THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume X, Issue # 161, July 2, 2008
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
TRUTH ABOUT ISLAM IN ACADEMIA
By Cinnamon Stillwell
EFFORTS TO ACHIEVE BALANCE & OBJECTIVITY IN THE EXAMINATION & ANALYSIS OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD:
SEEKING LESS POLITICIZATION, GREATER DIVERSITY OF PERSPECTIVE, MORE ATTENTION TO THE THREAT OF MILITANT
ISLAM, & AN ALTERNATIVE TO THE POST-COLONIALIST & ANTI-WESTERN BIASES CHARACTERISTIC OF THE
PROFESSIONAL LEADERSHIP & SOCALLED "SCHOLARSHIP" LONG DOMINANT IN THE FIELD OF MIDDLE EAST & ISLAMIC
STUDIES -- THE ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF THE MIDDLE EAST & AFRICA: FORMED TO PROVIDE A
PROFESSIONAL ASSOCIATION THAT WOULD BE MORE INDEPENDENT & REFLECT THE ACADEMIC COMMUNITY MORE THAN
POLITICAL IDEOLOGIES & SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS
FULL STORY:
While the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) has long dominated the field, its highly politicized leadership's
inability to withstand criticism, inattention to radical Islam, and apologetic approach towards the West's foes has left many
Middle East Studies scholars feeling unwelcome by their umbrella professional organization.
Enter the Association for the Study of the Middle East and Africa (ASMEA). Founded last year by Professors Bernard
Lewis and Fouad Ajami, ASMEA offers an alternative to MESA's post-colonialist biases and a venue for studying those
elements of Islam and the Middle East that MESA's leaders ignore or downplay.
ASMEA's emergence is cause for optimism. As Franck Salameh, a scholar of the Middle East at Boston College, has written:
"The complex and richly textured Middle East deserves
far more than the bromides and reductionist commentary
that have of late become the hallmark of some of our day's
most influential scholars in the field. ASMEA promises to
provide such critically needed diversity of perspective.
To see how things have progressed during its first few months of existence, I interviewed ASMEA's Director of Public
Affairs, Patrick Creamer, to find out more about the organization's founding, its inaugural conference in April, 2008, and its
future.
***
CS: Why was ASMEA founded?
Creamer: ASMEA was formed as a response to the mounting interest in these increasingly inter-related fields, and the
absence of any single group addressing them in a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary fashion. The Association also seeks to
fill a second void caused by the absence of free inquiry and honest scholastic debate on research pertaining to Middle East
Studies and African Studies within academia.
CS: ASMEA President and Professor of Political Science at California State University at San Bernardino, Mark T. Clark, told
Inside Higher Education that ASMEA's founders wanted an association "that would be more independent and reflect
the academic community more than interest groups."
Can you elaborate on that?
Creamer: ASMEA's goal is to be the academic association of choice for scholars with an interest in the Middle East and
Africa. We intend to achieve this goal by offering superior services and encouraging a robust exchange of ideas amongst
members — principles which are often shunned in other circles. Free inquiry, greater mix of perspectives, and a desire to learn
about the entirety of the Middle East and Africa, and not just issues and viewpoints dictated by a few, are among the ways
ASMEA seeks to build the bedrock for the next generation of scholars and teachers.
CS: Was ASMEA meant to be an alternative to MESA and, if so, what are the problems with MESA that led to ASMES's
founding?
Creamer: There is a feeling among many who study the Middle East and issues concerning the region that there was not a
truly open academic society for them to participate in prior to the creation of ASMEA. As ASMEA Chairman, Bernard Lewis,
said during his keynote speech at the inaugural conference, Middle East studies are "beset by difficulties." During Professor
Lewis's keynote, he cited "the clash of disciplines and lack of mutual recognition between them," as well as "the deadly hand
of political correctness," as the major difficulties facing those who participate in Middle East studies. To that end, Professor
Lewis concluded his keynote by saying, "I hope this organization will make a significant contribution to changing that." That
is certainly a founding goal of ASMEA.
CS: Scholars who are loyal to MESA argue that ASMEA has its own biases. For instance, Bassam Haddad, Director of the
Middle East Studies Program at George Mason University, accused ASMEA of being "a response, rather than an organic
expression of a desire to learn."
University of Michigan History Professor Juan Cole labeled ASMEA "exclusively ideological" and only "for people on the
Right."
And Laurie A. Brand, Professor of International Relations at the University of Southern California and the head of MESA's
Academic Freedom Committee, accused ASMEA's leadership of being "at the forefront of the neoconservative support
group for the new administration" and of having its own "political agenda."
What is your response to these accusations?
Creamer: I am not going to respond point by point to their accusations. A quick scan of each of these individual's writings
will show that they are not shy about spreading their ideological viewpoints. That said, it is important to note that ASMEA
— to use Professor Haddad's interesting choice of words — was born out of an "organic expression of a desire to learn"
in the truest sense. This Association blossomed because many in the academic community felt the status quo quashed
their efforts to engage in the discussion. Scholars want a true academic association where all ideas are discussed and
research is judged on its merits, not whether it passes the litmus test of the status quo.
CS: How is ASMEA funded?
Creamer: We are a non-profit organization which receives revenue from members, along with donations from a network of
private foundations.
CS: In comments posted at the Middle East Strategy at Harvard website, Middle East Studies scholars Philip Carl
Salzman and Raymond Ibrahim had nothing but praise for ASMEA's April, 2008, inaugural conference. Ibrahim described it
as "a breath of fresh air," while Salzman noted that the "‘postcolonial' approach so prevalent in MESA, blaming all
problems of the Middle East on the West, was not much in evidence" and that "many of the difficult issues of
contemporary conflict were tackled head-on in ASMEA conference papers." How do you think the conference went?
Creamer: The feedback we received from the conference from presenters and attendees alike has been overwhelmingly
positive. We are looking forward to, and laying the groundwork for, our second annual conference to be held in 2009, as
well as looking at some ideas for smaller regional conferences in the future to build off the successes of our inaugural
conference.
CS: Critics have pointed to the alleged preponderance of representatives from military and national security-related think
tanks and organizations as reason to question ASMEA's appeal to fellow academics. Meanwhile, Philip Carl Salzman
called this "a constructive development" and noted that "we want academics to be more realistic, and we want agencies,
governments, and the military to be better informed." How do you respond?
Creamer: ASMEA's leadership and the general consensus of members on hand at the conference was that this was a
positive benefit of holding our conference in Washington. By its nature, there is a large military presence, as well as a large
think tank population, within the Beltway. With their attendance at our conference, our members had the benefit of sharing
their research with policy-makers, decision-makers, and influence-makers. Most scholars would jump at that opportunity.
The same could be said of the Embassy representatives from the African and Middle East nations who attended. So we
think it is an additional service we can offer our members. I do want to stress, however, that the overwhelming percentage
of those on hand at ASMEA's inaugural conference were either professors or students.
CS: How does ASMEA approach the study of Islamism/Jihadism/Islamic terrorism?
Creamer: Jihadism is certainly a topic that our membership is extremely interested in and that the Association is not going to
shy away from. Our first conference centered on the profound influence of Islam in Africa and the Middle East and it
sparked many discussions about Jihadism. Over the course of the two days of the conference, a number of presentations
focusing on the impact of Islam, both in the traditional sense and the modern, more extreme interpretations, touched on or
focused intensely on Jihad. Most of the feedback we received on the conference's theme and discussions has been positive
and there appears to be a real thirst for scholastic inquiry into this subject matter that others have traditionally swept aside
in academia.
CS: What are ASMEA's future plans or goals? Do you see the organization growing?
Creamer: As ASMEA's membership continues to grow, we have big plans for the future. We hope to hold smaller regional
conferences and events along with our annual conference; our first published journal is set to come out at the end of the
year; and we intend to roll out a new state-of-the-art website which will allow for a number of new services via the web for
our members.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Islamism & Jihadism -- The Threat of Radical Islam
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
North Africa -- The Arab States of Islamic North Africa
American Foreign Policy -- The Middle East
International Politics & World Disorder:
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
Counterterrorism & U.S. National Security
U.S. National Security Strategy
Cinnamon Stillwell is the Northern California Representative for Campus Watch, a project of the Middle East Forum. She
can be reached at stillwell@meforum.org.
The foregoing article by Ms. Stillwell was originally published in Front Page Magazine, July 2, 2008, and
can be found on the Internet website maintained by the Middle East Forum, a foreign policy think tank which seeks to
define and promote American interests in the Middle East, defining U.S. interests to include fighting radical Islam,
working for Palestinian Arab acceptance of the State of Israel, improving the management of U.S. efforts to promote
constitutional democracy in the Middle East, reducing America's energy dependence on the Middle East, more robustly
asserting U.S. interests vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and countering the Iranian threat.
(Article URL: http://www.meforum.org/article/1928)
Republished with Permission of the Middle East Forum
Reprinted from the Middle East Forum News
mefnews@meforum.org (MEF NEWS)
July 2, 2008
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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