news2010_1221

men to see that sacred texts are living, organic instru-ments that are open to inter-pretation, open to various forms of representation, and to honest discussion across religions.

Los Angeles artist Sandow Birk is a well traveled graduate of the Otis/Parson's Art Institute. His works deal with contempo-rary life in its entirety with an emphasis on social issues including inner city violence, graffiti, politics, travel, war, and prisons, as well as surf-ing and skateboarding. He was a recipient of an Na-tional Endowment for the Arts International Travel Grant to Mexico City in 1995 to study mural paint-

(Continued on page 2)

Sandow Birk “American Quran”

November 29th marked the final lecture of the Kylan Jones-Huffman Memorial Lecture Series for the Fall 2010 semester with Califor-nia artist Sandow Birk.

Mr. Birk talked about his most recent project “American Quran” which is an ongoing hand-transcription of the entire

Quran accompanied by vivid scenes from contemporary American life. Five years in the making, this project was inspired by a decade of

Birk’s extended travel in Islamic regions of the world including the southern Philip-pines, India, and Indonesia.

Mr. Birk’s work provides a

fresh and cutting-edge ap-proach to the Quran, com-bining a social and political critique of American life through the lens of this text he regards as “sent down” to all humanity.

Birk’s placement of the Quran’s message into a con-temporary, more familiar context allowed the midship-

American Quran

Note from the Director

The 2009-2010 academic year was full of exciting international opportunities for the midshipmen and the faculty affiliated with the Center.

The Center hosted approxi-mately three dozen events including renowned film-maker and author Mark

Bowden, Dr Sameh Shoukry the current Egyptian Ambas-sador to the U.S., and two Israeli scholars from the He-brew University in Jerusalem.

Close to 100 midshipmen traveled to the Middle East and Africa on Naval Acad-emy programs including Egypt, Jordan, Senegal, Mo-

rocco, Egypt, Algeria, Israel, Malaysia, Guinea-Bissau, Djibouti, and Uganda.

The Center hosted an inter-national conference on the Middle East and Asia featur-ing scholars, government officials and military officers


Kylan Jones-Huffman Memorial Lectures • JYTTE KLAUSEN

“THE CARTOONS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD”

• ABDULRAHMAN AL-SALMI “IRAN POST-ISLAMIC REPUB-

LIC”

• LAWRENCE ROSEN “THE ARAB SELF: IMPLICA-

TIONS FOR SUICIDE BOMB-

ING, CORRUPTION, AND THE RULE OF LAW”

• SANDOW BIRK “AMERICAN QURAN”

THE CARTOONS THAT SHOOK THE WORLD

2

MIDSHIPMEN STUDY IN MOROCCO

2-3

“IRAN POST-ISLAMIC REPUBLIC”

3

STUDYING ARABIC IN ISRAEL

3-4

ARAB SELF 4

UPCOMING EVENTS 5

MIDDLE EAST STUDIES CLUB

7

NATIONAL DEFENSE UNIVERSITY OF KAZAKH-STAN

6-7

HIZBULLAH—WHAT NOW?

8

ASMEA CONFERNCE 8

NESA VISIT 8

AFFILIATED FACULTY 9

Inside this issue:

Fall 2010 Volume 2, Issue 1

U . S . N A V A L A C A D E M Y

Newsletter of the Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies

ing, a Guggenheim Fellow-ship in 1996, and a Fulbright Fellowship for painting to Rio de Janeiro in 1997.

In 1999 Birk was awarded a Getty Fellowship for painting, and a City of Los Angeles (COLA) Fellowship in 2001.

In 2007 he was an artist in residence at the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, DC, and at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris in 2008.

Mr. Birk is represented by the

Koplin del Rio Gallery in Los Angeles, Catharine Clark Gallery in San Francisco, and P.P.O.W. Gallery in New York City.

The midshipmen who partici-pated in this immersion trip included Midn 1/C Luis E. Luy, Midn 1/C Allison C. Scott, and Midn 2/C C. Lam-bard, all advanced French students and majors in Ameri-can Politics and Law, Interna-tional Relations, and Com-puter Science, respectively.

During this past summer, Dr Elizabeth Knutson, a Profes-sor of French in the Dept. of Languages and Cultures fa-cilitated a faculty-led immer-sion trip focusing on intensive French language and Moroc-can civilizations in Rabat, Morocco.

The program was hosted by Majida Bargach, a Lecturer in the Dept. of French Language and Literature at the Univer-sity of Virginia, and adminis-tered by America-Mideast Educational and Training Services, Inc. (AMIDEAST), a private, nonprofit organiza-tion created in 1951 to strengthen mutual under-

American Quran, continued

Midshipmen Study in Morocco

“The Cartoons that Shook the World” Dr Klausen explained that the violent protests to the publi-cation of these cartoons oc-curred in places where little or no free political expres-sion is permitted, and that the cartoons themselves were often misrepresented or con-fused with other cartoons published online.

Dr Klausen also discussed with Naval Academy faculty

her recent research on the origins and spread of Islam-ism in Europe.

Dr Klausen is the Lawrence A. Wien Professor of Interna-tional Cooperation at Brandeis University and is the author of multiple books in-cluding her most recent The Challenge of Islam: Politics and Religion in Western Europe (Oxford, 2005).

On September 9, Dr Jytte Klausen delivered the open-ing KJH lecture for the 2010-2011 academic year.

Dr Klausen discussed her re-cent critically-acclaimed book on the controversy that erupted over the publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad in the Dutch Jyllands-Posten news-paper in 2005.


“Air Supremacy” still from Sandow Birk’s mockumentary film In Smog and Thunder released in 2005.

standing and cooperation between Americans and Mid-dle Eastern and North African peoples.

The midshipmen studied colo-nial and postcolonial history, contemporary efforts toward modernization, human rights, and Moroccan arts and cul-ture.

Prof. Knutson reports that the midshipmen learned to avoid generalizations and appreci-ate the hybridity of Moroc-

can society. Through under-standing Moroccan culture’s unique position both in the Islamic world and Europe, the midshipmen gained deeper insight into changing migrant patterns in Europe and how those patterns affect political change within European gov-ernments.

The midshipmen also studied ethnic and cultural variations within the Muslim world, and how an ethnically diverse Morocco represents an inter-

esting challenge to Western-ers’ ordinarily monolithic view of Islam and Muslim culture.

published by the Ministry of Awqaf and Religious Affairs in the Sultanate of Oman.

Dr Abdulrahman is on the faculty at the Institute of Shariah Studies and is in charge of organizing the yearly international confer-ence hosted in Oman on Is-lamic Jurisprudence.

On September 22, Dr Abdul-rahman al-Salmi delivered a KJH lecture to roughly 100 midshipmen and faculty on the ideologies behind the revolution that established the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Dr Abdulrahman al-Salmi is the editor-in-chief of the jour-nal al-Tasamoh (“tolerance”)

In addition to his evening lecture, Dr Abulrahman con-ducted a discussion, in Arabic, for Naval Academy faculty and midshipmen.

Morocco, continued

“Iran Post-Islamic Republic”

Studying Arabic in Israel Prof. Brosh observed Israeli-Arab families adopting He-brew loan words into their otherwise Palestinian Arabic dialect.

Those families interviewed stated that certain Hebrew usages, for them, expressed a more exact meaning than their native Arabic. At times, they admitted not even to knowing the exact Arabic

word for something, but in-stead would know off-hand the Hebrew term.

This very specific Arabic- Hebrew patois used by Pal-estinian Israelis creates issues for its speakers. For example, when speaking to relatives in Jordan or on the Hajj to Mecca, these Palestinian Is-


Through funding from the Center’s curricular develop-ment grants, affiliated faculty member Professor Hezi Brosh, of the Languages and Cul-tures Department, spent con-siderable time in Israel dur-ing the summer of 2010.

He developed cutting-edge Arab language course mate-rials and platforms for future research.

Volume 2, Issue 1

“THIS VERY

SPECIFIC ARABIC-

HEBREW PATOIS

USED BY

PALESTINIAN

ISRAELIS CREATES

ISSUES FOR ITS

SPEAKERS.”

On October 7, Dr Lawrence Rosen presented a KJH Me-morial lecture to a packed room of midshipmen, faculty, and community members.

Dr Rosen is a Professor of Cultural Anthropology at Princeton University and is author of a number of books including his award-winning The Anthropology of Justice: Law as Culture in Muslim Soci-ety (Cambridge, 1989).

His lecture focused on the socio-economic factors and

cultural conditions that create communities more prone to produce young men willing to engage in martyrdom opera-tions.

According to Dr Rosen, the most critical tool midshipmen can develop in their future careers is to “connect the dots of seemingly disparate pieces of information...a com-munity’s customs, views on corruption...views on civil soci-ety and law...and form con-clusions based upon those

patterns of behavior and belief.”

Dr Rosen spent considerable time interacting with midship-men throughout his visit, in-cluding a guest appearance in a History of Religions semi-nar where he discussed land rights in modern Israel draw-ing from his legal work with native Americans.

“Arab Self: Suicide Bombing, Corruption, and the Rule of Law”

Studying Arabic in Israel, continued raelis are either misunderstood or have to carefully edit out their Hebrew usages in order to be understood by other non-Palestinians speaking Arabic.

Although it is not uncommon for cultures to engage in “code switching” to navigate differing cultural environments, Prof. Brosh feels that a new Israeli Arabic dialect is “in the making” for other sociopolitical reasons that reflect the current situation in the region.

Prof. Brosh, a specialist on Arabic, worked with his Israeli colleague, Dr Dekel, an expert on Hebrew linguistics. They both decided to collaborate on further investigation into the impact of Hebrew on the Palestinian dialect spoken by Israeli Arabs from a linguistic point of view. Their observation of both languages promises to provide fresh perspectives and new insights into emerging identities in Israel and Palestine.

Throughout the rest of the trip, Prof. Brosh collected further examples of Hebrew usages in Ara-bic and has incorporated them into his Palestinian Arabic course content so that “the students will understand the differences between Israeli Arabs, Jordanians, and Palestinians on the West Bank using of the so-called Palestinian dialect.” Gleaning deeper insight into current Arab lan-guage development further provides midshipmen a more nuanced and fuller understanding of local dialects of Arabic not ordinarily available at other institutions.

In Prof. Brosh’s assessment, the Center’s sponsorship of his trip “…demonstrates once more the importance CMEIS puts on strengthening the linkages between faculty research and under-graduate instruction. CMEIS recognizes that the professional development of the faculty is a vital component for better teaching, which in turn, leads to greater learning among our stu-dents.”


“...SO THAT

STUDENTS WILL

UNDERSTAND THE

DIFFERENCES

BETWEEN ISRAELI

ARABS,

JORDANIANS,

AND

PALESTINIANS ON

THE WEST

BANK…”

LT Kylan Jones-Huffman, USNR, died 21 Aug., 2003, in Al Hillah, Iraq while on voluntary TAD from US Naval Forces Central Com-mand in Bahrain to brief the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force. He was 31 years old.

LT Jones-Huffman was born 20 April, 1972 in Santa Cruz, CA, the son of James and Dagmar Huffman. In 1990 he graduated from the York School in Monterey, CA, and entered the Naval Academy. He was 26th Co. and graduated in 1994, having al-ready begun work on his MA in History at the University of Maryland. He was an honors graduate in History from USNA, and one of his undergraduate papers won the Phi Alpha Theta prize for the regional and an Honorable Mention in national competition.

After LT Jones-Huffman’s graduation from USNA he returned to California to marry his high school sweetheart, Heidi Jones. After completing his MA at Maryland, he reported to the USS Ingham out of Everett, WA. In 1997, he joined the pre-commissioning crew of the USS Raven inspired some his best Haiku. He returned to USNA in 1999 for two years as an instructor in the History Dept. He taught a course on the Persian Wars, and worked on preparing his prize winning Phi Alpha Theta paper and his Haiku for publication. His poetry reached print in two prominent Haiku journals and a number of on-line collections. It has since inspired a suite by a Romanian composer.

LT Jones-Huffman was broadly interested in cultures around the world and had a spectacular ability to learn languages. He spoke fluent German, Persian, and Arabic, along with some Turkish and Japanese. He had been admitted to George Washington Uni-versity’s Ph.D. program in Near Eastern Studies, where he planned to study Turkish history, shortly before his death.

Kylan Jones-Huffman, In Memorium

Volume 2, Issue 1

Upcoming Events Spring 2011

۞ Thursday 20 January: Leonard Greenspoon, Klutznik Chair in Jewish Civilization and Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations.

۞ Friday 21 January: John Calvert, Henry W. Casper, S.J. Associate Professor of History at Creighton University and author of Sayyid Qutb and the Origins of Radical Islamism (Columbia, 2010). ۞ Friday 11 February: International Symposium on Sufism. ۞ Tuesday 22 February: Dexter Filkins, foreign correspondent for the New York Times and author of The Forever War (Alfred Knopf, 2008). ۞ Tuesday 29 March: A.B. Yehoshua, renowned Israeli playwright, essayist, and author, and Professor of Literature at Haifa University. ۞ Tuesday 26 April: TBD

Joe Thomas, Lakefield Distin-guished Military Professor of Leadership and faculty affili-ate of the Center, recently provided a two-day seminar to the National Defense Uni-versity of Kazakhstan as part of NATO’s Partnership for Peace (PfP) Program out-reach to Central Asia.

This outreach is part of an ongoing effort to establish reference curricula enabling former Soviet and Warsaw Pact states to integrate with

NATO nations on matters of defense institution building, security studies, and coop-erative engagement.

Prof. Thomas teamed with Dr Al Pierce, Director of the In-stitute for National Security Ethics at National Defense University, for PfP leadership and ethics curricula.

Funding is provided, in part, by the George C. Marshall Center for Security Studies, Garmsich-Partenkirchen, Ger-many.

During the May visit, Dr Pierce discussed strategic-level ethics and moral deci-sion making in counterinsur-gencies, while Prof. Thomas focused primarily on leader-ship through periods of change, decision making in crisis, and the development of critical thinking in strategic leaders.

The key participants were senior officers in the Kazakh-stan Army and Air Force at-tending a two-year graduate

Outreach to the National Defense University of Kazakhstan

Prof. Hayden Bellenoit in the UK and India In the summer of 2010, with funding from a Center curricular development grant, Prof. Hayden Bellenoit traveled and did research in three countries over the period of 2 months.

Perhaps the most salient features of his research program were in the United Kingdom and In-dia. Unsurprisingly, these two countries share a controversially intertwined history, as reflected in Prof. Bellenoit’s research results.

In the UK, Prof. Bellenoit worked at the British Library, specifically in the India Office Collection where he was able to examine the Revenue Proceedings of the east India Company between 1803-1834. These documents offer a crucial insight into the bureaucratic development of the Company’s state in early colonial India, seeing how Company settlement officers had to ‘work with the grain’ of Indian social realities, and, importantly, employed various Hindu clerks/pensmen who served the late Mughal Empire.

Prof. Bellenoit also pursued research at the Bodleian Library in Oxford, specifically at the In-dian Institute Library where he was able to access the stacks and find valuable Persian and Urdu sources from the early 19th century which offer further insight into the roles of Hindu pensmen and gentry-state clerical service in the early periods of colonial rule.

In India, Prof. Bellenoit was able to conduct interviews with the descendants of Hindu pensmen (‘Kayasthas’) and gain valuable insight into precisely how they served the late Mughal and early British Empires, in terms of which Kayastha families were most prominent, how they ac-quired Persian, and when they started to learn English. He also stumbled across a relatively unused archival repository, the Delhi State Archives.

Prof. Bellenoit had the opportunity to share his academic work with some of the leading schol-ars of early-modern Indian history at Jamia Millia Islamia University in Delhi. He delivered a paper to an audience of roughly 60 faculty and graduate students on the topic of “Students, scribed and scholars: learning and community between empires in India, 1780-1870” and gained valuable feedback and suggestions.

Prof. Bellenoit was invited by the head of the History Department and the Vice-Chancellor of


“ALL OF THE

INSIGHTS I HAVE

GAINED FROM

MY SUMMER

HAVE DIRECTLY

GONE INTO MY

COURSES THIS

TERM…’HISTORY

OF ISLAM IN

SOUTH ASIA.’”

program on security studies in Shuschinsk in North Kazakh-stan Province. Instruction was provided in Russian (sequential interpretation), the language of inter-cultural communication in Kazakhstan.

A secondary objective of such outreach is modeling alterna-tive pedagogies to individu-als and institutions built on traditional, lecture-only edu-cational method. By using case studies and other kines-thetic approaches, PfP out-

reach encourages student engagement. Host professors and school administrators experiment with these new learning modalities and are encouraged to incorporate them into their own schools and organizations.

Success of such outreach is generally measured in terms of reported influence on the varied security studies insti-tutes in the region.

The trip was Joe’s first to Central Asia, with future trips proposed for Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan.

more than a dozen books including Approaches to the History of the Interpretation of the Quran (Oxford, 1988), The Quran and its Interpretive Tradition (Aldershot, 2001), and The Blackwell Companion to the Quran (Blackwell, 2006).

Dr Rippin spoke about the

With support from the Cen-ter, the midshipmen Middle East Studies Club sponsored Dr Andrew Rippin to speak about the Quran.

Dr Rippin is a Professor of History and Dean of the Col-lege of the Humanities at Victoria University in British Columbia. He is the author of

Quran manuscripts discov-ered in Yemen, divergent western and Islamic methods of textual analysis, and the history of the study of the Quran in the West.

Prof. Joe Thomas in Kazakhstan, continued

Middle East Studies Club

Bellenoit, continued. the Jamia Millia Islamia to have affiliation so as to have a ‘base’ whenever he returns to India.

According to Prof. Bellenoit: “It would be fair to say that my scholarship and teaching have benefitted in equal measure. All of the insights I have gained from my summer have directly gone into my courses this term...especially my HH367a course on the “History of Islam in South Asia.”

This in-depth, first-hand research on the rise of the East India Company’s bureaucratic empire, the role of Hindu pensmen, and particularly what this said about the nature of not only the late Mughal Empire but also about Muslim political power in India, are incorporated into Prof. Bel-lenoit’s lectures and reading assignments, providing midshipmen with fresh, on-the-ground per-spectives.

Volume 2, Issue 1

“IN-DEPTH, FIRST-

HAND RESEARCH

ON THE RISE OF

THE EAST INDIA

COMPANY’S

BUREAUCRATIC

EMPIRE...FRESH,

ON-THE-

GROUND

PERSPECTIVES.”

Dr Nizar Hamzeh, Dean of Humanities and Professor of Political Science at the Ameri-can University of Kuwait de-livered a lecture on “Hizbullah—Now What?” on November 10.

Dr Nizar is a world-renowned specialist on Hiz-bullah.

Drawing on his recent visits to southern Lebanon and his ongoing research, Dr Hamzeh gave a packed room of mid-shipmen updates on the cur-

rent state of Hizbullah’s or-ganization, their development of advanced weapons sys-tems, and the prospects for future conflicts arising be-tween Hizbullah and Israel.

Director Brannon Wheeler’s command brief, and LCDR Claude Berube (Political Sci-ence) delivering a brief on the “Importance of Naval Power in International Rela-tions.”

A group of midshipmen, in-cluding two who are foreign midshipmen from countries

On 25 October, the Center hosted 75 military officers and civilian officials from the 25 nations of the Middle East and South Asia attending courses at the National De-fense University’s NESA Cen-ter for Strategic Studies.

VADM Miller delivered the opening remarks followed by

represented by the NESA visitors, joined the interna-tional group for lunch and a tour of the Yard.

Hizbullah—What Now?

Near East South Asia Center

Midshipmen attend ASMEA Conference members presented their research on a panel co-sponsored by the Center.

These faculty included:

Dr Deane-Peter Baker, Leadership, Ethics, and Law, who pre-sented on “The South African Navy and African Maritime Se-curity.”

Dr Nikolaos Biziouras, Political Science, who presented on “State Capacity, Clan Politics and Piracy Entrepreneurs in Post-State Somalia.”

CDR Jeffrey Macris, History, who presented on “Britain and America’s Arrival in the Persian Gulf.”

With support from the Center and conference organizers, a group of midshipmen from the Middle East Studies Club attended the 2010 annual conference of the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa in Washing-ton, DC in November.

A group of USNA faculty also attended the conference, and three USNA faculty


ASSOCIATION

FOR THE STUDY

OF THE MIDDLE

EAST AND

AFRICA

۞ Dr. Hayden Bellenoit, History South Asia

۞ Dr. Hezi Brosh, Language Studies Arabic and Hebrew Language

۞ Dr. Thomas Burgess, History Africa

۞ Dr. Clarissa Burt, Language Studies Arabic Language and Literature

۞ Dr. Salwa Elgebaly, Language Studies Arabic Language

۞ CAPT Mark Hagerott, History South Asia

۞Dr. Wayne Hsieh, History Military History

۞ Dr. Gabriel N. Karpouzian, Aerospace Eng Contemporary Middle East

۞ Dr. Elizabeth Knutson, Language Studies Franco-Arab Studies

۞ Amb. John Limbert, CMEIS Iran and Middle East

۞ CDR Jeff Macris, USN, History Gulf and Middle East

۞ Ms. Jocelyne Owens, Language Studies Arabic Language

۞ Dr. Helen Purkitt, Political Science Africa Studies

۞ Mr. Mark Reese, DepDir, CMEIS Central Asia

۞ Dr. Sanaa Sadek, Language Studies Arabic Language

۞Dr. Thomas Sanders, History Russia and Central Asia

۞ Dr. Ermin Sinanovic, Political Science Southeast Asia and Islam

۞Dr. Joseph Thomas, Leadership Military Ethics

۞ Dr. Ernest Tucker, History Islamic Civilization and History

۞ Mr. Steve Ward, Leadership Contemporary Middle East

۞ Dr. Brannon Wheeler, Director, CMEIS Islam and History of Religions

۞ Dr. Deborah Wheeler, Political Science Contemporary Middle East

Faculty Affiliated with CMEIS

Volume 2, Issue 1

Faculty Professional Development Grants ۞Hayden Bellenoit, for study of Islam in South Asia

۞Hezi Brosh, for study of Arabic language curriculum development in Israel

۞Ernie Tucker, for the study of Islam in Central Asia (Uzbekistan)

۞Jeff Macris, for study of the British role in security of Gulf (UK, Bahrain)

۞Thomas Burgess., for study of Islam in East Africa (Tanzania and Zanzibar)

۞Ermin Sinanovic for study of Islamist political parties in Indonesia

۞Sanaa Sadek, for study of women writers and Islamist groups in Egypt

۞Deborah Wheeler, for study of food Security (Spain) and Arab Human Development (Kuwait)

۞Brannon Wheeler, for study of Islamic Pluralism (Spain) and Modern Middle East (Kuwait)

negotiating with Iran, and the early modern history of Mus-lim communities in Zanzibar.

The Midshipmen Middle East Studies Club competed in the regional and national ver-sions of the Model Arab League, stages and Iftar celebration, and organized a Nawruz celebration allowing midshipmen to learn more about the food, music, and cultural traditions of the Mid-dle East.

Attempts to expand midship-men opportunities resulted in official visits by Center-affiliated faculty to the King Fahd Naval Academy in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,

from Japan, Philippines, China, Israel, United Arab Emirates, Thailand and the Kashmir region in India.

Six new faculty members from Languages and Cul-tures, History, Engineering, and Leadership, Ethics and Law affiliated with the Cen-ter adding specialization in military ethics and history, Franco-Arabic studies, Africa studies, and Russia and Cen-tral Asian studies.

Affiliated faculty published four new books and a num-ber of articles including a study of the politics and secu-rity of the Arabian Gulf, con-flict resolution in West Africa,

the Egyptian Naval Academy in Alexandria, and the Alge-rian Naval Academy in Al-giers.

Ambassador John Limbert served his first year as the Class of 1955 Chair of Mid-dle East Studies succeeding Ambassador Akbar Ahmed who, after serving at the Na-val Academy, resumed his duties as the Ibn Khaldun Professor of Islamic Studies at American University.

Letter from Director, continued from first page

107 Maryland Avenue Annapolis, MD 21402

Phone 410-293-2993 Fax 410-293-2994 Email: [email protected]

In its fifth year the Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies continues to enhance the educa‐tional opportunities of midshipmen through supporting international and regional study, cur‐ricular innovation, fleet activities, and as a center for resources on all aspects of the Middle East and the cultures historically related to the region. Since its inception, the Center has hosted close to 100 lectures reaching an estimated 14,000 midshipmen. Faculty affiliated with the Center has grown to more than 20, from five academic departments, who have developed more than 30 new courses and traveled to dozens of countries in the region and around the world in support of their teaching.

Center for Middle East and Islamic Studies

U . S . N A V A L A C A D E M Y

Sufism Seminar. On February 11, the Center will host a one-day seminar with some of the world’s leading specialists on Sufism. The specialists will present their research and experi-ence with select groups of midshipmen, to faculty, and to the interested public.

Critical Cultural Seminars. Further enhancing current USNA course offerings, the Center is funding a series of mini-seminars focusing on regions that are of critical importance but not normally covered in regularly-taught courses. The first CCS will be held in the Spring semes-ter of 2011 on the region of the former Soviet Central Asia.

Upcoming Special Events

CENTER FOR MIDDLE

EAST AND ISLAMIC

STUDIES

Director Brannon Wheeler 410-293-6307

[email protected]

Deputy Director

Mark Reese 410-293-2990 [email protected]

Administrative Manager

Kecia Blackwell 410-293-2993

[email protected]

www.usna.edu/MiddleEast

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