Columbia University Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies

Columbia University Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies
Columbia University Morningside Heights
Location	New York City, New York 40°48′45.8″N 73°57′44.0″W / 40.812722°N 73.96222°W / 40.812722; -73.96222Coordinates: 40°48′45.8″N 73°57′44.0″W / 40.812722°N 73.96222°W / 40.812722; -73.96222
Website	www.columbia.edu/cu/mesaas

The Columbia University Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies (MESAAS) is a leading center for the study of history, politics, culture, and art of the Middle East, South Asia, and Africa. With more than forty faculty members, core and adjunct, MESAAS houses a large number of worldly renowned scholars.

Prior to 2009 MESAAS was known as The Department of Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures (MEALAC).

History

Columbia University's Knox Hall on West 122nd Street in Manhattan houses the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies

Columbia University, founded as King’s College in 1754 under a charter from the British crown, appointed its first Professor of Oriental Languages in 1784. In the later nineteenth-century the study of Hebrew, Sanskrit, and other Oriental languages became part of the graduate program. By 1890, Oriental Languages became one of the six departments in the Faculty of Philosophy. In 1891 a chair of Indo-Iranian Languages was established. A.V. Williams Jackson, a Columbia Ph.D., was appointed to the chair in 1895. "The scholars of Indo-Iranian philology subsequently broke away to join the anthropologist Franz Boas in the new Department of General and Comparative Linguistics. Oriental Languages, under the leadership of Richard Gottheil, narrowed its name to the Department of Semitic Languages. Gottheil trained several scholars who went on to organize and lead other departments, including William Popper (later chair of the Department of Near East Languages at Berkeley) and Philip Hitti (founder of the Near Eastern Studies program at Princeton)."^[1] In the mid 1960s the department expanded to include scholars from the departments of history and international affairs. "Reflecting the expansion into modern history and politics, the name was revised once more, in 1965, from Near and Middle East Languages, to Middle East Languages and Cultures, or MELAC."^[2] In 1992 the name of the department was changed to Middle East and Asian Languages and Cultures. "Using the term Asian rather than South Asian made the name scarcely more accurate, but ensured that the department’s new acronym, MEALAC, sounded the same as its previous one."^[3]

"In 2005, the Department began the most rapid expansion in its history, recruiting a number of faculty in South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, and in 2007 it extended its geographical and intellectual scope to include African studies. After doubling in size over the previous decade, the department had outgrown its home in Kent Hall and in 2009 moved to new offices in Knox Hall. To coincide with the move and the expanded focus, the faculty decided to change the department’s name to MESAAS, the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies."^[4]

MESAAS Languages

A list of MESAAS Languages:

• Arabic
• Hebrew
• Hindi
• Urdu
• Persian
• Turkish
• Other languages, including African languages (other than Arabic), Armenian, Sanskrit, Tamil and Ottoman Turkish.

Faculty

A short list of MESAAS's core faculty (not including lecturers, instructors, or visiting faculty):

• Muhsin al-Musawi, specializing in modern Arabic literature and comparative cultural studies.
• Gil Anidjar is a professor in MESAAS and in the Department of Religion.
• Allison Busch, specializing in Hindi and Indian literature.
• Partha Chatterjee is a professor in MESAAS and Anthropology, specializing in political theory, history, postcolonial studies, and nationalism.
• Uri Cohen, specializing in Hebrew literature.
• Hamid Dabashi is the Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature specializing in history of Iran, Islamic Studies, Shi'ism, aesthetics and cultural and literary theory.
• Mamadou Diouf is a professor of Western African history and director of the Institute of African Studies at SIPA, Columbia University.
• Wael Hallaq is the Avalon Foundation Professor in the Humanities. He specializes in Islamic law and Islamic intellectual history.
• Sudipta Kaviraj is the chair of MESAAS and specializes in intellectual history and South Asian politics.
• Nanor Kebranian specializes in modern Armenian language and literature.
• Rashid Khalidi is the Edward Said Professor of Arab Studies at Columbia University. He also serves as the director of the Middle East Institute of Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs.
• Mahmood Mamdani is the Herbert Lehman Professor of Government in MESAAS, International Affairs, and Anthropology. He specializes in the study of African history and politics.
• Joseph Massad is a professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History. He specializes in theories of identity and culture.
• Brinkley M. Messick specializes in the anthropology of law, legal history, written culture, and the circulation and interpretation of Islamic law.
• Dan Miron is the Leonard Kaye Professor of Hebrew Literature.
• Timothy Mitchell is a political theorist and historian. He specializes in colonialism and its place in the formation of modernity.
• Sheldon Pollock is the William B. Ransford Professor of Sanskrit and Indian Studies.
• Frances Pritchett is a professor of Modern Indic Languages. She focuses on modern South Asian literature, especially on Urdu poetry.
• Noha Radwan specializes in modern Arabic Literature.
• George Saliba is a professor of Arabic and Islamic Science. He specializes in the development of scientific ideas from Late Antiquity till early modern times within the Islamic civilization context.
• Nader Sohrabi specializes in Turkish literature, culture, and history.

References

1. ^ MESAAS | Information | A History of MESAAS
2. ^ MESAAS | Information | A History of MESAAS
3. ^ MESAAS | Information | A History of MESAAS
4. ^ MESAAS | Information | A History of MESAAS

External links

• The Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies
• A History of MESAAS