BERKELEY, Calif. (KRON) — The Israel-Palestine conflict has sparked more tension and dialogue than any recent event in world affairs this year.
This week, the University of California, Berkeley, announced the launch of Palestinian and Arab Studies, a program they believe is a “critical field of study” for today’s social, cultural, and political climate.
“At a time when understanding the complexities of the Middle East is more crucial than ever, this gift allows the Social Sciences to take a leading role in fostering critical scholarship and dialogue,” Berkeley Social Sciences Dean Raka Ray said.
With “years of collaborative planning” and a $3.25 million gift donation, UCB officially established the “May Ziadeh Chair in Palestinian and Arab Studies” program on Tuesday.
The mandate is to provide students with “an opportunity to discuss and learn freely about the deeply interconnected and embedded streams of Palestinian and Arab history, culture, politics and society,” UC Berkeley said in a statement.
The May Ziadeh Chair will be held by Professor and Carnegie Scholar Ussama Makdisi from UC Berkeley’s History Department. Prior to his tenure as Chair, Makdisi was a professor and the first holder of the Arab-American Educational Foundation Chair of Arab Studies at Rice University.
This gift allows us to meet evident student demand and interest in modern Palestinian history. It permits us to explore the complex and long history of a multi-religious Palestine in the context of the wider Arab world. Most of all, it invites us to expand scholarly and ethical horizons, and connect Palestinian history more deeply with parallel fields of inquiry such as Indigenous, Latinx and Black history.
Ussama Makdisi, Chair to the Palestinian and Arabic Studies program
In support of the initiative, UCB pledged $500,000 to bolster the program through “student-facing activities, undergraduate scholarships and conferences,” the school said.
“Every generation grapples with this challenging history on its own terms, and every generation finds new sources, new evidence and new insights,” Berkeley History Department Chair Cathryn Carson said. “UC Berkeley is ideally situated to nurture emerging scholars in Palestinian and Arab Studies and advance fresh thinking on a broad array of topics.”
Makdisi and other faculty associated with the Palestinian and Arab Studies program will “explore the possibility” of adding a minor for undergraduate students.
Lebanese Interior Minister Ziad Baroud (L) uncovers the statue of Lebanese Poet May Ziadeh, erected in the center of the town of Shatul, north of Beirut, on September 5, 2009. Ziadeh have been mainly associated with Gibran Khalil Gibran through their famous 20-or-so-year correspondence. They never met, and stories are constantly recounted about their epistolary love affair. AFP PHOTO/RAMZI HAIDAR (Photo by RAMZI HAIDAR / AFP) (Photo by RAMZI HAIDAR/AFP via Getty Images)
The newly launched program is named after May Ziadeh (1886–1941), a pioneering Palestinian-Lebanese feminist, poet and writer who played a key role in the Arab cultural renaissance in the modern Middle East.
BERKELEY, Calif. (KRON) — The Israel-Palestine conflict has sparked more tension and dialogue than any recent event in world affairs this year. This week, the University of California, Berkeley, announced the launch of Palestinian and Arab Studies, a program they believe is a “critical field of study” for today’s social, cultural, and political climate. “At a […]
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