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The State of Islamic Studies in American Universities - The University of Texas Case Study
The University of Texas at Austin
Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies
History of the Founding of the University of Texas at Austin
In 1839, the Congress of the Republic of Texas birthed the idea of an institution of higher
education for its residents. More than forty years later, the state legislature called for the
establishment of “a university of the first class.”[1]The University of Texas at Austin, founded in
1883, has become one of the largest and most respected universities in the nation. More than
simply found a university that would address local and regional educational needs, the University
of Texas, it was hoped, would embody the Republic of Texas’s lone star spirit, and its desire to
be unconventional, bold, and new.[2]
So dear was the idea of founding a university that it sustained a forty-year debate over the
university’s exact mission. Many influential Texans, including Sam Houston, the President of
the Republic of Texas, opposed founding a university in the East coast Ivy League tradition. Not
wanting to found a university for a select few, many argued that public funds would be better
spent on good primary and secondary education for all Texas children. This lengthy debate on
the ideals of founding a Texan university produced a tension between serving practical needs and
providing a locale where Texas students would be able to deeply study even the most esoteric
topics. Two universities resulted: Texas A&M University, which would serve to educate farmers,
ranchers, and veterinary doctors in more rural areas, and The University of Texas at Austin,
created to educate Texas youth in the humanities and sciences in the state’s capital. Oran Milo
Roberts, Texas Governor, Chief Justice, and founder of the University of Texas at Austin, said
this about the university’s mission:
[The full result from education] can only be attained by promoting all of the grades of education,
from the lowest to the highest, in harmonious cooperation adapted to the diversified wants of
every class of people, whatever may be their pursuits in life. Nor will the benefits of the
University and its branches be confined to the sons of the wealthy few. By no means will that be
so. Place the facilities of a higher education before the people of this State, make it a reality,
make it complete and cheap by a splendid endowment, and youths all over this broad land…will
stand in the front ranks of the most gifted and favored in the halls of learning, and afterwards
will adorn every sphere of life, with their brilliant accomplishments and practical usefulness[3].
This idea of inspiring students to change the world for the better is still present in UT’s core
mission: “To transform lives for the benefit of society,”[4] and is evident in the current UT
motto: “What starts here changes the world.”
A number of influential people have taught at UT Austin, among them Professor Ilya Prigogine
who received the 1977 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, and the former deputy national security
adviser to President Clinton, James B. Steinberg,[5] now the Dean of the Lyndon B. Johnson
School of Public Affairs. Dr. Steven Weinberg of The University of Texas at Austin, Department
of Physics and Astronomy, and Denise Schmandt-Besserat, Professor of Art and Middle Eastern
Studies, are listed among authors of the hundred books that have shaped and influenced the last
century of science.[6]
Notable graduates include: former Speaker of the House Sam Rayburn; former U.S. Secretary of
State James A. Baker III: former U.S. Ambassador Robert S. Strauss; former Secretary of the
Treasury Lloyd M. Bentsen, Jr.; U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison; former Secretary of Energy
Federico Peña; former presidential advisor Paul Begala; cartoonist Sam Hurt;[7] journalist Liz
Carpenter; former Peruvian president Fernando Belaúnde Terry; pop icons like Janis Joplin,
Jayne Mansfield and Farah Fawcett; Metropolitan Opera mezzo-soprano Barbara Conrad;[8]
former First Lady Claudia Taylor “Lady Bird” Johnson; CBS news anchor Walter Cronkite;[9]
Michael Dell of Dell Computers; “Trial Lawyer of the Century” Joseph D. Jamail, Jr.;[10] and
the co-founder of OPEC, Sheik Abdullah Tariki, to name but a few.
The University of Texas Today
Texas is known for its grand scale, and the University of Texas at Austin is no exception. The
“splendid endowment” that UT founder O.M. Roberts mentioned as a central component in the
building of the University of Texas at Austin has been a reality for much of the university’s
history. UT is one of the largest public universities, and one of the biggest recipients of federal
endowment in the United States. Texas offers a high-quality education for a fraction of the cost
one might pay elsewhere.
The original idea of providing an affordable education to as many students as possible is a big
factor in today’s large student body. Student enrollment in fall 2005 was 49,696 students. Of that
number, 36,878 were undergraduates, 11,391 were graduate students, and 1,427 were law
students. The university currently employs some 2,734 faculty and 19,716 staff members, and
has approximately 450,000 living alumni.[11] The University of Texas at Austin comprises
fifteen colleges and schools, with over 100 undergraduate and 170 graduate degree programs.
In a welcome letter to prospective students, UT President William Powers states that “The Times
of London ranked UT second among U.S. public universities and 15th overall in its ranking of
the world's top 200 universities.”[12] UT is a diverse campus, with student organizations
numbering more than 900. UT has students from more than one hundred countries and has made
a commitment to ensure that diversity in the student population continues to grow. Currently,
nine percent of UT students are international students.
A Brief History of Instruction on Middle Eastern Studies and the Islamic World at the
University of Texas at Austin
The history of Middle Eastern Studies and course offerings on the larger Islamic world at the
University of Texas at Austin is told through the presence of language instruction on campus.
Before the birth of area studies programs as we know them today, course offerings on language
and cultures of the Islamic world were housed in various language departments at UT.
Department names have changed many times over the years at UT, but key players in the
establishment of a concerted effort to offer instruction in the cultures and languages of the
Islamic world began in the Linguistics, Germanic Languages, Government, History, and the
Classics departments.
At the request of the local Lebanese community, Arabic instruction was offered within the
Germanic Languages department, where Dr. W.P. Lehmann was Chair.[13] At this time, Biblical
Hebrew was offered occasionally through the Classics Department and often by non-faculty
members. Survey courses of the Middle East were offered occasionally through the History
Department[14]. Concerned with the consequences of American isolationism in the post-Sputnik
era, Dr. Lehmann secured funding from a Title IV grant from the National Defense Education
Act (NDEA) created in 1958 to support the development of International Studies Centers and
Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowships (FLAS). Dr. Lehmann secured funding for both the
Centers of Middle Eastern and Asian Studies at UT, which have both grown and flourished and
become nationally and internationally prominent centers today.
According to all accounts, Dr. W.P. Lehmann is considered the founder of the current Center for
Middle Eastern Studies, and the person whose diligent efforts and hard work put UT on the list
of prominent Middle East centers. The UT Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the first efforts
to build a university-wide network of scholars on the Middle East and the larger Islamic world
began in 1960. In 1965, Dr. Robert Fernea, a new graduate from the University of Chicago’s
Department of Anthropology, became the Center’s first official Director to have a half-time post
to devote exclusively to the development of the Center. In the early days the CMES was housed
in the basement of Benedict Hall and had one part-time assistant[15]. Under Dr. Robert Fernea’s
directorship, the center was moved to a larger space and became a “full-fledged
administrative/academic unit, with expanded staff and facilities”.[16]
Dr. Fernea’s goal in developing the Center was to organize instruction around “the modern
Middle East.” Older centers had been structured around archeological paradigms of an ancient or
premodern Middle East. Dr. Fernea and colleagues in other campus departments around campus
were interested in making the center a place where students might learn about contemporary
issues relating to the Middle East and the Islamic world, so as to better understand contemporary
conflicts and search for ways to resolve them. Perhaps sensing the major paradigm shift that
would result after Edward Said’s Orientalism,[17] Fernea coauthored an article for The Annual
Review of Anthropology[18] that ends with a humorous image of an anthropologist arriving at the
site of the summit of an ancient saint shrine, to find it altogether abandoned by "natives." The
article conveys a sense of anticipation of a radical paradigmatic change in the state of theory and
representation of the Middle East and the Islamic world.
Later on, Professor Elizabeth Fernea began offering courses on women in the Middle East at the
request of the late Dr. Paul English during his tenure as Director of the UT Center for Middle
Easter Studies. While the inclusion of women’s studies within Islamic studies is somewhat taken
for granted today, at the time Professor Elizabeth Fernea began teaching her courses they were
something of a novelty. The first conference held at the University of Texas Center for Middle
Eastern Studies in 1965 was “The Conflict of Traditionalism and Modernism in the Muslim
Middle East,” and one woman was among the speakers.[19] In 1986, then-MESA President
Elizabeth Fernea helped to establish the Association for Middle East Women’s Studies
(AMEWS). At that year’s annual MESA meeting with Huda Naamani, Basima Bezergan, Salma
Jayyusi and Assia Djebar in attendance for a poetry reading, AMEWS was officially
inaugurated.[20] In part thanks to Professor Elizabeth Fernea’s pioneering efforts, women’s
studies are more fully integrated into Islamic studies today. Her own writing continues to be
translated into new languages[21] and is read in many women’s studies and social science
courses.
Professors Robert and Elizabeth Fernea helped to launch MESA, as well as the UT Press Modern
Middle East Series and the Middle East Monographs Series. Dr. Robert Fernea secured funding
to start a modern nonfiction Middle East series in hardback. The first book published in this
series was Dale Eickelman’s Moroccan Islam.[22] Professor Elizabeth Fernea later obtained
funding to publish works of Middle Eastern women and to bring the work of Middle Eastern
writers to English- speaking audiences. The first book published in this series was Layla Abu
Zayd’s Year of the Elephant,[23] which was the first Arab woman’s autobiography to be
translated into English. At the time the UT Press Modern Middle East Series was initiated, it was
the only one of its kind.
Professor Clement Henry (Government) and Professor Roger Louis (History) also did much to
shape the scope of studies focused on the Islamic world soon after CMES’s founding. A goal of
the center has been to offer coursework that viewed the Middle East and Islamic civilization
through a contemporary lens. While the Center’s affiliates in various departments offer courses
on all periods of Islamic history and civilization, there has always been a strong emphasis on
training students to think critically about how we construct the past, and how contemporary
societies in the region see their own histories vis à vis their contemporary lives.
Early Course Offerings and Degrees It is not surprising that language instruction has been a hallmark at UT, considering that the
efforts to found The Center for Middle Eastern Studies emerged from various language
departments. The CMES and then-Department of African Languages and Literature (DALL)
offered a small number of Arabic language courses and linguistics with a couple of area studies
courses. Other languages were added later. Persian courses were introduced in 1962, and Hebrew
in 1963. By 1969, languages and literatures of the Middle East had grown to the extent that the
University’s administration approved the establishment of the Department of Oriental and
African Languages and Literatures (DOALL). For the first time, the university offered
specializations in Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian. Turkish was introduced in 1971 for a short time,
and re-added on a more permanent basis in 1982.
A B.A. in Middle Eastern Studies was introduced in 1972. In 1979, an interdisciplinary M.A. in
Middle Eastern Studies was offered “primarily for persons intending to enter government,
industry, or other nonacademic, professional involvement in the Middle East.”[24] In 1985, an
M.A. and Ph.D. were added, both administered through the Department of Oriental and African
Languages and Literatures, an M.A. and a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures.
Middle East specializations in Linguistics (M.A. and Ph.D.), Comparative Literature (Ph.D.), and
Foreign Language Education (M.A. and Ph.D.) were also added later. In 1985, DOALL began to
offer a Ph.D. in Middle Eastern Languages, Literatures, and Cultures with specializations in
Hebrew, Arabic, and Persian.[25]
DOALL also then offered an M.A. in Oriental Languages, Literatures, and Cultures with the
options of specializing in areas of the Middle East (Hebrew, Arabic, Persian); South Asia (Hindi,
Sanskrit); and East Asia (Chinese, Japanese). After the CMES had operated for twenty-five
years, it had grown to offer more than two hundred courses, and had associated faculty members
in twenty disciplines throughout four colleges. In 1986, a joint degree program in Public Affairs
and Middle Eastern Studies was created. Joint degrees in Middle Eastern Studies and Law and
Middle Eastern Studies and Library Sciences were added later.
Current Degrees Offered and an Overview of How Islamic Studies and Middle Eastern
Studies are Organized at UT Austin[26]
B.A. in Asian Studies
B.A. in Asian Cultures and Languages
B.A. in Arabic Studies
B.A. in Hebrew Studies
B.A. in Jewish Studies
B.A. in Islamic Studies
B.A. in Turkish Studies
B.A. in Persian Studies
M.A. in Asian Studies
M.A. in Asian Cultures and Languages
M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies
M.A. in Persian Studies
M.A./MBNA in Middle Eastern Studies and Business Administration
M.A. in Middle Eastern Studies and Communication
M.A./J.D. in Middle Eastern Studies and Law
M.A./M.P.A. in Middle Eastern Studies and Public Affairs
M.A./M.S.I.S. in Middle Eastern Studies and Information Studies
Ph.D. in Asian Cultures and Languages
Ph.D.Ph.D. in Arabic Studies
Ph.D.Ph.D. in Hebrew Studies
Ph.D.Ph.D. in Persian Studies
In addition, students may pursue M.A. and Ph.D. degrees with a concentration in the Middle East
and greater Islamic world through other departments such as anthropology, comparative
literature, foreign language education, geography, government, history, linguistics, and
sociology.
Available Fellowships[27]
Foreign Language Area Studies (FLAS) graduate fellowships
Various University of Texas at Austin fellowships
Ann Grabhorn-Friday Fellowship in Middle Eastern Studies
Elizabeth Warnock Fernea Endowment Fellowship[28]
Teaching assistantships in the Center
Departmental Dorot Foundation travel
Grants for summer study in Israel
Hibbs Scholarship in Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures
Dan Danciger Scholarships and Rabbi Israel H. Leventhal Scholarship in Hebrew Studies
Loans and work-study through the Office of Student Financial Aid
The Center for Middle Eastern studies and Interdisciplinary Cooalboration at UT
Historically at UT Austin, there has been a department for the study of Middle Eastern languages
and cultures, and a more interdisciplinary approach apparent at the UT Center for Middle Eastern
Studies. The presence of these two approaches has allowed for an intense scholarly training for
those students who wish to pursue careers in teaching Middle Eastern studies in various
departments, as well as an interdisciplinary M.A. degree that prepares students for other careers
that might require a general overview of Middle Eastern history and politics outside of academia.
The two entities have a great deal of overlap and cooperation and many courses cross-listed in
different departments across campus.
Rather than follow a prescribed model, students are exposed to salient paradigms in various
disciplines, and in the end, their education will have benefited from a very flexible,
interdisciplinary approach.[29] Today, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies and the Department
of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures are both housed in the West Mall Building.
A distinctive interdisciplinary approach in teaching languages and cultures of the Islamic world
is combined with an important collaboration with scholars of Hebrew and Jewish history and
culture, and Christian history and culture. While this piece focuses specifically on those
developments related to the Islamic world in broad terms, to separate the Islamic component
from the Jewish and Christian facets of instruction and collaborative efforts that occurred at UT
would be misrepresentative, and contradict the spirit of the CMES and the Department of Middle
Eastern Studies. Islamic studies is but one component of the dynamic region of the Middle East
and the Islamic world, and there has been a sustained interest in showing how different
languages and religions overlap and borrow from each other. Two programs have come about as
a result from this perspective, the Tracking Cultures Program and the Mediterranean Crossroads
Program. Both programs include travel to multiple countries on different continents with a focus
on examining how different ethnic, linguistic, and faith communities have interacted historically.
Individual faculty and staff members have also integrated this approach with their own research
and outreach efforts. For example, Professors Liebowitz and Epstein conducted research on
regional variation in Texas and Mexico on Sukkah and the Feast of Tabernacle.[30] The
University of Texas at Austin hosted a Sephardic Festival in 1988,[31] and later a major lecture
on the Sephardic Legacy on the 500th
Anniversary of the expulsion of Jews from Spain.[32] A
“Women of the Book” conference, organized by Elizabeth Fernea in 1998, examined the ways
that Jewish, Christian, and Muslim women’s spheres of experience overlap.[33]
This same spirit defines the UT CMES Outreach Program, which has been very actively engaged
with the Austin public since the Center’s founding in 1960. In the summer and fall of 2000, the
Outreach Program organized a Summer Teacher’s Institute, “Faith, Culture, and Identity:
Teaching about Religion Today,” that brought together thirty middle and high-school school
teachers from all over the state of Texas. A similar Summer Institute was held in 2001: “World
Cultures through the Arts.”[34] Current Outreach Program Coordinator Christopher Rose speaks
widely on various topics on the Middle East at different events throughout Austin. Hillary
Hutchison, in her capacity as CMES Executive Assistant, spoke to the Austin Interfaith
Ministries about faith traditions in the Middle East.[35]
For students who appreciate this flavor of atmosphere, UT is an ideal place to study. For those
interested in an academic environment specifically focused on Islamic studies, they will not be
disappointed in UT. The University of Texas at Austin has a very broad array of course offerings
in different departments and faculty with a wide array of interests, so much that almost any
student, no matter what his or her interests, will feel at home.
Language Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin[36]
Arabic Instruction in the Arabic language has always been a cornerstone of the University of Texas
Middle East program. Many UT instructors have played an important role in developing ideas
about the teaching of Arabic at other U.S. institutions and abroad.[37] The University of Texas at
Austin is very happy to welcome Mahmoud al-Batal and Kristen Brustad to its Arabic program.
Authors of the widely adopted Arabic text, al-Kitab fii Ta’alum al-‘Arabiya, their expertise and
successful teaching strategies will certainly secure UT’s place among the best institutions in the
world for studying Modern Standard Arabic.
The University of Texas at Austin was one of the first to promote the use of computer-aided
technology in Arabic instruction. In 1982, Dr. Victorine Abboud developed a program to teach
intermediate level Modern Standard Arabic.[38] She helped build a Computer Assisted
Instruction (CAI) Lab, which was then housed under the DOALL. She added this technological
component to the language lab that she had helped found in 1971.[39]
In 1982, Dr. Peter Abboud was selected to organize and direct the School of Arabic at
Middlebury College, Vermont, marking the first time that Middlebury offered its summer Arabic
program.[40] Dr. Abboud successfully established the Arabic summer program at Middlebury,
which continues to be an important center for the study of Arabic. Both Dr. Peter Abboud and
Victorine Abboud continued to lead the Middlebury Summer Arabic program in 1983.[41] After
Dr. Victorine Abboud’s death in 1985, Dr. Peter Abboud completed her CAI program for
teaching intermediate Arabic, one of the first of its kind in the country.[42] Dr. Abboud’s early
Arabic textbook, and later editions co-authored with Dr. Aman Attieh, have been widely used in
the teaching of Modern Standard Arabic in the U.S. and abroad. Dr. Mohammed A. Mohammed
added an important component of Arabic linguistics to the UT Arabic Program, and Dr. Samer
Ali’s classes on Arabic translation and pre-Islamic poetry are among the most popular courses
among students today. Students with topics ranging from pre-Islamic texts to Islamic Spain,
modern-day Egypt, and beyond will find a score of resources and support in UT Austin’s Arabic
program.
In addition to Arabic courses offered during the academic year, the CMES and DMES offer
comprehensive courses in the summer through the Summer Language Consortium Program. First
called “The Middle East Summer Institute,” the summer language program began in 1983, and
focused on teaching Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian and courses in Middle Eastern politics, culture,
and history.[43] It was co-sponsored by the Consortium of Western States Universities (The
University of Denver, the University of Utah, and Portland State University). When it began in
1983, nearly one hundred students attended from UT, Princeton, the University of Arizona,
University of Michigan, and the University of Pennsylvania. The Institute was the only one of
two summer programs that offered both Arabic and Hebrew. The program, now called The
Summer Language Institute of the Western Consortium of Middle East Centers,[44] has grown
and today continues to be a positive experience for students who chose to do summer language
study in the U.S.
Persian As mentioned earlier, the study of Persian at UT predates both the CMES and the DMES. The
Persian program at UT was formally started by the late Dr. M.A. Jazayery. He had a great
interest in the work of Ahmad Kasravi and was considered one of the foremost experts in
Kasravi studies.[45] UT’s current offerings and instruction have been greatly shaped by Dr.
M.A. Jazayery, Dr. M.R. Ghanoonparvar (both graduates of UT Austin), and Michael Hillmann,
who also teaches Tajik. Dr. M.R. Ghanoonparvar, current Director of the Persian Studies
Program, has a special interest in twentieth-century Persian literature, comparative literary
history and criticism, and the methodology and practice of literary translation.
Dr. Jazayery, in keeping with the Center’s emphasis on the modern Middle East, conducted
research on language reform in Iran during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries during the
Pahlevi period and between opponents and proponents of language reform.[46] Persian
instruction at UT has thus mainly focused on modern Persian. In the early days of the CMES,
funds from the Iran-America Foundation, after its dissolution following the Iranian Revolution,
were given to the UT Press to support scholarly works in Iranian Studies.[47]
During the course of the Persian Program at UT over the years, a great number of international
conferences have been organized, bringing together many leading figures in Persian and Iranian
studies. Persian fiction writer and literary critic Hushang Golshiri[48] visited a UT conference,
“Iranian Literature in Exile,” which featured speakers like Manoucher Parvin and Sattareh
Farman Farmaian.[49] A later conference, “Nineteenth-Century Persian Travel Memoirs,”[50]
was held at UT attracting scholars from around the world.
The UT Austin Persian Program has benefited greatly from generous contributions from local
and regional Iranian donors who have made important library acquisitions possible[51] (see
library holdings below). Persian Studies at UT are supported by experienced faculty and unique
resources in terms of reference materials and a dynamic relationship with the local community.
Turkish
In fall 1983, after a ten-year lapse, UT began to offer beginning Turkish under the supervision of
Dr. John Bordie (FLEC) and Assistant Instructor Ayshegul Musallam, under the auspices of
DOALL.[52] At this time plans were also made to expand Turkish studies the following year to
offer second-year Turkish. Students with some familiarity in Turkish were also able to study
Uzbek through DOALL[53] and Azeri later on. In 1985, the University of Texas began to offer
more Turkish courses and secured funding to do so from the U.S. Department of Education and
the Institute of Turkish Studies. Dr. Donald Quataert offered courses in Turkish history and
Abraham Marcus offered a course in Ottoman history.[54] At this time, the CMES organized
lectures and exhibits for the UT community and local community on topics relating to Turkey
and Turkish culture.[55] Funding from the Institute of Turkish Studies also helped in acquiring
important Turkish-language reference works for the University’s Middle Eastern Collection.[56]
Professor Yildiray Erdener is the current Turkish Program Coordinator. His distinctive approach
to teaching Turkish comes from his background in folklore, ethnomusicology, and his own
experiences as a musician. He has developed very unique teaching resources and a textbook on
teaching Turkish through folksongs.[57] Professor Erdener also does a great number of
conference courses with graduate and undergraduate students in a variety of different fields. He
has also maintained a very active study abroad program with Bogaziçi University in Istanbul.
Urdu The Urdu program is organized through the UT Center for Asian Studies. Urdu has been taught
over the years at UT at various levels since the founding of the Center for Asian Studies in 1960.
Courses in Urdu are currently taught from the beginning level through the fourth year. Starting in
2000, with the arrival of Professor S. Akbar Hyder, the Urdu Program has consistently offered all
levels to students every semester. Students who want to go beyond the fourth year may also take
advanced courses in Urdu literature on topics as diverse as the Sufi traditions of Southeast Asia,
devotional literature, and the contemporary Urdu novel.[58] Dr. Gail Minault, who specializes in
the history of India and Pakistan, women's history, and the history of Islamic art, also teaches
courses on women's writings in Urdu.
The Urdu program at UT strongly encourages students to study Urdu abroad for a year in
Lucknow, India.[59] Although a degree in Urdu is not currently available, students majoring in
Asian Studies or Asian Cultures and Languages at the B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. levels will certainly
be able to incorporate study of Urdu into their course program.
Library Resources at the University of Texas at Austin
According to a proposal[60] recently made by the UT Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the UT
Library System is ranked “the fifth largest academic library in the country.”. With combined
Title VI and institutional funding, the CMES has built the general libraries' Middle East
Collections, which rank among the top ten in the U.S. In the 2004-2005 academic year, close to
5,000 items were acquired in Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, Turkish, and Azeri. Monographs and
bound periodicals currently total 379, 041 (Arabic 88,309; Hebrew 38,425; Persian 40,863;
Turkish/Ottoman Turkish 11,867; Azeri 3,107; and Western languages 196,470). Other holdings
include: 2,761 serials; 10,805 microforms; 1,020 musical recordings; 1,401 films/videos/DVDs;
53,500 slides; and 12,717 digitized slides in a searchable database.[61]
The libraries’ holdings are to a great extent the efforts of Abazar Sepheri, who worked as the
lead Middle Eastern librarian for more than twenty-five years since 1975.[62] In addition to
traveling widely throughout the world acquiring resources for UT, Seperi consulted with a
number of librarians, scholars, and government officials. He also acted as consultant for an
Azerbaijani Romanization table for the Library of Congress, and taught Azerbaijani for the
Center for Middle Eastern Studies using unique teaching aids he developed for the new Latin
alphabet.
The UT collection focuses specifically on the contemporary Middle East, and has important
holdings in the areas of modern Persian and Arabic literature, hadith, works on Shi’ism
published in Iran, a complete collection of works by and about Ahmad Kasravi, Islamic
philosophy and jurisprudence, a microfilm set of rare Zaydi manuscripts from Yemen,[63] and a
great number of resources on a wide variety of topics in Urdu.[64] The University of Texas also
has one of the nation’s largest vernacular collections in Arabic, Hebrew, and Persian literary
materials[65].
Mr. Sepheri also dedicated a great amount of effort in expanding the collections’ Turkish and
Azeri holdings, which include a nearly complete set of periodicals “unique in the country,” many
of which are not held by any other library in the U.S.[66] UT holdings also include a unique
collection, the Development Communication Archive, which was donated by the U.S. Agency of
International Development.[67]
Volumes of census records from Middle Eastern countries are housed at the Population Research
Center.[68] The Center for Middle Eastern Studies Resource Center houses a number of
important works, as well as a large film and music collection. The Fine Arts Library also houses
a vast CD collection of musical traditions from virtually every corner of the Islamic world.
Other important resources can be found in the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center and
the Joseph D. Jamail Center for Legal Research.[69] While the former houses rare and older,
historically important documents, the latter[70] is actively collecting contemporary works on
Islamic law in English, French, and German.
The Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center Dubbed the “Bibliothèque Nationale of the only state that started out as an independent nation,”
the Harry Ransom Center has become one of the foremost American research centers. In addition
to its Middle Eastern holdings and resources on the Islamic world in the general library
collections, the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center also contains a number of rare,
unique documents related to the Middle East.[71] Among the Center’s holdings are personal
papers of T.E. Lawrence, Paul Bowles, Freya Stark, Richard Burton, and many others.[72]
Professor Roger Louis, who began teaching at UT in 1970 in the Department of History, served
as the curator of historical collections in the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center from
1985.[73]In spring 1989, the University acquired 68 rare volumes, some written by and others
belonging to Sir William Jones, the well-known eighteenth-century English linguist.[74] Funds
to acquire the Sir William Jones Collection came from the Dean’s Office in the College of
Liberal Arts, the Harry Ransom Research Center, and the General Libraries. The collection spans
Sir Jones’s career, including his working copy of The Moallakát, the name given to the Seven
Odes that hung in the temple of Mecca, considered to be some of the most important work in the
cannon of pre-Islamic poetry. The collection also includes Sir Jones’s translation of a Persian
manuscript brought to England by Christian VII of Denmark, Ta’rikh-i-Nadiri, or Histoire de
Nader Chah.
For students and researchers interested in accessing the HRC’s collections, a user-friendly
searchable database has been established. Detailed information, down to the contents of every
box and file, is available online.[75]
The University of Texas Outreach Program
One very special feature of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies is its extensive outreach
program. Like the University of Texas in general, the center’s concern for integrating the
university with the local Austin community is a primary distinguishing characteristic, and an
endeavor in which much effort and care is placed.
The Center's outreach program, which began in the mid-1970s, is a national leader in the field.
The outreach staff maintains resources in the Center’s Resource Center, which contains a
collection of 4,000 English-language books and reference works, some 10,000 slides, and
hundreds of journals, films, musical recordings, and curricular materials, organizes conferences,
speaks at local schools, develops curricular modules for teaching, and organizes film festivals
and musical concerts. The University of Texas Middle East Network Information Center (UT-
MENIC), established by the Center in 1994, provides the world's most thorough directory of
online information on the Middle East, with links to hundreds of databases. UT-MENIC receives
over two million hits a year.
Living in Austin
Austin is consistently voted one of the nicest places in the U.S. to live. For any prospective
student of the Middle East and Islamic world, of Muslim background or not, Austin is indeed an
ideal place to live. Austin’s unique title as “the live music capital of the world” makes the city an
exciting place, and the world music and Middle Eastern music performances are consistently
original and of very high quality. The Center for Middle Eastern Studies has successfully
brought Middle Eastern music to the UT campus and the larger Austin community. The UT
Austin Performing Arts Center has also brought well-known and musicians who represent
various regions of the Islamic world to UT. Austin is home to many international restaurants and
markets, art museums, and local interfaith festivals and interfaith musical ensembles that make
Austin a wonderful place to live for the student of the Middle East and Muslim world.
The longstanding reputation of instruction in these areas at UT has inspired a loyal local base of
supporters, some former students, who put their education to use in a number of creative and
surprising ways. Muslim communities from nearly every world region live in or around Austin,
and there are several mosques in the local area that organize their own cultural programs for
Muslims and non Muslims. The combination of excellent and varied instruction at UT, local art
and music events, cultural and gastronomic festivals, well-established Muslim and Jewish
communities, as well as Middle Eastern and Mediterranean Christian communities, make Austin
a living laboratory of contemporary life in a globalized and diasporic world.
Appendix I
Current and Past Courses Taught at the University of Texas at Austin
Anthropology (Cultural) Courses are grouped together in similar topics.
Intro. to African Pre-History; Archaeology of African Thought
The Cultural Construction of Masculinity; Body Theory
Anthropology of Islam
Films: An Anthropological Perspective; Art, Politics and Identity
Peoples and Cultures of the Mid. East
Migration: The Case of Germany; Photos of First Generation Immigrants
Jewish Folklore;Fundamentals of Folklore; Bodylore
Race and Ethnicity in the Mid. East
Colonialism and Post-Colonialism in the Mid. East
Mid. East. Magic, Religion, and Lore
Class and Gender in the Mid. East
Intro. to India; Music of India; Identity, Power & Resistance in South Asia; Cultures of
Southeast Asia
Anthropological Perspectives of the Middle
East and North Africa
Gypsy Language & Culture
Religion and Society in the Mid. East
Anthropology of the Middle East and North Africa
Postcolonial Aesthetics and the Question of Authenticity
Middle Eastern and South Asian Government
Arabic(Modern Standard, Elementary through Advanced, and Colloquial Levantine Also see
Lit.) Arabic for Native Speakers
Colloquial Arabic; Levantine Arabic I, II; Egyptian Arabic I, II
Modern Standard Arabic
(Beginning through Advanced)
The Arabic Press: Readings and Analysis
Classical Arabic Texts
Translating Arabic Texts
Conf. Course in Arabic Studies
Conf. Course in Mid. East. Langs. and Cultures
Arabic Readings and Grammar I, II
Intro. to Arabic Lit.
Conf. Courses in Arabic Lang. and Lit.
First- Year Arabic I, II; Second-Year Arabic I, II
Advanced Spoken Media Arabic I, II
Conf. Course in Arabic Lang. & Lit.
Advanced Readings in Arabic I, II
Loyalty/Rebellion in Arab Lit.
Honors Tutorial Course
Classical Islamic Studies
The Arabian Nights
Arab Women Poets
The Qur'an
Aramaic:
(Also see Lit.)
Biblical Aramaic
Conf. Course in Mid. East. Langs. and Cultures
Archaeology Fundamentals of Field Archaeology; Intro. to Archaeological Analysis
Greek Archaeology Survey
Cultural Ecology
Village Life and the Development of Urbanism
Irrigation/Water Control Systems
Ceramic Technology
Intro. to Archaeological Studies: Prehistoric Archaeology
Intro. to Archaeological Studies: Egypt, Near East, Greece, and Rome
Architecture Art and Architecture of Islamic Spain and North Africa
Housing and Culture
The Islamic City
Islamic Art and Architecture
Sacred Geometry and Decorative Tiling
Art History (Some courses have been grouped together where appropriate)
Art in the Age of Hadrian
Diversity of Traditions: Indian Art 1200-1900
Art of Late Antiquity
Art of Ancient Sumer
Frames and Framing
Religion, Magic and Art in the Ancient Near East; Technology and Art in the Ancient Near East;
Art as Power: The Ancient Near East; Art of Kings: The Ancient Near East
Intro. to Islamic Art;
Sacred Spaces and Spatial Practices in Islam; Sacred Spaces and Pilgrimages Sites in the Mid.
East
The Art of the Book of Islam; Symbols and Origins of Writing;
Interface Between Writing and Art in the Mid. East; Text and Image in Islamic Royal Illustrated
Manuscripts
Roman Imperial Art; Roman Architecture; Hellenistic Art and Architecture
Monumental Sacred and Secular Architecture in Islam
Non-Muslim Art in Islamic Lands; Jewish Ceremonial Arts in Arab Lands; Crusader Art
Houses in Islamic Cities; Palaces and Palatial Spaces in Islam
Real and Imagined Oriental Spaces
Byzantine Art and Architecture; Byzantine Image Theory; Byzantine History and Art
Asian Studies (Courses in similar topics grouped together. Also see Lit.)
Ancient India;
Religions of Ancient India and Iran
Muslim India Before 1750
Intro. to Traditional Music in World Cultures
Medieval Lit. of Northern India
Politics and the Novel in South Asia
Intro. to Devotional Lit. of India
Contemporary India; Intro. to India
History of Religions of Asia
European Expansion in Asia; European Empires in Asia; European Imperialism: British Empire
Intro. to the Study of Religion; Intro. to Comparative Religion
Identity, Power and Resistance in S. Asia
Muslim Women: Past/Present; Women in South Asian Societies; Feminist Theory.
Intro. to the History of India
Storytelling in India
Religion, Violence and Non-Violence
South Indian Cultural History
Government and Politics of South Asia: Political Parties and Elections in South Asia; Politics in
India.
Diasporas, International Migration and Development
Sufism and Islamic Mysticism
Cultures of Southeast Asia
International Relations of East/Southeast Asia
Globalization and Indian Society
Gypsy Lang. and Culture
Senior Seminar in Asian Studies
Research in Asian Studies
India's Nonconformist Thinkers
Philosophies of India
Historical Traditions in India
Transmission of Knowledge in South Asia
Afghanistan: Religion, History, and Politics
Culture of Food in India
Business and Marketing International Marketing
Intentional Marketing and Management
Business in Emerging Markets
International Business Fellows Seminar
Doing Business in the Arab World; Doing Business in Israel
Classics (See Art, Middle Eastern Studies, History, Geography, and Literature.)
Communication Intro. to International Communication
International Communication
The Media and the Mid. East
Mid. East. and Asian Cinema
Comparative Media Systems in a Global Context
Israeli Cinema and Television
Communication and Transition in the Middle East
Development Communication
Media and Social Change
Economics Development Economics
Islamic Finance
Comparative Economic Systems
Seminar in Economic Systems
Studies in World Economic History, 1750-1900
The Economics of the Mid. East and North Africa
Economic History of the World, 1900-Present
Geography Seminar in Resources and Conservation
Geographies of Conflict
Geography of the Mid. East
The Mid. East. City
Resources and Environment in the Mid. East
Mapping the Mid. East
Pastoralism in the Mid. East
Cultural Adaptation and Change
Maps and Map Interpretation
Geo-Archaeology
Research in Remote Sensing of the Environment
Remote Sensing of the Environment
Geography and Religion
Issues in Mid. East. Geography
Cultural Ecology, Irrigation, and Settlement in pre-Islamic Egypt
Historical Geography of Axumite to Early Modern Ethiopia
Research in Geography (M.E.)
Muslim Minorities in Christian Spain
Desert Ecology
Government (Similar courses grouped together)
U.S. Security and Foreign Policy
U.S. Policy in the Middle East
U.S. Foreign Economic Policy
International Security-W
Arab-Israeli Politics
U.S. Immigration Policy in Comp. Perspective; Comp. Political Behavior; Democratization in
Comp. Perspective
Terrorism in the U.S. and Abroad
Authoritarianism in the Middle East-W
Globalization and Trade
Politics of Regime Change
The United States and the Middle East
Intro. to International Relations
State Sovereignty and Human Rights- W
Introduction to the Middle East
Global Change: Regional Response
Understanding the Cold War-W
U.S. Policy in the Middle East
America and the World; America and World Affairs
Governments and Politics of Russia
Politics of the Middle East and North Africa
International Political Economy
Politics of India
International Conflict
Competing Visions of Good Life
Studies in Asian Politics
Political Economy of the Middle East
Political Order and Organized Violence
British History, Literature, & Politics
Military in Politics
Theoretical Foundations of Modern Politics-W
Politics of New Democracies
Government Research Internship - D C
International Political Economy
News Media as a Political Institution
Honors Tutorial Course
Politics in the Middle East [76]
Assassination and Terrorism: The Political Dimensions; The Politics of Assassination
The Transition from Traditionalism to Modernism in the Muslim Middle East
Economics and Politics of Petroleum
Hebrew (Modern Israeli, Elementary through Advanced, and Biblical. Also see Lit.).
Biblical Hebrew; Biblical Hebrew: Isaiah
Talmudic Lit.: Text and Lang.; Readings in Biblical Hebrew Prose and Poetry
Advanced Readings in Modern Hebrew
Conf. Course in Hebrew Lang.; Conf. Course in Hebrew Studies
Hebrew via Popular Culture
Conf. Course in Mid. East. Langs. and Cultures
History[77] (Courses are grouped together in similar topics.)
Africa: A Visual Journey; Modern Africa; Modern African Intellectual Traditions; The Hist. of
Africa Since 1800: African Muslims in Ante-Bellum America; Intro. to Traditional Africa;
Decolonization of Brit. Empire; Imperialism: Empire-Globalization; 19th
-Century Europe; 19th
-
Century Military Hist.; Imperialism: New Imperial Hist.; Imperialism & Nationalism in the Mid.
East; Hist. of French Colonialism; Adventure, Exoticism, & Imperialism.
Gender in Islamic Hist.; Women & the Family in the Hist. of Islam; Women in Islamic
Societies; Hist. of Women/Development in 20th
-century Africa; Gender & Militarization in the
Arab World.
Intro. to Modern Africa; Globalization & African Politics; Intro. Conf in African Hist.
Imperialism;
Hist. of the Jews to Medieval Times, Jewish Life in Medieval Europe; Modern Israel; Jews &
Judaism Since 1492
Arabia & the Indian Ocean World; Historical Traditions in India; Transmission of Knowledge in
South Asia; South Asian History; Migration between Middle East and South Asia
The Ancient Mediterranean World; Rome & Jerusalem; Intro. to Ancient Greece; Intro. to
Ancient Rome; Ancient Seafaring; Ancient Hist. to 146 B.C.; Greek & Roman Numismatics;
Humanism in Ancient World Civilizations; Hist. of Rome: The Republic; Hist. of Rome: The
Empire
Intro. Mid. East: Rel/Cul/Hist Fnd; Hist. of the Arab World; Intro.Mid. East: Adj/Chg Mod.
Tmes; Muslim Culture & Mid. East, Past/Pres.; Conf. Course in Medieval Islamic Hist.;
Foundations of Classical Islamic Civilization; Hist. of the Arab World; Intro. Conf. Crs. Mid.
East Hist; Meth. & Thry. in Mid. East Stds;
The Premodern World; Making the Early Modern World Adventures in World Hist.; Medieval
Points of View; Power & Authority in the Mid. Ages
The Bible & Hist.; The Dead Sea Scrolls; Judaism, Christianity, & Islam; The Crusades
Balkan Hist. Since 1453;
Minorities in East. Europe;
Ethnic Conflict in Balkans.
Hist. of the Ottoman Empire; Ottoman Egypt & Syria, 1516-1918.
Religious Sectarianism & Civil Violence in the Modern World
Hittite & Mycenean Civilization; Indo-Euro. Lang. & Culture
Modern Islam: Its Hist. & Political Dynamics in the Modern States of the Mid. East;
20th-Century Egyptian Soc/Polit/Thought; The Radicalization of the Middle East in the 20th
Century
Hist. of Iran to 1800; Modern Iran; The Islamic Revolution of Iran, 1978-88
Islamic Spain & North Africa to 1492; Cultures in Contact in Medieval Spain; Muslim
Travelers; Islam in Europe & America
Medieval Islam: Faith & Hist.; Islamic Historiography; Sufism & Islamic Mysticism; Seminar
on Ibn Khaldun; Modern Islam; Prophet of Islam: Life/Times; Islamic Historiography: The Old
World & the New; Books, Libraries, Civ. to 1500
Intellectual Hist. of Indo-Iranian Islam; Modern Iranian Hist. & Historiography
Euro. Imperialism: The Brit. Empire, the Mid. East, & India; Conf. Course in Brit. Imperialism
in the Mid. East; Controversies in the Hist. of Imperialism.
Nationality & World Hist.; Making Nationalism in Mid. East; State & Society in the Mid. East,
1700-1920
The U.S. & the Mid. East; Diplomatic Hist. of U.S. since 1890; U.S. Diplomatic Hist.; Cold
War; America & the World
Musical Cultures of the Middle East
Hittite[78]
Indo-European Lang. and Culture
Conf. Course in Mid. East. Langs. and Cultures
Islamic Studies[79]
Judaism, Christianity & Islam
Veiling in The Muslim World
Introduction to Islam
Muslim Women: Past/Present I
Conference Course in Islamic Studies
Honors Tutorial Course; Honors Tutorial Course-W[80]
Classical Islamic Studies- W
Introduction to Arabic Literature
Prophet of Islam: Life/Times
Sufism and Islamic Mysticism
Loyalty/Rebellion in Arab Literature
The Arabian Nights
Arab Women Poets
The Qur'an
Liberal Arts/Humanities Humanities: Colonial Outsider Honors-W
Liberal Arts Honors: Rethinking Religion in the 21st Cent.
Linguistics Translation: Theory, History, and Practice (Hebrew/English)
Northwest Semitic Epigraphy
Translation: Theory, History, and Practice (Hebrew/English)
Gypsy Lang. and Culture
Pre-Islamic Mid. East. Civilizations
Comparative Semitic Langs. and Cultures
Concepts in Judaic Culture
Lang. and Identity
Lang. and Society in the Mid. East
Sociolinguistics
Literature (and Comparative Lit./ English.):
Survey of Hebrew Lit.; Archetypal Stories in the Bible; Israeli Children's Lit.; Yiddish Lit.; 20th
-
Century Jewish Literature
Persian Lit. Since the Revolution; Nima Yushij and Modernist Persian Poetry; Hedayat: 20th
-
Century Persian Prose Fiction
East Meets West: Modern Arabic Fiction; Modern Arabic Lit.; The Modern Arabic Short Story;
The Arabic Novel Since 1967; Najib Mahfuz: Realistic Arabic Fiction; The Arabian Nights in
World Lit. and Culture
Hebrew Love Poetry; Modern Hebrew Poetry; Modern Jewish Poetry and Prose; Honors
Seminar: Russian and Jewish Comic Novel.
Hafez and Classical Persian Poetry; Rumi's Poetry
Sociology in Contemporary Arab Thought; Contemporary Arab Culture
Songs of the Land of Israel
Images of the West and Westerners in Persian Lit.;
Iranian Travel Lit.
Film and Drama Arab Cinema; Film Adaptations of Israeli Lit.; Iranian Film and Fiction; Iranian Drama; Yiddish
Drama and Film
Women and Gender Mid. East Feminism: Theory and Practice; Self-Revelation in Women's Writing; Images of
Women in Modern Arabic Fiction Women and Gender in Judaism; Jewish Women's Writing;
Iranian Women Writers
Lit. and Human Rights
Honors Seminar: World Lit.
History, Romance, Nation
Autobiography: Modern Lit. Species
The Comic Novel in Three Traditions
Colonial and Resistance Literature of the Middle East and Africa
Political Representation in the Afro-Asian Novel
The Golden Age in Spain
Ancient Indo-European languages, linguistics, and literatures
Wisdom Lit.
Lit. and Culture of the Crusades; Race in the Mid. Ages
The Blind Owl
Mid. East. Studies/Interdisciplinary Studies Theory and Practice of Literary Translation; Translation: Theory, History, Practice
Intro. to Jewish History and Culture; Intro. to Jewish Studies; Concepts in Judaic Culture
Intro. to Mid. East: Religion/Culture/History; Cultural and Historical Foundations (570-1453);
Mus. Cul. Mid East, Past/Pres;
Lang & Nationalism in the Mid. East; Lang. and Politics in Lang. Planning
Sacred & Secular in Jewish Lit. from France, Israel, & US; Intro. to Israeli Lit.; Love/State in
Contemp. Israel; Israel's Political Culture; Aggadah: Legends of The Jews;
Intro. to Arabic Lit.; Cont. Afr. Francophone Lit.; The Arabian Nights; Loyalty/Rebellion in
Arab Lit.
Methods and Theory in Mid. East. Studies; Mid. East Sts.: Approaches/ME THS; Cultural
Studies: Theory and Methodology
Jewish Communities of the Mid. East and North Africa; Ethnic and Social Israeli Cinema;
Jerusalem in Israeli Lit. and Cinema;
Intro. to Islam; The Qur'an; Islam in Europe and America; Sufism and Islamic Mysticism; Islam
Spain/N. Africa to 1492; Prophet of Islam : Life/Times; Classical Islamic Studies; Islamic
Historiography
Muslim Women: Past and Present I; Intro. to Women's Studies: The Humanities; Gender
Inequality: Comparative Perspectives; Gender Politics in the Islamic World; Veiling in the
Muslim World; Arab Women Poets; Iranian Women Writers; Gender and Militarization in the
Mid. East and N. Africa; Women in Scripture;
Iranian Cinema
History of the Arab World
Globalization in the Mid. East and N. Africa; Environment and Development in the Mid-
Religions of Ancient India and Iran; Modern Iranian History and Historiography;
European Imperialism: The British Empire, India, Mid. East, & Africa
East; Cross-Border Water Management; Suicide Terrorism; Making Nationalism in the Mid.-
Movements of the Modern Mid. East: Trans-nationalism
20th-Century Egyptian Soc/Polit/Thought
East; Politics of Regime Change;
Conf. Course; Honors Tutorial Course
Indo-European Lang. and Culture
Authoritarianism in the Mid. East; Military in Politics; State & Society in the Mid. East; Politics
of Mid. East and North Africa; Radicalization of the Mid. East.
Survey of Exile in Hebrew Literature; Bible to the Present; The Sacred and the Secular in Jewish
Literature from France, Israel, and the U.S.; Mizrahi Writing in Israel; Love and the State in
Contemporary Israeli Literature; Post-Zionist Perspectives in Israeli Literature and Film;
Postmodernist Israeli Literature; Jerusalem in Israeli Literature
Rome and Jerusalem;
Core Graduate Seminar in Mid. East. Studies
Master's Report
The Dead Sea Scrolls; Ecclesiastes: Scroll of Qohelet;
Supervised Teaching in Mid. East. Studies
Thesis
Topics in Medieval Art
Pract: Internship in applied MES
Social Transformation of Love/Relationships
International Business Fellows Seminar; Business in Emerging Markets
MES Special Interdisciplinary Programs (below)
Mediterranean Crossroads Seminar;
Mediterranean Crossroads Study Abroad Seminar; Mediterranean Crossroads Conf. Course
Tracking Cultures Seminar; Tracking Cultures: Study in Morocco and Spain; Tracking Cultures
Conf. Course
Music Intro. to Popular Music in World Cultures
Music Cultures of Turkey and Central Asia
Intro. to Traditional Music in World Cultures
Ethnographic and Analytical Methods in Ethnomusicology
Music Cultures of the Mid. East: Past and Present
Improvisation in Cultural Perspectives
Persian (Standard, Elementary through Advanced Avaston, Old Persian, Pahlavi (Also see Lit.).
Spoken Persian
Persian-English Translation
Hafez and Classical Persian Lyric Poetry
Conf. Course in Persian Lang. and Lit.
Persian Newspaper Reading
Iranian Cinema
Conf. Course in Persian Studies; Conf. Course in Persian Lang. and Lit.
Iranian Women Writers
Conf. Course in Mid. East. Langs. and Cultures
Political Science Arab-Israeli Politics
Social Transformation in the Gulf Region
The U.S. and the Mid. East
Political Trends and Stability in the Gulf Region
Civil Society and Citizenship in the West and Mid. East
Military in Politics
Intro. to Comparative Politics
Comparative Political Economy: Mid. East, Latin America, Asia and Africa
Comparative Political Economy of Globalization
Politics of the Mid. East and North Africa
Political Economy of the Mid. East and North Africa
Politics of Oil
Soldiers and Politics in Comparative Perspective
International Environmental Policy
The Peace Process in the Mid. East
Comparative Political Economy of Globalization
Islam and Democracy in the Mid. East and North Africa
(Honors Seminar) Civil Society and Citizenship: Comparing Western and
Mid. East. Experiences
(Honors Seminar) Civil Society and the Internet
Israel's Political Culture
Gender and Power in Comparative Context
Public Affairs Fundraising and Proposal Writing for Mid. East. Projects
Public Policy Issues in the Mid. Eat after the Peace Accords
Environment Resource Management
Resources and Politics in the Middle East
Demographics of the Middle East
Water Resources and Development in the Mid. East
Trade and Transportation Corridors in the Mid. East
Religious Studies and Philosophy Jesus in History and Tradition
Intro. to Islam
Jewish Ethics
The Rise of Christianity
The Qur'an
Intro. to the Hebrew Bible
Paganism to Christianity
Prophet of Islam: Life and Times
Biblical Prophecy
Jesus in History and Tradition
Sufism: History and Doctrines
Jews in the Graeco-Roman World
Religion in the Social Context: Paul and Plutarch
Popular Iranian Rituals and Traditions
Intro. to the Philosophy of Religion
Honors Seminar: Jesus in History and Tradition
Practice of Islam in America
The Bible in Philosophy and Lit.
Religions of the Ancient Near East
Islamic Studies: Theory, Method, and Historiography
Honors Seminar: On Matters of Life and Death
Intro. to Classical Mythology
Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies[81]
Eastern Europe in the 20th Century
Comparative Economic Systems; Seminar in Economic Systems
Intro. to Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies
Political Economy of International Crisis
Russian Cinema
Hist. of the Jews in Russia and Eastern Europe; Modern Jewish Fiction; Staging the Jew in
European Culture
Governments and Politics of Eastern Europe; Governments and Politics of Russia; Hist. of
Russia To 1917; Stalinist Russia;
Causes of War
[Balkan] Nationalism in Lit. and Film; Balkan History Since 1453; Ethnic Conflict in the
Balkans
Understanding the Cold War; Regions and Cultures of Europe; Geography of the Former Soviet
Union
Force and Politics; Military in Politics
Gypsy Language and Culture
19th-Century Europe
Chechnya: Politics/Power/People
Minorities in Eastern Europe
Sociolinguistics (also see Lit. and Linguistics)
The Poetic Art of the Bible
Translation: Theory, History, and Practice
Research in Socio-Linguistics
History of the Hebrew Lang.
Lang. and Politics in Lang. Planning
Turkic Cultures and Langs. in Central Asia
Origins of Indo-European Lang. and Culture
Lang. and Cultures
Lang. Planning: Revival and Decline
Sociology Intro. to the Study of Religion
Sociology of the Mid. East
Peace and Conflict
Mid. East. Sociology Through Film
Social Change in Developing Nations
Sociology of Love and Intimacy
Migrations in the Mid. East
The Cultural Meanings of the Hijab: (Veiling) in the Muslim World
Sacred-Ceremonial Textiles: Rites of Passage in Muslim Societies
Gender, Clothing and Identity in Muslim Societies
The Sociology of Islam
Analytical Demography
Population and Society
General Approach to the Study of Population
Demography of the Mid. East
Demography of Labor Force
Sociological Perspectives on the Mid. East
Eastern States
Health and Development in the Third World
Global Social Theory
International Migration
Spanish and Portuguese[82]
Ibn Zaidun, Ibn Arabi
Spanish Orientalism in the Literature of the 18th and 19th Centuries
Civilization and Culture of Spain
Textos poeticos y estudio
History of the Spanish Language: Old Spanish
Entre Monjes y Musulmanes
Syntax of Modern Arabic Prose
Spanish Medieval Literature to 1369
El conflicto que fue Espana
Arabic Poetics
Qasidas de amor, profano y mistico
Tajik[83] (Also see Lit.)
Conf. Course in Mid. East. Langs. and Cultures
Basic Tajik
Turkish (Elementary through Advanced)
Conf. Course in Turkish Lang. and Lit.
Conf. Course in Mid. East. Langs. And Cultures
Turkish I, II, III
Musical Cultures of Turkey and Central Asia
Honors Tutorial Course, Honors Tutorial Course-W
Urdu (Elementary through Advanced. (Also see Lit.)
Practice in Spoken Urdu I, II
Practice in Spoken Urdu I, II
First Year Urdu, Second Year Urdu, Third Year Urdu, Fourth Year Urdu
Partition in Urdu Lit. and Film
Conf. Course in Mid. East. Langs. and Cultures
Progressive Urdu Literature
Urdu Aesthetics
Female Voices in Urdu Lit.
Islam in South Asia
Love and Devotion in Urdu Literature
The Sufi Traditions
Women’s and Gender Studies[84]
Gender and Politics in the Islamic World
Asian American Sexualities
Sociology of Sexualities
Love and State in Contemporary Israeli Literature
Communication Technologies and Gender
Sociology of the Family
Intro. To the Qur’an
Gender, Sexuality, and Migration
Special Topics in Race: Nation and Citizen
The U.S. and 3rd
-World Feminisms
Women in the history of Political Thought
Sociology of Gender
Mass Media and Minorities
Women and the News
Contemporary Issues in Domestic Violence
Feminist Theories in Comparative Literature
Feminist Theory Field Seminar
Feminist Theory
Feminist Theory and Performance
Gender in Higher Education
Methods for Cultural Studies Topic: Cultural Memory and Trauma
Performing Autobiography
APPENDIX 2: Current Faculty Departments, Affiliations, and Research Interests[85]
College of Communication
Department of Radio-Television-Film
Karin S. Wilkins(Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Radio-Television-
Film, Urban Studies) Development and international communication, media and social change.
Development communication as it relates to international health, population and environmental
issues, media studies.
College of Fine Arts
Department of Art & Art History
Glenn Peers(Art and Art History, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Religious Studies, Russian,
East European & Eurasian Studies) The theoretical aspects of Byzantine art; hagiography
theological and hagiographical problems.
Denise Schmandt-Besserat (Department of Art and Art History, Center for Middle Eastern
Studies) Middle Eastern archaeology; origins of writing and numeration in the Middle East; art
history.
College of Liberal Arts
Department of Anthropology
Kamran Asdar Ali(Anthropology, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies,
Religious Studies, South Asia Institute, Women's and Gender Studies, Population Research
Center) Gender, Health, Development, Labor History, Political Economy; Post-Colonialism;
Urban Social Histories, Popular Culture, Historiography, Memory, Liberalism, Middle East;
South Asia (Egypt, Pakistan).
James A. Neely (Anthropology, Center for Middle Eastern Studies) Prehistoric and early historic
cultural development and culture change; processes of plant and animal domestication;
development of urban life; ancient technology (lithics, ceramics, water control, and irrigation).
Department of Classics
Carol F. Justus(Classics, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Linguistics Research Ctr.) Indo-
European language and culture, language change, grammatical structure, prayer & pragmatic
structure, evolution of numerals, Hittite, Greek, Latin.
William R. Nethercut (Classics, Center for Middle Eastern Studies) Greek and Roman
literature; Ancient Egypt; Egyptian history, art, culture, hieroglyphics,
Greek and Roman literature.
Thomas Palaima (Classics, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Religious Studies) Aegean and
eastern Mediterranean prehistory and archaeology pertaining to inscribed or marked materials.
Department of English
Barbara J. Harlow(Comparative Literature, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, English, Middle
Eastern Studies, Women's and Gender Studies) Cultural politics and political cultures; third
world studies; critical theory; prison and resistance writings and postcolonial studies (particularly
Anglophone African and modern Arabic literatures and cultures).Colonial and resistance
literature of the Middle East and Africa.
Geraldine Heng (Comparative Literature, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, English, Middle
Eastern Studies, Women's and Gender Studies) The Crusades, medieval studies; medieval
romance; Middle English literature; literature and culture of the Crusades; Chaucer; Arthurian
literature; feminist, race, and cultural theory.
Sara E. Kimball (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, English, Linguistics Research Ctr.)
Hittitology, Hittite, and Indo-European languages, historical linguistics, history of literacy,
lexicography, language and gender.
Adam Zachary Newton (Comparative Literature, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, English,
Middle Eastern Studies, Religious Studies) twentieth-century American literature; literary and
narrative theory; the novel; aesthetics and hermeneutics; literature and ethnicity; Jewish studies;
popular culture; nineteenth century British novel, poetry, non-fiction prose; contemporary
fiction; modern Jewish poetry and prose; Jewish thought; diaspora studies; comparative national
literatures and "minor" modernisms; literature and philosophy (ethics, hermeneutics, philosophy
of language); comics as genre and narrative form; languages: Hebrew, Yiddish, French, Russian,
Spanish, German, Latin, Greek.
Department of Geography
Karl W. Butzer(Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Geography and the Environment, Latin
American Studies Environmental Science Institute, LLILAS) Cultural ecology, irrigation, and
settlement in pre-Islamic Egypt; historical geography of Axumite to early modern Ethiopia;
historical geography of Roman and Islamic Spain; Muslim minorities in Christian Spain.
Diana K. Davis (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Geography and the Environment, Middle
Eastern Studies, Environmental Science Institute) Political ecology; critical environmental
history; colonialism; pastoral societies and arid lands; range ecology; ethnoveterinary medicine;
gender, environment and development; Middle East and North Africa; medical geography.
Ian Manners (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Geography and the Environment, Middle
Eastern Studies, Urban Studies) Resource management with particular reference to ecological
and socioeconomic processes influencing decision-making; ecologically sustainable
development; environmental impact assessment and mitigation.
Department of Government
Jason Brownlee(Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Government) Comparative politics in the
developing world, with an emphasis on the Middle East and questions of domestically-driven
regime change and regime durability; the impact of ruling parties in maintaining authoritarianism
and preventing democratization; political institutions; domestic democratization movements and
international democracy promotion.
George Gavrilis (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Government) Why aggressive attempts by
states to control their borders often fail to provide security, focusing on the Middle East, Central
Asia, and parts of Africa; the strategy of conflict. International relations, comparative politics,
conflict, boundaries.
Clement Moore Henry (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Government, Middle Eastern
Studies) Political parties, the engineering profession, financial institutions, and development of
civil society in the Middle East and North Africa. Comparative politics of the Middle East and
North Africa; financial systems and business elites; international business (oil and political risk
analysis).
Ami Pedahzur (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Government, Middle Eastern Studies)
Political extremism in Israel, political violence and political parties, terrorism.
Department of History
Yoav DiCapua(Center For Middle Eastern Studies, Department of Middle Eastern Studies,
History) Modern Arab Thought with an emphasis on Egypt.
William Roger Louis (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, History, Middle Eastern Studies)
British Empire/Commonwealth and the history, literature, and politics of nineteenth and
twentieth-century Britain. British Empire in the Middle East, especially in the post-1945 period;
the contemporary Middle East.
Abraham Marcus (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, History, Middle Eastern Studies,
Religious Studies) Arab and Ottoman history; Islamic history; social history of the Middle East;
music cultures of the Middle East; Middle Eastern cities and urban history.
Gail Minault (South Asia Institute, Women's and Gender Studies, History) History of India and
Pakistan; women's history, history of Islamic art. Intellectual and social history of Muslims in
South Asia; Islam and politics in India and Pakistan; religious sources of social change; Muslim
women's degree-institution and women's writings in Urdu.
Mary C. Neuburger (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Department of Middle Eastern Studies,
Women’s and Gender Studies) Balkan and Eastern European history.
Denise A. Spellberg (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, History, Medieval Studies, Middle
Eastern Studies, Religious Studies, Women's and Gender Studies
Bridging Disciplines Program) Middle East history and religion; Medieval Islamic history and
religion; Ottoman Turkish and Byzantine cultures; pre-Islamic religions of Iran; social attitudes
toward women in each of these historical contexts.
Department of Linguistics
Samuel Keith Walters (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Linguistics, Department of Middle
Eastern Studies, Religious Studies) Linguistic diversity; sociolinguistics; language contact and
change in the Arab world.
Department of Middle Eastern Studies
Peter F. Abboud(Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies)
Arabic syntax and phonology; Arabic dialectology; medieval Arabic grammar and grammarians;
socio-linguistics; history of the Arabic language.
Kamran S. Aghaie (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Current Acting Director) Islamic
studies; and modern Iranian and Middle Eastern history, Shi'ism, Islamic rituals, social and
cultural history, economic history, religious and political discourses, historiography, nationalism,
and gender studies. Language areas include Persian and Arabic.
Mahmoud al-Batal (Arabic Applied Linguistics, Center for Middle Eastern
Studies, Middle Eastern Studies) Arabic Linguistics, Theory and practice of Teaching Arabic as
a Foreign Language (TAFL).
Samer Ali (Comparative Literature, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies,
Religious Studies) Islamic kingship, court literature and patronage, classical historiography,
modern and medieval folklore and folklife, Arab women poets, oral performance of Homeric
epic, literary criticism.
Hina Azam (Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Center
for Women’s and Gender Studies, Religious Studies) Islamic law and jurisprudence, women and
Islam.
Aaron Bar-Adon (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Religious
Studies) Socio-linguistics and language acquisition; Hebrew and Arabic language, literature, and
linguistics.
Kristen Brustad (Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Center For Middle Eastern Studies)
Arabic language and literature of all periods and regions; language ideology; dialect studies;
methodologies of comparative study; pedagogy.
Yildiray Erdener (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Russian, East
European & Eurasian Stud., Américo Paredes Center for Cultural Studies) Turkish language;
folklore and ethnomusicology of Turkey and the Turkic Republics; Turkish minstrel music;
folklore and music of the Middle East and Central Asia.
Mohammad Ghanoonparvar (Comparative Literature, Center for Middle Eastern Studies,
Middle Eastern Studies) twentieth century Persian literature; comparative literary history and
criticism; methodology and practice of literary translation.
Karen Grumberg (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Women's and
Gender Studies) Contemporary Hebrew literature, American Jewish literature, comparative
Jewish literatures, Mizrahi writing, women's writing in Israel.
Michael Craig Hillmann (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies) Persian
(Farsi and Tajiki) language and literature; Iranian art and culture; literary autobiography; lyric
verse.
Harold A. Liebowitz (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Religious
Studies) Archaeology and art history of the land of Israel in the Biblical and Greco-Roman
periods; art and archaeology of the Ancient Near East with particular emphasis on the Late
Bronze to Mamluk Periods in Israel, Jordan, and Syria; daily life in Ancient Israel; material
culture and literature of the period of the Mishnah and Talmud; medieval Jewish illuminated
manuscripts from Spain, and Old Testament narrative painting from the Byzantine period until
the Renaissance.
Mohammad A. Mohammad (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies)
Linguistics and the Arabicl. Standard and Palestinian dialect.
Nader Morkus (Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Center for Middle Eastern Studies)
Discourse analysis, intercultural communication between Arabs and Americans, the use of
technology to enhance intercultural communication.
Esther L. Raizen (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Chair of Middle Eastern Studies,
Linguistics Research Ctr.) Modern and classical Hebrew language, linguistics and literature;
Hebrew as a foreign language; Jewish history and culture; computer-assisted instruction and
computational linguistics; academic advising and student development.
Yaron Shemer (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Radio-Television-
Film) Radio, television, and film; Israeli film; Hebrew language and cultures.
Faegheh S. Shirazi (Asian American Studies, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle
Eastern Studies, Center for Women's and Gender Studies) Material culture and its influence on
gender identity and discourse in Muslim societies. Textiles and clothing, particularly the Islamic
veil (hijab). Women, rituals, and rites of passage as they relate to material culture in popular
Islamic societies.
Monica Yaniv (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies) Hebrew language.
Abraham Zilkha(Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Religious Studies)
Hebrew language and linguistics; modern Israel.
Department of Sociology
Mounira Charrad (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Religious
Studies, Sociology, Center for Women's and Gender Studies) Gender and women's rights;
political sociology; development; and comparative historical methodology.
William P. Frisbie (Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Sociology, Center for HPR, Institute of
Gerontology, Population Research Center) Demography, pregnancy outcomes, mortality,
race/ethnic differentials in health, urban ecology, immigration.
Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs
David J. Eaton(Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Latin American Studies, LBJ School of
Public Affairs, Middle Eastern Studies, Russian, East European & Eurasian Studies,
Environmental Science Institute, Urban Studies) Water; natural resources; agriculture; health;
urban services; water management in the Jordan River Basin; public administration,
management, and dispute resolution. Sustainable development in international river basins,
evaluation of energy and water conservation programs, and prevention of pollution; new
methods for evaluation of air pollution emissions, joint management by Palestinians and Israelis
of shared groundwater.
Red McCombs School of Business
Department of Marketing
Kate Gillespie(Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Latin American Studies, Marketing, Middle
Eastern Studies, Russian, East European & Eurasian Stud. LLILAS) International marketing,
macromarketing, international business-government relations, business in developing countries.
APPENDIX 3: Current, Emeritus, and Former Faculty[86]
Current Faculty
Peter Abboud (Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, former Director of
MELC,[87] former Arabic Program Coordinator)
Robert H. Abzug (Oliver H. Radkey Regents Professor in History)
Mahmoud al-Batal (Associate Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies)
Matthew Bailey (Associate Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese)
Susan Boettcher (Assistant Professor, Department of History)
Pascale R. Bos (Associate Professor, Department of Germanic Studies)
Kamran Aghaie (Director, Center for Middle Eastern Studies)
Samer Ali (Assistant Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Graduate Advisor
in Islamic Studies, Arabic Studies, Jewish Studies, Hebrew Studies, Persian Studies, and Turkish
Studies)
Kamran Asdar Ali (Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology)
Hina Azam (Instructor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies)
Matthew Bailey (Associate Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese)
Aaron Bar-Adon (Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies)
Zoltan Barany (Frank C. Erwin, Jr. Centennial Professor in Government)
Valerie Bencivenga (Senior Lecturer, Department of Economics)
Gordon Bennett (Associate Professor, Department of Government)
Jason Brownlee (Assistant Professor, Department of Government)
Kristen Brustad (Associate Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies)
Catherine Boone (Associate Professor, Department of Government)
Karl Butzer (Raymond Dickson Centennial Professor, Department Geography and the
Environment)
Joseph Carter (Centennial Professor in Classical Archaeology, Department of Classics)
Mounira Charrad (Associate Professor, Department of Sociology)
David F. Crew (Professor, Department of History)
Diana Davis (Assistant Professor, Department of Geography and the Environment)
Penelope Davies (Associate Professor, Department of Art and Art History)
James Denbow (Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology)
Yoav DiCapua (Assistant Professor, Department of History)
David Eaton (Bess Harris Jones Centennial Professor in Natural Resource Policy Studies,
Lyndon B Johnson School of Public Affairs)
Paul W. English (Professor, Department of Geography, Former CMES Director)
Yildiray Erdener (Assistant Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Program
Coordinator of Turkish Studies)
Oloruntoyin O. Falola (Frances Higginbotham Nalle Centennial Professor in History)
W. Parker Frisbie (Professor, Department of Sociology)
Eric David Frances (Professor, Department of Classics)
Michael Gagarin (James R. Dougherty, Jr. Centennial Professor in Classics)
George Gavrilis (Assistant Professor, Department of Government)
M. R. Ghanoonparvar (Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Program
Coordinator for Persian Studies, former CMES Associate Director, former Middle
Eastern Summer Language Institute Director)
Kate Gillespie (Associate Professor, Department of Marketing Administration, Red
McCombs School of Business, Former CMES Associate Director)
William Glade (Professor, Department of Economics)
Benjamin Gregg (Associate Professor, Department of Government)
Karen Grumberg (Assistant Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies)
Mehdi Haghshenas (Lecturer, Department of Sociology)
Ian F. Hancock (Professor, Department of Linguistics)
Barbara Harlow (Louann and Larry Temple Centennial Professor in English Literature)
Geraldine Heng (Associate Professor, Department of English)
Clement Moore Henry (Professor, Department of Government)
Michael Hillmann (Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, former Middle
Eastern Language Institute Director)
Melvin Hinich (Mike Hogg Professor of Local Government)
John M. Hoberman (Chair, Germanic Studies)
Thomas Hubbard (Professor, Department of Classics)
S. Akbar Hyder (Assistant Professor, Department of Asian Studies, Islamic Studies Committee
Chair)
Carol Justus (Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Classics)
Lisa Kallet (Professor, Department of Classics)
Sara Kimball (Associate Professor, Department of English)
John Kroll (Professor, Department of Classics)
Lester Kurtz (Professor, Department of Sociology)
John Lamphear (Professor, Department of History)
Richard Lariviere (Dean of the College of Liberal Arts, former Director of the Center for
Asian Studies)
Janice Leoshko (Associate Professor, Department of Art and Art History)
Harold Liebowitz (Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, former Director)
Naomi E Lindstrom (Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese)
W. Roger Louis (Mildred Caldwell and Baine Perkins Kerr Centennial Chair in English
History and Culture)
Ian Manners (Professor, Department of Geography and the Environment, Former
Director of CMES)
Abraham Marcus (Associate Professor, Department of History, Former CMES Director)
Susan Marshall (Distinguished Teaching Professor, Department of Sociology)
Aloysius P. Martinich (Roy Allison Vaughan Centennial Professor in Philosophy)
Gail Minault (Professor, Department of History)
Mohammed A. Mohammed (Associate Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies,
Coordinator of Arabic Studies)
Robert W. Mugerauer, Jr. (Centennial Professor, School of Architecture)
Nader Morkus (Lecturer, Department of Middle Eastern Studies)
William Nethercut (Professor, Department of Classics)
Joan Neuberger (Associate Professor, Department of History)
Martha G. Newman (Associate Professor, Department of History)
Mary Catherine Neuburger (Assistant Professor, Department of History and Center for
Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies)
Adam Z. Newton (Jane and Roland Blumberg Centennial Professor in English, Acting
Director for Jewish Studies Program)
Thomas Palaima (Raymond Dickson Centennial Professor, Department of Classics)
Barbara Parmenter (Assistant Professor, Department of Architecture)
Ami Pedahzur (Associate Professor, Department of Government)
Glenn Peers (Associate Professor, Department of Art and Art History)
Paula Perlman (Associate Professor, Department of Classics)
Joseph Potter (Professor, Population Research Center)
Esther Raizen (Associate Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies Director)
Ellen Rathje (Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering)
Cory Reed (Associate Professor, Department of Spanish and Portuguese)
Ramin Saraf (Assistant Instructor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies)
Cynthia Shelmerdine (Robert M. Armstrong Centennial Professor, Department of
Classics)
Yaron Shemer (Senior Lecturer, Department of Middle Eastern Studies)
Faegheh Shirazi (Associate Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Studies)
Andree F. Sjoberg (Associate Professor CMES)
Stephen Slawek (Professor, School of Music)
Denise Spellberg (Associate Professor, Department of History)
James B. Steinberg (Dean, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs)
Joseph Straubhaar (Amon G. Carter Centennial Professor in Communication, Department
of Radio Television Film, College of Communication)
Madeline Sutherland-Meier (Associate Professor, Department of Spanish and
Portuguese)
S. Keith Walters (Professor, Department of Linguistics, former CMES Associate
Director)
Nina Warnke (Assistant Professor, Department of Germanic Studies)
L. Michael White (The Ronald Nelson Smith Chair in Classics & Christian Origins,
Department of Classics)
Stephen White (Professor, Department of Classics)
Karin G. Wilkins (Associate Professor, Department of Radio, Television, and Film)
Seth L. Wolitz (L. D., Marie and Edwin Gale Chair of Judaic Studies,
Department of French and Italian)
Monica Yaniv (Lecturer, Department of Middle Eastern Studies, Undergraduate Advisor
in Islamic Studies, Arabic Studies, Hebrew Studies, Jewish Studies, Persian
Studies, and Turkish Studies)
Avraham Zilkha, (Associate Professor, Department of Middle Eastern Languages and
Cultures, Program Coordinator in Hebrew Studies, former CMES Assistant Director)
Emeritus Faculty
David Armstrong (Professor Emeritus, Department of Classics)
John G. Bordie (Professor Emeritus, Department of Linguistics, and FLEC)
Albert M. Chammah, (Associate Professor Emeritus, CMES)
Hafez Farmayan (Professor Emeritus, Department of History, former Director of the
Iranian Studies Program)
Robert Fernea (Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology, former Director of the
CMES, Co-founder of UT Press Middle East Series)
Elizabeth Fernea (Professor Emeritus, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, former CMES
Graduate and Ungergraduate Advisor, Co-founder of UT Press Middle East Series)
Robert Folk (Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography)
Omer Galle (Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology)
Michael Hall (Professor Emeritus, History)
Robert L. Hardgrave, Jr. (Louann and Larry Temple Centennial Professor Emeritus in the
Humanities, Department of Government and Asian Studies)
Robert Holz (Erich W. Zimmerman Regents Professor Emeritus in Geography, former
CMES Director, former Department of Geography Chair)
Mohammad Ali Jazayery (Former CMES Director, former DOALL Director, Professor
Emeritus MELC, founder of Persian Program)
W.P. Lehmann (Louann and Larry Temple Centennial Professor Emeritus in the
Humanities, Department of Germanic Studies, Founder of the UT Centers for
Middle Eastern and Asian Studies, Former CMES Director)
Carl Leiden (Professor Emeritus, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, former Associate
Director and Acting Director)
James Neely (Professor Emeritus, Department of Anthropology)
Edgar C. Polomé (Christie and Stanley E. Adams Jr. Centennial Professor, Emeritus,
Department of Germanic Languages, Co- founder of Department of Oriental and African
Languages and Literatures, DOALL[88])
William (Walt Whitman) Rostow[89] (Rex G. Baker, Jr. Professor Emeritus of Political
Economy, Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs)
Denise Schmandt-Besserat (Professor Emeritus, Department of Art and Art History)
Antonio Ugalde (Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology)
Former Faculty[90]
Shafeeq al-Ghabra (Department of Government)
Khaled Abou El Fadl (School of Law and Instructor, MELC)
Victorine Abboud (Curriculum and Instruction Lecturer, DOALL)
Mehdi Abedi (MELC/CMES)
Saheed Adejumobi (Assistant Instructor, Center for African and African American
Studies)
Taghreed al-Qudsi (Assistant Instructor of Arabic, MELC)
Teirab AshShareef (Visiting Professor, CMES)
Aman Attieh (Senior Lecturer and Former Arabic Program Coordinator, MELC)
Persis Berlekamp (Assistant Professor, Department of Art and Art History)
Nina Berman (Associate Professor, Germanic Langs./MELC, Former CMES
Associate Director)
Carol Bertram (Visiting Lecturer, CMES and the Department of Art and Art History)
James Bill (Former CMES Director, Government)
Elizabeth Bishop (Visiting Lecturer, Department of History)
Roy B. Blizzard Jr. (Adjunct Assistant Professor, CMES and DOALL)
Mehrzad Boroujerdi (Visiting Professor, CMES)
Naima Boussofara (Assistant Instructor of Arabic, MELC)
Vincente Cantarino (Professor, Departments of Spanish and Portuguese and Oriental and
African Languages, Chairman of the Medieval Studies Program)
Gilbert Cardenas (Professor, Department of Sociology)
Donald P. Cole (Adjunct Professor, CMES)
Erwin Cook (Associate Professor, Department of Classics)
Hamid Dabashi (DOALL)
Virginia Danielson (Visiting Professor, CMES)
William Darity, Jr. (Professor, Department of Economics)
John Downing (John T. Jones, Jr. Centennial Professor of Communication, Former Chair
of the Department of Radio, Television, and Film)
Allen Douglas (Department of History)
Shifra Epstein (DOALL)
Mansour Farhang (CMES/DMES)
James Faris (Visiting Professor, Center for Middle Eastern Studies)
Sheila Fitzpatrick (Department of History, Co-Chair of Soviet and East European
Program)
Esther Fuchs (MELC, Hebrew)
Robert German (Visiting Professor of Public Affairs)
Izzat Ghurani (Visiting Professor, CMES)
Zilla J. Goodman (Assistant Professor, MELC)
James Grehan (Visiting Lecturer, History)
Akile Gürsoy-Tezcan (Visiting Professor, CMES and the Department of Sociology)
Dieter Haller (Professor, Germanic Langs. and Cultures)
Walid Hamarneh (Assistant Professor, MELC)
Fatiha Hamitouche (Visiting Professor, CMES, Center for Women’s Studies, and the
Department of Sociology)
Deborah Harrold (Visiting Professor, Department of Government)
Sherman Jackson (Assistant Professor, MELC)
Akel Kahera (Assistant Professor, MELC)
Deborah Kapchan (Associate Professor of Anthropology, former Director of the Americo
Paredes Center for Cultural Studies)
Ahmed Karimi-Hakkak (Lecturer, Department of English)
Resat Kasab (International Studies)
Mubeccel Kiray (Visiting Professor, CMES)
Güliz Kuruoglu (Associate Professor, MELC)
Daniel Laufer (Lecturer, Marketing Administration)
Walter Lehn (Professor, Department English, former CMES Director)
Hilary Waardenburg-Kilpatrick (Visiting Professor, CMES)
Fedwa Malti-Douglas (Former CMES Associate Director, MELC)
Irving Mandelbaum (Associate Professor, DOALL)
David Martinez (Associate Professor, Classics)
Khaled Mattawa (Assistant Professor, Creative Writing Department of the Department of
English)
Yair Mazor (Assistant Professor, DOALL)
Jaget Mehta (Visiting Professor of Public Affairs and Asian Studies)
Elizabeth Meyers (Department of Art and Art History)
Ahmed Ali Morsy (Visiting Professor, CMES)
Ayshegul Musallam (Assistant Instructor, DOALL)
Kristina Nelson (Department of Musicology)
Roger Owen (Visiting Professor, CMES)
Donald Quataert (Visiting Professor, CMES and DOALL)
Anne Rasmussen (Lecturer, Department of Music and CMES)
Gregory Rose (Department of Government)
Candelario Saenz (Department of Anthropology)
Tagi Sagafi-Nejad (Department of Economics)
Claudio Segre (Department of History)
Jonathan H. Shannon (Visiting Professor, Department of Anthropology)
Eisig Silberschlag (Visiting Gale Professor of Judaic Studies, CMES Research Associate)
Mark Southern (Assistant Professor, Germanic Langs.)
Robert Stookey (CMES Research Associate)
Poopak Taati (Department of Sociology)
Ramon Tasat (Department of Music)
Cem Taylan (Visiting Professor, CMES)
Esser Taylan (Visiting Scholar, MELC)
Robert Vitalis (Assistant Professor, Department of Government)
Jacques Waardenburg (Visiting Professor, CMES)
John Williams (Department of Art and Art History)
Caroline Williams (Department of Architecture/CMES)
Barbara Wolbert (Visiting Associate Professor, Germanic Langs.)
Paul Zissos (Assistant Professor, Department of Classics)
[1] “A University of the First Class,” at http://bealonghorn.utexas.edu/whyut/location/. [2] The following sources were consulted for historical information on the founding of the University of Texas at
Austin: H.Y. Benedict, “A Source Book Relating to the History of the University of Texas: Legislative, Legal,
Bibliographical, and Statistical,” University of Texas Bulletin, no.1757 (Austin: The University of Texas, October
10, 1917); Margaret Catherine Berry, UT Austin: Traditions and Nostalgia, revised edition (Austin: Eakin Press, 1992); J.J. Lane, History of the
University of Texas: Based on Facts and Records, first edition (1891). [3] This quote is taken from a speech given by O.M. Roberts, which appears on an unnumbered dedication page to
the University of Texas founder. [4] “The University of Texas Mission Statement,” at http://www.utexas.edu/welcome/mission.html. [5] “Steinberg Appointed Dean of LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas at Austin.” July 6, 2005,
at http://www.utexas.edu/opa/news/2005/07/lbj06.html [6] UT news advisory, 1999 (no longer available online). . [7] “History of the University of Texas at Austin Law School,” http://www.utexas.edu/law/about/history.html [8] “Fame! A Gallery of Longhorn Celebrities,” The Center for American History, p. 2, at
http://www.cah.utexas.edu/exhibits/UTCelebritiesExhibit/page2.html. [9] Ibid, p. 3, at http://www.cah.utexas.edu/exhibits/UTCelebritiesExhibit/page3.html. [10] John Spong, “Lawyer of the Century.” Texas Monthly, December 1999, vol.2, no.12,
at http://www.joejamail.net/Lawyer%20of%twentiethe%20Century.htm. [11] Information from this section was taken from UT President William Powers’s online letter to prospective
students, no longer available online. [12] Ibid. [13] UT Center for Middle Eastern Studies Newsletter (CMESN), no.5. [14] CMESN, no.5. [15] Interview with Dr. Robert Fernea, Professor Emeritus, The University of Texas Department of Anthropology,
Austin, Texas. March 15, 2006. [16] CMESN, no.5, front cover and second page. The newsletters began to be written and circulated in 1981. Their
pages are not numbered, thus the above citation referring to the front cover and second page. The history of the
CMES is largely unwritten outside the CMES Newsletter. This proved to be a very important document and the
author wishes to thank all those who contributed to the writing of the newsletters, and particularly to Outreach
Coordinator Christopher Rose for bringing them to my attention and very generously making them available to me.
The author also wishes to thank all those who granted interviews and gracious assistance in the completion of this
case study, particularly Robert and Elizabeth Fernea, Kamran Aghaie, and Hillary Hutchison. Some insight has
come from my own observations as a student at UT where I have been involved in graduate studies since 1996. I
would also like to thank all those for their efforts in preserving information in the CMESN over the years,
particularly Dianne Watts and Annes McCann-Baker. [17] Edward W. Said, Orientalism (New York: Random House, 1978); Edward W. Said, Covering Islam: How the
Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World (New York: Pantheon Books, 1981). [18] Robert A. Fernea and James M. Malarkey, “Anthropology of the Middle East and North Africa: A Critical
Assessment.” Annual Review of Anthropology, vol.4., 1975, pp.183-206.
[19] “Center Celebrates 25th
Anniversary,” CMESN, no.5. Fall 1985. [20] “Elizabeth Fernea Presides Over MESA Annual Meeting,” CMESN, no.8. Spring 1987. [21] Interview with Professor Elizabeth Fernea, Professor Emeritus, The University of Texas Center for Middle
Eastern Studies, Austin, Texas, March 20, 2006. [22] Dale Eickelman, Moroccan Islam: Tradition and Society in a Pilgrimage Center (Austin and London:
University of Texas Press, 1976). [23] Layla Abu Zayd, Year of the Elephant: A Moroccan Woman's Journey Toward Independence, and Other
Stories (Austin, Texas: University of Texas Press, 1989). [24] This quote is taken from a historical sketch written by Dr. M.A. Jazayery, the CMES’s then-Director. This
account was written for the CMESN, no. 5 in the Fall of 1985 on the occasion of the 25th
anniversary of the Center’s
opening. [25] CMESN, no.4. Spring 1985. [26] According to a phone interview with Dr. Hyeer Akbar, UT Austin hopes to offer an M.A. and Ph.D. in Islamic
Studies in the very near future. Approval of these programs is in its final stages. [27] Directory of Graduate and Undergraduate Programs and Courses in Middle East Studies in the U.S., Canada,
and Abroad, “University of Texas at Austin,” at http://fp.arizona.edu/mesassoc/Directory/Texas.htm. [28] “Fernea Award Presented,”CMESN, no.30. 2004. [29] Phone interview with Professor S. Akbar Hyder, Assistant Professor of Asian Studies and Islamic Studies
Program Chair, The University of Texas at Austin. Austin, Texas, March 26, 2006. [30] “Faculty News,”CMESN, No. 8. Spring 1987. [31] “Sephardic Festival,” CMESN, no.11. Fall 1988. [32] “From the Director,” CMESN, no.16. Fall 1992. [33] “Women of the Book Conference,”CMESN, no.25. Fall 1999/Spring 2000. [34] “Outreach News,” CMESN, no.26. Fall 2000. [35] The activities of the UT CMES Outreach Program have been truly outstanding. Far from being a side
component of the Center, the Outreach Program is at the core of the Center’s mission, and fulfills the ideals first put
forth by the founder(s) of the University of Texas at Austin in their mission to provide people of all ages with
education, whether officially enrolled UT students, or local Austin school children, or older adults participating in
the SAGE program. Little has been said here about the Outreach Program due to space limitations, but students
interested in attending UT will certainly benefit from the many experiences it offers. [36] Here I assume that prospective students of Islamic civilization are particularly interested in Arabic, Persian,
Turkish, and Urdu. In this section, narrative of those programs is devoted to these languages. However, a student
interested in Hebrew may refer to the course listing appendix and the faculty listing appendix, which describes
Jewish and Hebrew studies, as well as Tajik, Hittite, and general studies in Indo-European languages at the
University of Texas at Austin. [37] CMESN, no.1. [38] Funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the University of Texas Center for Middle
Eastern Studies. [39] CMESN, no.1. [40] Ibid. [41] CMESN, no.3. [42] CMESN, no.4. [43] CMESN, no.2. [44] “From the Director,” CMESN, no.16. Fall 1992. [45] “In Memoriam,” CMESN, no.26. Fall 2000. [46] CMESN, no.3. [47] CMESN, no.1. [48] “Iranian Authors Visit Campus,” CMESN, no.16. Fall 1992. [49] “Iranian Authors Visit Campus,” CMESN, no.18. Spring 1993. [50] “Conference on Nineteenth-Century Persian Travel Memoirs,” CMESN, no.20. Spring 1994. [51] Dr. Mohsen Mirabi of Houston, with help from Mr. Behrouz Gholamrezaey who transported books from Iran to
Austin, made a donation toward purchasing a private book collection that was added to the Persian works in the
general libraries collection. (“Donation of Persian Book Collection,” CMESN, no.24. Spring 1998) [52] CMESN, no.3. [53] Ibid.
[54] CMESN, no.4. [55] Ibid. [56] Ibid. [57] “The Turkish Library Collection,” The University of Texas at Austin, at
http://uts.cc.utexas.edu/~melc/index2.html#1%20TURKISH%20LIBRARY%20COLLECTION. [58] See Appendix I under Asian Studies and Urdu for a more complete course listing. [59] As an unfortunate consequence of post-9/11 security issues, students are currently encouraged to study in India
rather than Pakistan. (Phone interview with Professor S. Akbar Hyder, Assistant Professor of Asian Studies and
Islamic Studies Program Chair, The University of Texas at Austin. Austin, Texas, March 26, 2006.) [60] Proposal, U.S. Department of Education, National Resources Center and Foreign Language and Area Studies
Fellowships. CFDA no.84.015 A and B, Center for Middle Eastern Studies, The University of Texas at Austin.
November 14, 2005. [61] Ibid. [62] “Library Excellence Award,” University of Texas, at
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/vprovost/honors/lib_excel/1993.html; “Awards May 2003-May 2004,” University of
Texas, at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/vprovost/honors/awards2003-2004.html; “Middle Eastern Library Program,” University of Texas, at http://www.lib.utexas.edu/subject/melp/melp.html [63] “Library Resources Supporting Middle Eastern Studies,” informational brochure. General Libraries, The
University of Texas at Austin. November 1996. [64] Phone interview with Professor S. Akbar Hyder, Assistant Professor of Asian Studies and Islamic Studies
Program Chair, The University of Texas at Austin. Austin, Texas, March 26, 2006. [65] “Center Received Rockefeller Grant,” CMESN, no.13. Fall 1989. [66] “Library News” and “The University of Texas at Austin, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies,” informational
brochure about the CMES, CMESN, no.24. Spring 1998; Abazar Sepheri, “The Library Chronicle of The University
of Texas at Austin,” Middle Eastern Library Program at the University of Texas, v.27, no.3. 1997, pp.154-65. Other
entries on the Middle East are: Middle East, v.20, no.3. 1990, pp.14-15; Middle East Cooperative Acquisition
Program (MECAP). See PL-480 Program. [67] Ibid. [68] Ibid. [69] “Library Resources Supporting Middle Eastern Studies,” informational brochure. General Libraries, The
University of Texas at Austin. November 1996. [70] Email correspondence, Jonathan Pratter, International Law Librarian and Lecturer. Tarlton Law Library, School of Law, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas. April 12, 2006. [71] “Library News,” CMESN, no.24. Spring 1998. [72] Ibid. [73] CMESN, no.4. [74] “Arabic and Persian Translations in the New HRC Collection,” CMESN, no.12. Spring 1989. [75] Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin, at http://www.hrc.utexas.edu/. [76] The courses listed here in the bottom row were taught by Dr. Carl Leiden. He was the first University faculty
member to teach survey courses on the Middle East in 1961. He also started teaching two freshman seminar classes
which form the core of undergraduate interdisciplinary curriculum (CMESN, no.7, Winter 1986, “Carl Leiden
Retires.” [77] Within the UT History Department is a specialization in British Studies. A number of courses concerning
British Imperialism are offered through this specialization. [78] Although not many courses are currently taught in Hittite, Hittite studies may be studied individually through
conference courses. Also, the A. Richard Diebold Center for Indo-European Language and Culture at the Linguistics
Research Center of The University of Texas at Austin offers a Hittite Online Series, with an Introduction written by
Winfred P. Lehmann and Jonathan Slocum. . [79] This brief listing represents some courses offered under Islamic Studies in the 2005-06 school year. Many other
courses were listed under Islamic Studies as well but were cross-listed in other departments. [80] The “W” here indicates a course that satisfies a writing component requirement. [81] For more information on Central Asian languages, see UT’s REENIC, Russian and Eastern European Network
Information Center, http://inic.utexas.edu/reenic/index.html. [82] The italicized courses were taught by Dr. Vicente Cantarino who taught at UT from 1969 to 1986 (“Vincento
Cantarino Leaves,” CMESN, no.7. Winter 1986). He was perhaps the first instructor at UT to establish what remains
a current thread of interest among today’s faculty: the link between Islamic Spain, North Africa, and the Middle
East. This was perhaps an understudied aspect of Islamic history until scholars like Dr. Cantarino made explicit the
links between Europe and the Middle East during medieval times. This remains a topic of interest among the
following faculty today: Dr. Denise Spellberg, Dr. Matthew Bailey, and Dr. Cory Reed. This is a subject that enjoys
great interdepartmental collaborative effort through UT’s CMES, DMES, Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese, and the
Dept. of Mexican American Studies, and is the framework behind the Tracking Cultures and the Mediterranean
Crossroads Programs. [83] Currently Tajik is offered under Persian instruction to students who already possess a foundation in Persian.
Tajik courses can be tailored to a student’s needs through self-study in conference courses. Interest is growing
among students and faculty in seeing course offerings in Tajik expand. In spring 2006, UT organized its first Tajik
Week in which faculty and students organized panels on the subject of learning Tajik. For more information on
Tajik and other Central Asian languages, see UT’s REENIC Russian and Eastern European Network Information
Center, http://inic.utexas.edu/reenic/index.html. [84] This course listing for Women’s and Gender Studies is a sample of courses available. While all of the course
listed above may not focus entirely on Islam and the Islamic world, they offer important theoretical training for
students interested in gender studies in the region. [85] This Appendix draws heavily from information provided on Eureka’s
http://www.utexas.edu/research/eureka/departments/view.php?id=17, and current information available at
http://www.utexas.edu/cola/cmes/faculty/. Appendix 3 is a lengthier list of faculty members across campus with
interests in the Middle East and the Islamic world. [86] This list is based on information from CMES Newsletters no. 1through no. 30, information from the MESA
website’s program directory, http://fp.arizona.edu/mesassoc/Directory/Texas.htm, and older faculty listings in UT
online catalogs at http://www.utexas.edu/student/registrar/catalogs/ug98-00/ch13/ch13la4.html,
http://www.utexas.edu/student/registrar/catalogs/undergrad/faculty/fac-mes.html, and the UT Online Directory. This
list represents faculty who taught courses related to the Islamic world, broadly defined, and those who may have
taught some aspect of Hebrew and Judaic studies. UT does not have a directory of former faculty and the CMES
does not have a list of former faculty, so all information on past faculty was pieced together from information found
online and in the CMES Newsletters. [87] Former name of the current Department of Middle Eastern Studies: MELC, Middle Eastern Languages and
Cultures. [88] One of the former departmental names given to what has evolved into the current Department of Middle
Eastern Studies. A memorial text for Edgar C. Polomé offers interesting information about his life, and the state of
language instruction at UT in Middle Eastern languages before the CMES and DOALL were founded. [89] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Whitman_Rostow. [90] In some cases the author has listed departmental affiliation as CMES, The Center for Middle Eastern Studies,
when specific departmental affiliations were not available. In some cases, departmental affiliations were available
while their official titles and while last at UT were not.