Farid Al-Salim

Visiting Assistant Professor

 
Office: 114 Mitchell
Telephone: 901.678.3378
Fax: 901.678.2720
E-mail: falsalim@memphis.edu
Education: Ph.D., History, University of Arkansas, 2008

Fields of interest

Modern Middle East History, Islamic Studies, World History, Islamic Civilization, International Relations, Imperialism, U.S Diplomatic History, Palestinian –Israeli Conflict, Women and Family in the Middle East, Social and Economic History of the Middle East and Security Studies.

I am a historian-in-the-making of the Middle East, Islam and society in the modern Middle East, with particular attention to changing structures of leadership, authority, knowledge, and education in nineteenth- and twentieth-century. I have never seen my research, teaching, or service as "academic obligations." I do them with great passion and dedication. I have successfully demonstrated the ability to disseminate my knowledge and scholarly productions in both the primary language of my field (Arabic) and in English, writing and publishing in both languages with effectiveness.

Broadly speaking, I am interested in the construction of national identity, state-building, communal violence, Islamic movements, and colonial-imperial encroachments in the Middle East and the emergence of diversity in the new approaches. I am also interested in socio-economic/cultural and urban/intellectual histories; the political twist of my studies evolves out of my fascination with social protests that I see the prime device to read history from the perspectives of those at the bottom. The histories of many Middle Eastern countries which were created after WWI are very appealing to my teaching and research interests, while my focus on the late nineteenth-century Ottoman world cut across the borders of these nation-states. I found the transitions from the empire to republics and monarchs quite fascinating which was the focus of my dissertation.

In my first significant work I examined the universality of Western historical thought by looking at how the modern idea of history was acculturated in Middle East during the past two centuries. One of the aims for this work is to understand how and why western historicism struggled with Islamic historiography and apply this process to understand the Middle East's experience of modernity. The findings of this study are summarized in my monograph, "Palestine and the Decline of the Ottoman Empire: Modernization and the Birth of the Palestinian State."

Courses taught

In addition to World History surveys and U.S History surveys, I teach many modern Middle East and Islamic histories; Modern Middle East History 1800-Present, History of Islam and Islamic Civilization, Palestinian –Israeli Conflict, Ottoman and Safadis Empires, Mongols and Mamluks, Cold War in the Middle East, Social and Family History of the Middle East and Middle East Security Studies.

Graduate seminars in contemporary history of the Middle East, Imperialism, Nationalism and Islamism in modern Middle East and Security Studies in the Middle East.

Representative publications

Books:

Palestine and the Decline of the Ottoman Empire: Modernization and the Birth of the Palestinian State. Under contract with I.B Tauris, scheduled for publication in 2013.

Book Chapter:

"Muslim Mothering and Migration." In Muslim Mothering: Local and Global Histories, Theories, and Practice, edited by Dana Olwan. Scheduled for publication in December, 2012.

Articles:

"Élite Victorians and their Quest for a Jewish Homeland: A Convergence of Religious and Imperial Worldviews." Journal of South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. XXXV, No. 2.

"Landed Property and Elite Conflict in Ottoman Tulkarm: A Socio-Economic Study of a Waqf Village in pre-Tanzimat Palestine." Jerusalem Quarterly, Autumn 2011, No 47.

Book Reviews:

"The Palestinian Peasant Economy under The Mandate. A Story of Colonial Bungling," by Amos Nadan. Journal of Palestine Studies, Vol. 144.