Middle East Studies and Academic Freedom: Challenges at Home and Abroad

For those who study the Middle East ⁄ North Africa (MENA), academic freedom has long been an issue of serious concern. Over the years we have seen our colleagues living under the authoritarian regimes of the region dismissed from teaching positions, prevented from conducting their research, arrested, imprisoned and sometimes tortured because of their writings or actions. However, largely as a result of responses to the September 11, 2001 attacks, in the last several years threats to academic freedom have dramatically increased both in number and intensity in the United States as well. While some of the attempts to suppress the voice of the academy have had implications across disciplines, there is no question that the community of MENA scholars has been disproportionately targeted. This short article cannot explore all the forms of intimidation to which scholars of and in the MENA region are exposed. Rather, the intent is to highlight a few of the most critical issue areas, both at home and abroad, to illustrate the range of challenges we face, some of which are particular to our field, but all of which should be deeply disturbing to other members of the academy, regardless of specialization.1