Middle Eastern studies
Middle Eastern studies is a name given to a number of academic programs associated with the study of the
culture,
politics,
economy, and
geography of the
Middle East, an area that is generally interpreted to cover a range of nations extending from
North Africa in the west to the
Chinese frontier, including
Israel,
Lebanon,
Jordan,
Iraq,
Iran,
Syria,
Saudi Arabia and multiple other nations. It is considered as part of
area studies taking an interdisclipinary approach to the study of a region.
Although some academic programs combine Middle Eastern Studies with
Islamic Studies, based on the preponderance of
Muslims in the region, others maintain these areas of study as separate disciplines.
The
Middle East is the site of the
Fertile Crescent, where civilization is thought to have began. This area is also referred to as
Mesopotamia. It is characterized as having an
Arabic ethnic composition and primarily
Islamic religious composition. There are however, quite a few
Persians,
Kurds,
Turks, and other ethnic groups. Furthermore,
Western Christians,
Jews,
Orthodox Christians,
Buddhists, and members of other religious groups can be found to varying degrees throughout the region.
In
1978 Edward Said, a
Palestinian American professor of
Comparative Literature at
Columbia University, published his book
Orientalism, in which he accused earlier scholars of a "subtle and persistent
Eurocentric prejudice against
Arabo-Islamic peoples and their culture", claiming the bias amounted to a justification for
imperialism. While other academics challenged Said's conclusions, the book soon became a standard text of
literary theory and
cultural studies.
American-Israeli historian
Martin Kramer in his
2001 book
Ivory Towers on Sand: The Failure of Middle Eastern Studies in America accused Middle Eastern studies programs of ignoring the mounting threat of
Islamic terrorism. In a
Wall Street Journal article published in 2001, Kramer claimed that Middle Eastern studies courses, as they stood, were "part of the problem, not its remedy". In a
Foreign Affairs review of the book,
F. Gregory Gause said his analysis was, in part, "serious and substantive" but "far too often his valid points are overshadowed by academic score-settling and major inconsistencies."
In
2002,
American neo-conservative writer
Daniel Pipes established an organisation called
Campus Watch to combat what he perceived to be serious problems within the discipline, including "analytical failures, the mixing of politics with scholarship, intolerance of alternative views, apologetics, and the abuse of power over students". He encouraged students to advise the organisation of problems at their campuses. In turn critics within the discipline such as
John Esposito accused him of "
McCarthyism".
*
Middle East and Middle Eastern American Center (MEMEAC) at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY)*
Center for Middle Eastern Studies at University of California Berkeley*
Middle East Center at the University of Utah*
Center for Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Chicago*
The Middle East Studies Center at the Ohio State University*
Department of Middle Eastern and African Studies at the University of Tel Aviv*
Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University*
Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Manchester*
British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies*
Daniel Pipes article "Middle Eastern Studies: What Went Wrong" 1995-1996*
Campus Watch *
Martin Kramer's Wall Street Journal article*
"Can Congress Fix Middle Eastern Studies?" by
Martin Kramer*
Foreign Affairs Review of Ivory Towers on Sand'' by Martin Kramer March/April 2002
