UC Berkeley will launch a new program and chair in Palestinian and Arab Studies, one of only a few in the country, as the war between Israel and Hamas has fueled a huge demand to better understand the history, culture and politics of the region's people.
Ussama Makdisi, a professor of history at the University of California, Berkeley and a leading scholar of modern Arab history for nearly three decades, was named the inaugural chair. He said the program represents an innovative effort to generate knowledge about the Palestinian people, who are often portrayed through the lens of the conflict with Israel but have a long and rich ethical and ecumenical history of their own.
He said the program, announced Monday, will allow students and scholars to explore the complex history of the Palestinian people in the context of the broader Arab world and connect more deeply to parallel fields of research involving indigenous, Latino and black communities.
“This is a beautiful and brilliant initiative to finally present Palestinians as a people with a history … instead of reducing them to shadowy people who appeared out of nowhere to disturb our serenity,” Makdisi said in an interview. “They should not be taught simply as a problem or a conflict, but as people. Once their history is taught in context, it is much harder to dehumanize them.”
Ussama Makdisi, professor of history at UC Berkeley.
(Sofia Liashcheva / UC Berkeley)
A $3.25 million gift from anonymous donors led to the creation of the program, which will fund research opportunities and cultural activities, along with the professorship named after May Ziadeh, a pioneering Palestinian-Lebanese feminist, poet and writer. She played a key role in the Arab cultural renaissance in the modern Middle East and personified the interconnections between Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world. She is a native of Nazareth and has moved to Beirut and Cairo, the university said in a statement. The professorship will be housed in the social sciences division and will be based in the discipline of history.
In support of the initiative, the University of California at Berkeley has pledged $500,000 to strengthen the program. Makdisi said he and other faculty associated with the program — who work on topics related to Palestinian and Arab history, culture, literature, society and politics — will explore the possibility of adding a specialization to this field and developing other opportunities, including lectures, fellowships and research grants.
“At a time when understanding the complexities of the Middle East is more crucial than ever, this gift enables the Social Sciences to take a leadership role in fostering critical inquiry and dialogue,” Raka Ray, dean of the division, said in a statement. “It is an opportunity for us to deepen our commitment to excellent research; to explore important but underserved fields of study; and to build inclusive education.”
Makdisi said interest in Palestinian studies is the highest it has been since he began teaching it as part of Arabic studies 27 years ago. His undergraduate course, “Palestine and the Palestinians: A Modern History,” was filled last spring with students from diverse backgrounds. But interest is growing not only in Palestinian history but also in literature, poetry, politics, sociology and areas “in general,” he said.
The scholar joined the University of California, Berkeley in 2022 from Rice University, where he was the first holder of the Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair in Arab Studies. Makdisi, who has written numerous books and articles on Arab history, received the Berlin Prize, which recognizes the highest excellence in various fields, and was selected as a Carnegie Fellow, among other honors.
The new program at the University of California, Berkeley, is believed to be one of the few focusing on Palestinians in the country. Columbia University’s Center for Palestine Studies was established in 2010, the first such center at an American academic institution, to honor the legacy of the late Palestinian scholar Edward Said, Makdisi’s uncle. Brown University launched a research initiative called “New Directions in Palestinian Studies,” which is housed at the Center for Middle East Studies, in 2012.
“Each generation confronts this challenging history on its own terms, and each generation encounters new sources, new evidence, and new insights,” Berkeley history department chair Cathryn Carson said in a statement. “UC Berkeley is ideally positioned to train new scholars in Palestinian and Arab studies and to advance new ideas on a wide range of topics.”
The program's inaugural conference is scheduled for November 12-13 to bring together scholars from around the world to discuss how best to teach and learn about Palestinian and Arab history, politics, and society.
