The "Middle East" as a Framework of Analysis: Re-mapping a Region in the Era of Globalization

Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East

Volumn 18, Issue 1, 1998, Pages 74-81

  Khalidi, Rashid ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

GEOGRAPHICAL THOUGHT; GLOBALIZATION; PERCEPTION; REGIONAL GEOGRAPHY;

MIDDLE EAST;

EID: 0032436098     PISSN: 1089201X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1215/1089201X-18-1-74     Document Type: Article

References (37)

1. The term was in fact invented by an American, Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, in his seminal 1892 work of geopolitics, The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783. It was later taken up and propagated by the British Liberal Imperialist journalist and writer, Halford MacKinder. See Roger Adelson, London and the Invention of the Middle East (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994).
2. The term was in fact invented by an American, Captain Alfred Thayer Mahan, in his seminal 1892 work of geopolitics, The Influence of Sea Power upon History, 1660-1783. It was later taken up and propagated by the British Liberal Imperialist journalist and writer, Halford MacKinder. See Roger Adelson, London and the Invention of the Middle East (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1994).
3. We often forget that the continents themselves are constructs. As Martin W. Lewis and Karen E. Wigen point out in The Myth of Continents: A Critique of Metageography (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1997), Europe, Asia and Africa are actually part of one land-mass.
4. At the State University of New York at Binghamton, the relevant area center is called the South West Asia and North Africa Center. The letterhead of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Chicago describes it as "A Center for the Study of North Africa, Western Asia, Central Asia and the Islamic World."
5. For details, see R. Khalidi, "Presidential Address: Is there a Future for Middle East Studies?" Middle East Studies Association Bulletin, 29, 1 (July 1995): 1-6.
6. There is an ongoing discussion of the area studies paradigm in the academic disciplines, the foundations, and the area studies groups themselves. Some contributions to it are in Items, Bulletin of the Social Science Research Council, notably Stanley J. Heginbotham, "Rethinking International Scholarship: The Challenge of the Transition from the Cold War Era," 48, 2-3 (June-Sept. 1994): 33-40; and Kenneth Prewitt, "Presidential Items," 50, 1 (March 1996): 15-18, and "Presidential Items," 50, 2-3 (June-Sept. 1996): 31-40. See also Robert H. Bates, "Letter from the President: Area Studies and the Discipline," APSA-CP, Newsletter of the APSA Organized Section in Comparative Politics, 7,1 (Winter 1966): 1-2; Peter A. Hall and Sidney Tarrow, "Globalization and Area Studies: When is Too Broad Too Narrow?," The Chronicle of Higher Education (January 23, 1998): B4-5; Area Studies, Regional Worlds: A White Paper for the Ford Foundation (The Globalization Project, The University of Chicago, June 1997). Philip S. Khoury, "Letter from the President: Global and Local Perspectives," MESA Newsletter, 20, 2, (May 1998), pp. 1,3.
7. There is an ongoing discussion of the area studies paradigm in the academic disciplines, the foundations, and the area studies groups themselves. Some contributions to it are in Items, Bulletin of the Social Science Research Council, notably Stanley J. Heginbotham, "Rethinking International Scholarship: The Challenge of the Transition from the Cold War Era," 48, 2-3 (June-Sept. 1994): 33-40; and Kenneth Prewitt, "Presidential Items," 50, 1 (March 1996): 15-18, and "Presidential Items," 50, 2-3 (June-Sept. 1996): 31-40. See also Robert H. Bates, "Letter from the President: Area Studies and the Discipline," APSA-CP, Newsletter of the APSA Organized Section in Comparative Politics, 7,1 (Winter 1966): 1-2; Peter A. Hall and Sidney Tarrow, "Globalization and Area Studies: When is Too Broad Too Narrow?," The Chronicle of Higher Education (January 23, 1998): B4-5; Area Studies, Regional Worlds: A White Paper for the Ford Foundation (The Globalization Project, The University of Chicago, June 1997). Philip S. Khoury, "Letter from the President: Global and Local Perspectives," MESA Newsletter, 20, 2, (May 1998), pp. 1,3.
8. There is an ongoing discussion of the area studies paradigm in the academic disciplines, the foundations, and the area studies groups themselves. Some contributions to it are in Items, Bulletin of the Social Science Research Council, notably Stanley J. Heginbotham, "Rethinking International Scholarship: The Challenge of the Transition from the Cold War Era," 48, 2-3 (June-Sept. 1994): 33-40; and Kenneth Prewitt, "Presidential Items," 50, 1 (March 1996): 15-18, and "Presidential Items," 50, 2-3 (June-Sept. 1996): 31-40. See also Robert H. Bates, "Letter from the President: Area Studies and the Discipline," APSA-CP, Newsletter of the APSA Organized Section in Comparative Politics, 7,1 (Winter 1966): 1-2; Peter A. Hall and Sidney Tarrow, "Globalization and Area Studies: When is Too Broad Too Narrow?," The Chronicle of Higher Education (January 23, 1998): B4-5; Area Studies, Regional Worlds: A White Paper for the Ford Foundation (The Globalization Project, The University of Chicago, June 1997). Philip S. Khoury, "Letter from the President: Global and Local Perspectives," MESA Newsletter, 20, 2, (May 1998), pp. 1,3.
9. There is an ongoing discussion of the area studies paradigm in the academic disciplines, the foundations, and the area studies groups themselves. Some contributions to it are in Items, Bulletin of the Social Science Research Council, notably Stanley J. Heginbotham, "Rethinking International Scholarship: The Challenge of the Transition from the Cold War Era," 48, 2-3 (June-Sept. 1994): 33-40; and Kenneth Prewitt, "Presidential Items," 50, 1 (March 1996): 15-18, and "Presidential Items," 50, 2-3 (June-Sept. 1996): 31-40. See also Robert H. Bates, "Letter from the President: Area Studies and the Discipline," APSA-CP, Newsletter of the APSA Organized Section in Comparative Politics, 7,1 (Winter 1966): 1-2; Peter A. Hall and Sidney Tarrow, "Globalization and Area Studies: When is Too Broad Too Narrow?," The Chronicle of Higher Education (January 23, 1998): B4-5; Area Studies, Regional Worlds: A White Paper for the Ford Foundation (The Globalization Project, The University of Chicago, June 1997). Philip S. Khoury, "Letter from the President: Global and Local Perspectives," MESA Newsletter, 20, 2, (May 1998), pp. 1,3.
10. There is an ongoing discussion of the area studies paradigm in the academic disciplines, the foundations, and the area studies groups themselves. Some contributions to it are in Items, Bulletin of the Social Science Research Council, notably Stanley J. Heginbotham, "Rethinking International Scholarship: The Challenge of the Transition from the Cold War Era," 48, 2-3 (June-Sept. 1994): 33-40; and Kenneth Prewitt, "Presidential Items," 50, 1 (March 1996): 15-18, and "Presidential Items," 50, 2-3 (June-Sept. 1996): 31-40. See also Robert H. Bates, "Letter from the President: Area Studies and the Discipline," APSA-CP, Newsletter of the APSA Organized Section in Comparative Politics, 7,1 (Winter 1966): 1-2; Peter A. Hall and Sidney Tarrow, "Globalization and Area Studies: When is Too Broad Too Narrow?," The Chronicle of Higher Education (January 23, 1998): B4-5; Area Studies, Regional Worlds: A White Paper for the Ford Foundation (The Globalization Project, The University of Chicago, June 1997). Philip S. Khoury, "Letter from the President: Global and Local Perspectives," MESA Newsletter, 20, 2, (May 1998), pp. 1,3.
11. There is an ongoing discussion of the area studies paradigm in the academic disciplines, the foundations, and the area studies groups themselves. Some contributions to it are in Items, Bulletin of the Social Science Research Council, notably Stanley J. Heginbotham, "Rethinking International Scholarship: The Challenge of the Transition from the Cold War Era," 48, 2-3 (June-Sept. 1994): 33-40; and Kenneth Prewitt, "Presidential Items," 50, 1 (March 1996): 15-18, and "Presidential Items," 50, 2-3 (June-Sept. 1996): 31-40. See also Robert H. Bates, "Letter from the President: Area Studies and the Discipline," APSA-CP, Newsletter of the APSA Organized Section in Comparative Politics, 7,1 (Winter 1966): 1-2; Peter A. Hall and Sidney Tarrow, "Globalization and Area Studies: When is Too Broad Too Narrow?," The Chronicle of Higher Education (January 23, 1998): B4-5; Area Studies, Regional Worlds: A White Paper for the Ford Foundation (The Globalization Project, The University of Chicago, June 1997). Philip S. Khoury, "Letter from the President: Global and Local Perspectives," MESA Newsletter, 20, 2, (May 1998), pp. 1,3.
12. There is an ongoing discussion of the area studies paradigm in the academic disciplines, the foundations, and the area studies groups themselves. Some contributions to it are in Items, Bulletin of the Social Science Research Council, notably Stanley J. Heginbotham, "Rethinking International Scholarship: The Challenge of the Transition from the Cold War Era," 48, 2-3 (June-Sept. 1994): 33-40; and Kenneth Prewitt, "Presidential Items," 50, 1 (March 1996): 15-18, and "Presidential Items," 50, 2-3 (June-Sept. 1996): 31-40. See also Robert H. Bates, "Letter from the President: Area Studies and the Discipline," APSA-CP, Newsletter of the APSA Organized Section in Comparative Politics, 7,1 (Winter 1966): 1-2; Peter A. Hall and Sidney Tarrow, "Globalization and Area Studies: When is Too Broad Too Narrow?," The Chronicle of Higher Education (January 23, 1998): B4-5; Area Studies, Regional Worlds: A White Paper for the Ford Foundation (The Globalization Project, The University of Chicago, June 1997). Philip S. Khoury, "Letter from the President: Global and Local Perspectives," MESA Newsletter, 20, 2, (May 1998), pp. 1,3.
13. A seminal work on this subject is Edward W. Said, Orientalism (New York: Pantheon, 1978). See also V.G. Kiernan, The Lords of Human Kind: Black Man, Yellow Man, and White Man in an Age of Empire (Boston: Little Brown, 1969), Samir Amin, Eurocentrism (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1989), Ronald Inden, Imagining India (Oxford: Blackwell, 1990), J.M. Blaut, The Colonizer's Model of the World: Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History (New York: Guilford, 1993), Bernard S. Cohn, Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge: The British in India (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996).
14. A seminal work on this subject is Edward W. Said, Orientalism (New York: Pantheon, 1978). See also V.G. Kiernan, The Lords of Human Kind: Black Man, Yellow Man, and White Man in an Age of Empire (Boston: Little Brown, 1969), Samir Amin, Eurocentrism (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1989), Ronald Inden, Imagining India (Oxford: Blackwell, 1990), J.M. Blaut, The Colonizer's Model of the World: Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History (New York: Guilford, 1993), Bernard S. Cohn, Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge: The British in India (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996).
15. A seminal work on this subject is Edward W. Said, Orientalism (New York: Pantheon, 1978). See also V.G. Kiernan, The Lords of Human Kind: Black Man, Yellow Man, and White Man in an Age of Empire (Boston: Little Brown, 1969), Samir Amin, Eurocentrism (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1989), Ronald Inden, Imagining India (Oxford: Blackwell, 1990), J.M. Blaut, The Colonizer's Model of the World: Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History (New York: Guilford, 1993), Bernard S. Cohn, Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge: The British in India (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996).
16. A seminal work on this subject is Edward W. Said, Orientalism (New York: Pantheon, 1978). See also V.G. Kiernan, The Lords of Human Kind: Black Man, Yellow Man, and White Man in an Age of Empire (Boston: Little Brown, 1969), Samir Amin, Eurocentrism (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1989), Ronald Inden, Imagining India (Oxford: Blackwell, 1990), J.M. Blaut, The Colonizer's Model of the World: Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History (New York: Guilford, 1993), Bernard S. Cohn, Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge: The British in India (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996).
17. A seminal work on this subject is Edward W. Said, Orientalism (New York: Pantheon, 1978). See also V.G. Kiernan, The Lords of Human Kind: Black Man, Yellow Man, and White Man in an Age of Empire (Boston: Little Brown, 1969), Samir Amin, Eurocentrism (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1989), Ronald Inden, Imagining India (Oxford: Blackwell, 1990), J.M. Blaut, The Colonizer's Model of the World: Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History (New York: Guilford, 1993), Bernard S. Cohn, Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge: The British in India (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996).
18. A seminal work on this subject is Edward W. Said, Orientalism (New York: Pantheon, 1978). See also V.G. Kiernan, The Lords of Human Kind: Black Man, Yellow Man, and White Man in an Age of Empire (Boston: Little Brown, 1969), Samir Amin, Eurocentrism (New York: Monthly Review Press, 1989), Ronald Inden, Imagining India (Oxford: Blackwell, 1990), J.M. Blaut, The Colonizer's Model of the World: Geographical Diffusionism and Eurocentric History (New York: Guilford, 1993), Bernard S. Cohn, Colonialism and its Forms of Knowledge: The British in India (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1996).
19. The fact that this effort was profoundly rooted in the needs of the new post-World War II American world hegemony, and the related needs of the Cold War, can be shown by the name of one of the first Congressional measures to provide funding for foreign language instruction, the National Defense Education Act of 1957. Much has changed since the early Cold War years, with academics, universities, foundations and professional associations in many fields asserting their own agendas, which were often counter to those of the government. This could be seen during both the Vietnam and Gulf Wars, when many, and ultimately perhaps most, American experts on these two regions were opposed to the government's policies.
20. This organization, founded in 1966, in 1996 had a Roster of Members which ran to over 160 pages, and holds annual conferences which draw over a thousand people.
21. See I. Wallerstein, "Open the Social Sciences," Items, 50, 1, (March 1996): 1-7. This was part of Wallerstein's summary of a recent survey of the social sciences by a panel of eminent academics sponsored by the Mellon Foundation.
22. Items, The Bulletin of the SSRC, is full of analyses of why and how this trend has developed. See the articles cited in footnote #4 above. The Vice President of the Mellon Foundation, in a letter cited in Khalidi, "Presidential Address," p. 2, noted that foundations are moving away from support from "area studies, as they are traditionally defined."
23. Items, The Bulletin of the SSRC, is full of analyses of why and how this trend has developed. See the articles cited in footnote #4 above. The Vice President of the Mellon Foundation, in a letter cited in Khalidi, "Presidential Address," p. 2, noted that foundations are moving away from support from "area studies, as they are traditionally defined."
24. These were Political Science students at Indiana University.
25. Robert H. Bates, "Letter from the President."
26. Francis Fukuyama, The End of History and the Last Man (New York: Free Press, 1992).
27. These students may search for knowledge about the world in the departments that are the heirs to Orientalism - the language and culture and language and civilizations departments - or in other parts of area studies, or elsewhere, whether within the social science disciplines, in business or law, or in the growing field of globalization studies. The point is that their numbers are clearly growing.
28. Samuel Huntington, "The Clash of Civilizations?," Foreign Affairs, 72, 3 (Summer 1993): 22-49. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996).
29. Samuel Huntington, "The Clash of Civilizations?," Foreign Affairs, 72, 3 (Summer 1993): 22-49. The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1996).
30. Bernard Lewis, "The Roots of Muslim Rage," The Atlantic Monthly, 26, (September 1992): 57-69. For a harshly critical perspective on Lewis' anti-Islamic prejudices, see Edward W. Said, Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World, rev. ed. (New York: Vintage, 1997), pp. xxix-xxxiii.
31. Bernard Lewis, "The Roots of Muslim Rage," The Atlantic Monthly, 26, (September 1992): 57-69. For a harshly critical perspective on Lewis' anti-Islamic prejudices, see Edward W. Said, Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine How We See the Rest of the World, rev. ed. (New York: Vintage, 1997), pp. xxix-xxxiii.
32. Huntington, "The Clash," p. 35.
33. Stephen Kinzer, "Brussels Meeting Dims Turks' Hopes," New York Times, March 11, 1997, p. A7.
34. Lewis' work is justly well known in this regard: see the critique of it cited in note 17, above, and in Said, Orientalism, pp. 314-321. Pipes has published a number of works which display such an animus, occasionally thinly veiled, notably Slave Soldiers and Islam: The Genesis of a Military System (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981), and Greater Syria: The History of an Ambition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990). More important in this respect has been his work as Director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, a think tank whose primary task appears to be to denigrate opponents of Israel, perceived and real, whether in the United States or the Middle East.
35. Lewis' work is justly well known in this regard: see the critique of it cited in note 17, above, and in Said, Orientalism, pp. 314-321. Pipes has published a number of works which display such an animus, occasionally thinly veiled, notably Slave Soldiers and Islam: The Genesis of a Military System (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981), and Greater Syria: The History of an Ambition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990). More important in this respect has been his work as Director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, a think tank whose primary task appears to be to denigrate opponents of Israel, perceived and real, whether in the United States or the Middle East.
36. Lewis' work is justly well known in this regard: see the critique of it cited in note 17, above, and in Said, Orientalism, pp. 314-321. Pipes has published a number of works which display such an animus, occasionally thinly veiled, notably Slave Soldiers and Islam: The Genesis of a Military System (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1981), and Greater Syria: The History of an Ambition (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990). More important in this respect has been his work as Director of the Foreign Policy Research Institute in Philadelphia, a think tank whose primary task appears to be to denigrate opponents of Israel, perceived and real, whether in the United States or the Middle East.
37. John Woods, "Imagining and Stereotyping Islam," in A. Husain, J. Woods and J. Akhtar, Muslims in America: Opportunities and Challenges, Position Paper 2, pp. 45-77, (Chicago: International Strategy and Policy Institute, 1996).