Florida State University Middle Eastern Studies NewsletterVolume two 2017-2018 a word from the director in this issue Spotlight on Middle Eastern Studies spotlight on new faculty Film Festival drew more than Amal Shamia. 1200 viewers and our endowed In November 2018, we will be Jeannette Chapman lecture celebrating the 10th Anniversa- a word from was standing room only when ry of our Middle East Film Fes- middle east Professor Steve Heydemann tival. The festival has become post-doc delivered his timely lecture on an annual feature on campus “Strange Bedfellows: Obama’s and the community. Stay tuned Legacy and Trump Policy in for several planned activities to two years in the Middle East” in Spring 2017 celebrate this milestone. pictures and Professor Nathan Brown am pleased to welcome you discussed whether “the Dreams Another milestone was I to the Middle East Studies of the Arab Uprisings of 2011" achieved this year: Our Middle fsu abroad and Center’s second Biennial had died? in Spring 2018. East Center was recognized as edition of our Years-In-Review an Institutional Member of the at Florida State University. Our The Center also hosted the re- Middle East Studies Associa- scholarhsip mission is to promote research, nowned calligrapher Stewart tion. Our program was featured recipients teaching and awareness about Thomas in January 2017 and in the Spring issue of IMES. this important and fascinating again in January 2018. He gave region of the world at a crucial workshops to students on Ara- Our students continue to excel outstanding time in our history. bic calligraphy and helped them in their studies. Several of them arabic students perfect this ancient and elegant received national and interna- Our Center played a high-pro- art form. tional scholarships to study in file role on campus in 2016- the region. Read on to discover updates from the 2018. With growing enroll- We expanded our offerings to more about their travels and ac- faculty ment in our classes, especially include new courses on the his- complishments! in our language classes, the tory, religion, pop culture and number of Middle East Stud- language of the area. With the If you are wondering how to where are they ies majors continues to grow. support of our distinguished become more informed and in- now? alumni We graduated 8 students with faculty, including the recent volved in the area, please take profiles MES majors in Spring 2018. addition of Prof. Nilay Ozok- a look at the various activities Most of them were accepted to Gundogan (History), and our planned for 2018-19 on our prestigious graduate programs. significant library holdings, web page (www.mec.fsu.edu) looking forward: Our Outreach program flour- the Center continues to be a and consider becoming a friend upcoming events ished with more than 16 stu- resource for students, scholars, of the MEC. dent volunteers sharing their local businesses and the me- knowledge of the Middle East dia on issues pertaining to the We look forward to seeing you with elementary- and middle- Middle East. Please help me at one of our future events. school students at several pub- welcome Professor Ozok-Gun- follow us! lic and private schools in the dogan and our new Fulbright Sincerely yours, www.mec.fsu.edu community. Our Middle East Teaching Assistant for 2018-19, Zeina Schlenoff, Ph.D. fsu middle eastern studies program A Short History of the Middle East Center and Middle Eastern Studies Major at FSU By Peter Garretson and Zeina Schlenoff under the leadership of Prof. Pe- Languages (Arabic Division), ter Garretson, from the College Religion and History. Many of Social Sciences to the College other departments within the of Arts and Sciences. Housed university became increasingly within the Department of His- and actively involved. The num- tory, the Center won a Title VI ber of majors grew from about a A grant from the U.S. Depart- dozen in 2004 to over 125 within ment of Education (Garretson, a decade. With continuing sup- PI; Schlenoff, co-PI). At the port of the administration, the same time, coordinated by Dr. number of participating and af- Zeina Schlenoff, a core of about filiated faculty also grew rapidly a dozen faculty helped create a from about a dozen in 2004 to ca. he Middle East Center BA degree program at FSU. This 30 in 2017. Outreach activities, T(MEC) at Florida State was was approved in January 2004 by such as the annual film festival founded by Prof. Monte Palm- the FSU Board of Trustees. This and K-8 after-school education, er (now Emeritus Professor of BA in Middle Eastern Studies have also flourished more re- Political Science) in the early remains the only one of its kind cently, helping the public appre- 1970s within the College of So- in the State of Florida and one ciate the principles of tolerance cial Sciences. On Prof. Palmer’s of the few in the Southeast of and civility on which the MEC retirement in the mid 1990s the the U.S. The core of the Middle was founded. Center entered a dormant period Eastern Studies majors was built until 2003 when it was shifted, on the departments of Modern about the program he Middle Eastern Studies program at Florida State University is an interdisciplinary program ad- Tministered by the Middle East Center, with courses offered from participating departments. These departments include Anthropology, Classics, Criminology, English, History, International Relations, Modern Languages, Political Science, Religion, and Urban and Regional Planning. The Bachelor of Arts in Middle Eastern Studies responds directly to a national as well as regional demand for resources and information to educate students, professionals, and the surrounding commu- nity about this important region of the world. The BA is designed for liberal arts students who wish to learn more about the Middle East, students who wish to pursue graduate work in this field, and students who seek employment in or relating to the Middle East. The Middle East Center strives to provide an academic environment for students from a multitude of disciplines to develop a deeper understanding of the Middle East. In addition to the B.A. in Middle Eastern Studies, the Center also administers minors in Middle Eastern Studies, Arabic, and Hebrew. The Center has a very active outreach program fostering an interest in the Modern Middle East at the K-8 and Community College levels. Furthermore, its yearly film festival and lecture series provide educational opportunities for students and community members who are interested in the Middle East. The Middle East Center at Florida State University is deeply committed to tolerance and civility. 2 fsu middle eastern studies newsletter volume two, issue one MES Welcomes Dr. Nilay Ozok-Gun- Q & A with Rebecca Falcasantos dogan to the Postdoctoral Associate in the Depart- Department of History ment of Religion Assistant Professor Nilay Ozok-Gundo- gan joined the De- partment of History and the Middle East- ern Studies Program at FSU in Fall 2017. Here’s a short intro- duction about her. was born to a Kurdish- small, tax-paying peasantry Q: What is your educational propaganda; cultural prac- Turkish family from Van, on these lands. My book background? How did tices that shape or enforce Ia city known for its huge demonstrates that the de- you find yourself wanting to notions of gender and class; lake and odd-eyed cats in struction of the autonomous study the intersection of re- the ownership of religion; eastern Turkey. I grew up Kurdish principalities in this ligious practices? debates about the meaning in Izmir by the Aegean coast way led to the dissolution A: My parents were both in of monuments; etc. I enjoy and studied at Bogazici Uni- of deep-rooted local power the military, so as I moved the process of discussing versity in Istanbul before configurations and the re- around a bit as a child. I and exploring these ques- receiving my Ph.D. from gion gradually descended attended public schools tions with students who Binghamton University in into a spiral of violence by wherever we were, eventu- bring their own perspective New York. the end of the nineteenth ally graduating from a high and insights to the table. century. school in northwest Florida. Q: What projects are you I am a historian of the Otto- I then attended Creighton working on or will work man Empire and the Modern My work stands at the junc- University (a small Catho- on in the future? Middle East. As an histo- tion of interconnected Otto- lic university), majoring in A: At the moment, I am rian of this gigantic empire man, Kurdish, and Armenian Theology and Greek, before finishing a book on the which ruled over three con- histories, and as opposed to pursuing a Masters of Arts Christianization of Con- tinents for six centuries I am dominant nationalist ren- in Early Christian Studies stantinople in the fourth and fascinated by the diversity, derings of this period, I ap- at the University of Notre fifth centuries C.E. Beyond complexity, and dynamism proach the conflict between Dame and a PhD in Reli- that, I have a few ongoing of imperial structures. the Ottoman (and later the gious Studies at Brown Uni- projects, including a short Turkish) state and the Kurd- versity. introduction to John Chrys- My research revolves ish nobility not solely as an Moving—even from the ostom’s methods of biblical around the questions of ethnic dispute but as a strug- Midwest to the South, interpretation and a piece on modern state-making, prop- gle for sovereignty over the or between states in the intra-Christian persecution erty regimes, and intercom- autonomous economic and South—always meant ad- during late antiquity.