies

Chair: Parvaneh Pourshariati, Ohio State U
Discussant: Said Arjomand, Stony Brook U

Maria Macuch, Free U Berlin–The Clause on Property in the Pahlavi Marriage Contract
Yaakov Elman, Harvard U–The Chronology of the Sasanian Lawbook and the Fall of the Empire
Haleh Emrani, UCLA– Family Law in Religious Communities of Late Sasanian and Early Islamic Iran: An Indicator of Social Change and Continuity
Richard Payne, Princeton U–Elite Families in Crisis: Fatherless and Sonless Households in the Seventh Century Iranian World

(2232) The Performing Arts Make History

Chair: Mohssen Esseesy, George Washington U

Bilal Maanaki, Indiana U–Tradition, Modernity, and Historiography in Modern Arab Poetic Drama
Carolyn Ramzy, U of Toronto–Untold Coptic Music Narratives: Taratil and a History of Oral Resistance
Galeet Dardashti, U of Texas at Austin–Sing us a Mawal: The Politics of Culture-Brokering Palestinian-Israeli Musicians in Israel
Aleksandar Sopov, Harvard U–Singers of the Past: Oral Traditions and Historical Consciousness in the Ottoman Balkans
Carmen M.K. Gitre, Rutgers U–Performing Modernity: Theater, Politics, and the Effendi in Early-Twentieth Century Cairo
Marta Simidchieva, York U–Sadeq Hedayats “Myth of Creation” as a Cultural Commentary
                                                                                                                    

Session V
Sunday, November 22
4:30pm-6:00pm

(2060) De Tocqueville in Algeria Revisited

Organized by Elizabeth Bishop

Chair: Simone Fattal, Post-Apollo Press
Discussant: Elizabeth Bishop, Texas State U

Cheryl Welch, Harvard U–Out of Africa: Tocqueville’s Imperial Voyages

(2119) Integrating Armenians: New Sources and Approaches for Armenian History within Middle East Studies
Organized by Elyse Semerdjian

Chair: Elyse Semerdjian, Whitman College

Sebouh Aslanian, U of Michigan
Bedross Der Matossian, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Rachel Goshgarian, Krikor and Clara Zohrab Information Center

(2270) Experiencing British Colonialism in Egypt

Chair: F. Robert Hunter, Indiana State U

Lanver Mak, U of London–More than Officers and Officials: Britons in Occupied Egypt, 1882-1922
Francesca Biancani, London School of Economics and Political Science–Social Purity, Feminism and Prostitution in Cairo, 1920-1939
Nefertiti Amer, UCLA–The Irish Roots of Egyptian Nationalism
Nathan Fonder, Harvard U–Teetotalers in Cairo: The Egyptian Temperance Movement and American Prohibition
                                                                                                          

Session VI
Monday, November 23
8:30am-10:30am

(2247) Islam and Modernity I

Chair: Rola El-Husseini, Texas A&M U

Dragos Stoica, Concordia U–Do the Moderns Believe in Their Mythologies?: The Conspiracy, the Unity, the Savior and the Golden Age in the Thought of Islamic Brotherhood and The Legion of the Archangel Michael
Hina Azam, U of Texas at Austin–Conflicting Models of the Erotic in Popular Islamic Advice Literature
Malik Mufti, Tufts U–The ‘Reformist’ School in Contemporary Islamic International Relations Thought
Rainer Brunner, CNRS, Paris–Modern Discussions about the Poll-tax for Non-Muslims
Ewan Stein, U of Edinburgh–Between Local and Global: A Sociology of the Gama’a Islamiyya’s Jihad in Egypt

(2253) Medieval Courts and Princes


Chair: Colin P. Mitchell, Dalhousie U

Samuel T. England, UC Berkeley–Al-Saahib ibn ‘Abbaad’s Culture and His Cultural Capital
Kamran Talattof, U of Arizona–Ruaki’s Poetry and Samanid Culture: Wine, Nation, and Identity
Deborah Tor, Bar-Ilan U–Overweening Amirs?: Magnates and Sultan in the Late Seljuq Period
Erez Naaman, Harvard U–The Question of Literary Taste: A Close Look at the Court of al-Sahib Ibn ‘Abbad
                                                                                                        

Session VII
Monday, November 23
11:00am-1:00pm

(2101) Knowledge Production, National Identity Formation and the Modern State in Egypt
Organized by Roger Owen and AbdelAziz EzzelArab, EBHRC (AUC)

Chair: Roger Owen, Harvard U

Malak Labib, Aix-en-Provence U–The Emergence of Economic Expertise in Egypt: The Case of the Society of Political Economy, Statistics and Legislation
Farida Makar, American U in Cairo–High-School Textbooks in Egypt: Communicating a National Identity?
Atef Ali, Columbia U–Geographies of Power: Negotiating Qasim Amin’s Location
Masouda Stelzer, American U in Cairo– Cairene Youth at Foreign Educational Institutions: A Distinct National Identity?

(2276) Political Thought and Nationalism

Chair: Robert R. Sauders, Eastern Washington U

Wael Abu Uksa, Hebrew U of Jerusalem and Harry S. Truman Institute–The Arab Political Liberalism in the Last Two Decades: The Case of Hazem Saghieh
Ece Algan, CSU, San Bernardino–Mediating Turkishness between National and Global Public Spheres: Orhan Pamuk’s Nobel and Public Intellectuals in Turkey
Bruce Maddy-Weitzman, Tel Aviv U and Ofra Bengio, Tel Aviv U–Mobilizing the Diaspora: Kurdish and Berber Movements in Comparative Perspective
Yoav Di-Capua, U of Texas at Austin–Towards an Intellectual History of 1967
                                                                                                         

Session VIII
Monday, November 23
2:30pm-4:30pm

(2064) Health in the Occupied Palestinian Territory: A Growing Crisis
Organized by Penelope Mitchell, Palestinian American Research Center
Sponsored by Palestine American Research Center

Chair: Sara M. Roy, Harvard U
Discussant: Jay Schnitzer, Harvard Medical School

Rita Giacaman, Institute of Community and Public Health, Birzeit U, Occupied Palestinian Territory–Health Status and Health Services in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Marwan Khawaja, American U of Beirut–The Transition to Lower Fertility and Childhood Mortality in the Occupied Palestinian Territory
Graham Watt, U of Glasgow, UK–Medical Aid for Palestinians in the Gaza Strip
Awad Mataria, ICPH-Birzeit U–The Health Care System in the Occupied Palestinian Territory: Assessment and Agenda for Reform

(2201) Patronage and Clientelism in the Contemporary Middle East
Organized by Melani C. Cammett

Chair: Melani C. Cammett, Brown U

Ellen Lust, Yale U–Rethinking “Tribalism”: Competing Forms of Clientelism in Contemporary Jordan
Mine S. Eder, Bogazici U–Plus ca change?: AKP-Led Government and Longevity of Patronage Politics in Turkey
Melani C. Cammett, Brown U–Clientelism and Political Context: The Shifting Politics of Welfare in Lebanon
Anya Vodopyanov, Harvard U–Which Patron to Please?: Voters, Tribes, International Donors, and Government Welfare Strategies in Developing Countries

(2227) Gender, Sexuality, Representation

Chair: Simona Sharoni, SUNY, Plattsburgh

Khaled Al-Masri, Harvard U–Writing Female Sexuality in Alawiyya Subuh’s Maryam of Stories
Dina Georgis, U of Toronto–Masculinities and the Aesthetics of Love: Reading Terrorism in De Niro’s Game and Paradise Now
Ilker Ayturk, Bilkent U and Laurent Mignon, Bilkent U–Samiha Ayverdi: Paradoxes of a Turkish-Muslim Woman
Sophia Pandya, CSULB–Religious Practices of Older Yemeni Women: Continuity and Change
Kifah Hanna, U of Edinburgh–Arab Women-Gay Men: The Construction of Sexual Minorities in the Mashriq

(2233) Cultural Production in Nation Formation

Chair: Arthur E. Goldschmidt, Penn State U

Sami Shalom Chetrit, Queens College CUNY--Revisiting Bialik: A Radical Mizrahi Reading of the Jewish National Poet
Shaden M. Tageldin, U of Minnesota--The Idea of Order at Cairo: Nation-Formation and the Imperial Urge toward Translatability
Robyn Creswell, New York University--Consumption in Sonallah Ibrahim's "Zaat"
Lisa DiCarlo, Babson College--Impressions of "Ebru" as Reflections of Turkishness
Melis Hafez, UCLA--The Lazy, the Idle, and the Industrious: Discourse of Work and Productivity in Late Ottoman Society

(2249) Medieval Literature and Science

Chair: Brian J. Ulrich, Shippensburg U

Amanda Luyster, College of the Holy Cross–Kalila Goes Traveling: Foreign Fables at the Medieval French Court
Mohammad T. Alhawary, The U of Oklahoma–On Naming and the Distinction between Utterance and Referent: Al-Batalyusi’s “Modern” Linguistic Views
Bilal Orfali, American U of Beirut–The Sources of al-Tha’alibi in Yatimat al-Dahr and Tatimmat al-Yatima
Nour Kibbi, Harvard U–How the Healing is Done
Scott Savran, U of Wisconsin-Madison–Al-Mas’udi’s Account of Shapur II’s Encounter with the Sheikh: An Anachronistic Projection of Contemporaneous Themes for Didactic Ends
Ailin Qian, U of Pennsylvania–The “Doggerels” of the Maqāmāt

(2286) GIS (Geographical Information System) in Middle East Studies Part II: Working Local and Going Global
Organized by Amy Singer

Session Leader: Victor Ostapchuk, U of Toronto

John Gerring, Boston U
Amy Singer, Tel Aviv U
David Siddhartha Patel, Cornell U
Emine O. Evered, Michigan State U
Peter Bol, Harvard U
                                                                                                         

Session IX
Monday, November 23
5:00pm-7:00pm

(2040) Algeria Facing the Colonial Altar: Religious Expression and Manipulation in French Algeria

Organized by Patrick F. Collins

Sponsored by American Institute for Maghrib Studies

Discussant: James McDougall, U of Oxford

Thomas P. DeGeorges, American U of Sharjah–The Ties that Bind (or Break): Interpreting North Africa’s Islamic Heritage in the Colonial Period
Lawrence W. McMahon, Georgetown U–Gender Roles and the Algerian Islamic Nation in the Writings of the Reformist `Ulama
Benjamin Claude Brower, Texas A&M U–The Clandestine Hajj from Colonial Algeria, 1860-1954
Patrick F. Collins, U of Chicago–“Un Ennemi bien Organis”: The Association of Algerian Muslim ‘Ulama and the Competition over Religious Space in Constantine, 1947-1954

(1991) Rethinking Cosmopolitanism in Middle East Studies (Rountable)
Organized by Mario M. Ruiz

Chair: Mario M. Ruiz, Hofstra U

Will Hanley, Florida State U
Shaun Lopez, U of Washington
Eve Troutt Powell, U of Pennsylvania
Deborah Starr, Cornell U
Malte Fuhrmann
Magnus Bernhardsson, Williams College

(2043) When East Meets East: Connected and Compared Histories of Japan and the Middle East
Organized by Aleksandra Majstorac Kobiljski

Chair: Ussama Makdisi, Rice U
Discussant: Cemil Aydin, George Mason U

Raja Adal, Harvard U–The Introduction of Arabic Capital Letters and the Quest for a Modern Script: A Comparison of Egypt and Japan
Aleksandra Majstorac Kobiljski, CUNY Graduate Center–From Beirut to Kyoto: Connected History of the American University of Beirut and Dōshisha University
Renée Worringer, U of Guelph–Colonial Triangle: Egyptian Nationalists, British Occupation, and Meiji Japan in the Early 20th Century
Joshua Walker, Princeton U–Memories of Empire

(2142) Turkish-Israeli Relations: Determinants and Challenges
Organized by Noa Schonmann

Chair Yong-Bin Lee, Korea Legislative Studies Institute
Discussant: Malik Mufti, Tufts U

Noa Schonmann, U of Oxford–The Periphery Pact, Policy and Practice: Turkish-Israeli Relations, 1948-1967
Ozlem Tur, Middle East Technical U–Turkey and Israel in the 1990s: Allies of Choice or Allies of Necessity?
Cagri Erhan, Ankara U–Turkish-Israeli Relations during AK Party Governments, 2002-2009
Senay Ozden, Duke U–Understanding Turkish-Israeli Relations within the Context of Turkish-Arab Relations

(2157) Redrawing Boundaries in Transnational European Islam
Organized by Frank Peter and Ahmet Yukleyen

Chair: Jenny White, Boston U
Discussant: Jocelyne Cesari, Harvard U

Roel Meijer, U Nymegen 1–Saudi Arabia’s War on Terrorism: Rabi’bin Hadi al-Madkhali and the Transnational Campaign against Extremism (Ghuluw)
Ahmet Yukleyen, U of Mississippi–Anthropology of Islamic Knowledge in Europe: Religious Authorization among Turkish Islamic Communities
Elena Arigita, Casa Arabe–al-Adl wa-l-Ihsan in Spain: Exploring New Frames of Reference
Gonul Tol, Middle East Institute–Territorializationof Islam as a Response to Exclusion
Frank Peter, U Viadrina Frankfurt-Oder–Contextualizing a Universal Message: Muslim Brothers in France

(2170) The Formation and Transformation of Bektashi Communities
Organized by Mark Soileau

Chair/Discussant: Cemal Kafadar, Harvard U

Ayfer Karakaya-Stump, Harvard U–The Vefa’i Order, the Bektasi Order and the Making of “Heterodox” Islam in Anatolia
Mark Soileau, Albion College–The Vilayetname of Haji Bektash and the Formation of the Bektashi Order
Frances Trix, Indiana U–Survival Strategies for Bektashi Tekkes in the Western Balkans: Gjakova (Kosova), Tetova (Macedonia), Gjirokastra (Albania)
Irene Markoff, York U–Post-Socialist Bektashism and Babaism in the Eastern Rhodope Mountains of Southern Bulgaria: Towards the Reconfiguration and Revitalization of Local Spiritual Heritage and Identity
                                                                                                         

Session X
Tuesday, November 24
8:00am-10:00am

(2109) Science, Culture and Society, Part I: The Social and Cultural Practices of Commemorative Texts
Organized by Mana Kia
Organized under the auspices of Science, Culture and Society Working Group at Harvard University

Chair/Discussant: Paul E. Losensky, Indiana U

Derek Mancini-Lander, U of Michigan–Between Site and Hindsight: Muhammad Mufid Bafqi’s Jami-i Mufidi and the Presence of Things Past
Mana Kia, Harvard U–Political Loyalties and Social Ties: Historicizing Reliable Information in 18th Century Persianate Biographical Dictionaries
Kaveh Hemmat, U of Chicago–China Memorialized in Ottoman Texts
Daniel Sheffield, Harvard U–Iran, the Mark of Paradise or the Land of Ruin?: Approaches to Reading Two Parsi Zoroastrian Travelogues

(2159) Moroccan Modernity: Change and Reform in the Pre-Protectorate Period

Organized by Etty Terem
Sponsored by American Institute for Maghrib Studies

Chair/Discussant: Emily R. Gottreich, UC Berkeley

Alan Verskin, Princeton U–The Nineteenth Century Moroccan Jurists Confront the Freelance Mujahid: Early Fatwas on Resistance to French Colonialism
Wilfrid J. Rollman, Wellesley College–Becoming an Officer in the New Moroccan Army: The Life and Career of Qa’id Najim al-Akhsassi
Etty Terem, Rhodes College–‘If He Oppresses You, Be Patient; If He Dispossesses You, Be Patient’: Speaking for the Sultan in Pre-Protectorate Morocco
Jessica Marglin, Princeton U–Juridical Modernity Reconsidered: The Interplay of Muslim and Consular Legal Systems in Pre-Protectorate Morocco

(2190) Patronage and Favoritism in the Ottoman Capital of Istanbul, Late 15th Through Early 17th Centuries

Organized by Ebru Turan and Tijana Krstic

Chair: Emine F. Fetvaci, Boston U

Ebru Turan, Fordham U– Sultan Suleyman’s Favorite Ibrahim Pasha (1523- 1536) and the Remaking of Patronage Relations in the Ottoman Capital of Istanbul
Tijana Krstic, Central European U– The Patron of Protestants?: Sokollu Mehmed Pasha and the Global Confessional Politics of the Late Sixteenth Century
Gunhan Borekci, Ohio State U–Murdering the Royal Favorite of Sultan Murad III: Doğancı Mehmed Pasha and the Beylerbeyi Incident (1589) Revisited
Sooyong Kim, Bryn Mawr College–A Glance of a Patron: The Patronage and Collecting of Müeyyedzade (1456-1516)
Asli Niyazioglu, Koç U–In Search of Patrons: Atai (d.1636) and His Patrons
                                                                                                        

­­­­­Session XI
Tuesday, November 24
10:30am-12:30pm

(2004) The Professionalization of the Rival National Intelligence Services in the Middle East During World War One

Organized by Roger Owen

Chair: Roger Owen, Harvard U
Discussant: Eugene Rogan, St. Antony’s College, Oxford

Yigal Sheffy, Tel Aviv U– Birth of Modern Intelligence Revolution: The Palestine Campaign, 1914-1918
Peter Chasseaud, Independent Scholar–Spying on Gallipoli: Intelligence and the Ottoman Target
Tilman Ludke–German and Ottoman Intelligence in the Middle East during WWI: Amateurs, Activists, Professionals
Martin Thomas, Exeter U–French Intelligence Providers and the Emerging Fabric of the Colonial State in North Africa and Syria

(2092) Islamopediaonline: An Approach to Global Islamic Thinking

Organized by Jocelyne Cesari

Chair: Jocelyne Cesari, Harvard U
Discussant: Daniel Martin Varisco, Hofstra U

Emily Jane O’Dell, Harvard U–The Secularization and Manipulation of Post-Soviet Islam: Fatwas from Central Asia in Cyberspace
Shoaib Ahmed, Harvard U–Between Puritanism and Progress: South Asian Muftis on the Web
Jocelyne Cesari, Harvard U–Islam, Western Europe and the Internet
Bruce B. Lawrence, Duke U–Decentering the Muslim World and the Study of Muslim Minorities: A South-East Asian Perspective

(2112) Science, Culture and Society Part II: The Secrets of Eloquence: Linguistic Expression in Medieval Arabic Thought and Practice
Organized by Avigail Noy
Organized under the auspices of Science, Culture and Society Working Group at Harvard University

Chair: Ahmed Ragab, Harvard U
Discussant: Wolfhart P. Heinrichs, Harvard U

Alexander Key, Harvard U--Al-Rāġib al-Iṣfaghānī’s Ideals of Linguistic Excellence
Avigail Noy, Harvard U–Discourse Theory and Criticism in Early Balāgha Works: The Case of Ibn Sinān al-Khafājī’s Sirr al-Faṣāḥa
Suheil Laher, Harvard U–Imagination in Exegesis: Zamakhsharian Takhyil and Its Sunni Reception
Beatrice Gruendler, Yale U–Poets’ Communicative Choices on the Eve of Arabic-Islamic Book Culture
Elias Muhanna, Harvard U–Eighteen Words for Snow and Everything Else: Eloquence and Encyclopaedism in the Mamluk Period

(2223) Clientelism and Patronage


Joakim Parslow, U of Washington–Clientelism and Political Participation in Syria and Turkey
Katharina Lenner, Free U of Berlin–Poverty Reduction Policies in Jordan between Global and Local Discourses and Interests
Anne Mariel Peters, U of Virginia–Shadow Governments: Foreign Aid and Parallel Institutions in Iraq and South Korea
Are John S. Knudsen, Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI)–Islamic Clientelism: Hizbollah’s Patronage of the Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon
Sean Yom, Stanford U–Informal Empires: Sovereignty and Cliency in the Persian Gulf Littoral
                                                                                                         

Session XII
Tuesday, Noevember 24
1:00pm-3:00pm

(2058) Towards a History of Children and Childhood in the Middle East
Organized by Heidi Morrison

Chair: Joy A. Land, U of Connecticut - Stamford
Discussant: Beth Baron, CUNY Graduate Center

Gulay Yilmaz, McGill U–The Levied Children of the Early-Modern Ottoman Empire
Heidi Morrison, UC Santa Barbara–An Ethnography of Childhood in Egypt, 1900-1950
Avner Giladi, U of Haifa–Herlihy’s ‘Theory of Investment’ and the Sources for the History of Childhood in Medieval Muslim Societies
Nazan Çiçek, Ankara U– Miniature Adults or Innocent Angelic Creatures?: The Debate over the Definition of Childhood in Turkey in the Early Twentieth Century

(2117) Teaching About the Middle East: Engaging Students and the Public Through Identity
(Round Table)
Organized by Melinda Wightman

Chair and discussant: Alam M. Payind, Ohio State U
Discussant: Paul Beran, Harvard U
Discussant: Christopher S. Rose, U of Texas at Austin

Alam M. Payind, Ohio State U
Maggie Nassif, BYU
Barbara E. Petzen, Middle East Policy Council

(2138) Co-optation and Resistance: Indigenous Responses to Ottoman State-Building
Organized by Charles L. Wilkins

York Norman, Buffalo State College–From Soldier to Merchant: The Integration of the Bosnian Gentry into Ottoman Sarajevo, 1463-1604
Charles L. Wilkins, Wake Forest U–Ibn al-Hanbali (1502/3-63 C.E.) and the Ottoman Incorporation of Aleppo
Stefan Winter, U du Québec à Montréal–Tribalization and the Problem of “Colonial Tribes” in Anatolia and Syria, 16th-18th Century
Hülya Canbakal, Sabanci U–Late Eighteenth-Century Riots in Ayntab in Comparative Perspective
Tolga U. Esmer, Central European U–Bandits, Saints, and Ethno-Martyrs in Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Frontiers

(2181) Science, Culture and Society-Part III: Medical Knowledge in the Making-The Creation and Circulation of Medical Knowledge in the Middle East

Organized by Ahmed Ragab
Organized under the auspices of Science, Culture and Society Working Group at Harvard University

Chair: Ahmed Ragab, Harvard U

Uwe Vagelpohl, U of Warwick–In the Translator’s Workshop: Hunayn ibn Ishaq, Galen’s Commentary on the Hippocratic Epidemics and the Transmission of Galenic Medicine to the Islamic World
Ahmed Ragab, Harvard U–The Question of Anatomy: Towards a Different Understanding of the Interactions of Religion and Science in the Medieval and Early Modern Middle East
Rainer Brömer, U Mainz–Transcultural Practice of Medicine in the Ottoman Empire
Elaheh Kheirandish, Harvard U-The Medical and Ophthalmological Context of Early Arabic Optics

(2258) Voices from the Margins

Chair: Rhimou Bernikho-Canin, Santa Monica, CA

Faika Celik, McGill U–“Civilizing Mission”: Preliminary Views on Gypsies (Roma) and Late Ottoman Govermentality
Ceren Belge, Harvard U–Bureaucracy, Knowledge, and Control: Governing Minorities in Israel and Turkey
Kristen Ghodsee, Bowdoin College–The Bulgarian Headscarf Debate: Secularism and Religious Freedoms in the Balkans
Leyla Amzi, Columbia U–To Stay or to Leave: Debates on Migration in the Ottoman Empire and Bosnia during the Habsburg Occupation 1878-1914