Cover photo: Unnamed Road, Nabatiyeh El Tahta, Lebanon by Nina Abdel Malak, Unsplash.
Temple in Baalbeck, Lebanon, by Rolf Neumann, Unsplash.
Ali Yaycıoğlu
Associate Professor of History
Dear Friends,
The Abbasi Program had an exceptionally active year in 2024. Shortly after Halil Yenigün and I assumed our roles as associate and academic directors, respectively, a devastating war erupted in the Middle East. As the conflict took a horrifying toll on civilian lives, it ignited nationwide campus protests, including at Stanford. Amid this turmoil, our community sought thoughtful and informed discussions on the unfolding crisis. In response, the Abbasi Program, in collaboration with the newly established Middle Eastern Studies Forum (MESF) and other campus units, organized, sponsored, or co-sponsored a record number of talks, teachins, and panel discussions, namely a total of 46 events. I am proud to say that the Abbasi Program and our academic community demonstrated exemplary leadership, both at Stanford and among our peer institutions.
We established and launched a new platform for the study of the Middle East: The Middle Eastern Studies Forum. Funded by the Dean’s Office of the School of Humanities and Sciences, this forum aims to focus specifically on the Middle East and North Africa. While complementary to the Abbasi Program’s mission of exploring Muslim experiences in a global context, including in the United States, the MESF aspires to grow into an autonomous institution. We hope to expand this forum to further its distinct focus while maintaining a synergistic relationship with the Abbasi Program.
The Abbasi Program’s focus was not limited to the Middle East crisis. We also addressed the challenges of democratic erosion and its potential revival in Turkey, Indonesia and other Muslim-majority countries. Additionally, we organized a rich array of events covering diverse topics, such as Ottoman history, modern Arab, Kurdish, and Armenian history, women in the Muslim world, traditions of Islamic thought, Sufism, and Islamic art. Among the highlights of our programming was a collaborative event with the Hamid and Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies: a captivating performance by Haleh Liza Gafori, weaving her translations of Rumi’s verses with music, featuring the original Persian text, commentary, and backstories. This dizzyingly rich and diverse programming was made possible through the hard work of Roula Khaled and Halil Yenigün, to whom I extend my deepest gratitude.
The Abbasi Program also played an active role in fostering campus peace. We worked closely with the Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian Communities (MAP) Committee during its deliberations, one outcome of which is a six-year postdoctoral program in Palestinian Studies set to launch in fall 2025.
Another significant milestone for the Abbasi Program in 2024 was the establishment of a permanent advisory board, comprising Kabir Tambar, Nora Barakat, Rushain Abbasi, and Denise Gill. This board has not only fostered a more participatory decision-making process but also provided strategic guidance for the program’s future.
Finally, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the members of the Abbasi Program community—especially the students—who have created such an incredibly vibrant environment for intellectual exchange and growth.
Best regards, Ali Yaycıoğlu
FACULTY PROFILES
Faculty Profile: Morehshin Allahyari
Can you tell us about your intellectual and artistic history? What brought you to Stanford?
I have been reading, writing, and making from a young age. I was born and raised in Iran until the age of 23 and was fortunate to have parents who allowed me to explore creativity as an avenue toward making meaning of the world around me. My entrance to the art world was through creative writing, from the age of 12, which became a lifelong commitment to exploring and applying the power of storytelling as an important aspect of my art creation. In 2007, after graduating from my undergraduate studies at Tehran University’s Social Science and Media Department, I was offered a full scholarship to study in the Digital Media Studies program at the University of Denver. After I received my MA, I was given a full scholarship to study at the University of North Texas in the New Media Arts Department. After graduation, I continued to live in the United States. Before coming to Stanford, I lived in NYC for 8 years where I focused on having a fulltime artist practice while traveling internationally for exhibitions, public lectures and workshops, as well as residency and fellowship opportunities.
Could you please tell us about your art? How would you define it? What do you most wish people knew about your work?
As a digital media artist with a research-based and interdisciplinary practice, I use 3D simulation, code, video, sculpture, and storytelling as tools to re-figure history. My work weaves together art,
technology, and activism in complex counternarratives to the lasting influence of technological colonialism in the context of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Rather than allowing new technology’s novelty factors to drive my work, I question the tool, examine how it functions or reifies its maker’s values, and find ways to integrate it into a poetic, personal, and critical practice that is singular; that itself is a teaching tool. I work as an archaeologist of these technologies, investigating them the same way historians examine artifacts of the past. Over the past 10 years, I have focused on topics such as archiving, cultural heritage, digital colonialism, fabulation, feminist and queer studies, and myth-making through my projects such as Material Speculation ISIS, She Who Sees The Unknown, and 3D Additivism. Since 2014, I’ve worked primarily by adapting technologies
such as 3D printing and 3D scanning, commonly employed in commercial sectors, for the fabrication of installations and sculptural artworks. I use and reappropriate these technologies as tools for reconfiguration and resistance to colonial power structures.
Can you elaborate on what you mean by technological and digital colonialism? What involves resistance to those structures? Do you think Islamic art’s past provides us with the tools for that?
Since 2016, I’ve been writing and giving world-wide lectures on the concept of Digital Colonialism. My definition of Digital Colonialism is “a framework for critically examining the tendency for information technologies to be deployed in ways that reproduce colonial power relations”. My focus has specifically been on cultural heritage and the application
Morehshin Allahyari, Gorgon from the series Material Speculation: ISIS, 3D printed resin and memory card, image courtesy of the artist, 2016.
of 3D scanners and 3D printers as tools in the hands of western tech companies, many based in Silicon Valley working with western institutions. Through these practices, tech companies have appropriated ownership, through international copyright law, of aspects of other cultures, and found ways to monetize the resulting IP, all while growing social capital by presenting themselves as social/political saviors.
While watching western tech companies scanning artifacts and historical sites across the MENA region, I began to ask: What is happening to this data? What happens to the 3D models or 3D scan data they bring back to Europe and the US? Who owns it? What are the copyright questions? This is where my entire Digital Colonialism project emerged from.
When we think about the historical colonialism of the West towards countries in the Global South, we all understand the ‘physical’ colonialism. You can go to the British
Museum or the Met, see the objects on display, and be aware that many arrived from the Middle East by theft or/and being sold on a black market. In fact, we’ve recently seen the early steps of museums attempting to address the dark histories of physical colonialism by either returning objects to their place of origin or being open to discussions about it.
But when it comes to Digital Colonialism, and the digital ownership of data, the space is still very gray. There are many questions to be asked, and problems around unethical practices to be addressed. I therefore began asking questions about data ownership; questions about the power dynamics in access to technology. Tech companies from the Global North may collect this data in the MENA region with the justification that “we are coming to save these artifacts for you,” but really, where does this data go? Who has access to it? These are the central questions in my work on Digital Colonialism.
What excites you in Islamic art right now and why?
The more I have engaged with Islamic Art and Studies in the last decade, the more I have learned how empowering it can be to connect to our heritage while also challenging, re-imagining, and speculating the past for the work of imagining other possible presents and futures.
Currently, I am working on a new body of work that focuses on the history of sciences and technological instruments of the past, specifically from the era known as The Islamic Golden Era, when science, technological development, and cultural development flourished, as its central focus. My project will act as a space for re-considering and re-claiming new possibilities of thinking about the history of technology and sciences while also pushing boundaries by exploring futurity and futurism away from the common tired assumptions of our times. What would it look like to see ourselves into a future imagined and built “by us for us” as the people of the MENA?
How would you situate your art within or vis-à-vis your Kurdish and Iranian or Islamic cultural heritage?
Although I hold an MFA from a US university, my practice and pedagogical approach have been deeply influenced by my personal life background and the education I have gained in the school of third-world feminist thought and practice. I was born in Iran into a family of Kurds, one of the world’s largest peoples without a state who continue to face systematic discrimination in Iran. In my household, I became intimately acquainted with the chronicles of Kurdish history and the
Morehshin Allahyari, Physical Tactics for Digital Colonialism, documentation of performance lecture, commissioned by Rhizome and New Museum, courtesy of the artist, 2019.
FACULTY PROFILES
day-to-day stories that shed light on the repression of the Kurdish community by the Iranian government, especially women who bore the brunt of both cultural and political patriarchy. These life lessons planted a lasting seed in me; the legacy to speak and take action against injustice; refusing to avert my gaze when confronted with the imperative to witness, comprehend, and advocate. My earliest complete artistic endeavor was to write a 380-page novel, which took me three years and which I completed and published at the age of 16. My award-winning book tells the story of my Kurdish grandmother who raised me, and shares stories about her life and the struggles she went through as a woman growing up in a patriarchal culture. This lived experience led me to a heightened awareness of the need for gender equality and a personal commitment to advocate for equal rights, amplifying the voices of those who are historically marginalized. I equally see feminist struggles as struggles against all modes of oppression, including ethnicity, class, gender orientation, race, and religion; knowing deeply that “We are not free until we are all free”.
In the last decade, my art practice has also been specifically focused on underrepresented or forgotten stories and histories of the Middle East. My series Material Speculation: ISIS (2015-2017) is a 3D modeling and 3D printing project focused on the reconstruction of twelve selected statues from the Roman city of Hatra and Assyrian artifacts from Nineveh that were destroyed by ISIS in 2015 and documented in a series of highly publicized YouTube videos. The series goes beyond metaphoric
gestures, and merely digital or material forms of the artifacts by including a flash drive inside the body of each 3D printed object, which like a time capsule, is sealed for future civilizations. The information on these flash drives includes images, maps, PDF files, and videos gathered on the artifacts and sites that were destroyed. Material Speculation: ISIS creates a practical and political possibility for artifact archival, while also proposing 3D printing technology as a tool for resistance and documentation.
My five-year-long research-based project She Who Sees The Unknown (2017-2021) is a multi-faceted work in which I use digital modeling, sculpture, installation, and storytelling to re-figure five main jinn female/queer figures of Islamicate origin, using the myths associated with them to explore the catastrophes of
colonialism, patriarchism, and environmental degradation in relation to the MENA region. I began this process by collecting an extensive and rare archive of manuscripts relating to the forgotten and underrepresented stories of monstrous female/queer figures from the Islamicate region. Following that, I used these illustrations to create 3D sculptures and further, built shrinelike installation rooms for each figure.
Recently, I just completed a new poetic film essay titled Speculations on Capture, which explores the stories of astronomical instruments made in Iran and Pakistan and now held at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Dating from the 1200s to the 1700s, each object was modeled in 3D specifically for this project and features in the film alongside archival documents and related photographs. The museum’s
Morehshin Allahyari, She Who Sees the Unknown: Kabous, the Right Witness and The Left Witness, 2019. On view at 32 Lisgar as part of the Toronto Biennial of Art, 2024. Photography: Toni Hafkenscheid, 2024.
archives capture only fragments of these objects’ histories. Documents record their arrival between about 1865 and 1930, but there is little sense of how their displacement impacted their places of origin and the people living there. Their journeys reflect imperial histories that have shaped the V&A’s collections. In this project, I expand on these partially told tales, combining fact and fiction to speculate on the encounters that have been lost, the knowledge that has been diverted and the cultural histories rendered inaccessible. I aim to disrupt the museum environment, reframing its imperial power dynamic and realigning objects with their own histories, cultures and people. I try to lift fragmented stories beyond the confines of the museum, imagining how the past could have been different and the possibilities the future may hold.
Can we say that your activism is integral to your art by uplifting what is lost or repressed, and imagining what could have been different or could be different in the future?
Yes I think that’s absolutely one aspect of it, although I think my activism is also equally about community building, event organizing, and activating museums, art institutions, and public spaces beyond showing my art works. In addition, seeing my practice as one that is always spatial: meaning that it must respond and critically engage with the lives we live; not through an individual practice but also through collective thinking and acting.
How do you envision your art evolving at your new home, i.e. Stanford, over the coming years?
One of the most exciting things for me at Stanford is the possibility of collaborating and building worlds with a diverse community of faculty and students. I have always been interested in a practice that is anti-disciplinary. Studying Social Science and Media Studies for my undergrad and then entering an art major for my grad studies, has shown me the power of the kind of work and thinking that can be done when worlds overlap, intersect, and connect. I think being at Stanford will allow me to extend and deepen that aspect of my practice.
What courses are you teaching at Stanford and how do you engage with students?
In the winter, I’ve taught a graduate concept course that focuses on the studies and application of Speculative Thinking as a methodology in artistic research and practice. Each week, our class delved into a series of readings and material connected to this topic as well as an aspect of the student’s practices, which would be guided by a student-led slide presentation, discussions, and research maps.
In the Spring, I will be teaching a course on Decolonizing Archives. For this class, students will gain the knowledge to critically examine and challenge the traditional structures of archives and data collection. We discuss topics in relation to data ownership, information access, digital colonialism, AI libraries, cultural heritage, and alternative
radical modes of knowledge production. What do we really mean when we say decolonize? Who should have access to a particular story, archival folder, or technological legacy?
Where do you wish to see the future of the study on Islamic art at Stanford in 10 years?
I wish to see it connect to more intersections beyond Islamic Art and more specifically, to the real-world events of our time. To me, the exploration of art and history, especially that of the past, is the most powerful when it brings with it teachings, learnings, and unlearning for living in the present. I think about knowledge of the past as ancestral life lessons. Whatever that knowledge was, I am personally curious how we might be able to learn from it to connect deeply with each other as a community. I also see the work we do, as scholars and creators, as an important vessel for healing and world-building for future generations; especially as we witness our region going through these dystopian and heartbreaking times.
Sharing your wishes for the future, thank you so much for the opportunity to have this fascinating conversation about your work.
Interviewed by Halil Yenigün.
FACULTY PROFILES
Faculty Director Profile: Ali Yaycıoğlu on the Past, Present, and Future of Islamic & Middle East Studies
For readers unfamiliar with our previous interviews with you, could you briefly share your intellectual background?
I grew up in Ankara and Istanbul and studied International Relations and Political Science at the Middle East Technical University in the early 1990s. After college, I decided to become a historian. Halil İnalcık, the prominent Ottoman historian, had recently retired from the University of Chicago and established a new graduate program in Ottoman history at Bilkent University. I was admitted to the program. There, I not only started studying history but also gained training in Ottoman-Turkish philology, paleography, and archival research. This decision changed the course of my life.
After Bilkent, I continued my graduate studies at McGill University’s renowned Institute of Islamic Studies, where I specialized in Islamic legal history and studied Arabic. In 1998, I moved to Harvard University to pursue a PhD in Middle East History under the mentorship of Professor Cemal Kafadar. During my Harvard years, I deepened my focus on legal and constitutional history, history of revolutions and developed a strong interest in political philosophy. I also had the opportunity to study at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS) in Paris with Gilles Veinstein. My dissertation, completed in 2008, explored the crisis of the Ottoman order in the Age of Revolutions, focusing on the Ottoman Balkans and Anatolia between the 1780s and 1810s.
Following my PhD, I undertook two postdoctoral fellowships. The first was at Harvard’s Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, where I studied Ottoman architecture. The second was at Princeton University’s Hellenic Studies program, where I studied Greek and Ottoman Greece.
How did your journey at Stanford start?
I joined Stanford in 2011 as an Assistant Professor. Stanford has a rich yet complex history with Ottoman Studies. In the early 1950s, the university made an attempt to establish an Ottoman-Turkish Studies program. In 1954, Stanford extended an offer to Pertev Naili Boratav, the prominent literary historian and scholar of folklore studies, to lead the program but the U.S. government refused to issue him a work visa due to his connections to the Turkish socialist movement. This was during the McCarthy
period. In 1957, Wayne Vucinich, the prominent Balkan historian at Stanford and the Hoover Institution, hosted an Ottoman history conference featuring key scholars such as Halil İnalcık, Niyazi Berkes, Hamilton Gibb, Tibor Halasi-Kun, Tarık Zafer Tunaya, Richard Frye, Lewis Thomas, and Alexander Rustow. There was a decision to establish an Ottoman-Turkish history position and build a strong library. A strong library was built, but the position was not established until 2008.
In 1991, Aron Rodrigue, my dear colleague and a pioneer in Sephardi Studies within the Ottoman world and Europe, joined Stanford. Joel Beinin was covering the modern Middle East. Joel and Aron built prominent programs in Modern Middle East and Jewish/Sephardi studies respectively at Stanford, both were linked to the Ottoman
Empire. Robert Crews was focusing on Muslim Central Asia under the Russian Empire and Iran—regions that also deeply interest me. Ahmad Dallal was focusing on medieval and early modern Islam, but not specifically focusing on the Ottoman sources. After Ahmad left Stanford, (with Joel’s and Aron’s initiative,) the Ottoman history position in the History Department was opened in 2008, but the search was canceled because of the 2008 financial crisis. It was repeated in 2010. I arrived at Stanford through that search a year after.
When I joined Stanford, the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies had been established in 2003 with the generous support of Sohaib and Sara Abbasi and through the efforts of the late Robert Gregg, professor of Religious Studies. Shahzad Bashir, now at Brown University, was the director of the program. Lisa Blaydes was leading Middle Eastern studies in political science. Burcu
Karahan had joined Stanford a year before me to teach Turkish and Ottoman literature at DLCL. At the time, we were a small group. I arrived with Kabir Tambar (Anthropology) and Dominic Brookshaw (Persian literature). Dominic later moved on to Oxford. Since then, the faculty in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies have expanded tremendously—largely under the leadership of Dean Richard Saller, who was the real mastermind behind this growth.
The expansion began with the arrival of Alexander Key, followed by several departmental and interdepartmental searches that brought us several remarkable scholars: Rushain Abbasi, Morehshin Allahyari, Nora Barakat, Anna Bigelow, Patricia Blessing, Denise Gill, Marie Huber, Michael Penn, Serkan Yolaçan. We also hired Kioumars Ghereghlou, a leading historian of Safavid Iran as the curator of the Middle East Studies
collection at the library. In addition to our strong group in H&S, we have three very critical colleagues at FSI and Hoover: Ayça Alemdaroğlu, Hasham Sallam and Cole Bunzel. There is also The Hamid and Christina Moghadam Program in Iranian Studies led by our colleague Abbas Milani. Today, Stanford is emerging as one of the most competitive institutions in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies.
The Abbasi Program has become exceptionally dynamic over the last decade, thanks to the leadership of Shahzad Bashir, Vincent Barletta, Robert Crews, and Lisa Blaydes before me. And you (Halil Yenigün) joined us as associate director in 2023, which is an amazing addition. Of course, there are still some significant gaps, particularly in Palestinian Studies, North Africa, and Islam in America but the progress has been extraordinary. It has been truly wonderful to be a part of this remarkable expansion and transformation in such a short period.
How do you position your expertise in Ottoman history within the broader field of Islamic studies? Do you believe students of Islamic studies should also engage with Ottoman history?
Ottoman history is an extraordinarily interdisciplinary field, as the empire itself. It integrates the traditions of Islamic Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Turkic and TurcoPersian studies, Turco-Mongol studies, as well as Mediterranean and Southeast European Studies, Slavic and Hellenic Studies with a particular focus on the Balkan world, as well as Armenian and Jewish Studies. Proper training in
Ottoman History Conference at Stanford in 1957
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Ottoman history requires proficiency in OttomanTurkish, Arabic, Persian, and Greek languages, at a minimum. This interdisciplinary nature places me both within and somewhat outside the traditional scope of Islamic Studies. Recently, I have been increasingly engaged in scholarly work on modern Turkey, but my primary focus has always been the Ottoman Balkans, Greece, and Anatolia.
I believe that Islamic Studies as a field is currently undergoing a significant transition, expanding beyond its conventional temporal, spatial, and epistemological boundaries. Historically, Islamic Studies has been dominated by work focused on the medieval period. However, there is now a growing emphasis on the early modern and modern periods—what we can broadly call the Ottoman period. Topics such as intellectual, artistic, and religious transregional networks and diasporas have become increasingly important. Additionally, new approaches to Islamic constitutional history are opening fresh perspectives on modern discussions surrounding Islam, capitalism, and democracy. In this context, the vibrant field of Ottoman studies plays a crucial role in advancing Islamic Studies toward its next stage. Conversely, Islamic Studies also contributes to the evolution of Ottoman studies, particularly in the realm of intellectual history, making the relationship between the two fields deeply interconnected and mutually enriching.
What motivated you to take the initiative for a separate Middle Eastern Studies Forum at Stanford? Why do you think there wasn’t one in the past?
We have launched the Middle Eastern Studies Forum (MESF), and I am thrilled about this development. I believe that Islamic Studies and Middle Eastern & North African (MENA) field have distinct scopes. The concept of the “Middle East” is a complex one, shaped by the legacies of Orientalism and the Cold War. However, it has evolved significantly over the decades. Today, Middle Eastern Studies as a field, addresses some of the most critical historical and contemporary questions. In most of our peer institutions, MENA and Islamic Studies are institutionalized as separate departments, centers, or programs. While these fields can collaborate and complement each other, they generally have different visions and priorities. One example is how Middle Eastern Studies places non-Muslim communities of the region as
a central component of the field, whereas Islamic Studies explores Muslim experiences in a global perspective, extending far beyond the Middle East.
When I accepted the offer from the Dean and the Director of Global Studies to direct the Abbasi Program, I emphasized that one of my top priorities was to create a separate platform dedicated to studying the Middle East. This platform would also enable Islamic Studies to focus more precisely on its core mission: supporting scholarly endeavors related to the global Muslim experience. Thanks to the support of Dean Debra Satz, Associate Dean Gabriella Safran, and the Director of Global Studies, Jisha Menon, we have successfully established the MESF. I would like to particularly thank Aron Rodrigue, who founded the Mediterranean Studies Forum many years ago, focusing on the Eastern Mediterranean. Unfortunately, the MSF eventually exhausted its funding. However, we have built the Middle Eastern Studies Forum on this legacy.
How do you envision the future of Islamic Studies and Middle Eastern Studies at Stanford over the next few decades? Could you also reflect on their development since you joined?
Recently, with a document we prepared in collaboration with Jisha Menon, Paula Moya (the director of CCSRE), and Alexander Key, we outlined a number of priorities for Middle Eastern Studies at Stanford. These include the establishment of positions in contemporary Arab and Palestinian Studies, Kurdish Studies, and the US-Middle East relations. We also emphasized the importance of fostering collaborations with institutions in the region. We have recently launched a postdoctoral fellowship in Palestinian Studies. This fellowship was established with the support of Richard Saller during his presidency in 2023-24 as a response to Stanford’s Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian Communities (MAP) Committee Report, prepared by Alexander Key and Abiya Ahmed.
I also believe Stanford has the potential to become a central hub for Kurdish Studies, given that our library houses significant Kurdish collections. Today, Kurdish Studies serves an important function in connecting regions and periods, historical questions and contemporary challenges. Both the Departments of History and Anthropology have supervised significant dissertations on the Kurdish experience. We believe that Stanford can become a leading institution for this new but vibrant
field. An amazing conference will be held this coming Spring on Kurdish Literary Studies, which we are also proudly co-sponsoring with DLCL.
At Stanford, I believe we should develop a vision to build a strong, unprecedented, and novel program that sets us apart from our peer institutions both in Islamic and MENA Studies. While critically embracing the scholarly traditions that have shaped these fields, we must also venture into new territories. One of the main strengths of Islamic Studies at Stanford could be Digital Islamic Humanities (DIH). In collaboration with the Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis, we are discussing the development of a new DIH program for undergraduate and graduate students.
We are also creating a new cluster under the Islam and Arts Initiative, led by Denise Gill and Patricia Blessing. Our new colleague, Morehshin Allahyari, an IranianKurdish artist who uses 3D printing, video, sculpture, and digital fabrication to reimagine myth and history, is an extraordinary addition to our community. I believe Arts and Islam will become a major focus at Stanford, and I hope the Stanford Arts Initiative and Museums will actively support this direction.
Additionally, we are launching a new workshop series with prominent scholars to explore the future of the field. We will host Sherman Jackson, Judith Pfeiffer, Evrim Binbaş, and Beshara Doumani in the Spring to discuss the future of Islamic Studies.
What key achievements do you hope to accomplish for the Abbasi Program during your tenure as its director?
We are already very active, thanks to you and Roula Khaled, our program coordinator. Last academic year, as a response to the crisis in the Middle East, we organized and sponsored a record number of events. We will continue to maintain this high level of activity and visibility on the Stanford campus and beyond. Additionally, the Abbasi Program should become a more participatory program. Currently, the Abbasi Program has an active advisory board, and strategic decisions should be made collectively.
When the Middle Eastern Studies Forum is transformed into a proper program or center, the Abbasi Program and MESF will operate as separate but complementary institutions, each with distinct yet aligned priorities. Stanford has an incredible potential to be one of the leading institutions in these fields, offering novel and courageous perspectives. In many ways, it already is. If I can contribute to advancing this journey, I will have accomplished my mission as director.
Thank you for this very informative conversation.
Interviewed by Halil Yenigün.
SECTION INTERVIEW WITH THE MAP COMMITTEE
Interview with the Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian Communities (MAP) Committee co-chair Alexander Key
The MAP Committee was an initiative developed by the President and Provost in November 2023 and Alexander was asked to serve as one of the co-chairs. In this interview, we talk to him about his experiences and committee findings.
Why did you feel the need to establish this committee as distinct from the university units dealing with discrimination and racism?
We saw this as an opportunity to both serve Stanford’s communities and to think about what the university has done well and where it has struggled. The university provided us with autonomy, access, and resources to engage in what was in effect an internal audit on discourse and advocacy around Palestine, as well as issues impacting Muslim and Muslim-adjacent students. We provided a series of updates on our work in 2023-2024 here: https://mapcommittee.stanford.edu/updates.
You produced a 145page report in May. What kind of work did you undertake to write this report? What challenges did you face?
To quote from our report’s “Methodology” section (https://news. stanford.edu/__data/ assets/pdf_ file/0031/156586/MAPfinal-report-2024.pdf), our data collection took place over a period of seven months between November 15, 2023 and May 15, 2024 and our analysis was based on qualitative interviews, analyses of relevant reports and documentation, and archival examination. We conducted listening sessions with close to 200 Stanford community members, including students, staff, and faculty across all schools and units, as well as alumni and parents. A few of these sessions were group meetings, while the majority were 1:1 interviews, each lasting between 60-120 minutes.
As we discussed in a subsequent oped in Inside Higher Education , “An Awkward False Neutrality,” one major challenge was the general climate of fear and insecurity around the question of Palestine—a climate on which we were reporting. Colleagues and students were scared to talk, and concerned about going on the record. We were also, despite the university’s efforts, in a resource and network-constrained environment.
What do you mean by false neutrality? Are you suggesting that institutional neutrality is an impossible aspiration, or that universities often fail to apply it consistently, disadvantaging certain groups? Do you advocate for a different ideal than neutrality? In the Executive Summary, we write: “MAP community members consistently noted that Stanford’s official communications since October 2023 were asymmetric with respect to Palestine despite the university’s stated commitment to institutional neutrality and restraint. Moreover, these communications often presented lopsided coverage of this historical moment and sometimes conflated or collapsed MAP identities, such as assuming that all Palestinians are Muslim” (page 9). This issue is addressed in more detail in the “Communications” chapter (pages 126-129, 136) and our recommendation there is: “Be consistent, between both words and words (e.g. if stating neutrality, refrain from publishing multiple statements that indicate otherwise) and between words and actions (e.g. if stating neutrality, refrain from supporting politically charged events in a lopsided manner during a sensitive time)” (page 140).
Finally, we quote this analysis from an alumnus: ““Institutional neutrality, I get it and I kind of like that. I get that you can’t necessarily condemn one side and not the other, so therefore you have to be more nuanced in what you do publicly–I accept that and am ok with that. But then you need to be consistent” (page 141).
What struck you most during your work to collect data from these communities? Was there anything that was totally different from what you expected?
We already knew that there were problems on campus when it came to Islamophobia and its impact on members of our communities, and we knew that people felt the university was not a place where they could properly
debate, discuss, or learn about Palestine. Our listening sessions confirmed these impressions, and revealed a university where harm took place and where speech on Palestine was repressed through a variety of formal and informal means. But what surprised us were the patterns: we would document one set of experiences in a specific time and a place and then would find exactly the same patterns of false neutrality, silencing, viewpoint discrimination, and inconsistent treatment of harm and speech at a completely different moment - sometimes even decades distant or concerning wholly separate issues and identities. This led us to conclude that there was something not right with the way the university interacted with its own community - a lack of understanding that student protestors, staff with expertise and diverse beliefs, and politically committed faculty are all equally deserving of the moniker “us.”
What “long-term and sustainable solutions” did you recommend for the university? Also, what did you see as the most immediate step the university must take?
At the end of the Executive Summary (page 10), we write: “This report provides detailed recommendations on safety, freedom of speech, vibrant discourse, scholarship and knowledge production, representation and structural support, and communications. We provide one-year, five-year, and ten-year goals to guide the university as it implements these five core tasks:
1. Eliminate the Palestine exception to free speech and expression throughout the university.
2. Broaden opportunities for speech and engagement by revising time, place, and manner restrictions curtailing student speech and by expanding freedom of speech and academic freedom for all community members, not just tenured faculty.
3. Cultivate vibrant discourse even on controversial topics by recruiting a diversity of representation, experience, and knowledge among students, staff, and faculty. Continue to invest in structures that support this diversity.
4. Invest in new tenured faculty and units engaging Palestine and Arab Studies for the long term, and in the short term leverage existing expertise and create exchange programs to bring greater scholarship to Stanford.
5. Listen to and honor in-house expertise and community leaders when working on decisions and communications that affect the campus and its diverse communities, particularly during moments of crisis.
Another subcommittee emerged from the same post-October 7 crisis: the Subcommittee on Antisemitism and Anti-Israeli Bias. Why weren’t those bias and discrimination issues addressed together rather than under separate committees? What was the working relationship between that committee and this one? Did you engage with one another?
As noted above, the university decided to appoint separate committees. ASAIB was in fact a subcommittee of an existing Jewish Advisory Council that had done the work of revealing and documenting Stanford’s historical antisemitism in admissions and the subsequent antisemitic cover-ups. Our two committees worked in parallel and the members met each other many times; we have continued to meet the co-chairs of the antisemitism committee to discuss the implementation and future of the reports. We have seen a lot of parallels between our work, as well as differences in the specific problems at hand, and productive disagreements about conceptual questions.
How do you think the Stanford campus differs from other North American campuses in its approach to the current crisis? What accounts for the differences, if any?
Stanford has, for the most part, managed to stay out of the national news, despite having the longest, earliest, and perhaps the most peaceful and intellectually productive of the protest encampments in North America: https://ash.harvard.edu/articles/crowd-counting-blogan-empirical-overview-of-recent-pro-palestine-protestsat-u-s-schools/. We are not sure why this is, but we do think it warrants serious consideration and perhaps even credit given to our students’ efforts and the political discourse they helped create.
I’ve learned a lot—thank you for such a thoughtful discussion and sharing your amazing work.
Interviewed by Halil Yenigün.
SECTION VISITING SCHOLARS
Interview with Amanah Nurish, 2023-24 Fulbright Scholar in the Department of Anthropology
Can you tell us about your intellectual history? How did you end up at Stanford last year?
My academic background started with a bachelor’s in Islamic Philosophy and Mysticism. My master’s and doctorate focused on the anthropology of religion. This journey began with a scholarship at the Indonesian Consortium for Religious and Cross-cultural Studies, Gadjah Mada University, in collaboration with Temple University. Though full of struggles and ambiguities, it led me to become an anthropologist. In 2022, I met a colleague from Hamburg University at a G-20 event in Bali, who encouraged me to apply for Fulbright. I was accepted and placed in Stanford’s Department of Anthropology, becoming the first Indonesian scholar in the department.
What sparked your interest in the Baha’i faith? How do you link that with your larger research?
I first encountered the Baha’i faith through interactions with Baha’i neighbors, a small but socially active and resilient community in my country, despite facing
political and social discrimination. I witnessed firsthand their experiences of threats, intimidation, and violence. In 2007, during my master’s, I began ethnographic research on Baha’is, who were banned in 1962 and excluded from freedom to choose religious identity and religious community as civil rights in Indonesia. I expanded this research in my Ph.D. to Baha’i communities across Southeast Asia. The faith, with its emphasis on liberating humanity from colonialism and imperialism, inspires me to understand social and cultural realities and human complexities. Its spiritual values promote equal education for men and women and align with their concern for global issues like climate change. They believe religion and science must be equal, resulting in a very well-educated community. As a millenarian spiritual movement, they are very concerned with global issues, including climate change, which aligns with their millenarian outlook.
How do Baha’is work on climate change issues? Do they have any collaborative initiatives with other faith groups?
Baha’i communities engage in global issues, including climate change, collaborating with institutions like the G20 Interfaith Forum (IF20). I have worked on the role of religious communities as a public discourse on climate change and environmental issues. Last year, I worked with key Baha’i figures on climate change issues, and we were part of a core team advocating for the inclusion of indigenous knowledge in G20 policy recommendations. We collaborated with Professor Arthur Dahl, former Deputy Assistant Executive Director of UNEP and Stanford alumnus.
What struck you most when you were doing your ethnographic research on Baha’is or your other ethnographic work?
A major challenge was witnessing ignorance and facing accusations while conducting research. At times, I had to hide while interviewing Baha’i neighbors to avoid inter-religious tension and conflict. Most of my conversations happened in secret due to the sensitivity of the issue. From the 1960s-1990s, Baha’is were accused of supporting communism. As a Muslim, I’ve been accused of apostasy by fundamentalists who reject the idea of a new Abrahamic religion after Islam. Religious
fundamentalism is a global challenge, even in liberal societies like the US. However, in 2000, after the reforms, the former Indonesian president, Abdurrahman Wahid, revoked the ban on Baha’is, recognizing their civil rights.
What does “the generation after a half century of Clifford Geertz” mean? What is unique about this generation?
It is an academic claim based on my revisitation of Geertz’s study on santri, priyayi, and abangan. Using thick description as an ethnographic approach, Geertz analyzed religious and social categories in Java, Indonesia, though his classification remains debated. Over time, these categories have largely transformed. Unlike in the 1950s–1960s, the generation emerging half a century after Geertz sees religious phenomena as too fluid and blurred to fit neatly into this trichotomous framework, especially when examined through thick description in the Indonesian context.
Could you please explain very briefly what these terms mean and how the religious phenomena are different today?
The Religion of Java (1960) is widely associated with the trichotomy of santri, priyayi, and abangan, religious and social categories shaped by a modernist Islamic perspective. Santri adhere to normative Islamic laws and teachings, such as prayer, hajj, and zakat, while abangan do not strictly follow these practices. Santri are often linked to the merchant class, whereas abangan come from labor and peasant communities and embrace mystical Islam. Historically, abangan have been seen as less pious, economically disadvantaged, and less educated. Priyayi, by contrast, embodies Islamic syncretism influenced by Hinduism and Javanese mysticism, with rites and rituals diverging from Islamic purification practices.
How did you spend your time at Stanford? Would you like to share that you found most memorable?
I enjoyed conducting library research, besides fieldwork and traveling to various cities across California to explore the social and cultural differences between the East Coast and West Coast. As one of the world’s top universities, Stanford offers abundant academic resources, though Southeast Asian ones, particularly Indonesian, remain relatively uncommon. I actively participated in academic forums such as workshops,
seminars, FGDs, and guest lectures to stay engaged with current issues in anthropological studies in the United States. While involved in academic activities, I sometimes spent lunch with Stanford student activists protesting the Israel-Palestine issue. I grew close to one of them and enjoyed our discussions on global politics. I learned a lot, and I greatly appreciated its academic environment.
What would be your message to the Stanford community to improve the Indonesian studies at the university?
Recently, Indonesian studies in the U.S. have expanded, driven in part by the close bilateral partnership between the Indonesian and American governments in areas such as democratic politics, economics, education, culture, and trade. Indonesian studies are growing in the U.S., with programs at UC Berkeley, UCLA, and Cornell, but not at Stanford. The Abbasi Program, focusing on Islamic Studies, could initiate research and courses on Muslim societies, considering Indonesia’s status as the largest Muslim-majority country not only in Southeast Asia but also worldwide.
Arwa Faruk is a senior majoring in Human Biology with a concentration in Global Health and Neurology and minoring in Art Practice. She is from Albuquerque, New Mexico with roots in Bangladesh. As an artist and community organizer, Arwa cares deeply about marginalized communities in America, revolutionary struggles in the Muslim world and beyond, and the role of art in both areas. As the Abbasi-Markaz fellow this year, Arwa hopes to examine these topics and more through the lens of Islamic scholarship.
Rabia Kutlu Karasu is a Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science at Stanford University. Her research explores the intersection of authoritarianism, political institutions, and elite behavior, with a regional focus on the Middle East. Specifically, she studies the dynamics of hegemonic party formation and the strategies ruling parties use to shape elite behavior, consolidate power, and control political discourse. Her research employs quasi-experimental statistical designs and computational text analysis.
Yuanhao “Rüzgâr” Zou is a Ph.D. student in history at the Stanford School of Humanities and Sciences. He graduated from Carleton College in 2022 with a BA in history and math. Upon graduation, he studied folk music traditions and minority languages in the Caucasus, Northwest Africa, the Balkans, Mainland Southeast Asia, China, and Japan. Now, he is interested in historical connections between China and the Ottoman Empire.
Yusuf Zahurullah graduated in 2024 with a bachelor’s degree in history and minors in computer science and global studies, with a specialization in Islamic studies.
What was your favorite class at Stanford?
Dr. Farah El-Sharif’s Islam in West Africa Beyond Decolonization class not only inspired me to finish the minor in Islamic studies but also fundamentally changed my relationship with my own studies and faith.
How has your minor in global studies changed your understanding of the world and prepared you for your next steps?
My Islamic studies minor redefined my personal faith for me in a rigorous academic paradigm that I will constantly engage with for the rest of my life. Beyond impacting me as a student, it improved me as a Muslim.
What are your plans after graduation?
I plan to work full time while applying to law school.
Zachary Buckey is currently a Senior at Stanford where he is majoring in Political Science with a minor is Islamic Studies, International Relations, and Arabic. His research focuses on the role of the Gulf States in relation to great power conflict and a close examination of the future relationship between the United States and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. While at Stanford he has been incredibly fortunate to work with some of the leading experts in the field of Middle Eastern Studies and has been captivated by the intricate and nuanced history of the region. After graduation, Zach hopes to attend law school and eventually work in the diplomatic field, where his goal is to help create a stronger and more vibrant relationship between the United States and the Middle East. In his free time, Zach enjoys reading, studying Arabic, and traveling.
Husna Nashnoush is a Political Science major and Sociology co-term at Stanford University, with a minor in Islamic Studies. Born to Afghan and Libyan political refugees, Husna’s passion for justice and advocacy is deeply rooted in her family’s history. Their experiences have fueled her ambition to become a civil rights attorney and pursue law school in the near future.
In the current academic year, Husna has immersed herself in the dynamic environment of Washington, D.C., with Stanford in Washington, channeling her dedication to justice, policy, and advocacy during the pivotal election season. Following this, she will continue her experience abroad in Paris, where she will indulge her passion for fashion and its connection to the law. Inspired by the historical significance of fashion as a form of resistance—from Elizabethan dress codes to the civil rights movement—Husna hopes to eventually transition from the civil rights realm to pursue a career in fashion law.
On campus, Husna balances her academic and advocacy work with a wide range of engagements that reflect her diverse passions. As an active member of the ACLU chapter at Stanford, she is deeply involved in initiatives that defend civil liberties and promote justice. Her commitment to empowering women in leadership roles is evident through her involvement with Stanford Women on Boards, where she advocates for greater representation of women in corporate governance. Additionally, Husna conducts research with the Sociology department, where she delves into critical social issues, further enhancing her understanding of systemic inequalities.
Alongside these commitments, Husna is also involved with FashionX, where she seamlessly blends her love for fashion with her commitment to social justice. Beyond her professional and academic pursuits, Husna finds the most joy in Pilates, health and wellness, coffee shop hopping, cooking with family, and enjoying cultural dinners with friends.
MINOR STUDENTS
Lara Hafez graduated in 2024 with a B.A. in political science and minors in human rights and global studies, with a specialization in Islamic studies.
Tell us about your favorite class.
In Professor Samer Al Saber’s class, TAPS 22N, Culture, Conflict, and the Modern Middle East, we simulated the Middle Eastern experience through food, atmosphere, songs, and pictures. We were all sitting and talking about what we had learned in the class and were truly able to distance ourselves from simply speaking on academic terms. Instead, it was a welcoming space to explore our and others’ identities.
As you reflect on your time at Stanford, what are you most proud of?
I am most proud of the work I was able to do through my thesis. I studied Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) Americans and their political engagement levels, which lead to insightful research that will help build the foundation of understanding MENA individuals in the U.S. and within politics. Not much research has been done about the MENA population, which is why I was excited to add to the current literature.
How have your minors in human rights and Islamic studies changed your understanding of the world and prepared you for your next steps?
As someone who wants to protect the human rights of individuals domestically and abroad, both of my minors have allowed me to explore the manifestation of human rights violations and the dehumanization and otherization of Muslim individuals, which will equip me to understand how I can better support the communities I intend to support.
Ronnie Hafez is a senior at Stanford University, double majoring in Economics and Political Science with a minor in Islamic Studies. Passionate about venture capital, Ronnie focuses on how entrepreneurship can drive meaningful social impact, particularly in underserved communities. His involvement in Stanford’s startup accelerator programs has deepened his understanding of the intersection of business, technology, and social equity. Beyond academics, Ronnie is a sports commentator for Stanford’s athletic teams and actively participates in the Muslim Student Union (MSU), Stanford ACLU, The Markaz, and the Hoover Institution, where he contributes to policy discussions and advocates for civil rights and inclusivity. In his free time, he enjoys playing sports, hiking, discovering new food spots in the city, and taking walks around Palo Alto with a cup of coffee. With his diverse experiences in leadership, advocacy, and entrepreneurship, Ronnie is committed to developing innovative solutions to address economic and societal challenges.
Sameeha Khan is a senior at Stanford University majoring in Comparative Studies in Race & Ethnicity, with minors in Human Biology (Health Equity & Justice) and Global Studies (Islamic Studies). Her academic and professional interests lie at the intersection of chaplaincy, medicine, and tasawwuf, exploring how Sufism, particularly within Black and Brown communities, serves as a conduit for healing, resistance, and the transmission of prophetic wisdom amidst systemic violence. Sameeha plans to pursue a Master of Divinity to further her commitment to spiritual healing and community care as a pathway toward liberation.
Minor in Global Studies With a Specialization in Islamic Studies
Explore the complex array of histories, literatures, philosophies, intellectual traditions, and institutions related to Islam and Islamicate societies and communities by a Minor in Global Studies with a specialization in Islamic Studies.
Complete 28 units, including:
• Completion of 28 units that includes GLOBAL 101 Critical Issues in Global Affairs (3 units)
• A minimum of 25 units of Islamic studies-related courses.
• At least one course must be an area-specific entry course focusing on the Islamicate world.
• At least one course from each of the following areas must be completed.
1. Islam: Religion, Arts, Literatures, and Cultures
2. Islam in History
3. Islam and Politics
• Completion of three courses in a relevant language such as Arabic, Persian, Turkish, Ottoman Turkish, Urdu, Pashto, Kazakh, or Swahili. A maximum of 15 relevant language course units may be counted towards the Global Minor, Islamic Studies subplan.
• Students may also work with the subplan advisor to develop a capstone project to count towards the unit fulfillment of the minor.
To check out current course offerings within these areas, please visit: islamicstudies.stanford.edu/ academics/courses
If you are interested, set an appointment now with Dr. Halil Yenigun, Associate Director for the Islamic Studies Program to discuss your academic plan. Then, declare the Global Studies minor in the Islamic Studies subplan in Axess.
For more information, please visit: islamicstudies.stanford.edu/academics/ minor-global-studies-islamic-studies-specialization or scan here:
STUDENT UPDATES
The Abbasi Program supported 18 students—a 50% increase from last year—in the summer of 2024 as they pursued remote research, fieldwork, language study, or internships, awarding a total of $71,370 in funding.
Internships
Language Study
Research or Fieldwork
Nesi Altaras Graduate, History
Ottoman Turkish language study in Cunda, Turkey
With the support of the Abbasi Program, I attended the Ottoman Turkish Summer Intensive run by the Ottoman Studies Foundation in Turkey. The long-running program took place on the island of Cunda, connected by a bridge to the town of Ayvalik, where I stayed for 6 weeks. Despite natively speaking Turkish and 5 years of experience with Arabic, Ottoman paleography was challenging. However, when I finished the program and looked at archival documents, I found that I was able to get quite far in a relatively short amount of time. Ayvalik was strewn with decrepit remnants of Greek life, only a handful of which have been preserved or restored. The Abbasi language grants are an invaluable resource for the Stanford community and this past summer will have great impact on my research.
Rahemeen Ahmed Graduate, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Internship in Islamabad and Lahore, Pakistan
My research was a collaboration between my personal academic projects combined with guidance and support from National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and National University of Science and Technology (NUST). I was involved in three key initiatives: reviewing and updating seismic design criteria, supporting optimization of material facilities for post-disaster response, and effective risk communication. I’d suggest that students take the time out to meet people other than their immediate collaborators, including other students, instructors and researchers. It is a great opportunity to network but beyond that, to create meaningful relationships with the broader community and the ecosystem that supports the work that you do.
Lara Arikan
Graduate, Electrical Engineering and Classics
Field research in Ankara and Istanbul, Turkey
I spent a month in Ankara, Turkey. I identified and obtained 27 books containing textual evidence and contemporary scholarship regarding the ideological basis for the secularization drive in the early Turkish republic. From these books I selected and translated relevant texts. One struggle was the limited availability of certain books, while some of the newspaper clippings I sought were difficult or impossible to find or to view in the national library. Apart from this challenge I tried to overcome, I enjoyed having tea and ice cream in Ulus. I am glad for the donors’ generous funding, and that my project merited this funding, as I am convinced of its importance in explaining social and political dynamics in my country that remain painfully secret.
Miray Cakıroglu
Graduate, Anthropology
Fieldwork in Antakya, Turkey
The grant enabled me to do a follow-up visit, first in Istanbul and then in Hatay, to visit my research sites and reconnect in person with those I interviewed during my ethnographic fieldwork. I spent one week in Istanbul at the beginning of July and stayed in Karakoy. I was based in Vakifli in Samandag, Hatay, for another week at the end of August. While in Iskenderun, I lived with Iskenderun’s Rum community, whose lives were shaped around the church, located ten minutes from the church located centrally in downtown, left demolished by the earthquake. Being in Vakifli during this visit, I was slightly far from the families I grew familiar with and close to another non-Muslim community in this southeastern border town, in this uniquely Armenian village. I cultivated some close connections during this stay despite the brevity of my visit, and the conversations I had there left me with new insights into my research project, where I attempt to put into perspective distinct but intertwined senses of ‘ruination.’
Ronald Chen
Graduate, Anthropology Language Study in Jordan
I was awarded a language scholarship by the Abbasi Program, and I am using it to study Arabic at Sijal Institute in Jordan. I am currently pursuing a year of fieldwork in Jordan. With this scholarship, I am concurrently studying Arabic as I am doing my field research. As an anthropologist, language is a window into Jordanian culture; it is the medium through which I hear their stories and gather ethnographic data for my research project. Further, I can focus on topics specifically relevant to my research (e.g. law, tribalism, and human rights) and learn not just the vocabulary associated with these topics, but also entire worldviews and value systems that underpin these social issues.
Camille DeJarnett
Graduate, Political Science Research in Dakar, Senegal
I conducted field research in Senegal for my dissertation on language policy’s impact on civic participation. My research examines whether former colonial languages as official tongues limit civic engagement in sub-Saharan Africa, where many struggle to master them. I trained 25 enumerators in ethical research, sending them to 30+ field sites across three regions for surveys and experiments. The completed work will be critical in providing quantitative causal evidence to bear on a key democratic question for a rapidly growing region. I also explored Senegal, visiting Lompoul’s desert and experiencing Sahelian henna tattooing—excursions that offered novel experiences and muchneeded restoration to continue months of research.
Deniz Cenk Demir
Graduate, Anthropology
Research in Rome, Turin, Florence, Milan, and Southern Italy
Though the Kurdish diaspora in Italy has received scant scholarly attention in English, it is one of Europe’s most vibrant diasporic communities despite its smaller population compared to elsewhere. With this grant, I began my ethnographic engagement and connected with interlocutors for my dissertation research in Italy. I also planned visits to various community centers, clubs, and foundations where international solidarity with Kurds materialized as transnational political activity beyond humanitarian efforts.
STUDENT UPDATES
Salma Alkhoudi
Graduate, Anthropology
Research in Abu Dhabi, UAE
This summer, the Abbasi Summer Grant allowed me to conduct in-depth preliminary dissertation research at two key sites in the UAE. This pre-fieldwork gave me the opportunity to begin understanding how the development of Arabictrained AI technologies intersects with questions of cultural identity, linguistic standardization, and governance in the Arab world.
Sylvia Gabriel
Undergraduate, Linguistics, Education, and Religious studies
Language Study in Meknes, Morocco
I studied Moroccan and Standard Arabic while conducting interviews for my honors thesis on German language learning in Morocco. My private instructors helped translate questions and practice conducting interviews in Moroccan Arabic. I also studied Moroccan Sign Language with tutors and continue virtual classes through a pilot program for American signers. I visited several cities, including Essaouira, a coastal town known for surfing and Gnawa music. My host family was an excellent opportunity for practicing Moroccan Arabic, as we spoke exclusively in the language all summer.
AJ Naddaff
Graduate, Comparative Literature
Language study in Cunda Island, Turkey
This summer, I attended the Cunda Ottoman Summer School, which offers two sessions: modern (19th century) print focus and early modern (15th/16th century paleography). I enrolled in the former. We spent considerable time breaking down the grammatical logic of long sentences, as 19th century Ottoman syntax can be more complicated than earlier texts. I stayed in Ayvalik, a 25-minute bus ride from the school, with two classmates. The program was academically and socially intense. After class, we explored restaurants and beaches, and one weekend, we took a boat trip to neighboring Lesvos, crossing into Greece.
Bilal Nadeem
Graduate, Anthropology Fieldwork in Jordan
I began my time hoping to situate my ethnographic work in the Za’atari refugee camps in Mafraq. After serial delays in obtaining the final permit, I explored other field sites to advance my research questions. I ultimately worked with a hospital’s Reconstructive Surgery program, which connects displaced individuals whose hope to understand the traces of melancholia left by war, particularly how destruction is received and refracted by the Islamic tradition. This summer allowed me to find a field site, assess my research’s feasibility, and establish a partnership with an institutional partner.
Makena Owens Graduate, History
Language study in Istanbul, Turkey
I spent 7 weeks at Bogazici University’s summer Turkish program. I lived in Rumeli Hisari, a 15-minute walk from campus. Classes met Monday to Friday from 9 am to 1 pm, with additional practice sections twice a week. The program also organized outings, such as a visit to Kanlica on the Asian side and a tour of poet Tevfik Fikret’s home. These events were conducted in Turkish. By the end of the trip, I was more comfortable conversing and understanding people during my outings around Istanbul. I also gained new vocabulary, boosting my confidence in speaking. As a student of Ottoman Jewish history, I gained new insights by visiting synagogues—some still in use—and landmarks like the Yildiz Palace, Galata Tower, and Hagia Sophia.
Fernando Periset
Graduate, Comparative Literature
Language Study in Rabat, Morocco
The intensive language course at the Lincoln Institute expanded my Arabic knowledge and understanding of Moroccan culture through an immersive experience. I had one-on-one lessons in classical Arabic on topics like tourism, the music industry, and Moroccan history, along with an introduction to Darija, the Moroccan dialect. I walked along the ocean and through the narrow and paved streets of the old medina, visiting the kasbah’s viewpoints and Andalusian gardens. Extracurricular activities included a Tagine cooking session and an excursion to Chellah, a Roman necropolis. As I prepare for my doctoral oral exam, European literature I’ve studied now looks different—such is the magic I rediscover in literature and travel.
Maggie Poulos
Graduate, Environment and Resources
Language Study in Zanzibar, Tanzania
I was fortunate to study Kiswahili, one of the most widely spoken African languages, through the State University of Zanzibar in Stone Town. This historic city, a UNESCO World Heritage Site on Ungunja Island, has seen diverse global cultures converge over thousands of years. Given my dissertation focus on coastal communities in Tanzania, starting my language study through this immersive experience was a perfect fit. I also visited archaeological sites, attended cultural events, such as testing my Kiswahili at the Zanzibar International Film Festival, which showcased independent films. I visited the 19th century Maruhubi Palace of Sultan Barghash and the Sultan’s Palace.
Sadaf Sediqi
Graduate, Epidemiology and Population Health
Research in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
I conducted my research in Al-Balad, a UNESCO World Heritage site known for its rich Islamic architecture, which was the perfect setting for studying the sustainability and health impacts of traditional housing designs. A key accomplishment was discovering the Mashrabiya’s role in natural ventilation and cooling, reducing reliance on modern air conditioning, while maintaining privacy and minimizing harsh sunlight, showcasing how traditional architecture can offer sustainable solutions to modern environmental challenges. Outside my research, I visited souks, historic mosques, and the Jeddah Corniche, observing traditional Saudi performances and exploring Al-Rahmah Mosque. My advice to future grant applicants: establish connections with local institutions to overcome challenges like language barriers.
Maria Shevelkina Graduate, Art History
Research in Istanbul, Sivas, Kayseri, Konya, Turkey
With my grant, I visited Seljuk-period architectural monuments. I knew that scholarship often typologizes sites like madrasas, mosques, and mausoleums through their architectural and ornamental features. My goal was to identify the unique use of architectural ornament at each site. At Buruciye madrasa, ornament connected
the monumental structure to its exterior and continued into the courtyard space. At Şifahiye and Gıyasiye madrasas in Kayseri, intricate ornamentation was relegated to the portal. Among common interlace and strapping motifs, ten roundels carved into each stone of the muqarnas semi-dome were unique, making this ornamentation specific to this monument. Konya’s İnce Minareli madrasa impressed me most: here, ornamental motifs like banded knots and textile-like patterns indicated architecture’s capacity to transcend boundaries of scale and medium. These three examples offer a preliminary outline of my developing thesis on ornament and architecture in medieval Anatolia.
Asmani Yamin
Undergraduate, Bioengineering
Language study in Jordan and Spain
I studied at Sijal University in Amman, Jordan, but due to the ongoing conflict, I took classes remotely. I gained further experience in Formal Arabic and the Levant Dialect. I also spent time in Spain, an area rich in Arab culture and near Morocco and Algeria. I encountered many Arabic speakers and a plethora of Arab architecture, which motivated my Arabic study. Visiting places like the Alhambra, Cordoba, and other historically Arab-colonized towns was enlightening. Witnessing facets of Arab culture and language up close was unforgettable, fueling my desire to learn more about Middle Eastern languages and history.
Yuanhao Zou
Graduate, History Language Study in Istanbul, Turkey
I conducted intensive one-on-one study on reading Ottoman government documents, focusing on Divanî kırması, a challenging calligraphic style with unique conventions for writing words and phrases. Initially frustrating, I overcame these challenges by developing “eye memory ( göz hafızası)” for common phrases. I’ve since improved my ability to read early modern Ottoman documents and am now progressing to more difficult styles from later periods. I also familiarized myself with the conventional language of 16th to 18th-century Ottoman mühimme documents. In Istanbul, I visited the Sadberk Hanım Museum, where I examined Chinese porcelains from the Yuan to the Qing period, later incorporating my findings into my paper on the Ottoman imagination of China. I also visited Bursa to explore several early Ottoman sites.
EVENTS HIGHLIGHTS
Binding and Belonging: Sharing
Sacred Space in India
Oct 2, 2023
A session of 2023-2024 Global Approaches to Sacred Space workshop series
Bedouin Bureaucrats: Mobility and Property in the Ottoman Empire
Oct 2, 2023
A Session of the Eurasian Empires Workshop with Nora Barakat
A Talk with Louis Fishman on Late Ottoman Palestine: Jews and Palestinians between Istanbul and Jerusalem
October 3, 2023
A lecture with Louis Fishman
Politics of Literature and Translation: A Kurdish Translator’s Journey
October 13, 2023
A Book Talk with Kareem Abdulrahman
Armenian Rebirth: The Last Plight
October 19, 2023
A Lecture with Garo Paylan
The Saharan Passage: Race, Slavery, and Sugar in 16th Century Northwest Africa
October 25, 2023
A lecture with Samia Errazzouki
The Republic of Turkey at 100: Looking back, moving forward
October 27, 2023
PILGRIMAGE
November 6, 2023
Playwrights Humaira Ghillzai and Bridfette Dutta Portman, Directed by Marina Johnson, Dramaturgy by Naba Nelson
Colonizing Kashmir: State Building under Indian Occupation
November 9, 2023
A Book Talk with Hafsa Kanjwal
Gold Rumi: Poems, Stories, and Songs
November 10, 2023
With acclaimed translator and composer Haleh Liza Gafori
War Crimes and Historical Context: Understanding the 2023 HamasIsrael War
November 15, 2023
A lecture with Joel Beinin
Invoking the Invisible in the Sahara: Islam, Spiritual Mediation and Social Change
November 28, 2023
A Book Talk with Erin Pettigrew
The Earliest Social History in Persian? A Preliminary Study of the ʿAẕb al-Bayān (1865)
November 30, 2023
A lecture by Kioumars Ghereghlou
Palestinian Transnational Politics: The Evolution of Solidarity and Resistance in the US
December 1, 2023
A lecture by Karam Dana
A Soviet Good Neighbor Policy: The Communists in Afghanistan Before 1979
December 8, 2023
A lecture by Robert Rakove
Structures of Knowledge in American Muslim Communities
January 11, 2024
A book talk with Maryam Kashani
The Implications of Taliban Takeover on Legal Education in Afghanistan
January 18, 2024
A Webinar by Victoria Fontan, Erik Jensen, and Stephen A. Rosenbaum moderated by Nasiruddin Nezaami
Russian-Arab Worlds: Intimate Foreign Relations
January 23, 2024
A webinar with Margaret Litvin, moderated by Samer Al-Saber
Politics in Islam: Theology’s
Neglected Insight
January 25, 2024
A talk with Paul Heck
Defiant Dreams: The Journey of an Afghan Girl Who Risked Everything for Education
January 25, 2024
A book talk with Sola Mahfouz and Malaina Kapoor
Sadallah Wannus and the Arab Historical Imagination
February 6, 2024
A lecture with Edward Ziter moderated by Samer Al Saber
Margaret Graves: Casting Between Matter and Magic: An Archimorphic Censer Walks from West Asia to Sweden
February 16, 2024
Global Approaches to Sacred Space Workshop Series 2023-2024
In the Shade of the Sunna: Salafi Piety in the Twentieth-Century Middle East
February 20, 2024
A book talk with Aaron Rock-Singer
My Brother, My Land: A Story from Palestine
February 23, 2024
A book talk with Sami Hermez and Sireen Sawalha
People’s Orders, Riots and Coffee: How Can We Write a Democratic History of the Ottoman Empire
February 26, 2024
A talk with Ali Yaycıoğlu
Crossing Colonial Lines: Laws, Violence, and Roadblocks to Palestinian Political Expression
February 27, 2024
A book talk with Amahl Bishara
A Divine Flood Across the Atlantic: Black American Sufis in the 20th Century
February 28, 2024
A Abbasi-Markaz fellowship talk with Rasul Miller moderated by Salma Kamni
Peacebuilding in the Heart of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
March 6, 2024
A talk with Isabela Dos Santos
Tastes Like Home: Food and Memory in Dubai’s Intergenerational Diaspora
March 7, 2024
A talk with Sonali Pahwa
The Ottoman Canon and the Construction of Arabic & Turkish Literatures
March 11, 2024
A book talk with C. Ceyhun Arslan
Empire of Mountains: Environmental Racialization & Colonial Violence in the Late Ottoman Empire & Modern Turkey
March 12, 2024
A talk with Cevat Dargın
Empire of Refugees. North Caucasian Muslims and the Late Ottoman State
March 15, 2024
A talk with Vladimir Hamed-Troyansky
EVENTS HIGHLIGHTS
Latin America and the War on Gaza
April 2, 2024
A lecture with Marta Tawil Kuri
Democracy or Authoritarianism: Islamist Governments in Turkey, Egypt, and Tunisia
April 4, 2024
A talk with Sebnem Gumuscu
Reading and Listening from [...]
April 5, 2024
Poetry reading with Fady Joudah
Women Behind Bars: Ottoman Carceral Policies and Practices
April 10, 2024
A talk with Gizem Sivri
The Suez Canal and Actually Existing Capitalism: Ten Attributes beyond “The World’s Jugular Vein”
April 16, 2024
A lecture with Aaron G. Jakes
Erdoğan’s War
April 18, 2024
A book talk with Gönül Tol
Turkey’s Municipal Elections: Why do they matter?
April 19, 2024
A conversation with Gönül Tol
Language and Freedom in Literature
April 22, 2024
A talk with Burhan Sönmez
Rethinking the Legacies of the 1923 Exchange in the Civilizationist Present
April 24, 2024
A talk with Aslı Iğsız
Liminal Minorities: Religious Difference and Mass Violence in Muslim Societies
April 30, 2024
A book talk with Güneş Murat Tezcür
The Horrors of Adana: Revolution and Violence in the Early Twentieth Century
May 2, 2024
A book talk with Bedross Der Matossian
Edges of Egypt
May 8, 2024
A talk with Hanan Kholoussy
Israel-Palestine and the Future of the Nation-State
May 14, 2024
A talk with Omar Dajani
Illusion of Democracy: Indonesian Experience with Populism and Nepotism
May 20, 2024
A lecture with Amanah Nurish
Reassessing the Route to the Armenian Genocide (1913-15)
May 24, 2024
A lecture with Yektan Türkyilmaz
Islam & Secularism: A HistoricalPhilosophical Inquiry
May 24, 2024
Abbasi-Markaz Fellowship lecture with Rushain Abbasi moderated by Salma Kamni
Classless Politics: Islamist Movements, the Left, and Authoritarian Legacies in Egypt
May 29, 2024
A book talk with Hesham Sallam
Authoritarianism & Possibilities of Democratic Revival in Post-Election
Turkey
May 30, 2024
A Panel with Ayça Alemdaroğlu, Yektan Turkyilmaz, and Ali Yaycıoğlu
FEATURED EVENTS
A Talk with Louis Fishman on Late Ottoman Palestine: Jews and Palestinians between Istanbul and Jerusalem
October 3, 2023
On October 3, just days before the October 7 massacre, the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies, the Taube Center for Jewish Studies, the CDDRL’s Program on Turkey, and the Visiting Fellows in Israel Studies Program at the FSI co-hosted Louis Fishman, a history professor at Brooklyn College. While the talk was mainly on his book, Jews and Palestinians in the Late Ottoman Era (2020), Fishman also introduced his later research on the mobility of Jews and Palestinians between Istanbul, Jerusalem, and Cairo.
Wary of both labor Zionism’s success story and Arab or Ottoman historiographies’ pre-Zionist nostalgia of peaceful coexistence narratives, Fishman invited the audience to grasp the complexities of these histories, starting with terms such as Zionist, Palestinian, Arab Jews, and Ottoman patriotism. In his alternative narrative, Jerusalem can best be understood as a neighborhood extension of Istanbul and even Cairo, with its Palestinian and Jewish citizens as part of the Ottoman world. Challenging the notion that the term “Palestinian” didn’t exist before Zionist claims to Palestine, he underlined the emergence of the “Palestinian” identity (of Christian and Muslim residents) separate from Syrian Arabs and “Jews in Palestine” and not just in opposition to Zionism in the aftermath of the 1908 Young Turk revolution.
At that point, both Jews and Palestinians embraced Ottoman
patriotism, whereas pro-immigration or Hebrew-speaking anti-Zionist Jews existed alongside Zionists and other Jewish groups, who sought to portray Jewish settlements in Istanbul (yes, a Jewish kibbutz in Istanbul’s Sultanbeyli!) as proof of Jewish loyalty to the Ottoman Empire and a facilitator of Ottoman support for Jewish immigration to Palestine. In this narrative, a Jewish state in Palestine was not a foregone or inevitable conclusion, and other non-Muslim communities were a model for the Jews to claim autonomous rights. Meanwhile, certain pro-Zionist views were entertained by Young Turks, at least for a while, until some of its figures fell into anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, but this was not an impediment for Palestinians to embrace Ottomanism. On the flip side, Ottoman Palestinians were non-existent in the Ottoman debates on Zionism.
Dr. Fishman shared his optimism about the future of these studies along with the ever-expanding presence of historical materials, especially newspapers going online. The ensuing Q&A session created a lively discussion on these bold correctives to the received narratives.
The coincidental timing of this collaborative event on Palestine, Palestinians, and Jews was promising, as it aimed to bring clarity to the current discursive space, which is often flooded with countless verbal squabbles on social media. Without perpetuating nostalgia narratives, the talk pointed toward the possibilities of imagining different futures for the region’s peoples by laying out the complexities of past identities.
Reported by Halil Yenigün.
FEATURED EVENTS
Maryam Kashani | Structures of Knowledge in American Muslim Communities
January 11, 2024
During the first Abbasi-Markaz event of 2024, titled “Structures of Knowledge: Muslim Communities in the Bay Area and Beyond,” the Markaz community center hosted Dr. Maryam Kashani, author of Medina by the Bay and Associate Professor at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. Dr. Kashani led an introductory conversation about her book, which delves into the heart of Muslim communities in the Bay Area, capturing their stories of struggle, resilience, and the ongoing quest for knowledge and liberation. The discussion highlighted the “Structures of Knowledge” that have shaped these communities from World War II to the present, examining various spaces such as storefront mosques, corner stores, and an Islamic college. Dr. Kashani showcased the lives and stories of numerous
individuals who are part of the history and fabric of the Muslim communities in the Bay, along with highlighting “scenes” by using a multimodal anthropological approach that included film elements, interviews, and fieldwork.
The primary aim of the event, titled “Structures of Knowledge: Muslim Communities in the Bay Area and Beyond,” was to present the lessons and history of multiracial Muslim communities in the San Francisco Bay Area, considering the students’ proximity to it at Stanford University. Dr. Kashani’s work serves as a microcosm of a larger story of study and survival for all in the Bay Area and beyond, and students had the opportunity to ask about her work, methods, and knowledge of the scenes of the Medina. Salma Kamni, the Abbasi-Markaz fellow, moderated the discussion, which lasted 35
minutes before the floor opened to audience questions. One of the questions the panelist, Dr. Kashani, discussed was how she challenged or reframed existing narratives and interpretations particularly within the context of American Muslim communities in Medina by the Bay. Her response was multifaceted, similar to her work which employed multimodal anthropological approaches to paint a more holistic and representative picture of the deep history of Muslims in the Bay.
The event took place on January 11th at 12-1:30 PM at the Markaz, and there were about 35 attendees – mostly students, but faculty and community members were present as well. About 20 copies of Kashani’s book Medina by the Bay were also sold and signed.
Reported by Salma Kamni.
Abbasi Program and Bahçeşehir University’s Center for Ottoman Studies Explore Academic Collaboration
Stanford University’s Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies and Bahçeşehir University’s Center for Ottoman Studies (BAU-OTAM) have expressed interest in establishing a collaboration to facilitate joint faculty research and academic exchange between the two institutions.
Through this initiative, Abbasi and BAU-OTAM aim to support research programs, facilitate faculty exchanges, and organize academic events that foster interdisciplinary collaboration and professional development. Academic and administrative teams from the Abbasi Program, Stanford’s Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis (CESTA), and BAU-OTAM will oversee the effort.
This new partnership underscores a shared commitment to fostering academic cooperation and advancing research in Islamic and Ottoman studies. For more information, please contact the Abbasi Program in Islamic Studies.
Abbasi Program faculty director Ali Yaycıoğlu signing the memo on behalf of the program.
NEWS FROM ABBASI
Discover the New Middle Eastern Studies Forum (MESF) Website
We are pleased to announce the launch of the new Middle Eastern Studies Forum (MESF) website: middleeast.stanford.edu.
This marks a significant milestone in our ongoing efforts to enhance the study of the Middle East at Stanford and beyond.
Over the past year, and especially during the summer of 2024, we have undertaken a major initiative to overhaul the former Mediterranean Studies Forum website to fully reflect the transition to MESF. The new site serves as a comprehensive hub for research, events, and scholarly engagement, making it easier than ever for faculty, students, and the broader academic community to connect with our work.
The revamped website features updated faculty, staff, student, and alumni profiles, which now better reflect the diverse scholars contributing to Middle Eastern studies at Stanford. It also introduces new initiatives, including thematic clusters such as Arab Futures and Pasts and Ottoman and Turkey Encounters at Stanford (OTES), aimed at deepening engagement in the field.
Additionally, the events section has been redesigned to provide an accessible overview of both past and upcoming programming, ensuring our community stays informed and connected with MESF’s activities.
This new website represents the next step in MESF’s mission to foster rigorous scholarship and meaningful conversations about the Middle East. We invite you to explore the site and join us as we continue building a vibrant intellectual community.
Visit us at middleeast.stanford.edu.
FACULTY PUBLICATIONS
The following publications by the Abbasi affiliate faculty and graduate students came out during the 2023-2024 academic year:
Alemdaroğlu, Ayça, and Fatma Müge Göçek, eds. 2023. Kurds in Dark Times: New Perspectives on Violence and Resistance in Turkey. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press.
Alemdaroğlu, Ayça, and Mobina Riazi. 2024. Review of Women’s Political Representation in Iran and Turkey: Demanding a Seat at the Table, by Mona Tajali. The Middle East Journal 77 (3): 502–503. https://muse-jhu-edu.stanford.idm.oclc.org/article/931407.
Alemdaroğlu, Ayça, and S. Tepe. 2023. “Turkey’s Strategic Partnership with China: A Feminist Recount.” In One Hundred Years of Turkish Foreign Policy (1923-2023), edited by B. Özkeçeci-Taner and S. Akgül Açıkmeşe. Global Foreign Policy Studies, 185-209. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-35859-3_9.
Alemdaroğlu, Ayça. 2022. “The University in the Making of Authoritarian Turkey.” European Journal of Turkish Studies 34. Online since September 27, 2023. https://doi. org/10.4000/ejts.8114.
Altaras, Nesi. 2023. “Antisemitismus in und aus der Türkei.” In Antisemitismus in und aus der Türkei , edited by Corry Guttstadt, 341–51. Hamburg: Landeszentrale für politische Bildung.
Anushree, Anubha. 2024. Review of Inventing the Third World: In Search of Freedom for the Postwar Global South , edited by Gyan Prakash and Jeremy Adelman. Journal of Global South Studies 41 (1): 144–46. https://dx.doi. org/10.1353/gss.2024.a934057.
Anushree, Anubha. 2024. “Model Marathi, Modern Marathi: The History of a ‘Vernacular’ in South Asia.” Economic and Political Weekly 59 (18): 34–36. May 4, 2024. https://www.epw.in/journal/2024/18/book-reviews/ model-marathi-modern-marathi.html.
Berman, Russell A . 2023. “Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism: Comments on Cüppers.” TelosScope, December 18, 2023. https://www.telospress.com/ anti-zionism-and-antisemitism-a-note-on-cuppers/.
Berman, Russell A . 2024. “Immigration, Poetry, and Translation Between Syria and Germany: Adel Karasholi.” German Quarterly, online publication, January 24, 2024. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/ doi/10.1111/gequ.12409.
FACULTY PUBLICATIONS
Blessing, Patricia. 2023. Review of The Accidental Palace: The Making of Yıldız in Nineteenth-Century Istanbul , by Deniz Türker. International Journal of Middle East Studies 56 (1): 185-87. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0020743824000084.
Blessing, Patricia. 2024. “Between Cairo and China: Design, Paper, and Ottoman Metalwork c. 1500.” In Routledge Companion to Global Renaissance Art, edited by Stephen J. Campbell and Stephanie Porras, 21-38. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003294986.
Bunzel, Cole. 2023. “Gaza and Global Jihad.” Foreign Affairs, November 2, 2023. https://www.foreignaffairs. com/middle-east/gaza-and-global-jihad.
Bunzel, Cole. 2023. Wahhābism: The History of a Militant Islamic Movement. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Johnson, Marina. 2024. “Agency through Adaptation: MENA Women in Shakespeare’s Sisters, Jogging, and Noura .” In Milestones in Staging Contemporary Genders and Sexualities, edited by Emily A. Rollie, 142-160. New York: Routledge.
Karahan, Burcu. 2024. Translated and introduced the first issue of the late Ottoman series Thousand and One Kisses for Artichoke, Boston University’s Geddes Language Center online portal for Ottoman and Turkish literature in English translation.
Dağlıoğlu, Emre Can. 2023. “Die ‘nationale Frage’ im türkischen Tiersmondismus. Doğan Avcıoğlu und die Anderen.” In Antisemitismus in und aus der Türkei , edited by Corry Guttstadt, 169–189. Hamburg: Landeszentrale für politische Bildung.
Izzo, Jesse W. 2024. “The Comets of 1264 and 1299: A Comparative Look at the Near Eastern Sources.” In The Crusades and Nature, edited by Jessalyn Bird and Elizabeth Lapina, 219–237. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan/ Springer.
Karim, Farhan, and Patricia Blessing, eds. 2023. The Making of Modern Muslim Selves Through Architecture. Bristol: Intellect.
Key, Alexander. 2024. “Ḥaqīqah: Truth, Reality, and Accuracy.” PMLA/Publications of the Modern Language Association of America 139 (1): 128–35. https://doi. org/10.1632/S0030812924000075.
Pentcheva, Bissera. 2023. “Fidelitas and Engan: Sainte Foy of Conques and the Art of Politics in the ‘Culture of Fidelity.’” Codex Aquilarensis 39: 175-222.
Rasberry, Vaughn. 2023. “Counterproxy: Sonallah Ibrahim’s Warda and the Revolution in Oman .” Representations 163 (1): 100–115.https://doi.org/10.1525/ rep.2023.163.6.100
Sallam, Hesham. 2024. “The Autocrat-in-Training: The Sisi Regime at 10.” Journal of Democracy, 35 (1): 87-101. https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.2024.a915351
Salti, Ramzi. 2023. “Al-shaab yurid isqat al-nitham!: Sustaining Revolution through Hip Hop.” In Freedom Moves: Hip Hop Knowledges, Pedagogies, and Futures, edited by H. Samy Alim, Jeff Chang, and Casey Philip Wong, 83–102. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Salti, Ramzi. 2024. “Women’s Voices in Arabic Music.” Arabology, June 26, 2024. https://www.arabology. org/2024/06/transcript-womens-voices-in-arabic.html.
Satia, Priya. 2023. “Strategies of Anti-Imperial Resistance: Gandhi, Bhagat Singh, and Fanon.” In The New Makers of Modern Strategy, edited by Hal Brands, 465–93. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Satia, Priya. 2023. “The Enduring Condescension of Claiming Marxist Orthodoxy.” In Storica 83-84, Special English Issue: 227–41.
Satia, Priya. 2023. “The Unsettling Settlement of 1919.” Epilogue in The Making of a World Order: Global Historical Perspectives on the Paris Peace Conference and the Treaty of Versailles, edited by Stephen Sawyer and Albert Wu, 353–60. London: Routledge.
Satia, Priya. 2024. “Sapiens in the Mist: What the Fight About Humanity’s Origins Reveals About Its Future.” Review of The Invention of Prehistory: Empire, Violence, and Our Obsession with Human Origins, by Stefanos Geroulanos. Foreign Affairs, August 20, 2024.
Satia, Priya. 2024. “The Forgotten Dreams of Historyfrom-Below.” Journal of Social History 57 (3): 420–30. https://doi.org/10.1093/jsh/shad056.
Simen, H. S., Ayça Alemdaroğlu, and Jenny White. 2024. Turkish Kaleidoscope: Fractured Lives in a Time of Violence, and illustrated by Ergün Gündüz. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Sivri, Gizem. 2024. “The Birth of Ottoman Penal Biopolitics: Motherhood, Pregnancy and ChildProtection in the Criminal Justice System (1850–1918).” Middle Eastern Studies 61 (2): 203-20. https://doi.org/10.108 0/00263206.2024.2390630.
Tezcan Mirer, Asuman. 2023. “Mütareke Yıllarında Vakit Gazetesinde Ahmet Emin Yalman.” In Osmanlı İstanbul’unda Gazetecilik (1795-1923) İstanbul Basın Tarihi , edited by Abdülkadir Atik, 826–49. Istanbul: İBB Yayınları.
Yenigün, Halil Ibrahim. 2023. “Schlimmer als Jahiliyya? Die Juden als Erzfeind der Muslime im Denken Sayyid Qutbs.” In Antisemitismus in und aus der Türkei , edited by Corry Guttstadt, 145-67. Hamburg: Landeszentrale für politische Bildung.
Yolaçan, Serkan. 2024. “Text, Time, and Travel: Temporal Pathways of Postsocialism and Islam.” Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, 31:217-39 https://doi. org/10.1111/1467-9655.14197.
GIFTS & SUPPORT
We at the Abbasi Program express our gratitude to our alumni, parents, students, and friends for their support of our activities at Stanford. Your gift enhances genuine understanding of the histories, cultures, and languages of Islam and Islamicate societies by:
• Equipping the next generation of leaders with rigorous knowledge through courses, seminars, and research or internship opportunities.
• Supporting innovative faculty research and scholarship.
• Deepening our public and K-12 outreach efforts.
Your generosity ensures that knowledge of Islam and Islamicate societies is an integral par t of the future of America and the globe.
For more information, please review islamicstudies.stanford.edu/about/make-gift or contact Scott Sugiura, Senior Associate Director of Development, at (650) 723-1208 or ssugiura@stanford.edu.
