Professor Herbert Mason, R.I.P.

MASON, Herbert Warren II Of Newbury, MA, died suddenly on New Year's Day. He was Emeritus University Professor and William Goodwin Aurelio Professor of History and Religious Thought at Boston University and President of the Association des Amis Louis Massignon, Paris. Herbert Mason translated many of Massignon's works from French to English. An eminent scholar and translator, writer and poet, he has lived for long periods of time in France and Ireland, and has traveled extensively in Europe, North Africa, the Middle East and Japan. His books have been translated into numerous foreign languages, including French, German, Spanish, Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and Japanese. His verse narrative Gilgamesh, an interpretation of the ancient Sumerian epic poem transcends boundaries of age, language, religion, and time. It was nominated for a National Book Award and is taught in high schools and colleges. He is survived by his wife, Jeanine Young-Mason, his children Cathleen Mason, Paul Mason, Sarah Mason and their families and his step sons Scott Angell, Gregg Angell, and Glenn Angell and their families and his sister, Sarah Nelson and her family. A Funeral Mass will be offered at Immaculate Conception Church, Newburyport, MA on Friday, January 6, 2017 at 10:30 with interment at Mt. Auburn Cemetery immediately following the Mass. There will be a public memorial service on April 22, 2017 at Mt. Auburn Cemetery. A fuller obituary will follow at a later date. The family is establishing an International Writing Prize in his name to be awarded annually.

Published in The Boston Globe on Jan. 5, 2017- See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/bostonglobe/obituary.aspx?n=herbert-warren-mason&pid=183342560&#sthash.ckKHEDPw.dpuf

R.I.P. Professor Rouhoullah "Ruhi" K. Ramazani

Ruhi Ramazani, the doyen of Iran scholars in North American, was a distinguished University of Virginia scholar, an elegant and optimistic human being, and a man whose generous heart was legion among those who knew him.  He and his beloved wife Nesta were wonderful hosts and keen interlocutors who often opened their home to students, young and upcoming scholars and fellow colleagues.  Ruhi's passing is a time of sadness but also an occasion to remember and celebrate his seminal work.

Sarah Tobin's thoughtful essay on the Jordanian middle class and their tepid embrace of a Jordan spring

Entertaining and thoughtful comments by Robert Gates at William and Mary in February. He was speaking at an annual Charter Day ceremony that featured the award of well-earned honorary degree to James A. Bill, the eminent scholar of Iran.

Bill's papers have been donated to William and Mary and are available there to researchers.  http://scrc.swem.wm.edu/?p=collections/findingaid&id=6269&q=&rootcontentid=21263#id21263

Witch hunts in Bahrain continue

I will have more to say about this later. 

Also see this article summarizing retributive attacks by the Bahraini government. http://pubrecord.org/world/9274/bahrain-do-no-harm/

R.I.P. Joseph "Yossi" Kostiner (September 29, 1949-August 19, 2010)

On August 19, 2010, Yossi Kostiner left this world.  He was a longtime faculty member at Tel Aviv University. I first met him 26 years ago, and I have felt a fondness for him ever since.  Yossi was a bridge builder, a man of moderate politics.  His great generosity, humor and intelligence are indelibly etched in my memory.  His historical scholarship, especially on Arab tribes, was widely revered.  Among his respected works is a book that he co-edited with Philip Khoury of MIT, Tribes and State Formation in the Middle East.

Unsolicited Middle East advice for the new president

A number of scholars of the Middle East came together last September to pay tribute to a departed friend, Louis J. Cantori. A collection of short papers were presented in Lou's honor at the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, which met in Washington in early September. What follows is the introduction to the papers, which now comprise an article in Winter 2008 issue of Middle East Policy. The complete article is available here. The contributors include Bahman Baktiari, Eva Bellin, Eric Davis, Michael Hudson, and Kristin Smith Diwan.

A quarter century ago, about the time that the Middle East Policy Council was created, little serious attention was paid to the Middle East at the annual meetings of the leading disciplinary associations, including the American Political Science Association (APSA). Professor Louis J. Cantori and a small group of colleagues, including this writer, decided in 1983 to create the Conference Group the Middle East (CGME), which convened for the first time in 1984. Just a few months ago, the group convened for the twenty-fourth time in conjunction with the national meeting of APSA in Boston. From the start, it was Lou who cheerfully assumed the leadership of the group, as well as the administrative burden of organizing the annual meeting.

Over the years, the CGME provided a forum for several dozen younger scholars the Middle East, who, thanks to the support of the Ford Foundation, often gained the opportunity to participate in their first U.S. meeting. The CGME focused on myriad themes, including U.S. foreign policy in the region, Islam and politics, the domestic determinants of foreign policy in Middle Eastern states, women and politics, and the prospects for political reform.

Several of the annual meetings inspired collections of articles in this journal and several other respected periodicals. This year, the CGME invited participants to offer advice to the next president and the resulting pieces follow.

Sadly, Lou Cantori was not in the room when the group convened. With his customary humor and courage, Lou confronted a degenerative disease that took far longer to complete its grim course than the best doctors predicted. Lou finally succumbed on May 12, 2008, after a rich academic career that included studies at al-Azhar University in Cairo and professorships at UCLA and the University of Maryland-Baltimore County.

Lou had been a Marine, and, while he was often deeply critical of U.S. security policies, he loved the customs and traditions of the military. He served for a year in the 1980s on the West Point faculty as a visiting professor. Then, as though he had won a soldier-scholar trifecta, he went on to visiting appointments at the Air Force Academy and the USMC Command and Staff College at Quantico, where he savored the idea of Sergeant Cantori lecturing to large audiences of bright field-grade officers from the Corps.

Lou was a generous man in every respect. All who knew him will always remember his compassion and his endearing, hearty laugh. Anyone who had been around the field of Middle East studies knew that laugh, which came from some special place deep inside him; it was his fingerprint. We know that Lou would have appreciated the articles that follow, and they are dedicated to his memory. It is fitting that they appear in Middle East Policy, since he was an enthusiastic supporter of the Council.

Scholarships for threatened scholars

I try to minimize the notices and announcements on this website, but I make an exception for this worthwhile project that offers an opportunity for scholars at risk to seek an academic refuge in the U.S.

KU News - University mourns Professor Deborah Gerner

Professor "Misty" Gerner was a scholar who earned the respect of her colleagues for her moral and spiritual bearings, her compassionate scholarship on the Middle East and her personal courage. She died on June 19, 2006. She was afflicted for eleven years with a virulent cancer that rampaged through her body, yet she maintained her focus on the compelling human tragedies of Middle East. I was deeply moved by my several several conversations with her, and I was left in awe of the remarkable would who stood in front of me. She was an uncommon person and I suspect that many who knew her better than I were profoundly influenced by their friendship with her. She was snatched from this life far, far too soon.

KU News - University mourns Professor Deborah Gerner