MESA Advocacy Resource Center
MESA's Task Force has created a new advocacy resource center for our members to consult in response to the repression of rights on campuses across North America and beyond.
Pinned Story
Mission Statement
The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) is a non-profit association that fosters the study of the Middle East, promotes high standards of scholarship and teaching, and encourages public understanding of the region and its peoples through programs, publications and services that enhance education, further intellectual exchange, recognize professional distinction, and defend academic freedom in accordance with its status as a 501(c)(3) scientific, educational, literary, and charitable organization.
Annual Meeting
The Middle East Studies Association’s 59th annual meeting will be held in Washington DC from November 22-25, 2025.
The MESA 2025 Call for Papers is now closed. Decisions will be announced by May 1. The hotel room block is now open for reservations.
Advocacy
The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) advocates on behalf of its members on issues that are central to its mission.
This includes statements and letters from MESA's Board of Directors, MESA's Committee on Academic Freedom, the Task Force on Civil and Human Rights, and the MESA Global Academy.
Become a Member
Be a part of a community of scholars who are passionate about the pursuit of academic knowledge on the MENA region. Help MESA defend academic freedoms. Share your research at the annual meeting. Access the best, cutting-edge scholarship in person at the conference or online in our journals.
Join or renew today!
Member Announcements
Advisory from the Task Force on Civil and Human Rights regarding U.S. Travel
MESA's Task Force on Civil and Human Rights has issued an advisory regarding new travel restrictions enacted by the Trump Administration.
MESA 2025 Hotel Reservations
To book your room, please see here.
Issues of IJMES, RoMES, and IMES available
To access, select the Publications tab in your myMESA account then click the publication image. 
Security Alerts for Researchers and Students
There are two active security alerts issued by MESA’s Board of Directors for those embarking on research in Egypt and UAE.
Campus Climate Resources
MESA has created a new Campus Climate resource page for our members in response to academic freedom-related developments on campuses across North America and beyond.
Pinned Story
Letter to Harvard University protesting the dismissals of the director and associate director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Our letter expressing concern about Harvard University’s decision to remove Professor Cemal Kafadar and Associate Professor Rosie Bsheer as, respectively, director and associate director of the university’s Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Annual Palestine Forum 2026: Call for Submissions
Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies and the Institute for Palestine Studies
The fourth Annual Palestine Forum is now accepting research proposals. The Forum will take place in Qatar in late January 2026, with specific dates to be announced soon.
Lecturers positions—Hebrew, Modern Greek, Egyptology
UC Berkeley
The Division of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures invites applications for a pool of qualified lecturers to teach courses in any of the possible areas: Modern Hebrew, Modern Greek, Egyptology.
Joint Statement regarding Columbia University and the Department of Education
MESA and the undersigned associations condemn the actions taken in the past weeks at Columbia University and the Department of Education, which imperil the autonomy of centers for regional study at universities across the United States and the future of area studies as a domain of scholarship and research in American higher education.
The Palestine Exception National Screening and Discussion
Coalition For Action In Higher Ed (CAHE)
Join CAHE on Monday for The Palestine Exception National Screening and Discussion. This event will be held in person at the Iris & B. Gerald Cantor Film Center at NYU and on Zoom.
Begins April 14, 2025
Postdoctoral Position in Shia Studies
Hartford International University for Religion and Peace
The Imam Ali Research Center, in collaboration with the Imam Ali Chair at the Hartford International University for Religion and Peace, invite applications to a Postdoctoral Fellowship in Shia Studies.
Study In Cairo
The Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo
The Netherlands-Flemish Institute in Cairo (NVIC) is pleased to announce that applications for its Fall study-abroad programmes in Arabic and Middle East Studies are now officially open.
MESA, AAUP, and Knight Institute file lawsuit over Trump policy of arresting and threatening deportation for lawful speech
The Middle East Studies Association (MESA) and the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) today filed a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration from carrying out large-scale arrests, detentions, and deportations of noncitizen students and faculty members who participate in pro-Palestinian protests and other protected First Amendment activities.
Trump’s Immigration Actions: What to Know Webinar
AAUP and MESA
The American Association of University Professors is organizing a webinar with a specialist in deportation law. This event is cosponsored by MESA.
Begins March 27, 2025
In Memoriam, Feroz Ahmad (1938-2025)
MESA mourns the passing of Feroz Ahmad, distinguished historian of the late Ottoman Empire and modern Turkey, who died on February 20 in Istanbul.
CfP: Mainstreaming the Margins and Marginalizing the Mainstream in Contemporary Egyptian Culture
CEDEJ & American University in Cairo
The conference invites scholars and practitioners of contemporary Egyptian cultural production to submit paper proposals.
Death Time and the Politics of Queer Feminist Pedagogy, Study, and Knowledge Production
SOAS, University of London
The workshop organised by the Centre for Gender Studies invites abstract submissions
Organizing for Palestine in US Scholarly Associations Roundtable
Coalition For Action In Higher Ed (CAHE)
Join CAHE on Thursday 3 April, 6pm EST for a roundtable, featuring organizers of boycott, scholasticide, and genocide resolutions at leading scholarly associations from around the country.
Begins April 03, 2025
Call for Abstracts: Women, Algeria, Torture, Foucault: Advancing the Anticolonial Sociology of Marnia Lazreg
University of Kentucky
Abstract submissions are now open for the conference, which will be held at the CUNY Graduate Center and the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College in New York City on September 25 and 26, 2025.
Call for Papers: Intellectual and Discursive Battles over Palestine
University of Macedonia, Department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies
The conference invites submissions of abstracts on a wide range of issues related to Palestine and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Letter to the leadership of Columbia University urging it to reject the Trump administration’s ultimatum of 13 March 2025 and stand firm in defense of academic freedom & the university’s independence
Our letter expressing outrage about the letter dated 13 March 2025 that was sent to you by three Trump administration officials, and to urge you to respond in a principled and forceful manner to the unprecedented, unacceptable and extreme demands that it sets forth
Letter to the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture regarding its cancellation of a planned special journal issue on Palestine
Our letter expressing concern about the decision of the Board of Directors of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture to cancel a planned issue of the Journal of Architectural Education (JAE) focused on Palestine. We are equally disturbed by the board’s termination of JAE Interim Executive Editor McLain Clutter for protesting this decision.
CfP - Within and Beyond Islam. Stories and Engagement of Young Muslims in Italy
Occhialì – Rivista sul Mediterraneo islamico
This call for papers seeks to gather research focused on the young Muslim population in Italy, emphasizing their life stories and experiences related to both commitment and disengagement, within and beyond religious associations and places of worship.
MESA Board Statement on the repression of academic freedom in the United States
In the current national climate, as institutions of higher education and their mission of critical inquiry face unprecedented attack, MESA unequivocally supports efforts to stand up for freedom of expression, academic freedom, and institutional autonomy. Rather than facilitating or acting in the interests of government repression, we must all take a collective stance to defend higher education in the United States.
A short course on Governing Diversity: Engaging with a Complex World
The Aga Khan University (International) in the United Kingdom
In collaboration with the Ismaili Centre and the Aga Khan Museum, The Aga Khan University is offering a face-to-face short course in Canada on Governing Diversity: Engaging with a Complex World.
Publications Manager, Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South
Northwestern University in Qatar
The Institute for Advanced Study in the Global South is inviting applications for the position of Publications Manager.
The Altaf S. Al Sabah Visiting Chair in Women and Societal Development Studies
The American University of Beirut
The Department of Sociology, Anthropology, and Media Studies (SOAM) invites applications for the Altaf S. Al Sabah Visiting Chair in Women and Societal Development Studies.