Author: Jonathan Calt Harris
Publication: FrontPageMagazine.com
Date: November 25, 2002
URL: http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=4759
Interested in knowing more about
"The Rug Producing Bazaaris of the Holy City of Qum"? Curious about the
"Ceramic Production & Consumption in Almohad Seville"? Fascinated by
the latest scholarship on "Changes in Religious Celebrations among Moroccan
Immigrant Women in the Netherlands"?
If so, then the Middle East Studies
Association (MESA) conference on
November 23-26 in Washington is
your cup of tea. But if you want to gain insights into the dangers of militant
Islam to America, you'll probably want to take a pass on this particular
meeting.
In fact, in a conference of 558
papers or presentations, the topic of terror or
terrorism appears exactly twice
in the presentation titles. And even then, both instances refer to America's
"War on Terror," distancing the speakers by use of quotation marks.
For that matter, the "Al-Qaeda"
is mentioned exactly once.
"Fundamentalism" also appears only
once. Islamist movements in the Arab world are presented in only one panel,
and couched as "resistence movements", and "Militant Islam" is not the
subject of a single paper.
In contrast, the date September
11 does appear often in the title of sessions
and papers; it is even in the title
of the presidential address ("Middle East Studies After September 11").
This subject is not viewed from the perspective of American interests or
American policy but from its impact on Middle Easterners.
A "thematic conversation" dilates
on "September 11 and the Muslim Public
Sphere." A round table addresses
"Where the Palestinian Problem is Heading in the Post September 11 Environment."
Papers address such issues as "Effects and Aftermath of September 11 on
Palestinians in the U.S." and "Islamic Legal Interpretations and Responses
to the September 11 Attack." Curiously, the only mention in the entire
program of American suffering is a paper titled "American Muslims Post
September 11."
In short, not a single scholar will
present a paper concerning militant Islam's
war on America in the entire MESA
conference of 2002.
Other topics are also conspicuous
by their absence from the meeting:
Palestinian suicide bombing, the
targeting of civilians, and anti-American incitement.
It's not as though the members of
MESA have not been urged to take up
subjects useful to the country
as a whole. After 9/11, the Bush administration increased federal funding
by over $20 million, or 26 %, for International Education and Foreign Language
Studies, the largest single year increase in the program's history. This
money, and the many more millions U.S taxpayers spend on Middle East studies
through Dept. of Education fellowships and grants has essentially brought
forth a big goose egg.
The conference reeks of apologetics.
Take the subject of women, a topic
taken up by over 60 papers or events.
Only one specifically discusses Islamism and feminism, and then only in
Morocco. Issues such as the oppression of women, their lack of basic rights,
and the brutality they suffer under any militant Islamic rule would seem
to rate more than a single paper.
Instead, such topics as "Coffee
Houses in Bahrain" and "Persian Humor in an
International Context"are discussed.
Despite the Middle East and militant
Islam dominating the American national
debate, the scholars of these subjects
have chosen to opt out and either bury their heads in esoteric subjects
or offer blatant apologetics.
Taxpayers and university donors
take note what you are paying for.
(Jonathan Calt Harris is the managing
editor of Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum.)
