History

Mouhanad Al Rifay

Q&A With Mouhanad Al Rifay

April 26, 2021

CMES AM candidate Mouhanad Al Rifay is a Syrian-American award-winning documentary filmmaker, humanitarian, and human rights activist. At CMES he is focused on journalism and nonfiction narrative writing and developing further expertise in Middle East–focused critical political and cultural commentary. After graduating from the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2014 with a BA in Psychology, International Development, and Conflict Management, Al Rifay managed various USAID-funded programs at leading international development organizations in Washington, DC. He also co-founded...

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Rosie Bsheer

Q&A With Rosie Bsheer

September 14, 2020

Rosie Bsheer is Assistant Professor of History in the Department of History and a member of the CMES Steering Committee. Her teaching and research interests center on Arab intellectual and social movements, petrocapitalism and state formation, and the production of historical knowledge and commemorative spaces. She teaches graduate and undergraduate courses on oil and empire, social and intellectual movements, petro­modernity, political economy, historiography, and the making of the modern Middle East. Her first book, Archive Wars: The Politics of History in Saudi Arabia, will be published in fall 2020 by Stanford University Press.... Read more about Q&A With Rosie Bsheer

CMES building north elevation

A Letter to the CMES and Harvard Community

July 10, 2020

It should not have taken a string of tragic and highly visible incidents of police brutality in the middle of a suffocating pandemic to sharpen the need to recognize and reckon with anti-Black racism and the legacy of slavery, but it did. Watching or reading about the horrifying final moments of the murder of George Floyd, some of us were immediately reminded of Radio Raheem—how is that for a name with "Middle Eastern" resonances?—and his tragic end, "fictionalized" more than thirty years ago in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing (1989).*

At least, on this occasion, Floyd...

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Tell This in My Memory, Eve Troutt Powell

Readings on Race and Slavery with Specific Relevance for Middle East Studies

July 7, 2020

Rosie Bsheer, Assistant Professor of History, and Cemal Kafadar, Vehbi Koç Professor of Turkish Studies, both core faculty members of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, recommend the following books on race and slavery that have special relevance for Middle East studies. For information on locating books at a library near you, visit www.worldcat.org...

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Derek Penslar

Herzl Re-imagined: Derek Penslar Weighs the Impact of Theodor Herzl's Personal Power

April 14, 2020
Derek Penslar, William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History at Harvard University, has long studied modern Jewish history from a global perspective. In his new biography of Theodor Herzl, Penslar examines how the founder of modern Zionism’s personal life influenced his political impact. He discussed Theodor Herzl: The Charismatic Leader with the... Read more about Herzl Re-imagined: Derek Penslar Weighs the Impact of Theodor Herzl's Personal Power
William Granara on the Ottoman History Podcast

William Granara on the Ottoman History Podcast

February 27, 2020
During the 9th century, Arab armies from North Africa conquered Sicily, leading to four centuries of Muslim history on the island, which is now part of Italy. Sicily during that period has often been portrayed as an interfaith utopia where Muslims, Christians, and Jews lived side by side, giving rise to a cultural synthesis, but as CMES Director William Granara explains, the reality was more complex. In "Muslim Sicily and Its Legacies... Read more about William Granara on the Ottoman History Podcast
Mediterranean Cousins poster

Mediterranean Cousins: Tunisia and Italy on Opposite Shores

February 21, 2020

In October 2019, CMES Director William Granara spent part of his sabbatical year convening the first international symposium organized by the Tunisia Office of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies: Mediterranean Cousins: Tunisia and Italy on Opposite Shores, designed to examine kinship, exchanges, and divides between Tunisia and Italy across time.... Read more about Mediterranean Cousins: Tunisia and Italy on Opposite Shores