Dr. Usamma Makdisi, holder of the Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair of Arab Studies at Rice University and an associate professor of history, will lead a series of three classes for the Adult Forum beginning November 3. The series, entitled Understanding the Middle East, will include the following topics:
Dr. Makdisi received his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1997. He is one of the most prominent younger scholars of Arab studies in the world. He has published many important articles, including two in the American Historical Review, one in the Journal of American History, and another in the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. He has lectured and presented papers all over the world, from Turkey to Berlin, Beirut to Charlottesville, Virginia. He is also the author of a widely respected book, The Culture of Sectarianism: Community, History, and Violence in Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Lebanon. Currently he teaches courses at Rice on such topics as "The Arab World in the Twentieth Century," "Islam and the West," "The Arab-Israeli Conflict," and "America in the Middle East."
This is an extraordinary opportunity to hear a renowned expert speak on topics that have such immediate interest to all of us. The Adult Forum meets in the parish hall at 9:45 a.m. on Sundays.