Ussama Makdisi

Infobox Person


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name = Ussama Makdisi
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birth_date = 1956
birth_place = Washington, DC,
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nationality = Palestinian-American
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education = Wesleyan, Princeton University
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occupation = professor, Arabic Studies, History
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Rice University professor Ussama Makdisi works to provide a historically accurate answer to one of the most vexing questions of our time: "Why do they hate us?" As the first holder of Rice's Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Arabic Studies and an Associate Professor of History, Makdisi explores the history and roots of anti-American thought in the Arab world.

Born in Washington, DC in 1968, Makdisi spent his early years in Beirut. Returning to the US, he received his BA from Wesleyan and his PhD from Princeton University. Makdisi says his Palestinian mother and Lebanese father imbued him with respect for both cultures and an appreciation of the struggle of the Palestinians.

Makdisi is the author of [http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/8436.php The Culture of Sectarianism: Community, History, and Violence in Nineteenth-Century Ottoman Lebanon (UC Press)] and co-editor of [http://www.amazon.com/Memory-Violence-Middle-North-Africa/dp/025334655X Memory And Violence in the Middle East And North Africa (Indiana University Press)] . He has also authored more than a dozen book chapters and journal essays including "Anti-Americanism in the Arab World: An Interpretation of Brief History" which appeared in the [http://www.journalofamericanhistory.org/ Journal of American History] . His book on American missionaries in the Ottoman Arab world is complete and scheduled for publication in 2008 with Cornell University Press. In 2004-2005, Makdisi received Fellowships from both the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and the American Council of Learned Societies and has lectured widely at universities both in the United States and Middle East.

Currently, Makdisi is working on a new book that examines US-Arab relations from the 19th century to modern times.

References

* [http://imeu.net/news/article005856.shtml Profile of Ussama Makdisi at the Institute for Middle East Understanding]
* [http://imeu.net/news/article002345.shtml U.S. must share blame with Israelis Ussama Makdisi, Houston Chronicle, Jul 30, 2006]
* [http://cohesion.rice.edu/administration/fis/report/FacultyDetail.cfm?DivID=1&DeptID=40&RiceID=803 Ussama Makdisi, Professor, Rice University]