MESA book awards

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The Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) offers four book awards at its fall annual conference.

Contents

Albert Hourani Book Award

The Albert Hourani Book Award is an award honoring scholarly non-fiction books, given by the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) to "recognize outstanding publishing in Middle East studies" and to honor work "that exemplifies scholarly excellence and clarity of presentation in the tradition of Albert Hourani", the distinguished scholar of Arab and Islamic history. [1] [2] On occasion two authors have shared the year's award; in some years, the society has given honorable mention distinctions. MESA first gave the award in 1991.

Award winners

YearAuthorTitlePublisherDistinction
1991Abraham MarcusThe Middle East on the Eve of Modernity: Aleppo in the Eighteenth CenturyColumbia University PressWinner
Steven Caton"Peaks of Yemen I Summon": Poetry as Cultural Practice in a North Yemeni TribeUniversity of California PressHonorable Mention
1993Brinkley MessickThe Calligraphic State: Textual Domination and History in a Muslim SocietyUniversity of California PressWinner
Sabra J. WebberRomancing the Real: Folklore and Ethnographic Representation in North AfricaUniversity of Pennsylvania PressHonorable Mention
Robert D. McChesney Waqf in Central Asia: Four Hundred Years in the History of a Muslim ShrinePrinceton University PressHonorable Mention
Kenneth CunoThe Pasha's Peasants: Land, Society, and Economy in Lower Egypt, 1740-1858Cambridge University PressHonorable Mention
1994 Chibli Mallat The Renewal of Islamic LawCambridge University PressCo-Winner
Richard M. Eaton The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760University of California PressCo-Winner
Tarif KhalidiArabic Historical Thought in the Classical PeriodCambridge University PressHonorable Mention
1995 Devin DeWeese Islamization and Native Religion in the Golden Horde: Baba Tukles and Conversion to Islam in Historical and Epic TraditionPenn State PressWinner
Julia Clancy SmithRebel and Saint: Muslim Notables, Populist Protest, Colonial Encounters (Algeria and Tunisia, 1800-1904) University of California PressHonorable Mention
1996 Gülru Necipoğlu The Topkapi Scroll—Geometry and Ornament in Islamic ArchitectureThe Getty Center for the History of Art and the HumanitiesWinner
Michael GilsenanLords of the Lebanese Marches: Violence and Narrative in Arab SocietyI.B. TaurisHonorable Mention
1997Andrew ShryockNationalism and Genealogical Imagination: Oral History and Textual Authority in Tribal JordanUniversity of California PressCo-Winner
Rashid I. Khalidi Palestinian Identity: The Construction of Modern National ConsciousnessColumbia University PressCo-Winner
1998Kiren Aziz ChaudhryThe Price of Wealth: Economies and Institutions in the Middle EastCornell University PressCo-Winner
Marsha Pripstein PosusneyLabor and the State in Egypt: Workers, Unions, and Economic RestructuringColumbia University PressCo-Winner
Marianna Shreve SimpsonSultan Ibrahim Mirza's Haft Awrang: A Princely Manuscript from Sixteenth-Century IranYale University PressHonorable Mention
1999Susan SlyomovicsThe Object of Memory: Arab and Jew Narrate the Palestinian VillageUniversity of Pennsylvania PressWinner
Mohammed A. BamyehThe Social Origins of Islam: Mind, Economy, DiscourseUniversity of Minnesota PressHonorable Mention
2000 Eugene Rogan Frontiers of the State in the Late Ottoman Empire: Transjordan, 1850–1921Cambridge University PressWinner
Tayeb El-HibriReinterpreting Islamic Historiography: Harun al-Rashid and the Narrative of the Abbasid CaliphateCambridge University PressHonorable Mention
Carole Hillenbrand The Crusades: Islamic PerspectivesEdinburgh University PressHonorable Mention
Meron Benvenisti Sacred Landscape: The Buried History of the Holy Land since 1948University of California PressHonorable Mention
2001 Michael Cook Commanding Right and Forbidding Wrong in Islamic ThoughtCambridge University PressWinner
2002 Nadia Abu El-Haj Facts on the Ground: Archaeological Practice and Territorial Self-Fashioning in Israeli Society University of Chicago PressCo-Winner
Gershon Shafir & Yoav PeledBeing Israeli: The Dynamics of Multiple CitizenshipCambridge University PressCo-Winner
Jonathan BloomPaper before Print: The History and Impact of Paper in the Islamic WorldYale University PressHonorable Mention
2003 Jonathan P. Berkey The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600-1800Cambridge University PressWinner
Heather J. Sharkey Living with Colonialism: Nationalism and Culture in the Anglo-Egyptian SudanUniversity of California PressHonorable Mention
Farha GhannamRemaking the Modern: Space, Relocation, and the Politics of Identity in a Global CairoUniversity of California PressHonorable Mention
2004 Leslie Peirce Morality Tales: Law and Gender in the Ottoman Court of AintabUniversity of California PressWinner
Maya RosenfeldConfronting the Occupation: Work, Education, & Political Activism of Palestinian Families in a Refugee CampStanford University PressHonorable Mention
Rashid I. Khalidi Resurrecting Empire: Western Footprints and America's Perilous Path in the Middle EastBeacon PressHonorable Mention
2005Robert R. BianchiGuests of God: Pilgrimage and Politics in the Islamic WorldOxford University PressWinner
Gülru Necipoglu The Age of Sinan: Architectural Culture in the Ottoman Empire Princeton University PressHonorable Mention
Saba Mahmood Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist SubjectPrinceton University PressHonorable Mention
2006Rudi MattheeThe Pursuit of Pleasure: Drugs and Stimulants in Iranian History, 1500-1900Princeton University PressWinner
2007Jessica WinegarCreative Reckonings: The Politics of Art and Culture in Contemporary EgyptStanford University PressCo-Winner
Leor HaleviMuhammad's Grave: Death Rites and the Making of Islamic SocietyColumbia University PressCo-Winner
2008Ussama MakdisiArtillery of Heaven: American Missionaries and the Failed Conversion of the Middle EastCornell University PressCo-Winner
Marc David Baer Honored by the Glory of Islam: Conversion and Conquest in Ottoman EuropeOxford University PressCo-Winner
2009Sophia VasalouMoral Agents and Their Deserts: The Character of Mu'tazilite EthicsPrinceton University PressWinner
2010Benjamin Claude BrowerA Desert Named Peace: The Violence of France's Empire in the Algerian Sahara, 1844-1902Columbia University PressWinner
2011 Nile Green Bombay Islam: The Religious Economy of the West Indian Ocean, 1840-1915Cambridge University PressCo-Winner
Rochelle DavisPalestinian Village Histories: Geographies of the DisplacedStanford University PressCo-Winner
2012Sam WhiteThe Climate of Rebellion in the Early Modern Ottoman EmpireCambridge University PressWinner
2013 Patricia Crone Nativist Prophets of Early Islamic Iran: Rural Revolt and Local ZoroastrianismCambridge University PressCo-Winner
Taner Akçam The Young Turks' Crime against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire Princeton University Press Co-Winner
2014Brian CatlosMuslims of Medieval Latin Christendom, c. 1050-1614Cambridge University PressWinner
2015Kenneth M. CunoModernizing Marriage: Family, Ideology and Law in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century EgyptSyracuse University PressWinner
2016Nükhet VarlıkPlague and Empire in the Early Modern Mediterranean World: The Ottoman Experience, 1347-1600 Cambridge University PressWinner
Seema AlaviMuslim Cosmopolitanism in the Age of EmpireHarvard University PressHonorable Mention
2017Noah SalomonFor Love of the Prophet: An Ethnography of Sudan's Islamic StatePrinceton University PressWinner
2018Alireza DoostdarThe Iranian Metaphysicals: Explorations in Science, Islam, and the UncannyPrinceton University PressWinner
J.R. OsbornLetters of Light: Arabic Script in Calligraphy, Print, and Digital DesignHarvard University PressHonorable Mention
2019Fredrik MeitonElectrical Palestine: Capital and Technology from the Empire to NationUniversity of California PressWinner
Jack TannousThe Making of the Medieval Middle East: Religion, Society, and Simple BelieversPrinceton University PressHonorable Mention
2020Sophia Stamatopoulou-Robbins Waste Siege: The Life of Infrastructure in Palestine Stanford University PressWinner
Wendy M. K. ShawWhat is 'Islamic' Art? Between Religion and PerceptionCambridge University PressHonorable Mention
2021Michael Christopher LowImperial Mecca: Ottoman Arabia and the Indian Ocean HajjColumbia University PressWinner
James PickettPolymaths of Islam: Power and Networks of Knowledge in Central AsiaCornell University PressHonorable Mention
Caterina ScaramelliHow to Make a Wetland: Water and Moral Ecology in TurkeyStanford University PressHonorable Mention
2022Waleed ZiadHidden Caliphate: Sufi Saints beyond the Oxus and IndusHarvard University PressWinner
Helen PfeiferEmpire of Salons: Conquest and Community in Early Modern Ottoman LandsPrinceton University PressHonorable Mention
2023Jessica M. MarglinThe Shamama Case: Contesting Citizenship Across the Modern MediterraneanPrinceton University PressCo-Winner
Mostafa MinawiLosing Istanbul: Arab-Ottoman Imperialists and the End of EmpireStanford University PressCo-Winner
Nomi StonePinelandia: An Anthropology and Field Poetics of War and EmpireUniversity of California PressHonorable Mention

Roger Owen Book Award

The Roger Owen Book Award, first given in 2011, recognizes the very best in economics, economic history, or the political economy of the Middle East and North Africa scholarship. The award honors Roger Owen for his long and distinguished career and scholarly contributions. The biennial award is given in odd-numbered years

Award winners

YearAuthorInstitutionTitlePublisherDistinction
2011 Alan Mikhail Yale UniversityNature and Empire in Ottoman Egypt: An Environmental HistoryCambridge University PressWinner
2013Nancy Y. ReynoldsWashington University in St. LouisA City Consumed: Urban Commerce, the Cairo Fire, and the Politics of Decolonization in EgyptStanford University PressWinner
2015Zeinab Abul-MagdOberlin CollegeImagined Empires: A History of Revolt in EgyptUniversity of California PressWinner
2017Johan MathewRutgers UniversityMargins of the Market: Trafficking and Capitalism across the Arabian SeaUniversity of California PressWinner
Hanan H. HammadTexas Christian UniversityIndustrial Sexuality: Gender, Urbanization, and Social Transformation in EgyptUniversity of Texas PressHonorable Mention
2019Fredrik MeitonUniversity of New HampshireElectrical Palestine: Capital and Technology from Empire to NationUniversity of California PressWinner
2021Amr AdlyAmerican University in CairoCleft Capitalism: The Social Origins of Failed Market Making in EgyptStanford University PressWinner
Aaron JakesThe New SchoolEgypt's Occupation: Colonial Economism and the Crises of CapitalismStanford University PressHonorable Mention
2023Natasha IskanderNew York UniversityDoes Skill Make Us Human? Migrant Workers in 21-st Century Qatar and BeyondPrinceton University PressCo-Winner
José Ciro MartínezUniversity of YorkStates of Subsistence: The Politics of Bread in Contemporary JordanStanford University PressCo-Winner

Fatema Mernissi Book Award

The Fatema Mernissi Book Award was established in 2017 to recognize outstanding scholarship in studies of gender, sexuality, and women’s lived experience. The annual award was named for Fatema Mernissi to recognize her long and distinguished career as a scholar and as a public intellectual.

Award winners

YearAuthorInstitutionTitlePublisherDistinction
2018Attiya AhmadGeorge Washington UniversityEveryday Conversions: Islam, Domestic Work, and South Asian Migrant Women in KuwaitDuke University PressWinner
2019Ilana FeldmanGeorge Washington UniversityLife Lived in Relief: Humanitarian Predicaments and Palestinian Refugee PoliticsUniversity of California PressWinner
Stefania PandolfoUniversity of California, BerkeleyKnot of the Soul: Madness, Psychoanalysis, IslamUniversity of Chicago PressHonorable Mention
2020Salih Can AçıksözUCLASacrificial Limbs: Masculinity, Disability, and Political Violence in TurkeyUniversity of California PressWinner
Zahra AyubiDartmouth CollegeGendered Morality: Classical Islamic Ethics of the Self, Family, and SocietyColumbia University Press Honorable Mention
2021Niloofar HaeriJohns Hopkins UniversitySay What Your Longing Heart Desires: Women, Prayer, and Poetry in IranStanford University PressWinner
Hagar KotefSOAS, University of LondonThe Colonizing Self: Or, Home and Homelessness in Israel/PalestineDuke University Press Honorable Mention
Sima ShakhsariUniversity of MinnesotaPolitics of Rightful Killing: Civil Society, Gender, and Sexuality in WeblogistanDuke University Press Honorable Mention
2022Sonia Ahsan-TirmiziColumbia UniversityPious Peripheries: Runaway Women in Post-Taliban AfghanistanStanford University PressWinner
Kathryn BabayanUniversity of MichiganThe City as Anthology: Eroticism and Urbanity in Early Modern IsfahanStanford University Press Honorable Mention
2023Maya MikdashiRutgers UniversitySextarianism: Sovereignty, Secularism, and the State in LebanonStanford University PressWinner
Kirsten L. ScheidAmerican University in BeirutFantasmic Objects: Art and Sociality from Lebanon, 1920-1950Indiana University PressHonorable Mention

Nikki Keddie Book Award

The Nikki Keddie Book Award was established in 2017 to recognize outstanding scholarly work in the area of religion, revolution, and/or society. The annual award was named for Nikki Keddie to recognize her long and distinguished career as a scholar and teacher.

Award winners

YearAuthorInstitutionTitlePublisherDistinction
2018Kevan HarrisUniversity of California, Los AngelesA Social Revolution: Politics and the Welfare State in IranUniversity of California PressCo-Winner
Orit BashkinThe University of ChicagoImpossible Exodus: Iraqi Jews in IsraelStanford University PressCo-Winner
2019Hiba Bou AkarColumbia UniversityFor the War Yet to Come: Planning Beirut's FrontiersStanford University Press Winner
Eric CalderwoodUniversity of Illinois at Urbana-ChampaignColonial al-Andalus: Spain and the Making of Modern Moroccan CultureHarvard University PressHonorable Mention
2020Maziyar GhiabiSOAS, University of London and University of ExeterDrugs Politics: Managing Disorder in the Islamic Republic of IranCambridge University PressWinner
M'hamed OualdiSciences PoA Slave Between Empires: A Transimperial History of North AfricaColumbia University PressHonorable Mention
2021Elise K. BurtonUniversity of TorontoGenetic Crossroads: The Middle East and the Science of Human HeredityStanford University PressWinner
Fadi A. BardawilDuke UniversityRevolution and Disenchantment: Arab Marxism and the Binds of EmancipationDuke University PressHonorable Mention
Rosie BsheerHarvard UniversityArchive Wars: The Politics of History in Saudi ArabiaStanford University PressHonorable Mention
2022Chris GratienUniversity of VirginiaThe Unsettled Plain: An Environmental History of the Late Ottoman FrontierStanford University PressCo-Winner
Karen E. RignallUniversity of KentuckyAn Elusive Common: Land, Politics, and Agrarian Rurality in a Moroccan OasisCornell University PressCo-Winner
Mona El-GhobashyNew York UniversityBread and Freedom: Egypt's Revolutionary SituationStanford University PressHonorable Mention
2023Nadim BawalsaInstitute for Palestine StudiesTransnational Palestine: Migration and the Right of Return Before 1948Stanford University PressCo-Winner
Carel BertramSan Francisco State UniversityA House in the Homeland: Armenian Pilgrimages to Places of Ancestral MemoryStanford University PressHonorable Mention
Manijeh MoradianBarnard College, Columbia UniversityThis Flame Within: Iranian Revolutionaries in the United StatesDuke University PressHonorable Mention

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References

  1. Middle East Association of North America (MESA). "Albert Hourani Book Award". Awards. Retrieved October 3, 2019.
  2. Sluglett, Peter (2004). "Hourani, Albert (1915-1993)" in Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Macmillan Reference. pp. 1046–47. ISBN   9780028659879.

Sources