# Activities of CMES Community at MESA Annual Meeting November 13, 2007 Members of the CMES community will offer contributions to 20 panels during the Middle Eastern Studies Association (MESA) 2007 Annual Meeting in Montreal. Panels featuring Harvard faculty, graduate students, alumni, and others are listed below. Names of people in the CMES community are in all caps for easy reference. For information on the locations of these panels, see the full MESA 2007 Annual Meeting Program. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 17 5:00PM-7:00PM **(P082) Christians of the Middle East: Interrogating Identities from Orientalism to the Diaspora** Organized by Hakem Rustom, London School of Economics Chair: ANTHONY SHENODA, HARVARD UNIVERSITY Magi Abdul-Masih, St. Mary's University Jesus, a Palestinian Jew? Christian Theology and the Palestine/Israel Conflict Hakem Rustom, London School of Economics The Armenian Church: From an Ottoman Millet to the Diaspora Adel Iskandar, University of Texas at Austin Indigenizing Orientalism? Reflections on the Mediated Self-Portrayal of Coptic Orthodox Christian Identity SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18 8:30AM-10:30AM **(P040) Competing Discourses of Justice and Violence in the Ottoman Empire in the 18th and Early 19th Centuries** Organized by Tolga U. Esmer Chair: HAKAN KARATEKE, HARVARD UNIVERSITY Discussant: Jane Hathaway, Ohio State University Stefan Winter, Université du Québec à Montréal Perceptions of Imperial and Local Sovereignty in 18th-Century Mt. Lebanon Basak Tug, New York University Governing Sexual Violence in the Mid-Eighteenth-Century Ottoman Anatolia Betul Basaran, St. Mary's College of Maryland Public Order and Immigrants in Istanbul at the End of the 18th Century Frederick F. Anscombe, Birkbeck College, London Tepedelenli Ali of Yanya: Pasha and Rebel Tolga U. Esmer, University of Chicago Bandits and Bureaucrats Revisited: Acknowledging Competing Discourses of Justice and Rebellion in the Ottoman Empire in the 18th and 19th Centuries **(P058) National and Local Strategies for Competition and Survival in the Global Economy** Organized by Gregory White, Smith College Chair: ROGER OWEN, HARVARD UNIVERSITY Discussant: Karen Pfeifer, Smith College Marsha Pripstein Posusney, Bryant University Free Trade and Freer Unions? Globalization, Labor Market Reforms, and Workers' Organizations in the Arab World Pete W. Moore, Case Western University The War Economy of Iraq in Comparative and Regional Perspective Mine Eder, Bogazici University Informal Transnationalism?: The Underside of Turkey's Economic Globalization **(P096) Evaluating Memory Campaigns in Lebanon** Organized by Sune Haugbolle Supported by Centre for Lebanese Studies Discussant: Patrice C. Brodeur, University of Montréal Craig A. Larkin, University of Exeter Negotiating the Lebanese Past: A New Generation Forgets to Remember? Pamela Chrabieh, University of Montreal / St. Josef University Building a Culture of Peace and Conviviality: Contributions of the 25-40 Lebanese Age Group Sune Haugbolle, University of Oxford Into the Spoken: The Development of War Memory in Lebanon 1990-2005 MARK A. FARHA, HARVARD UNIVERSITY Fleeing Forward from One War of the Others to the Next? SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18 11:00AM-1:00PM **(P046) Family, Gender and Law 18th-20th Centuries** Organized by Kenneth M. Cuno Chair: Iris Agmon, Ben Gurion University Discussant: Amira Sonbol, Georgetown University ETTY TEREM, HARVARD UNIVERSITY Fatwas and Family: Indigenous Interpretation in Late 19th Century Morocco Kenneth M. Cuno, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign Restitution of Conjugal Rights/Bayt al-Ta'a in Egyptian Law Susanne Stein, SUNY Albany So That Her Son Will Not Be a Burden Upon Her: Divorce, Migration, and Child Custody in Cairo, 1941-1946 Elizabeth Bishop, U of North Carolina, Wilmington The Card in Her Purse: Citizenship and Gender in Arab Egypt **(P054) The Magic of Rituals and Rituals of Magic in the Persianate World** Organized by Derek Mancini-Lander Chair: Kathryn Babayan, U of Michigan Discussant: ENGSENG HO, HARVARD UNIVERSITY Derek Mancini-Lander, University of Michigan Habitus, Blessing, and Authority: Mimetic and Contagious Modalities of Transmission in Early Modern Persianate Rites of Passage Kathryn Babayan, University of Michigan Passing Into Manhood in Safavi Craft Circles A. Azfar Moin, University of Michigan The Magic of Mughal Paintings: Jahangiri Allegorical Paintings Reconsidered **(P118) Topics in Qur'anic Studies** Organized by Elias Muhanna Chair/Discussant: Walid Saleh, University of Toronto ALEXANDER KEY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY The Status of Qur'anic Revelation: Al-Nawmi Elias Muhanna, Harvard University The Word and the Wound: The Meaning of Kalam in the Qur'an \*Martin Nguyen, Harvard University The Subtleties of the Subtleties: Investigating al-Qushayri's Sufi Commentary of the Qur'an Naseem Surhio, Harvard University Laying the Foundations of Sufi Exegesis: Al-Sulami's Haqa'iq al Tafsir Special Session **(P138) On Hrant Dink and Armenian-Turkish Relations** Sponsored by the Society for Armenian Studies and the Turkish Studies Association Chair: ANDRAS J. RIEDLMAYER, HARVARD UNIVERSITY and Richard G. Hovannisian, UCLA Hratch Tchilingirian, Cambridge University Hrant Dink before Hrant Dink: Armenians in Turkey Fatma Müge Göçek, University of Michigan Hrant Dink and Turkish-Armenian Dialogue Levon Zekiyan, Universita Ca'Foscari, Venice Hrant Dink's Innovative Approach to Armenian-Turkish Relations. Its Context, Challenge, and Prospects Etyen Mahcupyan, Journalist/Writer, Turkey Agos and the Hrant Dink Foundation: Looking at the Future SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18 2:00PM-4:00PM **(NP55) Living Under Occupation, Palestine** Chair: Nubar Hovsepian, Chapman U Amy Wanounou, York University Palestinian Women between the Two Intifadas Neve Gordon, Ben-Gurion University From Colonization to Separation: Exploring the Structure of Israel's Occupation Zeynep Baser, Middle East Technical University Israeli Security Discourses Reconsidered: The Closure System in the West Bank TAROOB R. BOULOS, University of Michigan While Waiting for The Dream: Palestinian Women Bear Witness to Their Detention Experiences **(P030) Religious Conversion and Communal Identity in the Medieval Middle East** Organized by Tamer el-Leithy Chair: MARYANN SHENODA, HARVARD UNIVERSITY Discussant: TAMER EL-LEITHY, Harvard Society of Fellows Maryann Shenoda Harvard University Veiling Dhimmi: Coptic Representations of Dhimmi Status in Fatimid Egypt Tamer el-Leithy, Harvard Society of Fellows Coptic Martyrdom and Apostasy in the Age of Mass Conversion Marina Rustow, Emory University Religious Conversion in Medieval Egypt and Syria: Evidence from the Geniza Marc Baer, University of California, Irvine Hunting for Converts: Ottoman Sultan Mehmed IV and Religious Conversion in the 17th Century SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18 4:30PM-6:30PM **(P041) Displacing the Nation: Diaspora, (Im)mobility and Empire in the Modern Middle East** Organized by Omar Dewachi Chair: OMAR DEWACHI, HARVARD UNIVERSITY Omar Dewachi,Harvard University From Professional Hajj to Professional Refugee: Journeys of the Iraqi Doctor to Britain Didem Danis, Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales Limits of Transnational: Iraqi Christian Transit Migrants' Networks in Turkey Senay Ozden, Duke University Borders of Belonging: Palestinian Refugees and the Politics of Opposition in Syria Stefanie Nanes, Hofstra University The Impact of Iraqi Refugees on Jordanian Perceptions of Citizenship and National Identity Are Knudsen, Chr. Michelsen Institute From Guerrillas to Guests: Changing Political Relations of Palestinian Refugees in Post-War Lebanon MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19 11:00AM-1:00PM **(NP45) Ottoman Provincial Administration** Chair: Metin Atmaca, University of Texas at Austin Mostafa Minawi, New York University The Mental Geography of an Ottoman-Syrian Official Charles L. Wilkins, Wake Forest University Self-Fashioning in Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Aleppo: The Career of Mustafa Efendi Tahazada (d. 1680) ALI YAYCIOGLU, HARVARD UNIVERSITY Intihab: Communal Participation and Election Practices in the Ottoman Provincial Politics (18th Century) Robert Zens, La Moyne College Ottoman Foreign Policy and the Ayanlik, 1750-1815 **(P089) Shifting Forms, Translating Codes: Language, Text and Identity in Ottoman Bosnia** Organized by Selma Zecevic Chair/Discussant: Asim Zubcevic, Leiden University ANDRAS J. RIEDLMAYER, HARVARD UNIVERSITY Conversion Stories, Tales of Viziers, and Ribald Anecdotes: Multiple Layers of Narrative and Language in a Bosnian Manuscript Snjezana Buzov, Ohio State University The Oral Storytelling Brought To a Standstill in Mecmuas Ahmed Zildzic, University of California, Berkeley The Phenomenon of Textual Production in Persian Language in Ottoman Bosnia Amila Buturovic, York University Carved in the Stone: Individuality and Collectivity in Epigraphic Text Selma Zecevic, York University The Act of Interpretation: Transformative Shifts and Identity: Negotiation in Ottoman-Bosnian Fatwas **(P131) Caught between Allied and Axis: The Maghrib during the Second World War** Organized by Moshe Gershovich Chair: Bruce Maddy-Weitzman, Tel Aviv University Discussant: SUSAN G. MILLER HARVARD UNIVERSITY Thomas DeGeorges, American University of Sharjah Bitter Victory: French and Algerian Veterans Reflect on the Second World War Moshe Gershovich, University of Nebraska-Omaha Military Mobilization and Social Transformation: World War II and the Integration of the Middle Atlas within the Moroccan State Lamia Ben Youssef Zayzafoon, University of Alabama at Birmingham Between the Allies and the Axis: The Jew, the Arab as Native Other in the Battle of Tunisgrad Daniel Zisenwine, Tel Aviv University From Reform Calls to Demands for Independence: Moroccan Nationalist Politics during World War II MONDAY, NOVEMBER 19 5:00PM-7:00PM **(NP19) Enduring Authoritarianism or Democratization from Below** Chair: Oliver Schlumberger, German Development Institute (DDE) Dina Shehata, Georgetown University Islamists and Non-Islamists in the Egyptian Opposition: Patterns of Conflict and Cooperation Arnaud Lenfant, National Fund for Scientific Research, Belgium Building an Islamic Movement under a Secularist Authoritarian Regime. A Case Study from Syria SEAN YOM, HARVARD UNIVERSITY Advocating Democracy but Supporting Autocracy: America's Commitments in the Middle East Special Session **(P139) Iraqi Libraries and Archives in a Time of Invasion, Chaos, and Civil Conflict: Status and Prospects** Saad Eskander, Iraq National Library The Reconstruction and the Modernization of the INLA: Political Hurdles and Security Challenges Nabil Al-Tikriti, U of Mary Washington/USIP Cultural Devastation and the Devaluation of Iraqi Society Shayee H.A. Khanaka, UC Berkeley The State of Libraries in Kurdistan JEFFREY B. SPURR, FOGG MUSEUM, HARVARD UNIVERSITY Good Intentions, Stymied Efforts, and Dimmed Hopes: Efforts to Rehabilitate Damaged Iraqi Libraries and Archives TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20 8:30AM-10:30AM **(NP12) Sufi Poetics** Chair: Teirab AshShareef, Georgia State University Teirab AshShareef, Georgia State University Muhammad 'Abd-al-Hayy's Sufi Existentialist Poetics ALIREZA KORANGY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY The Functionality of Christian Imagery in the Poetry of Persian Poet Afzal al-Din Khaqani Shirvani Nada Saab, Lebanese American University Sufism and the Poetic Impulse: The Case of Al-Hallaj **(P075) Starting with Food: Culinary Approaches to Ottoman History** Organized by Amy Singer Chair/Discussant: CEMAL KAFADAR, HARVARD UNIVERSITY NICOLAS TRÉPANIER (CMES GRADUATE STUDENT) HARVARD UNIVERSITY An Agricultural and Culinary Look at Early Ottoman History RACHEL GOSHGARIAN (CMES GRADUATE STUDENT) HARVARD UNIVERSITY Blending in and Separating Out: 16th Century Anatolian Food and Feasts Amy Singer, Tel Aviv University A Michelin Guide to Public Kitchens in the Ottoman Empire Joanita Vroom, University of Sheffield 'Mr. Turkey Goes to Turkey', or: How an 18th Century Dutch Diplomat Lunched at the Ottoman Court Tülay Artan, Sabanci University Feasting in Adversity: Enhancing the Ordinary TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20 11:00AM-1:00PM **(NP14) Islamic Jurisprudence: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives** Chair: Steven Judd, Southern Connecticut State University Nadia Nader, University of California, Santa Barbara The Mihna and the Politics of Memory AHMED EL SHAMSY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY An Alternative Approach to Twentieth-century Islamic Legal Reform: The Forgotten Magnum Opus of Shihab al-Din al-Husayni LEONARD WOOD, HARVARD UNIVERSITY Tanzir Literature and the Effort to Revive Islamic Jurisprudence in Egypt, 1936-1955 Irfana Hashmi, New York University The Enormities of Playing Chess and Backgammon: Deciphering Ibn Taymiyya's Maqasid Theory **(P077) Egypt and Christian Cultures** Organized by Heather J. Sharkey Discussant: Donald M. Reid, Georgia State University ANTHONY SHENODA, HARVARD UNIVERSITY The Hidden Debate: The Making and Unmaking of a Contemporary Coptic Saint Paul Sedra, Simon Fraser University Faith in the Race: Science and the Narrative of Coptic Exceptionalism Heather J. Sharkey, University of Pennsylvania An Egyptian in China: Ahmad Fahmy and the Making of World Christianities Grégoire Delhaye, Georgetown University/IEP Aix-en-Provence Alternative Narratives of Coptic Identity: Voices from the Diaspora See also:- [ CMES News ](/news-type/cmes-news) Share on:- [ Facebook ](#) - [ Twitter ](#) - [ Linkedin ](#)