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4/17/2009

Rice's Makdisi named Carnegie Scholar
Research will explore the history of US-Arab relations

BY JESSICA STARK
Rice News staff

This week, the Carnegie Corporation named Rice University's Ussama Makdisi a 2009 Carnegie Scholar for his contributions to enriching the country's discourse on Islam. Makdisi, the Arab American Educational Foundation Professor of History, was selected one of 24 well-established and promising young thinkers, analysts and writers who will receive grants of up to $100,000 from the foundation.
 
With the grant, Makdisi will complete "A Mutual Concern: A History of U.S.-Arab Relations," a research project exploring U.S.-Arab relations during the 19th and early 20th centuries. While most histories written about the relationship focus primarily on oil, the Cold War, the Arab-Israeli conflict, terrorism and Iraq, Makdisi intends to tell a story of mutual interaction and transformation that commenced in the early 19th century.

	USSAMA MAKDISI

He will focus on American cultural involvement with the Arab world, an involvement marked by missionary encounters with the Muslim and Christian inhabitants of the Ottoman Empire beginning in the 1820s, by major American-led higher education efforts in the 1860s, and by Arab nationalists' embrace of Wilsonian self-determination in 1919.

"A lot of people believe we're stuck in this relationship marked today by violence, ignorance and fear," Makdisi said. "But by taking a deeper look at the nature and origins of this relationship, you'll see that it wasn't always this way. And what's more: it doesn't always have to be that way."

Makdisi said it's that idea that keeps him actively engaged in his research. He hopes that as he explores the history and makes it public, people will begin to see lessons from the past and allow those lessons to inform current dialogue and actions.

"In general, people know very little about the foundation of the U.S.-Arab relationship, which leads to warped perceptions of current circumstances," Makdisi said. "In fact, this history is not just a history of hatred and confrontation; it did not begin on 9/11. It also is a history of collaboration, admiration and respect. I think it shows that the U.S. and Arab worlds are not destined to be locked in mortal enmity."

"I care deeply about this work," Makdisi said. "It's incredibly important, and I feel I have a responsibility as a teacher and scholar to bring this research forward and to disseminate it to as wide an audience as possible."

Makdisi came to Rice in 1997 from Princeton University, where he earned a doctorate in history. He earned his bachelor's degree in history from Wesleyan University.

The Carnegie Scholars program allows independent-minded thinkers to pursue original projects oriented toward catalyzing intellectual discourse and toward guiding more focused and pragmatic policy discussions. Scholars are selected not only for their originality and proven intellectual capacity but for their demonstrated ability to communicate ideas in ways that catalyze public discourse.

The 2009 awardees are the fifth class to focus on Islam, bringing to 117 the number of Carnegie Scholars devoted to the topic since the program began in 2000. Makdisi's spouse, Elora Shehabuddin, assistant professor of humanities and political science, earned Rice's first Carnegie fellowship in 2006 for her work examining the role that politically engaged Muslim women play in the transformation of Islamist politics in the 21st century.

Each year, more than 500 nominators representing a broad range of disciplines and institutions, including academia, research institutes, nonprofit organizations, the media and foundations, are invited to submit candidates for Carnegie Scholars. The nominators are asked to identify original thinkers who have the ability or promise to spark academic and public debate, and whose work transcends academic boundaries.